Slow down!

I have a couple office hours a week and tell the students to come chat, or I'll help them study, or they can bring me a snack or whatever. No students come. And if they do, it's just a little question about attendance and then they run off as soon as it's taken care of. But one girl came, and sat and chatted until I had to get ready for my next class. She told me that my class is like elementary school but that she liked it. Mostly it's because I speak outrageously slow, give crazy simple instructions, use a lot of hand gestures and play games all the time.

Anyway, in a foreign language setting, be careful how fast you talk. There is no need to drop articles and such, like some wayguk-salams do, because that just sounds idiotic and stupid. Just talk in a normal, simple kind of way but at about 1/4-1/2 of the normal pace you would talk, depending on the level. I've had many appreciative students tell me how much they like my class, simply because they undersand me as opposed to their other foreign teachers.