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This lesson offers the most common problem situations that teachers can have in the classroom and propose some solutions to deal with them.
First lesson: a teacher will be faced with meeting a number of new classes for the first time. Teacher will not resort to the course book and should try to use activities that will establish rapport between the students and also between the teacher and the class; and find out about the students, their needs/aspirations with English and the English level of each individual class member. These will enable the teacher to plan future lesson to cater to the students’ needs and interest. Some activities can be used are questionnaire/survey, ‘Tell us about’ game, “Pass the ball” game and Needs analysis.
Warmers: Warmers are usually short but fun to get students motivated and using English. Some suggestions for this part are: hangman, pictionary, tongue twisters or memory games. More many activities can be useful is they can be linked in to the Study phase of that lesson.
Different levels: Students are usually at varying levels. The ways to deal with this is to use different materials; use the same material with different tasks. However, this may make the weaker students feel frustrated or the stronger ones bored. Pairing strong students with weaker ones is another effective solution but care should be taken to not let the stronger students dominate them and do all the work, while the weaker students are little more than onlookers.
Large classes: Teachers will try to involve all pupils equally to classroom control. Some techniques to create successful classes include: using worksheets, pair/group work, clarity when it comes to teachers’ voice and instructions, choral repetition, having group leaders to manage easier, dynamics.
Avoid using of native language: To have the students practicing and improving their English language skills, the teachers whould make sure the activities are at a suitable level with the students. English explanations should be clear to all class members. Encouraging and reminding the students to use English where appropriate. As a teacher, we should only respond when students use English to express their thoughts or ideas.
Reluctant students: to have the students to participate more in class, plenty of pair work and controlled practice should be used. Role-play and tape recorder are also useful to encourage students to speak.
Difficulties with listening texts: Make sure that the problem is not because of poor quality of the tape. We can play the tape at half speed so students can easily catch up the words in the tape. Some students will finish the task quicker. We should prepare extra materials such as word searches so they don’t become bored.
