Quote:
Originally posted by 250:
Father Bronze
what do you usually do when a student cannot get up and talk?
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I threaten them with "the rack" and all of those other wonderful medieval torture devices found in Irenicus's dungeon
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Actually, I use a combination of quiet encouragement with a nice threat or two. Nervousness actually reduces sharply if the student is well prepared. I spoke to a parent's group the other night and I explained it this way.
All of my students got up to give the first speech. The speech was a self-introduction and the student needed to talk about his/herself for one minute. Since students know the topic (they know themselves) and it's a short speech, the students aren't extraordinarily nervous. Using the same rule for other speeches, the more I can get a student prepared for the speech, the less nervous he/she will be.
I also threaten the students that 1) the course is required for graduation and 2) if they don't give their speeches they will fail the course.
I only resort to the threats as a last resort -- usually with a student who is too lazy to do any work and/or has failed speech before and is repeating the class.
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Most Subtle Official Straightman of the Laughing Hyenas -- Grammarian Brigade.
"The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all the other woes of mankind, is wisdom." -- Thomas Huxley