Teach English in Zhongcheng Jiedao - Tianshui Shi

The unit provides information and inspiration for classroom management. It explains how to organize and manage the class, in a friendly, relaxed manner while maintaining discipline. Rapport between teacher and pupil is vital and the unit explains how best to achieve and sustain this report throughout lessons. In terms of teacher engagement, this requires awareness of self and of the class response. How for instance to use the body and voice as a tool for teaching is set out with clarity. The unit is at pains to establish the various elements of focus necessary for rapport. Eye contact, for instance, establishes a rapport - to ensure students understand what they are meant to do; to indicate who is to speak with a nod of the head; show students that they are involved even when not being addressed; encourage contributions; hold the attention of those not engaged at a certain time; maintain discipline; indicate when students must stop, start and continue with their contributions or work; to indicate what is correct or incorrect; to check that every member of the class is participating. However, the unit advises that eye contact should not be used in any activity that is not teacher-centred (where the focus is on fluency or when the students are working in groups.) In other words, the teacher should not stare at students, flirt with them, or invade their space unnecessarily. International gestures understood by all, should be used in order to convey meaning, to reinforce instructions, add visual element; increase pace of lesson and reduce the need for verbal explanation. The unit advises teachers to think about the gestures they could use in the following situations: Put your hand behind ear in order to listen; repeat in chorus; get into pairs; stop, start, good, not correct, nearly right, clear and well modulated, in accordance with classroom size. Use students? names! This assists the teacher in getting the attention of students or simply addressing them, the use of names indicates who is to speak and to acknowledges the student. A tip: student?s name to be used at end of sentence as this keeps class alert. The Unit underlines the importance of grouping students, the variety of groupings is limitless. Whole class grouping requires less and organization but can be off- putting for shy students and anyway reduces the opportunity for students to speak. On the other hand, students working alone in groups, allows for greater participation and is less stressful for students and allows teachers to assess progress; it increases self- reliance in students. However, it restricts student to student interaction and group belonging. My own personal experience is that the groups may not get on and the pace of individuals in the group often differs, causing frustration and annoyance. Pair work, suggests the unit, has both pros and cons. Pair work increases student talking time (STT) and interaction, creates a safe environment for students to prepare before speaking before the entire class and it is easy to organize pair work. However, this may make the class noisy and there is a risk that students may revert to their native language. Some pairs may not find their partners sufficiently engaging and some wish only to communicate with the teacher, which is a definite con. The unit further discusses the uses of group work in larger groups and the potential for noise and dominance within the group. Teachers are advised to cut their coat according to the cloth; ie to adapt groups to class size and needs and to ensure the greatest possible participation so that each student feels included and is allowed to develop speaking skills. Pair and group work is advised for the activist stages of the lesson. Classroom seating arrangement is dictated by class size and available space as well as the nature of the class and students. The unit sets out the positives for orderly row seating. This is often the only option for large classes of 25 or more and allows teacher student eye contact, orderliness and cohesion- and allows the teacher free movement in the room. Circles and horseshoes with the board and teacher upfront make the teacher less dominant and allows for easier pair work and eye contact between students, in other words, a more intimate situation. Separate tables allows the teacher to move even more freely but may create discipline problems and break up the cohesion for which teachers strive. In order for the teacher to ensure individual attention she needs to make sure she is aware of how to stand, where to stand, how to ensure the best use of eye contact and gesture that ensures inclusion and increases rapport. The teacher should not read the names by rote when asking questions but surprise students instead. The teacher should ensure she knows the names of all students and that students know each others? names. Be sensitive to those quieter students who may not wish to speak and talk to them individually but show no favoritism and praise students readily for correct responses. The course focuses a great deal on the issue of teacher talking time. This should be restricted insofar as possible but it is essential that teachers issue instructions, presenting, checking, modifying, providing a model for students, providing language input and establishing a rapport. The role of the teacher as model and resource often the sole resource of correct English requires the teacher to talk. However, we want students to leave the class having acquired language skills which include talking. The classroom is a laboratory and a testing ground, where students should feel safe and encouraged before they go into the world to test their language skills. To reduce TTT keep language simple, do not descend into jargon use, rather use gestures, mime or pictures and remember the goal of the lesson is to engage students and get them talking. We know that the teacher has knowledge, she need not beleaguer her students with boastful performance such as I have experienced as a second language learner in another language.