What are the significance of non-verbal communication in teaching English as second language in the classroom?

Answer 1

Non-verbal communication is almost as important as the spoken one. Language is culture bound and each and every culture has developed it's own distinct set of body language cues. Some non-verbal cues are international such as tapping the side of your head to show crazy, or thumb + index finger to say OK, raising eyebrows to show surprise...but more are not and they are very culturally specific. What is polite in one country may be very rude in another. Non-verbal communication also re-inforces the spoken word, through gestures and movement. So a good ESL teacher will teach non-verbal communication at the same time. Think of the analogy of a person and their shadow.

Answer 2

There is a lot of non verbal communication in the UK.
facial expressions, body language, hand usage with some folk, sighs, laughs, coughs and worse are all effective methods of expressing opinions or communicating ideas.

Answer 3

To help get over the verbal language barrier in the beginning.
if you don't understand a word spoken then non verbal communication may be helpful;ie gestures, facial expressions to convey what you mean

Answer 4

so u dont get bored