Why Students Need Circumlocution
The reason students need circumlocution is often overlooked. Students come to language classes to learn how to use the language…SIGN! However, they aren’t fluent and sometimes it prevents students from doing what they came to class to do…use the language. So circumlocution is uber important for students.
Circumlocution is a strategy students can use to describe or define a concept instead of slipping into English. This is not a skill that comes naturally to students and they do need help learning this. So here are some tools to give students help in the process.
Ideas to get started
- Teach them to use words they already know (not fingerspell)
- Think of another way to convey what they are saying
- Describe the concept, talk around it
- Use a synonym
- Draw it or point to it
- Act it out
- Show how it works
- Use opposites – tell what it is not
- Use a category
- Post commonly used words around the room (photos of the sign)
Give students the power
Teaching the art of circumlocution allows students to
- Feel more confident staying in the language
- Be more willing to take risks
- Become more flexible communicators
- Realize how much they do know
- Focus on what they know, not what they don’t
So this school year, don’t forget to teach students how to circumlocute.
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