Knowles Crossroads, Delaware TESOL Online & Teaching English Jobs

THE TEACHER, CLASSROOM AND STUDENTS The teacher manages the classroom, also very important, the teacher is the real model for the correct use of language. - Organising a classroom, the students and lessons need to be relayed with rapport. - Communication can be done by the use of our eyes, voice, and gesture. A skill that acquires time and experience. Use of Eyes: Individual students... to hold attention, correct, encourage and maintain discipline with an eye signal to start, stop or move on. To the entire class... to check if everybody is participating, or show/involve them in the lesson. To make sure they know what they are supposed to do next... Avoid eye-contact when the activity is not 'teacher centered', e.g. working in groups or pairs. Use of Voice: Teaching language... at the level or lower to be understood by all students in the classroom. - Speaking slower, clearly and naturally audible according to the size of the class. Keeping it simple. - Adapting voice volume to liven up or quieten down. Monotony leads to boredom, loss of attention and misbehaving. Use of Gesture: Gestures reduces TTT and/or verbal explanation... e.g. Gestures ingeniously changes the pace of the lesson by adding visual meaning and making it more interesting. 'Visual' words accompanied by gesture can be very powerful... e.g. listen, stop, good, nearly right, repeat after me, get into pairs, etc. The teacher is able to manage a classroom by use of gesture to reinforce instructions too. GROUP ARRAGEMENT Grouping the classroom depends on the size of the classroom and type of activity. - It's an opportunity for STT and interaction in STUDY and ACTIVATE stages. - Good to vary 'grouping' as much as possible. Taking age and personality into consideration. 1. How is it going to affect the actual classroom atmosphere? 2. Which actual classroom arragengement is going to be most conducive to our classroom control? 3. Will it allow for maximum STT? 4. Is it possible to do all planned activities? Whole Class: Giving students a sense of belonging in a 'whole class' interaction, but reduces StoSTT. Teacher has control in a 'whole class' environment, but 'activities' are difficult to manage. Intravert students may find this 'offputting'. Individuals: This allows to respond to individuals in a pace of learning ability and the student becomes more self-reliant. Individual tutoring creates more pressure to produce their own answers and lacks SS interaction. Pair work: Increases STT and interaction and allows stronger students to support weaker one and student feels safe to try ideas out before sharing with the rest of the class. It's a shared responsibility environment. Some students may not like who they are partnered with, or some prefer teacher interaction only. Also, this can turn noisy and may revert to the use of their native language. Pair work allows added leverage for the teacher to participate in a pair while others continue working. Group work: Is much the same as pair work as far as STT and interaction, or personality conflict or become noisy. The plus to this is less personal interacting problems, students here are able to choose their level of participation. And... this encourages to cooperate and negotiate in English too. The downside to this is 'time'. It may take time to organise and get started. Exchange ideas slow activities down and participation conflict between dominant and/or passive personalities. Moving student(s) about needs a purpose benefit of activity, cohesion or discipline firm but polite from the start of the course ORGANISING THE SEATING ARRAGEMENT There are ways to arrange a classroom. We need to take into account on the size of the classroom, and the furniture we have at our disposal. The 3 Types of Desk Layout Arrangements: 1. Row Arrangement: The most formal sitting arrangement, it's also awkward when arranging whole class activies. The row type arrangement has its adavantages however, a teacher is able to move freely between and around the rows. The students have a clear view of the teacher, and works well with a big classroom scenario (of over 25 students). 2. Individual Arrangement: The individual sitting arragement is best for individual attention and good for 'lecture' type lessons. The downside to this is, it's difficult to keep eye contact and S/S interaction. 3. Horseshoe Arrangement: Subconsciously, the teacher appears dominant but position of the teacher is important here. A teacher needs to be consciously aware that she needs to be clearly seen by all of his/her students. Students have better eye contact between themselves too, and are very easy to pair up. Overall, the horseshoe classroom arrangement has a more intimate feel and ideally a better focus retention on the class lesson. The positioning of the teacher also needs to be taken into account with regards to managing a classroom. When should a teacher stand, sit and/or walk about? Much is being dictated by the type of lesson activity, what students are instructed to do and what is the the teacher's 'role'... To be clearly seen or to have control of the class, the teacher chooses to tutor standing or move around. The downside to this is that students may feel the teacher is too dominant. Sitting is less domineering and more intimate. Giving students the feeling of a stable relaxed atmosphere. Also, the material is at hand reach. The best way to avoid this is to be flexible and decide what stage of the lesson should a teacher stand, move or sit. To stand: ideally when a teacher does language presentation in front of the classroom, or is giving instructions To sit: sitting is optional when students are reading or during the activate stage to 'remain distant'. To move: even though students need to focus on uninterrupted activities, it's good for the teacher to monitor occasionally from group to group. STUDENT INVOLVEMENT AND ATTENTION A teacher needs to make sure all students are equally involved and are given individual attention Strong dominant personalities will try and 'hog' the attention and this can easily be sorted by subtle 'avoidance'... for all students to be equally involved, the teacher has to take the initiative. Using the student's name gives a sense of acknowledgement, it's a savvy way to get their attention and it indicates who's to answer the question. A way to do this is by asking questions in an unpredictable order and by putting their name at the end of a question/ It keeps students alert to form the answer in their minds. All students should get the opportunity to answer when they can. Students are not to be forced for answers. If they can't, tactfully ignore and move on... Later, to boost the students' confidence, you could ask simpler questions that you know they can answer. The teacher needs to spend longer with students that don't understand, while keeping other students occupied with tasks. BUILDING RAPPORT Rapport building determins if the class is enjoyable and successful. Some ways to contribute better rapport in relax atmosphere is... At the start of the course: - make name card which everyone can see - do some ice-breaking activities that allow them to interact and give information Throughout the course: - use pairwork as often as possible - don't allow single students to dominate - allow students to correct each other - personalise activities with their names - change pairs often but be aware of student chemestry Finally, a teacher should smile, be positive, enjoy the job and get feedback to keep improving. Don't let personal feelings influence the way you treat your students. If need arises, ask for advise from a more experienced colleague.