The Art of Explanation

Here's an interesting story at the BBC, related to explaining a new electoral voting system to the British public but with wide references to teaching in general and clear application to teaching EFL.

The full BBC story

Explanations of the AV electoral system tend to resort to analogies. But is this the best way to convey new ideas? The Magazine seeks tips from a teacher, a scientist, a philosopher, a cricket buff and two political boffins.

It's a bit like X Factor - only without the singing, and it doesn't go on for weeks. It's also a bit like choosing your favourite crisps, and then your second favourite flavour, and so on.

Ahead of the 5 May referendum on whether to adopt the Alternative Vote (AV) electoral system, those explaining this unfamiliar method of picking MPs tend to use analogies. But is this the best way to convey a concept to someone who knows nothing about it?

Author and award-winning teacher Phil Beadle says in a classroom, the key to getting information across is breaking it down into small, manageable chunks, checking each chunk has been understood and "grinding repetition". This isn't so easy to do in a three-minute news item, but other key methods are universal.

This includes getting people to see how the issue in question relates to them.

"It's been said about teaching that if you can't get students to see what's in it for them, then you won't take it on," he says. "Good teaching is about contextualising learning, connecting it to experience, finding an appropriate analogy."

Obviously, the larger the group of people, the more general the analogy has to be, hence the use of crisp flavours or reality TV to explain AV. Beadle, a secondary school English teacher, has used hip hop artists to teach William Blake and football in other lessons.

Beadle says there is a school of thought that people learn and take in new information in three ways: visually, aurally and kinaesthetically - through the body. The latter is when you learn by carrying out a physical activity, rather than just listening or watching a demonstration by someone.

"The best way to get people to understand is to use all these three ways," he says.

This three-pronged approach appeals to John Stern, editor of The Wisden Cricketer magazine.

He prefers to explain cricket while watching a match for demonstration purposes, and with a ball and bat to hand so the novice can see and feel how, for example, the seam affects the movement of the ball.

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