29. Classroom management

The most effective teaching techniques in teaching English at school. Elements that should be present in almost all classes:Engage – this is the point in a teaching sequence where teachers try to arouse the students’ interest, thus involving their emotions. Activities include: games, music, discussions, stimulating pictures, stories. But when such activities are not used, teacher will ask students what they think of a topic before asking them to read about it OR students will look at the pictures of people and try to guess their occupation, etc.Study – activities where students are asked to focus in on language(or information) and how it is constructed. They range from the study and practice of a single sound to an investigation of how writer achieves a particular effect in a long text.Activate – exercises and activities which are designed to get students using lang-e as freely and “communicatively” as they can. It include: role-plays, advertisement design, debates and discussions, story and poem writing.Techniques:1)Straight Arrows for elementary level (engage-study-activate); 2)Boomerang procedure for intermediate or advanced (engage-activate-study-activate); 3)Patchwork (engage-activate-activate-study-activate-study-engage-activate). What are the main aims, stages and the procedure of an English lesson plan? Aplan gives the lesson a framework. In the classroom, a plan helps to remind teachers what they intended to do. A good plan needs to reflect coherence and variety of the lesson. Coherence means that students can see a logical pattern to the lesson. The ideal lesson that has an internal coherence but which allows students to do different things.Written plan needs:description of the class; what the teacher wants to do –a reason for taking an activity; aims of the lesson; timing; anticipated problems; teaching aids (equipment, recorders, copies, etc); procedure (indicates the kind of activity in the lesson).

30 What makes a good learner?

Many factors need to be taken into account when considering the qualities of a good learner. Practice makes perfect. The more children study the better learners they are. Teachers think that good learners are those who do their homework. Every teacher school encourage students to learn and to do homework. To be a good learner a pupil must be highly motivated. When students really want to learn and they have powerful reason for it they will achieve good results.

The desire to learn can come from many causes. For example a student likes the subject, interested in it. Or children may have a practical reason for their study: they want to learn an instrument so they can play in orchestra, learn English so they can watch American TV, read English books, work with English people, go to cookery classes so they can become a good cooks.

Researches has found that students who felt warmly about language, wanted to integrate into the culture of native speakers were more motivated than those who wanted a better job.

Good learners are those who have positive attitude to the subject. One of the main tasks for teachers is to provoke interest and involvement in the subject. Teachers can’t force. They can only encourage by word and deed. Real motivation comes from within each individual.

Good learners don’t wait to be taught they study in their own time. Learning is a partnership between teachers and students.

Getting students to do various kinds of homework like written exercise, composition, study is the best way to encourage students’ autonomy. The task should be within students’ grasp and doesn’t take too much of their time. It is important to be sensitive to their own expectations of learning.

Successful students posses the following characteristics:

• A willingness to listen

• A willingness to experiments

• A willingness to ask questions

• A willingness to think about how to learn(a student invent his own way of learning)

• A willingness to accept correction

Teacher-student and student-student interaction at the English lesson

The way that teachers talk to students is one of the crucial teacher’s skills. It requires teachers to emphasize with people they are talking to. The language and intonation should be appropriate. Apart from adapting their language, experienced teacher use physical movements: gestures, expressions, mime. They become teacher’s language especially at lower level. There are 2 ways of giving instructions: they must be as simple as possible, and logical. Before giving instructions teachers must ask themselves: what is the important inf I convey? What must students know to fulfill this task? It is important for teacher to check that the students understood the instructions. This can be achieved by asking students to explain the activity after the teacher has given the instruction .

There is a continuing debate about the amount of time teachers should spend talking in the class. Sometime there are too much teachers’ talking time and not enough student talking time. It is a vital part of teachers’ job to teach students to speak. Students are the people who need practice. A good teacher maximize STT and minimize TTT. A classroom where teachers speak day after day and students hardly say anything is not one that teachers and students would approve. A class where a teacher is reluctant to speak is not attractive either. The best lesson is when STT is maximized , but at where at appropriate moments the teacher is not afraid to summarize what is happening, tell a story, enter a discussion. Good teachers use their common sense and experience to get the balance right.