Letter from Nashville: The Concepts of “Right is Right” an “Stretch It” — Part 11

These two principles from Teach Like a Champion are 100% applicable to the context of teaching EFL in Japan.

"Right is Right" refers to the idea that if you as a teacher are not honest with the students about what mastery looks like, you rob them of the opportunity to achieve mastery. So ...

  • Don’t, in the interest of creating the illusion of success, accept half-right answers.  Express enthusiasm for the student’s willingness to give some sort of reply, but make it clear that you are looking for more.
  • Don’t try to gloss over the incompleteness of a student’s response by supplying the missing information and pretending that there were no gaps in the student’s contribution.  For example ...
    • S:  I watching movie when earthquake come.
    • T:  Perfect!  You were watching a movie when the earthquake started.
  • Insisting that Right is Right can be done subtlely.  Sometimes it be accomplished with a “come on” gesture, or by saying “try again.”  

You need to communicate to the students that you expect mastery.

"Stretch It" dovetails nicely with Right is Right because being a progressive educator means pushing learners to sail through and then beyond the mere challenge of being correct. Being right is merely the beginning of the journey. Knowing what you know, can you connect what you know to other things that you know? Can you use what you know to venture into new territory? Can you move beyond merely getting it right towards creating something beautiful?

S: I eat dinner at 7:30 every night.
T: YES! Were you eating dinner at 7:30 last night?
S: Eh?
T: Come on.
S: No.
T: No? You said --
S: No no matte matte matte Yes yes.
T: [Makes a "come on" gesture.]
S: Last night, I did --
T: Did?
S: … don’t ...
T: Hmm
S: Last night I did .. eat, wasn’t at 7 ...
T: Try again.
S: I ate I ate ...
T: Come on.
S: I ate dinner at 7 … 30.
T: Ah! So what were you doing at 7:35?
S: Eh?