Using the “inner workbench” to enrich teaching and learning - Adrian Underhill

That session came as a surprise to me. Not because of the speaker, whom I knew to be a must-see, but because of what he proposed. Intuitively, we teachers already do that in a way, but Adrian explained it to the audience in a very simple, manageable way.

In many cases, the teaching done in classrooms focuses in ‘external’ learning, i.e., students listen/read and produce straightaway, without having time to mentally digest what was presented to them. His suggestion was we must encourage learners to use their “inner workbench” first and foremost, before really producing newly acquired language. How so?

In Mr. Underhill’s words, when learning a new word, for example, we should listen to it from the teacher, be allowed to ‘play’ it in our heads for a few times, until we can actually summon it to our mouths, allowing the facial muscles to feel it prior to saying it. Only when the whole scenario is ready – inner word, your performance, muscles, the will to say it – should we produce it. By doing so, producing language is easier than when produced without such ‘preparation’. In fact, he demonstrated it in the room with words from another language, and following his advice, we managed to come up with a rather acceptable version of what was to be expected – even a sentence in Danish!

To be honest, which one of us hasn’t rehearsed a conversation in our minds before actually having it? And, when and if we had it at all, to our utter disbelief, even after having rehearsed it over and over again, our muscles/mouth play tricks on us, not producing what had been rehearsed when the time came.

A fascinating talk, with a strategy which is simple and effective to facilitate learning