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What are our freedoms and constraints?, Give students the syllabus and…
What are our freedoms and
constraints?
Type of class
Exam classes
Practical principles for working with exam classes
Transparency
Similarity
Balance
Exam tips
Substitution classes
Practical principles for working with substitution classes
Using pictures
Using an unusual methodology
Classes with few resources or facilities
Practical principles for working with under-resourced classes
Seating
Boards and display surfaces
Individual student materials
Heterogenous classes
Practical principles for working with heterogeneous classes
Mixed ability dictation
Very large classes
Practical principles for working with large classes
One to one (or very small group) teaching
Practical principles
Syllabus and content
Materials class
The unpredictability of working with people
Practical principles for dealing with undisciplined classes
Before class
Be clear
Find out what other teachers in your school do
Become clear in your mind about what you want
Plan lessons carefully
In class
Learn students´names
Establish some routines
Reward good behaviour
Be realistic in your demands
Behave as if you´re in control
After and between lessons
Don´t flay yourself
Reward well-behaved students
Take a personal interest in all students
Hijacks: pleasant and unpleasant surprises
When something that makes it virtually imposible for you to do what planned
You can develope a repertoir of optional in-class behaviours and learn when and when no to use them
Practical principles for dealing with surprises and hijacks
When something unexpected happens, allow the interrumption:
You have no option
It involves true communication in the target language
Students are trying to tell you something
The hijack is actually more useful and interesting than what you had planned
It allows you to catch in on a teachable moment
The majority of the students state clearly that they like the interrumption
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When something unexpected happens, try to disallow it when:
It´s a case of one or two students dominating for too long
All the other students are bored or upset
You haven´t got the emotional stamina or skill to deal with the hijack
Classes with students who don’t get on
Groups all have their own personality or atmosphere no matter how objectively similar they may be in terms of size, level or background. They may also not get on well.
Practical principles for working with classes who don’t get on
Avoidance
Confrontation
Separate development
Cooperation
Undisciplined classes
Classes can be difficult for reasons other than the fact the students don’tlike each other.
Groups may have very low motivation and concentration. They may arrive late, talk to each other a lot, wander around, display dislike of the teacher, push for confrontation, eat, shirk, shout or ignore you. : :
Type of Organization
Your teaching life will be affected by the type of institution you work in,
whether it’s a primary or secondary school. More important than the type of institution though will be its
‘organisational culture’, that is, its normal practices and attitudes.
The internal variable: Ourselves
‘Internal’ factors are very
important too. Our own personalities and
habits, we go about our work in our own ways
Practical principles for dealing with strengths and
weaknesses in ourselves
Finding out about ourselves
Working on our weaknesses
Working on our strengths
Give students the syllabus and sets of real exams so that there is no misconception about what they will face.
Point out how essential it is for real life and the exam to keep learning
Show students how to time their work, plan it, proofread it and check it for their own favourite mistakes.
*After every couple of pictures, loop back and ask a student to tell the story from two or three pictures back.
Using teacher resource books
Mark the ideas that look promising and which say ‘Any level’ or ‘No materials preparation necessary’.
Whatever the exam your students are working towards is based on, make sure that you plan plenty of work in class that is similar.
Study the space and the placing of the seats and display surfaces and see if you can improve on the layout of the room.
You can and/or do not have your own board, made from the back of wallpaper, poster paper or fabric.
In a small class you can simply write on paper and gather people close enough so that they can see what you’ve written.
There may not be enough books or copying facilities available.
*You can make more use of dictation and laminated, reusable activity packs.
Whether you allow or disallow a hijack, try to do so after you have considered quickly and carefully
being mixed in language skills and levels, age academic background, nother tongue, sex, personality, language aptitude, learning style and others factors.
Try having two syllabus. One is the minimum compulsory syllabus you expect allstudents to follow, the other is an optional extended syllabus.
Jill Bell suggests altering the type of syllabus used too, from a "hierarchical".This type ofsyllabus identifies skills that students need to practise.
If lessons are based on interesting and varied content, even nativespeakers will be engaged and can contribute to the proceedings.
The option of having the same materials and tasks for each studentis not a workable one in a heterogeneous class
The individualisation implied here can be based on quantity, difficulty,content, skill or activity type and it’s important for students to judgefor themselves if a task is right for them.
Success orientation
All members of the class should be able to do the tasks set to an accept-able level so that the teacher doesn’t have to make negative assessmentsof the weaker students.
Teacher assistance
Your attitude should be to help students to produce successful work ratherthan wait until students make mistakes and then correct them.
Open
-
endedness
means that each student can respond to their own level and to their own taste.
The pleasure principle
planning that lessons are best when they are purposefuland pleasurable. This means planning to include games, quizzes andstories as well as seemingly more important matters
The
problems
include noise, too many people and fixed objects in a restricted space, notenough materials for everyone, not being able to respond to differingneeds, the difficulty of organising anything more than lockstep teachingand the lack of target language use if students speak common languages. :
Crowd control
learn students names, use eyes contact with individuals, plan to establish a certain amount of routine, keep students involved from the start of the lesson
Basic chores
, Number or colour code materials, Allot roles to students.
Teachers of large classes need to use pair and group work a lot in order to givestudents natural oral/aural target language practice and use.
That instructions that include‘everyone’, ‘all of you’ or ‘get into pairs’, which may come out of yourmouth naturally, are no longer appropriate!
Plan plenty of time at the first meeting for getting to know each other, letting the student take as much responsibility as they wish,
and completing personal profile forms on the student’s background wants.
Makes the encounters as equal as possible, make the occasions you meet a real exchange of information, use the students as a resurce, bring other people, use local environment, bring more materials and activities.