The overall aim of teaching English to speakers of other languages is to involve all the students all the time. We want to have active learners who are following the lesson, building on what they learn and feeling that they are achieving something .

Remember that we are teaching communication, this means we want our students to talk (in English of course). If you come from a teaching background where everyone is supposed to be getting on with work quietly then this may be a bit of a shock for you. But think of it this way:

You have very little teaching time and the students need to learn a great deal if they are to achieve any degree of fluency or if their goal is to pass an exam.

Many of your students, if they are living in their own country, have an opportunity to speak English only in class so you need to maximise their interaction time.