Importance of intellectual interaction between the teacher and the ESL learner

What is intellectual interaction-

Intellectual means the combination of two or more groups of people to exchange their existing knowledge with each other. It is like cooperate learning which is based on pairs or group of learners. This benefits both the parties to gather and share information with each other.

Why is intellectual interaction important-

             Teacher’s interaction in a classroom affects academic and behavioural success of a student. If the teacher has a positive interaction towards the learner, it will help the learner to achieve his or her goal easily than the one who received negative interactions from the teacher. Each language learner needs emotional and instructional support from the teacher.

How can a teacher interact with the  learner-

01.  Emotional support of the teacher-

             Every student needs their teacher’s kind, warm and helping hand to complete a task especially when they learn a second language. Positive surroundings such as warm, enjoyable, supportive behaviour of a teacher helps the learner to fulfill their academic requirements. Peer or group works also creates motivation on them. Negative emotions like anger, aggressive emotions of a teacher affects badly towards the learner.

02.  Instructional support of a teacher-

The way the teacher uses instructions to guide the student to complete a particular task. It helps the learner to think critically with the help of the teacher. Teacher encourages the student to communicate using their second language. Feedback of the teacher facilitates the student to engage in his or her work effectively.

Types of classroom interactions-

             There are three types of classroom interactions namely teacher-student interaction, student-teacher interaction and student-student(peer) interactions. All these three interactions are important for the learner in order to understand academic works and to maintain his or her behaviour.

Activities to increase intellectual interaction-

01.  Simon Says

02.  Road Map Puzzle

03.  Think, pair and share

04.  Buzz session

05.  Peer review writing tasks

06.  Board rotation

07.  Crossword puzzle

08.  Bingo

09.  Who am I?

10.  Brainstorming

             are some activities which are called interactive classroom activities. They can be done as pairs, groups and as a whole.

To build up a strong teacher-student relationship-

1.      Show friendliness and care for each and every student.

2.      Enhance mutual trust with them.

3.      Practice them with well behaved discipline inside the classroom.

4.      Encourage them in their academic and extra- curricular activities.

5.      Pay attention to their family background and help them to overcome from those challenges.

In teaching-learning process, it is important to have a mutual understanding between the teacher and the learner. Therefore, effective intellectual interaction between those two parties is essential to learn a new language.