Overseas Teachers of English Classroom Management
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Creative Methodology Course Classroom Management The classroom environment The use of the mother tongue Instructions Interaction patterns Discipline
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Handout 1 “Everard (1086: 127) identifies five key managerial qualities which are set out in the following list along with examples we have interpolated from language teaching contexts:�
Managerial Quality
Language Teaching Context
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To know what he or she wants to happen and to cause it to happen
a
Motivating learners toward better learning strategies
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To exercise responsibility over resources and to turn them to purposeful account
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Being accountable to parents, head and learners
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Developing aims and objectives of a lesson or sequence
d
Establishing rapport with learners and maintaining good classroom organisation
e
Making effective use of resources
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To promote effectiveness in work and search for continual improvement
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To be accountable for the performance of the unit he or she is managing
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To set a climate or tone conducive to enabling people to give of their best
(From Nunan & Lamb (1996) The Self-Directed Teacher)
(b)
SPACE LIGHTING COMFORT
TOUCHH COLOUR ATMOSPHERE
FURNITURE MANAGEMENT MUSIC LEARNER AUTONO AIDS/VISUALS
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Handout 2 No L1 in class • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Maximises listening ability Stimulates motivated learners Keeps non-native teacher’s English skills polished A position of “equality” for multilingual classes Good for higher levels to fully develop their English Encourages more focus on phonology Knowledge that you “have to speak English” encourages cognitive processing of input language More is passively internalised Use stimulates memory/recall Can activate a reflective process Encourages learners to “work together” to achieve what they find difficult alone Encourages negotiation of meaning Language other than “selected teaching” point can be assimilated May be the only opportunity to speak English in a non-English speaking country – value for money Fun Encourages fluent use Allows more opportunity for hypothesis testing
L1 in class • • • • • • • • • • •
A little unreasonable to “ban” in monolingual classes Reassuring for lower levels Quicker, avoids getting bogged down trying to mime “although” Encourages code-switching and comparison between L1 and L2 Often a necessity for younger learners Reassuring for insecure learners Can remove misunderstanding Saves time on unimportant lexical/grammatical points Maintains pace Useful for confusing “explanations”, especially of grammar in intermediate classes Can motivate inductive learning in “grammar” focussed learners
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Handout 3 TTT When & why do we talk in class? Complete the table with your own ideas.
When
Why
STT Consider the following interaction patterns and the activities which suit them well. • • • • • • •
Pairs Groups Mingling Activities Whole Class Lockstep Open/Closed Pairs Teams
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Overseas Teachers of English Classroom Management
Teacher/Student Talk
Issue
1. Teacher: So now what I’m going to do is I’m going Fear of genuine move my chair over here and sit down and just get feedback comfortable and now I’m gonna tear up these pieces of paper, and I had to use these because I couldn’t get any card, so I found these at the back of the teacher’s room, and I’m gonna tear them up now and when I’ve done that what I’m gonna ask you to do is if you don’t mind. 2. So if you don’t mind, it would be very nice if you could Complicated and just stop the activity if you feel that’s OK. unclear 3. Student: I think that smoking is… Teacher: …a bad thing. Yes, I agree. When I went to the pub… 4. Teacher: Yes now you can ask her your question, Mmm that’s a good question. What do you think? What’s your answer going to be, Silvia? Yes. Go on – tell her what it is… 5. Teacher: So what’s the answer? Student A: Only on Tuesday’s unless it’s raining. Teacher: Yes very good – so everyone got that. And why did he buy the elastic band? Student A: So he wouldn’t lose the letters. Teacher: Good, so everyone understands then! 6. Teacher: Did you like my lesson? Student: Yes. 7. Teacher: Well, what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna ask you to get into pairs, but before that there are some thing s we’ve gotta work out. So just jot down if you’ve got a pen, could you write this, then when we’ve finished that we’re going to do the next thing which involves more.
instructions Over-helping or over –organising The running commentary Insufficient authority and overpoliteness
Sentence completion Flying with the fastest
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Handout 7
Discipline
Visuals
Monitoring
Furniture
Starting and Finishing Lessons
Boarding
Commentating
Pace
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Interaction Patterns
Echoing
Body Language
Instructions
Realia
Background Music
Strong Vs Weak Learners
‘Do you understand?’ Questions
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Handout 5 Points for Reflection
Planning or Conducting an activity: WHY a student-centred approach is employed. WHAT the aims are. WHO suggests the activities. WHEN in the lesson the activities take place. WHO organises the groups/pairs. HOW the students will react to the interaction. HOW effective the teacher’s monitoring will be. WHAT activity types the teacher experiments with, and how effective they are. Monitoring and Evaluating an activity. Having got an activity going, which of the following is a good idea? The teacher should: Take the opportunity to slip out of class to do some photocopying; Catch up on that homework marking; Wander aimlessly around the classroom looking out of the window; Send a couple of text messages; Go to the staff room for a coffee; Chat to one of the stronger students. What should a teacher be doing when they monitor? Why is monitoring important?
Teachers often associate ‘monitoring’ with student-centred activities, often with rather a wishy-washy idea of exactly why they are going so, and what they should be accomplishing. Consider the idea of self-evaluation i.e. monitoring your own classroom management as far as rationale/attitudes/procedure are concerned. This can be conducted in two ways: • regular research and questioning of the above eliciting regular feedback from students on varying aspects of the ‘management of their learning’
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Observee’s name:___________________________ Date:________________ As you are observing, relax and enjoy it. Remember that no qualified teacher will do everything in one lesson, or in the same way. The points below may guide you during the observation. The Teacher’s Role • Did the lesson start on time? • Can you hear the teacher clearly? • Can you read the board work? Is the board work well organised? • Is the teacher using the OHP? • Has the teacher made any materials? • Is the teacher talking naturally to the students? • Is the teacher talking too much, off the point of the lesson? • Is the teacher unnecessarily repeating the students’ comments? • Does the teacher ask concept questions? • Is the teacher monitoring all the students? • Does the teacher give praise/boost the students’ confidence? Instructions • Did the teacher check instructions for the tasks/activities? • Did the teacher demonstrate the instructions? • Do you think the students understood the instructions?
Phonology • • •
Is the teacher using the phonemic chart? Does the teacher help the students with pronunciation? Do the students have the chance to practise their pronunciation problems?
Correction/Feedback • • • •
Is the teacher giving feedback /correcting the task just completed? Is feedback conducted in the same way after each activity? Is the feedback focusing on the successes, as well as errors? Do you think the teacher is correcting errors with sensitivity and variety?
The students • • • • • • • •
Is the teacher involving everyone? Is the teacher encouraging students to help each other? Do you think the students and teacher are aware of each other’s culture/attitudes? Is the teacher ensuring that interactions vary? Has the teacher developed a good rapport with the class? Does the teacher give students time to think? Is the teacher catering to different learning styles? How did the teacher begin and end the lesson?
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Overseas Teachers of English Classroom Management
10 What to look for:
As you are observing, take notes on the teacher’s classroom management, with especial emphasis on how they give instructions. For example, do they give clear instructions which are followed by CCQs (Concept Check Questions)? In addition, write down some of the teacher’s language chunks and consider what the communicative purpose of it is. How different do you think this would be if it was said to a native speaker? 1.
Classroom Management & Instructions:
2. Tomorrow we’ll be looking at different correction techniques. In the space below, write down how the teacher corrects and gives feedback to their learners and also how the learners themselves react to this correction / feedback.
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