Macmillan Books for Teachers

Procedure

1 By gesture alone (eg hand behind ear) get some of your colleagues to listen to an utterance - a word, phrase or sentence either in a foreign language or a nonsense language.

2 Say the utterance.

3 Pause and check through eye contact that everyone has heard.

4 Repeat the utterance if necessary.

5 By gesturing alone (eg a sweeping arm or two raised hands gesture with a decisive gesture to start the utterance) get everyone to repeat, making sure they all start at the same time.

6 Get the members of the group to repeat individually, quickly and randomly, again by gesture alone (for example, eye contact, nodding, beckoning with the whole hand). Make sure everyone gets practice and that those that need most get most.

Comment

When you have mastered this you can introduce student-student correction. If one 'student' doesn't say the word or sentence very well or is having difficulty, gesture to a 'student' who has already said it well to say it again. Then come back to the 'student' who was having problems and gesture for him or her to try again.

Task 7

Aim

To help indicate word stress.

Procedure

1 Read out a list of words with two or more syllables.

2 As you say the words, indicate which syllable is stressed with a beating gesture.

3 The others in the group can write the words and mark the stress.

Comment

1 You can experiment with different gestures to show stress. One way is to stand and 'bob' with the whole body on the stressed syllable.

2 Instead of using English words you can say and beat the stress on nonsense words: for example, frubination. The others in the group note how many syllables and which syllable was stressed (first, second, third, etc). In this variation they are totally reliant on the information you give rather than on their knowledge of how the word is stressed.

Task 8

Aim

To practise using mime to convey meaning.

Procedure

1 Choose one of these lists and decide in which order you are going to mime the words. Do not tell the others about your choices.

А В С D

walk bake shoot scrub

stroll fry suffocate brush

dash grill smother wipe

jog boil drown sweep

2 Mime your words to the group and ask them to write down what they think the words are.

3 Discuss which words were easiest to guess and why.

Comment

Make up your own list of words and mime the words to the group.

Using the voice

If your voice does not have sufficient range, variety and projection, you are going to be at a considerable disadvantage in the classroom. However, having said that, voice quality and the ways individuals use their voices vary enormously from one teacher to another.

In what way does the voice vary?

The voice alters fairly naturally, according to the activity, the size of the class, the room, etc. For getting the class's attention and for giving gentle, individual correction the quality of the voice should be very different. When talking to individuals, pairs or groups, we reduce the volume, lower the pitch and narrow the range. The aim is to act as you would naturally when talking to one or two people. When addressing a large class in a large room we increase the volume, widen the voice range and perhaps raise the pitch.

A class often mirrors the teacher's volume. If you speak quietly the students speak quietly; when you raise the volume so do they. You can 'energize' a class and increase the pace of a lesson by raising the volume of your voice slightly, or get pairwork off to a confident start by giving instructions and perhaps doing a model exchange in an enthusiastic, lively tone of voice. Conversely if the noise level is getting out of control try making your contributions at a markedly lower volume, almost approaching a whisper, and see if the students follow suit. Usually the greater the variation in the voice - providing it is appropriate - the greater the effectiveness.

How can you use your voice to gain attention?

For example:

* when students are standing around at the beginning of a lesson, talking;

* when you want to stop a group activity;

* when there's a lot of general noise and you want to regain control.

Rather than waiting quietly for students to finish, or clapping your hands or banging on the table, it is often more effective to exaggerate certain features of your voice, dwelling longer than usual on certain syllables - AII right, everyone, can we make a start? A slight increase in volume and higher pitch is often all that is necessary. Shouting can convey anger, loss of control and, in some cultures, disastrous loss of face, so avoid it unless really necessary.

Can you help to hold the students' attention with the voice?

Yes, attention can easily be lost by speaking too quietly or slowly, or too monotonously, without varying the pitch of the voice.

When you are 'up front' it is as much how you say something as what you say that keeps your students' attention. If you are feeling tired or lethargic and let it show in your voice your students will quickly lose interest in what you are saying.

What about when you are announcing changes in the stages of a lesson?

It is not necessary to say Right! This is a different part of the lesson. New activity coming up/hut you can use your voice to mark transition in a lesson. Look at the following transcript of a lesson and try reading the part of the teacher aloud:

T: So - to make the simple past of a regular verb - what do we do?

SI: Add'ed'.

T: Right - and if the verb ends in 'e' - like 'live'?

S2: Just'd'.

T: OK. Good. Now close your books. Stand up and put all the tables against the wall.

When you reached Now close your books you should have paused, and your voice should have increased marginally in volume and risen in pitch considerably to highlight the change in activity.

Task 1

Aim

To develop awareness of the role of the voice.

Procedure

1 Record part of a real lesson.

2 Together with someone in your group identify the changes in pitch and volume in the teacher's voice and discuss the reasons for them.

3 If videoed, discuss how the changes relate to gesture and movement.

Task 2

Aim

To assess the effectiveness of your voice.

Procedure

1 Record yourself teaching.

2 Listen to see how effectively you get the students' attention, signal a change in activity, inject energy, etc. Or ask one of the other trainees to observe, note and give feedback on how you use your voice at different points in the lesson.

Comment

You may find that your voice is much 'flatter' than you had thought, creating a dull, uninspiring effect; or perhaps you are speaking all the time in a high-pitched voice, giving an impression of frenzy or panic.

Task3

Aim

To improve the use of the voice.

Procedure

1 Make a genuine announcement to the group in the classroom or to a crowded common room full of students.

2 Ask someone in the group to assess your performance in getting attention, holding it and getting the message across.

Task 4

Aim

To help develop different types of voices.

Procedure

1 Identify three different types of voice that you can use fairly easily (for example, a voice to get attention in a crowded room, a voice forgiving a language mode!, a voice for talking to an individual student while the rest of the class is involved in pairwork). Get someone to confirm that you have got them right.

2 Write down two or three appropriate phrases for each type of voice. For example, OK, start now.

3 Practise saying them to yourself in the 'correct' type of voice.

Using students' names

Why should you learn and use students' names?

It is important to make sure you know everyone's name and that they know both yours and each other's as quickly as possible, because:

* it is an important first step towards establishing rapport with the group: it helps create a friendly, co-operative atmosphere;

* it shows that you are interested in them as people - and by extension in their learning problems and in their interests;

* if the effort you make to learn their names is obvious they will be more forgiving when you make mistakes;

* it makes it possible for you to discuss the students with colleagues;

* without knowing names it is difficult to manage a class effectively.

Be careful to use the right name. Ask the students what they want to be called, but it is usually better if you use a similar part of the name for each student (either all first names or all family names). Be guided by the practice of the institution and the country you are in. In adult classes, some may expect you to use their family names and some their first names. Also in adult classes, many teachers prefer to be called by their first name because it implies a friendly, informal attitude and a more equal relationship between the teacher and the students. Usually, if students see everyone else is on first-name terms, they will accept it as a convention for that classroom. However, in certain cultures (for example, in Japan and China) it is a mark of disrespect for younger people to address their elders by their first name; so if you have a mixed age group, be sensitive to this fact. If you don't speak their language, get them to teach you to pronounce their names correctly. You'll be spending a lot of time correcting their pronunciation, so you should be prepared to put in the effort to pronounce things correctly too. If you are a native speaker of English, teach them your name and how to pronounce it. Make it clear which part of your name you expect them to use. (See Section 8: Establishing rapport and maintaining discipline.)

How can you learn their names?

You can help yourself and the students learn names by:

* getting the students to introduce each other to you and then going round the class in random order two or three times, saying the names aloud to check that you remember. If you do this at the end of the first couple of lessons as well as the beginning it can act as useful revision. This activity is most useful if the students know each other;

* keeping a register. This will probably be required of you anyway, but checking a register openly at the beginning of a class is a useful reminder for you, particularly when you only see the class once or twice a week. It also serves as a good focusing device at the beginning of a lesson;

* associating names with physical features. This is a useful trick with the occasional student whose name you find impossible to remember, eg Claudia -glasses, Stephan - braces. Say them to yourself two or three times. However, keep them to yourself as sometimes the physical feature could be one that the student doesn't want attention drawn to!

* using names consciously in the first few lessons to fix them in your mind. It is

usually better to ask a student to wait before replying for a few seconds while you recall the name rather than allow the situation to continue where you can't remember the name. There comes a point where you should have learned the names and it becomes embarrassing to ask;

* checking the names to yourself in periods of pairwork or groupwork;

* drawing up a seating plan and keeping it with the class register. Make sure you alter it if the students change their places;

* using the return of homework to help you remember. Trying to recall the student's face when you are marking it is a help too.

Finally, if you can't remember a name, admit it and ask the person openly. It is better for you to seem to be not very good at learning names than for students to be left feeling their names are not very important.

How can the students learn each other's names?

You can help yourself further and help them to learn each other's names by doing the following:

* Ask them to put their names on the desk for all to see or perhaps wear name badges. Or, in a small class, you might write their names on the board and get everyone to practise putting a face to the name:

T: My name's Jan.

SI: His name's Jan, and my name's Abdulla.

S2: His name's Jan, that's Abdulla and I'm Ingrid.

S3: Jan, Abdulla, Ingrid and I'm Thomas.

and so on until you go round the whole class. If you have a class of more than., say, twenty, it is probably better to split it into two halves. This, and the following activity, is useful when everyone is new.

* Get the students to stand in a circle. Throw a ball or similar small object to a student as you say your name. The student then chooses another person in the circle, throws the ball and says his or her own name. After a while, when everyone has had a chance to say their name, change the activity - this time say the name of the person you are throwing the ball to.

* Ask the students to say their name and to describe themselves using an adjective beginning with the same letter as their name - eg I'm Jan and I'm jolly. I'm Abdulla and Гт amusing. I'm Ingrid and I'm interesting. I'm Thomas and I'm terrific, etc. As each person announces their name the others can suggest adjectives. This activity can be used with more advanced students.

* Introduce any new student to the others in the class.

When should you use students' names?

You can use students' names when you want:

* to organize an activity;

* to acknowledge a query or contribution;

* to indicate who is to answer a question;

* to indicate who is to respond to an instruction;

* to get an individual student's attention.

When asking questions you should normally say the name after the question.

Asking a question and then nominating an individual keeps the whole class on its toes. It also means that you can see who is eager to answer the question and so choose someone who wants to contribute.

Saying the name before the question can occasionally be useful - to indicate to individual students that they are to pay attention to the question because they are going to have to answer it. The disadvantage of this is that the other students may 'switch off as they know they won't have to answer.

2. Classroom arrangement

Your position and the way you organize the positions of the students in your class is of great importance. Bear in mind that concepts of personal space vary from culture to culture. For example, Arabs when they talk to each other like to get closer than Northern Europeans. In multicultural classes, teachers and students sometimes cause unease or even offence to other students because they get too close. Or some students may think that people who like to keep a greater distance are cool and even unfriendly.

Students' seating arrangements

Where the students sit in a classroom can determine:

* their attitude to each other and to you;

* your attitude to them;

* how they interact;

* the types of activity they can do.

Should you determine who sits next to whom?

This depends on a number of factors: whether the students are adults or children, whether the group is monolingual or multilingual, the personalities of the students, etc. You may want to put a weak student with a strong, or a quieter student with one who is more outgoing. Or you may want to put weaker students together in activities where you can give them extra support. In a multilingual group you will probably not want students with the same mother tongue sitting together. On the other hand there may be occasions when it is appropriate for them to work together on common problems. It adds variety if students work with different people and generally the more intermingling the better the cohesion of the whole class. If there are students absent you will want to encourage students to move forward from the back or along the circle so that no one is cut off from the rest of the group.

So, feel that you have the authority to move them, politely but firmly. Remember, though, we all get attached to our own territory and moving can be a wrench. While shuffling up a class/or an activity is acceptable - provided it is done in the right spirit - it can be unsettling if you do it often and for no apparent reason. You must also be sensitive to any personality clashes or cultural reasons for certain individuals not wanting to be together. If you feel that a student is deliberately trying to sit outside the area in the classroom where most of the activity is taking place, it may need good-humoured encouragement to bring him or her in. You will need to be sensitive, yet positive from the beginning.

How do you change the arrangement to fit the activity?

On TP you may be restricted by the types of chairs, tables or desks in the classroom. If you are lucky they will be freestanding but very often they are fixed or too heavy to move. Classroom furniture always affects the learning atmosphere to some extent but the choice will almost certainly be outside your control. Inevitably, then, you can only have flexible seating arrangements within the constraints of the institution. If you are one of the lucky ones, make sure you take full advantage of it. Remember, though, that moving furniture takes time. Make sure you have enough time (and help) to make the necessary changes. If you ask students to help, explain the necessity for the change and make your instructions clear - so that it can be done quickly and efficiently. Also, always return the classroom to the original arrangement unless you are certain that the person teaching in the room after you would like your arrangement to be left.

Activities where you need to direct from the front

With moveable desks, tables or seminar chairs of probably no more than sixteen students, a horseshoe arrangement will allow easy, face-to-face contact between the students and between you and the students:

The more horseshoe shaped it is the more S16 is able to talk to S5. If the class has more than sixteen students you may be able to make a double horseshoe. If you are forced to arrange the furniture in rows it helps if the two halves are slightly at an angle:

You may wish to group the students around tables, 'cafe style'. This works as long as they can all see what is going on at the front of the class clearly and comfortably. This arrangement ensures that, with minor adjustments, students are in a position to change to pairwork or groupwork.

Whole class interaction

In class discussion or 'open' pairwork, when two students talk across the classroom under your control, giving other students the opportunity to hear, there is no need to change the position of the seats.

For activities where the students need to talk individually with a number of other members of the class (in a mingle activity) it is better to move furniture to the edges of the room and create a space in the centre of the room for the students to move around in.

Pairwork

When all the students are working together in 'closed' pairs, outside your direct control, then they need to be able to look at each other. So either get them to move their chairs slightly towards each other or lift their chairs and work facing someone other than their neighbour, depending on the amount of time the activity is going to take. For some activities, where it is important that the students do not see what the other student is looking at or doing, it may be worth asking the students to work back to back.

Groupwork

How the seats are arranged depends on the size of the class, the size of the groups, the types of activity and the style of the furniture. For many activities, however, say with four students per group, the ideal is probably to have the students sit round desks cafe style, or to remove the desks altogether.

If possible, move furniture to make good use of the corners of the room. At all costs avoid having all members of a group on one side of a table; they need to face each other. Also avoid separating the members of a group too far, making it difficult for them to talk easily.

Individual work

If there is a lot of reading or writing involved, or when you set a test, it may be worth considering turning students away from one another to give them the freedom to concentrate, and stop them cheating in a test! The isolation students can usually get in a language laboratory is a clear example of how useful this can be.

The teacher's position and movement

In the classroom, students quickly become sensitive to whether you are sitting or standing and where you are placed. It tells them:

* what type of activity it is;

* what your role is;

* what the students' role is expected to be;

* who you are attending to and not attending to;

* whether you expect a student to talk to you or not.

When should you stand and when should you sit?

If you stand your presence is more obvious, you can be seen by all students, you can easily move around to the board or to individual students. However, it is tiring for you and can make the class seem very teacher-centred. If you sit behind a desk the traditional role of the teacher is reinforced; your authority is clearly stated but the desk cuts you off from the class. Also it is easy to have your materials well laid out and ready to hand before you. If you sit with the students, perhaps in a circle or horseshoe, you make the atmosphere more intimate and some of the attention is transferred from the teacher to the group.

It is often convenient to arrange the teacher's desk or table at right angles to the board with the teacher's chair close by and facing the class. Materials are then close at hand (sideward glances at the lesson plan can be easily made), and you can stand, sit or move around, as appropriate. Moving can usefully signal transition in a lesson. For example, you may sit when creating interest in a text the students are going to read, and then stand before you give a set of instructions for the next stage.

Activities with the teacher in front of the class

Some activities (for example, introducting new language, controlled practice, giving instructions) often demand that you are 'directing' what is going on. You need to stand at the front so that:

* you can see what everyone is doing',

* you can maintain control through gesture and eye contact;

* the students can see any visual aids or mime actions you use;

* you are mobile enough to help and correct individuals;

* the students can focus on you. They need to see your facial expressions and gestures, as well as your mouth, since these all reinforce what is being said. It is essential that students see your mouth to see how words are pronounced. If you stand with your back or side to the class you are depriving them of the best conditions for hearing and understanding.

Be careful, though, not to be totally frozen out there in front, or move around too much, distracting students by constantly pacing the floor, or develop habits like rocking backwards and forwards from one foot to the other.

Find the optimum position: not so close that you are on top of the students, nor so far away that they can't see or hear you; not blocking any essential visuals or writing on the board; not blocking students from communicating either with you or each other.

For example, position a excludes students at the sides. Position b focuses exclusively on a few students; position с removes control over part of the class and stops them from seeing the board. However, position d is ideal for a small group seated in a horseshoe shape, unless you are helping an individual or trying to make the board visible.

In a large class with the seats arranged in rows, position a weakens your control over the far side of the class, b can be rather menacing if you are talking to the class (unless you arc reading from the board or showing slides) and, since there can be no eye contact or gestural control, ineffective if you're directing language practice; whereas с is ideal for most 'up-front' teaching.

How can you help an individual student during these activities?

If the layout of the class allows it, move forward. Be careful, though. Unless you retain involvement, say by eye contact, you may well exclude the other students, which is all right only if they have got something else to do. When correcting one student involve the others by inviting them to provide the required language. If you are focusing on the correction of pronunciation involve the other students by getting them to repeat the sounds as well.

Don't loom over a student or sit on the student's desk; it is intimidating. If it is really individual help you are giving, you can try leaning forwards or crouching in front.

How can you write on the board without turning your back on the students?

You can't, and for that reason many teachers now prefer to use an overhead projector (OHP). However, there are a number of ways of cutting down time spent with your back to the students:

* Prepare cards with key vocabulary or sentences written on them. They can be attached quickly to the board by tape or a product such as 'Blu-Tack'.

* If you have a revolving board, prepare your board work before the lesson begins and reveal it at the appropriate time.

* When you do write on the board you can involve the students by asking them what comes next, how to spell new words, etc, provided you don't overdo it and slow the lesson down too much.

* Invite the students to write on the board while you monitor.

* Write on the board while they are doing a task - perhaps reading.

* If you have a lot to write up, do it in small chunks and turn round and face the class from time to time, perhaps to ask the students some questions.

(See also Chapter 3 Section 1: The board.)

Pairwork and groupwork

For this, either sit down on a chair, outside the communication circuits you have set up, and listen; or move around unobtrusively. The more you impose yourself the more students will look to you for help. If you make contributions, crouch next to the group or lean over at a tactful distance. Be brief and move on. If you are asked to give your ideas to a group's discussion you can participate as 'a student', not as 'an authority'.

Listening to a recording, watching a video or reading a text

When students are engaged in such activities they do not need to see you. In fact, moving around may be distracting. Don't feel that not showing yourself is not teaching. Use the time profitably: going over their names, filling in the register, getting ready for the next stage. If you do not think it will distract the students you can tidy up the board or add anything necessary for the next stage. If your students are reading a text you can read it too - only do so quite slowly, twice. You can use this as a rough yardstick to how long it will take them to read the text.

Task 1

Aim

To highlight the importance of where you stand in the classroom in relation to the class's activity. This task can be done during TP, during a real lesson, or using a video tape of a lesson, specially filmed to concentrate on the teacher.

Procedure

1 Make a rough grid of the classroom. For example:

2 Every two minutes, or more frequently if the lesson is a short one, make an entry in the appropriate square to show the approximate position of the teacher. The first entry is number 1, the second 2, and so on. The grid ends up looking something like this:

3 Indicate whether the position is appropriate by making a separate list of the numbers and marking them at the same time / (OK), X (wrong) or ? (not sure).

Comment

1 Like many observation tasks this can become tedious if it goes on too long, so it is probably better to limit it to twenty minutes.

2 Discussion should focus on how static or how mobile the teacher is and the effect this has on the students.

Chapter 2 Managing the class

Task 2

Aim

To help modify patterns of movement during class.

Procedure

1 Write your TP lesson plan leaving a broad margin down the right-hand side of the page.

2 In the margin, mark the approximate teaching position most appropriate to the activity, eg:

At the front of the class as the focus (for example, at the beginning/at the end of a lesson or while presenting language).

Seated unobtrusively at the front (for example, during silent reading or at the beginning of pairwork).

Attending to individuals or pairs of students

In control but not the focus (for example, while students are giving short presentations, or writing on the board). It might be better to sit down so as not to be too dominant.

Ask an observer to note your pattern of movement and compare predicted positions with reality after TP

Comment

1 Don't be unnecessarily exact. Restrict the positions to four or five typical positions and use simple symbols to indicate them.

2 The technique of using a right-hand margin as above can also be employed to concentrate on such areas as gesture, the relative amounts you and the students are expected to talk in the class, and types of activity. Symbols are much more striking and more easily read than words.

2 Classroom arrangement.

Task3

Aim

To consider the value of different classroom seating arrangements.

Procedure

1 With a partner, consider the advantages and disadvantages of the various seating arrangements shown below:

2 In particular, consider the following questions:

a How is the relationship between the teacher and the students likely to vary in each case? How will it affect the classroom atmosphere?

b Which arrangements are the most conducive to the teacher maintaining effective control over the class?

с In which situation will the teacher dominate most? What will the teacher's role be in each case?

d Which arrangement is most suitable for the students to be able to talk to each other?

e Which arrangements allow the students to communicate without interference from the teacher?

f How will the size of the group affect the arrangement? g What activities might be suitable for each arrangement?

Task 4

Aim

To help bring out some of the differences seating arrangements can make.

Procedure

1 Work out three or four different seating arrangements for a class you know.

2 Discuss these with someone else who knows the class, going into detail about individual students and the activities you can do with them.

3 Try them out with the class, explaining beforehand what you are doing.

4 Ask the class to rank the different arrangements on scales of 1-5 (so 1 = easy to talk to partner, 5 = difficult to talk to partner; 1= easy to see teacher and board, 5 = difficult to see teacher and board). Other considerations include: ease with which written work, class discussion, open pairwork can be conducted.

Comment

You should ensure you choose a class whose English is good enough, although in a monolingual group any discussion could be in the mother tongue.

Task 5

Aim

To discover first-hand the effect of different seating arrangements.

Procedure

1 Make a note of and discuss with a partner the different seating arrangements on your training course for different types of sessions.

2 Choose at least one and give grades from 1-5 on a chart like the following:



Comment

The trainer can help such discussions by arranging the seating in a variety of ways. Some trainers may wish to do this systematically over a number of sessions.

3. Attention spread

A class, no matter how big it is, is made up of individuals, most of whom want to be listened to or addressed by the teacher directly. Ideally all students should:

* be given the opportunity to repeat any new language;

* have their errors corrected;

* have individualized tasks if necessary;

* feel that they have contributed to the class in more or less equal amounts, even though what they contribute will inevitably be different.

Obviously the larger the class the more difficult the ideal is to achieve. Sometimes in large classes it might be only possible to give the briefest acknowledgement: a smile, a gesture, a word of encouragement. Even that, though, is worth it. In smaller classes you should be able to give more individual attention to everyone. Use eye contact to draw in all the students when you are directing them together as a class. (See Section 1: Use of eye contact, gesture and the voice.) Also use chorus repetition work, particularly in large classes. Chorus work ensures that at least everyone repeats new language and everyone is getting equal though not individual attention.

How can you give individual attention?

There are a number of occasions when you give individual attention, depending on the stage of the lesson or on the activity: when you are asking questions, eliciting contributions, getting them to repeat, monitoring, correcting, giving help, etc.

When giving individual attention:

* Make sure you know all the students' names so you don't just call on those whose names you know.

* Dot about. Don't go round in a line. It's too predictable; students switch off until it's their turn to contribute. It doesn't matter sometimes if the same student is called on twice. It keeps the class on its toes.

* Involve students who are not being dealt with directly as much as possible. For example, encourage peer correction. (See Chapter 7 Section 2: Correction techniques.)

* Don't teach exclusively to either the good or the weak students. Give the good students difficult questions and tasks and the others easier ones, if possible without it being obvious. If you are giving controlled oral practice go to the weaker students after the stronger so they have more opportunities to hear the target language.

* Spend longer with students who don't understand or can't do what is expected if necessary, but try to keep the others occupied while you do so by setting them a task to be getting on with.

* Don't let individual students 'hog' your attention. If you are eliciting from the class use the students' names to let them know who you want to speak. If students persistently shout out, quieten them firmly with a word or gesture, and make it clear that it is someone else's turn.

* Remember to step back and include students at the edge of any seating arrangement. They're easy to forget, particularly those in the front, and to the side.

The sixth sense of knowing who has said what when and knowing when you have given enough individual attention without cither dissatisfying the individuals concerned or boring the group, only really comes with experience. You should, though, be conscious of the need to develop it.

What about students who don't want 'public' attention?

During activities that don't involve controlled language practice or depend on the involvement of everyone, it may be better to let students who don't wish to contribute remain silent. Listening and reflection play an important part in the way many students learn a language. If students feel they are likely to be 'picked on' at random they will quickly learn not to make eye contact. By lowering their heads or looking away they may miss useful information. It may be easier for them and you if students who wish to contribute indicate (perhaps by raising their hands).

Attention during pairwork and groupwork

During pairwork and groupwork students cannot expect and often do not need constant attention from the teacher. Provided the activity has been set up well, the teacher is freed to monitor students¹ performance in order to give individual feedback later. Groupwork can also provide an opportunity for teachers to take individuals aside and give them specific (perhaps remedial) help.

Task l

Aim

To increase awareness of the extent to which attention is being spread around the class.

Procedure

1 Before TP ask someone observing you to make a chart like the one on p27, allowing one box per student.

2 Ask the person to make a mark in each box when a student is addressed or invited to contribute.

3 After the lesson, say where you feel attention was focused and who you thought the weak and the strong students were.

4 Ask the person who observed to show you the chart and discuss the results.

Comment

A variation of this activity is to ask an observer to make a list of the students' names and

to put a mark next to each name every time it is used by the teacher.

Task 2

Aim

To help spread attention randomly between individual students and yet evenly round the class.

Procedure

1 Before TP write out a list of the students' names in random order (not the order they sit in).

2 During one predetermined part of the lesson, go down the list and make sure everyone is included. If necessary, go through it more than once, backwards as well as forwards.

4. Teacher talk and student talk

Teacher talk

To a large extent the balance between TTT (teacher talking time) and STT (student talking time) depends on the type of lesson and activities involved, and on the level of the students. In the classroom you will usually speak more when:

* presenting, clarifying, checking, modelling new or revised language;

* setting up activities or giving instructions and feedback;

* providing language input: for example, when telling a story;

* establishing rapport by chatting: for example, about what the students did at the weekend, what you are planning to do in the evening, etc.

What are the advantages of teacher talk?

1 The teacher (whether English is his/her first or second language) is a very valuable source of language used in an authentic situation, particularly if the students are studying in a country in which English is not the first language. That is one reason for trying to avoid using the students' mother tongue if possible. (However, see Section 9: The monolingual and the multilingual class.) Language in the classroom is genuinely communicative. You can react naturally to the students and they will often pick up the everyday words and expressions that you use.

2 Teacher talk is needed for good classroom management - to give clear instructions, to tell the students what to expect, to call on students by name, etc. There is nothing artificial about a situation that involves you praising a student or asking another to try again.

3 You can provide authentic listening texts for your students. It is not always necessary to play a recording of an account, an anecdote or a joke if you can provide the real thing.

4 You can often provide the best model for new language. The students can both hear and see you clearly. It is often better for you to model the language than use a recording. This is particularly true when the focus is on pronunciation, providing you are consistent.

5 You can explain something about the language that is being learned in a helpful and reassuring way, and check the students' understanding.

What are the disadvantages of teacher talk?

1 The aim of most language classes is usually to get the students using the language. When you

talk too much then the chances are the students aren't being given maximum opportunity to talk.

2 It is also likely that you won't be listening to the students closely enough, thinking too much about what you're going to say next.

3 If you talk 'for' the students they will think you don't appreciate their efforts and will become demotivated.

4 There is a danger, especially at lower levels, that the language you use for explanation is more difficult to understand than the language being learned.

How can you help the students understand what you say?

With experience you will automatically 'grade' your language - adapt the way you speak, your vocabulary and use of structures to the level of the students you are teaching.

Think about your speed of delivery, especially if you are providing a model of the target language. Don't gabble, but don't allow a class to get used to an unnaturally slow delivery - for example, saying lam instead of/'m, or pronouncing an as /aen/ rather than with the weak form /эп/. It may help them in the short run but not in the long run, as native speakers don't speak like that! Use pauses more, if necessary, but keep the contractions and the natural linking of words.

Try to choose your language carefully. Consider your students¹ backgrounds. The word advertisement, at least in writing, will be understood by French students even before they have learned it. Not so by Japanese students. Neither group, however, may understand the abbreviation ad. Short words are not necessarily easier -often the opposite is true, (See Chapter 6 Section 2: Vocabulary.) There are many international words such as hotel, Coca-Cola, disc that nearly all students understand. These can be a great help sometimes when practising a new structure: they give a comfortable feeling of familiarity.

Find out what your students find easy and difficult to understand and adapt your language to them. If you are teaching a class of doctors, you will soon discover that their professional knowledge will contribute considerably to their understanding of certain specialized words and phrases.

If necessary, simplify your language. For example:

T: What have you got for number six, Eric?

S: (Silence)

T: Number six, what did you write, Eric?

S: (Silence)

T: Number six, Eric?

Give the students time to do what you ask them. Often the students do understand and need a bit of time. In some cultures it is normal to allow a noticeable pause before a response. If you are nervous and concerned not to let the pace of the lesson flag, it is not always easy to remember to hold yourself back.

It may be helpful at first for you to plan the language you are going to use in the classroom. With low-level students it may be worth writing down the exact words you are going to use for such things as instructions, explanation or 'concept' checking questions (see the glossary).

How can you avoid unnecessary and unhelpful TTT?

* Choose language the students already know to give instructions and explanation. The words and structures should generally be below the level of the language being 'taught'.

* Avoid jargon such as 'concept checking¹, 'eliciting' and other 'teacher language¹.

* Don't describe your every intention. Indicating a major change of activity for the students is acceptable: All right, now we're going to write a letter together is fine; whereas revealing all your strategies isn't - Now I'm going to check your

4 Teacher talk and student talk

comprehension is information the students don't need to know. It sounds heavy and pedantic and may worry some students who don't know what you mean.

* Avoid running commentaries on your lesson, both to yourself and your students: I didn't explain that very well, did I? It's distracting and makes you seem more interested in your 'performance' than in the students.

* Don't use ten words where one will do. You may feel it is more polite to say / wonder if you ^yd mind repeating this, but Repeat with an appropriate gesture, using a friendly tone of voice, is much quicker, more efficient and less confusing for students. When presenting new language a clear context is usually a much better way of conveying meaning than a long explanation. (See Chapter 6 Section 1: Structures: grammar and functions.)

* Don't use words at all where a gesture, mime, an object or a picture can convey the meaning quickly and unambiguously. (See Chapter 6 Section 2: Vocabulary.)

* Don't repeat yourself unless you have to - asking questions twice can be a nervous habit. Don't panic at the silence, wait; students may need time to process the question.

* Don't automatically repeat or 'echo' what the students say - as in this exchange:

SI: What's Susan doing?

S2: She's having lunch

T: Yes, she's having lunch.

If the teacher repeats Student 2's response the other students will make no effort to understand Student 2 - they'll wait until the teacher 'interprets' it. This devalues Student 2's efforts and decreases student/student interaction. Echoing increases TTT, slows down the pace of a lesson and gives the impression of a teacher-dominated class.

Task l

Aim

To help identify different degrees of complexity in language.

Procedure

1 Rank the following instructions according to how easy they are to understand. What's his name?

Could you tell me what his name is?

His name. Please.

Ask him what his name is.

Ask 'What's your name?'

2 Compare your ranking with someone else's in the group and discuss why one instruction is more difficult than the other.

Task 2

Aim

To help simplify language for classroom use.

Procedure

Look at the following questions:

What do you think this object's called?

What might he be getting up to?

I wonder if you can remember where it was she was going?

What do you imagine's going to happen next?

Write down simpler ways of saying the same thing and compare your questions with someone else's.

Task3

Aim

To simplify language for classroom use and to recognize the value of gesture and mime.

Procedure

1 Work with two others in your group. One should pretend to have almost no English. If possible, record the exercise.

2 Tell the proficient user of English how to do something, eg change a tyre, make an omelette.

3 Tell the 'elementary' speaker how to do the same thing in simpler language.

4 Compare the language used for both, possibly referring to the recording.

Comment

Try giving the instructions without using your hands. Then think about how you could use gesture and mime to make the instructions clearer.

Task 4

Aim

To create an awareness of how everyday language that is easily understood by the proficient speaker can be difficult forthe low-level learner.

Procedure

1 Get hold of a set of instructions for something relatively simple like an everyday electrical appliance.

2 With another member of your group, discuss the likely difficulties that low-level students might have.

3 Write the instructions again, trying to eliminate the difficulties.

4 Compare your results with others in the group.

5 If you can, try out the instructions on an elementary student.

Comment

You can go through the same procedure with the instructions in a textbook aimed at high-level students. Then look at the instructions used in a book aimed at low-level students. Do you think the authors have managed to grade the language?

5. Eliciting, giving instructions and setting up activities

Eliciting

Eliciting is when the teacher brings out student knowledge, suggestions and ideas. You can do this by asking questions and by encouraging and guiding contributions. By eliciting you can use a little 'teacher talking time' to increase 'student talking time'. Finding out what the students already know and getting a few ideas from the students about a context or some vocabulary related to it is a useful way of setting up an activity, whether it be a roleplay, a game, a listening task, the introduction of a new language structure, etc.

What are the advantages of eliciting?

By eliciting you:

* get the students involved and interested;

* bring relevant information to the front of their minds;

* increase the amount they talk;

* help them take responsibility for their own learning. Eliciting gives members of a class the necessary and motivating feeling of being encouraged to invest part of themselves, give some of their opinions and contribute some of their knowledge so that what happens seems to depend partly on the students themselves;

* get crucial information about what the students already know and can use in relation to the language you are focusing on. This helps you to avoid teaching what they already know and helps you to assess how far students are with you as you go through the lesson.

What are the disadvantages?

* Eliciting can take time and if time is short you may want to /e//the students and quickly check they understand.

* You can't elicit something the students don't know in the first place. You can spend ages trying to elicit language which is just not there - this leads to frustration on your part and confusion and feelings of inadequacy on the part of the students.

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