Teaching Tips

Teaching Tips for Effective Communication

 Introduce a new topic or subject by saying:                             ‌

• Last time, we talked about..., today we will go on and...
• First of all, I would like to talk about...
• Today's topic is...
• What I want to do today is...
• What we are going to cover today is...
• Today, I am going to talk about..
• The important point I want to make today is...

To make transitions between subjects or lecture parts, you may say:

• Now, let's see what happens.
• If that's clear, we will go on to the next point.
• Now, let's approach the problem in a different way.
• The second point I want to make is...
• Let's get back to the idea of...

To summarizing and conclude, use these expressions:

• To summarize... / In summary...
• What we have been talking about...
• Okay, we have discussed...
• So far (up until now), I have been trying to show you...
• To conclude...  / In conclusion...
• The important points to remember are...
• The conclusions we can draw from this are...
• How would you summarize the theory?

When you invite students to participate in discussion, say:

• Who would like to say something?
• Could you say a little more about that?
• Can you elaborate on that?
• Do you agree...?
• What do you think...?
• How do you feel...?
• What comparison can you make between...?
• What is the point made by the author of this article?
• How would you summarize this theory?

Use these expressions to clarify student comments

• In other words...
• What you said is...
• I think I understand what you mean. Let me put it another way.
• If I understand you correctly, you mean...
• Would you like to elaborate on this point?
• Could you restate your point? I'm not sure I understand.

Introduce examples by saying:

• For example... / For instance...
• Take..., for example.
• To be more specific....
• Let me give you an example...

 If you need to redirect a conversation, you may say:

• Let me interrupt for a minute.
• Speaking of ... we need to move on to ...
• That reminds me of...

• Well, we need to...

Repeat, rephrase, reiterate, and restate

• "Said another way..."
• "Let me present another way of understanding this..."
• "The same idea can be explained in this way..."
• "Another example of this is..."
• "I'll repeat that in a different way..."
• "Stated another way..."
• "A simpler explanation of the same idea is..."