This can be a tough situation because we have to be careful not to offend anyone. However, it is of course important to have students be audible in the classroom. Communicate with your learners about the necessity for you and their classmates to be able to hear them. Be persuasive, yet gentle. Here are some tips:

1. Be encouraging and praise your students when they show improvement. If you have visually checked their work during a study task and you are calling on them to read out an answer, let them know they have it correct and encourage them to read it out loudly/ read it again more loudly. Sometimes students are quiet because they fear that they will make a mistake and are trying to avoid embarrassment.

2. Arrange seats so that there is optimal projection by students toward you and the other class members.

3. If you are quiet yourself, your students will tend to follow suit. Make sure that you are communicating in a strong voice that models the volume level you would like to hear from the class.

4. Do not move up closer if your students are quiet. The closer you get, the more quietly they will respond. Move back and politely explain that you are not able to hear. Then, ask them to try again a little more loudly. If there are outside disruptions, make students aware of the competition you are all dealing with.