Body Language - Introduction

A teacher walks in a classroom full of noisy children. He walks up to the table and looks around the class. He turns his back to the board and starts writing a question on the topic he had taught in the class the day before. There is dead silence now. The students who were chatting and conversing till now are sitting bolt-straight now, clearly nervous, some retaining their smiles, and some scanning the floor. They had comprehended by now that an answer is expected of them any moment.

The teacher looks around the class and fixes his sight on one boy. A longer stare prompts the boy to stand up but the teacher looks away just at the last moment and now looks at a girl. The girl starts answering the question but the teacher once again looks away. The girl stops the answer halfway.

The teacher looks at another guy sitting beside the window. He stands up and starts giving the answer when half-way through the sentence, the teacher suddenly looks up at him. The boy’s voice immediately tapers down and ultimately stops in doubt. The teacher then droops his shoulders and sighs. Insulted by the gesture, some students immediately raise their hands to opt to tell the answers.

How do you think that the teacher managed to get so many responses and all those different reactions without uttering a single word?

This is the power of Body Language – Weather the teacher knows it or unknowingly, he has practiced this non-verbal method of communication.