This section provides examples of techniques and skills to use in coaching conversations for modern languages. Best used in combination, they are separated here so that they can be analysed and enhanced.
Select each hexagon in the image opposite to find out more about a coaching skill or technique.
Using video:
Select clip 26 and clip 27 
to view modern languages specialists using video to inform the coaching conversation.
For detailed consideration of the use of video for professional development and coaching, including child protection issues and professional protocols of access and usage select the following resource – 
Using video to encourage reflective practice (PDF, 37kb).
Through active listening and observing, the coach notices critical moments or comments, small details and big points in the discussion and judges whether and how best to explore them as the conversation unfolds.
Points may not be pursued immediately. It is useful to keep brief notes of key comments or experiences for subsequent development, but the amount of detail included needs to be carefully judged so that note-taking does not interrupt the flow of the discussion.
What do you think active listening needs to be effective? 
For active listening you need to:
Effective questioning stimulates reflection, focuses and clarifies thinking and helps to construct understanding. It is valuable to plan key questions that will trigger constructive critical thinking about the lesson’s effectiveness.
It is important to avoid 'controlling' questions and where possible to ask genuine, open questions which are neutral in terms of judgement or expectation.
Effective questioning depends on how as well as what questions are asked. It's worth remembering the coachee as well as the coach can ask questions as part of the conversation.
Select clip 28 and clip 29 for examples.
For a comparison of controlling and neutral questions Select Use of questions as a tool in coaching (PDF, 29kb) .
Facial expression, body language and conversational features such as backchannelling (mmm, yeah, uh huh), are powerful tools in eliciting and encouraging responses.
The coach can be working very effectively in this way while remaining almost silent.
Select clip 30 for examples.
Select the Resources button below for a list of alternatives to questions for promoting discussion.
At key moments in the conversation, the coach and coachee can draw together the main points which have been covered in a short summary, while maintaining the conversational tone. Summarising is particularly important as a means of establishing the basis for agreeing action and next steps.
Select clip 31 for an example of the strategy being used collaboratively by coach and coachee in a post-lesson conversation.
Observing can lead to feedback and so is potentially threatening. Feedback as reflective dialogue, however, is as critical to professional learners as it is to pupils.
Observing should be informed by a detailed understanding of the coaching focus. Data may include notes recorded on an observation schedule, sampling work and, crucially, discussion with and comments from learners.
Select clip 32 and clip 33 to view coaches observing lessons.
For an observation schedule which can be adapted for different lessons select the following resource – Lesson observation (PDF, 15kb).
Here is a chance to test your understanding of questioning within coaching conversations.
Try the quiz .
