Helping our Students Develop Mediation Skills

What is mediation and what are we doing to help students develop this important mode of communication? A readthrough of the new CEFR descriptors tells us that students need to be able to manage turn-taking in group conversations, handle sensitive topics and foster a positive atmosphere when collaborating with others of different cultural backgrounds. As teachers, we could give our students opportunities to interact in groups and hope that they develop these mediation skills. Alternatively, we could lay focus on the strategies needed and the ways to deal with different possible scenarios that students then practice. This interactive session considers the different skills students need to develop to mediate concepts and mediate communication effectively, using examples from Voices from National Geographic Learning.