Teach English in Longchuan Zhen - Chuxiong Yizu Zizhizhou

This unit focuses on classroom management, which is the skill of organizing the class, individual students pithing that class and what takes place within the class. In terms of teachers, they have to use resources like eyes, voice, and gesture in their class. First, eyes can be used to hold attention, show when something is correct, and encourage students. Voice has to be careful depending on the teaching style and the level of students. Language is used at the level teachers are teaching and they should speak slowly and clearly. Gesture is used to reduce teacher talk time, convey meaning, and add visual interest to students. It is also used to change the pace of the lesson. Grouping students for class actives consists of whole class, individuals and pair-work. They all have pros and cons respectively. For whole class, it can give a sense of belonging, allow for whole group interaction and be good for control, but it can reduce STT, ‘off-putting’ for shy students and difficult to manage activities. To deal with these negatives, the different style of grouping is made to ‘Individuals’. This arrangement of the class allows the teacher to respond to individuals and to become more self-reliant. However, the drawbacks of this is little chance of s/s interaction. Also, it creates more pressure to produce their answers. Therefore, ‘pair-work’ arrangement is widely used in most classrooms. This grouping gives many opportunities to increase STT and safer environment to students. The disadvantage is that pair-work may not ‘get on’ with their partner. using the students’ names is also important because it helps organize the class, acknowledge, indicate who should respond and put their name at the end of a question, which allows students to think about the question until the name is called. when it comes to classroom arrangement, there are some factors considered in advance. Classroom arrangement is dependent on age of the students, physical space, material available like chairs, desks, and student’s’ personalities. In seating arrangement, there are row, semi-circle, and individual seating style. Row seating allows the teacher to move freely and students have a clear view of the teacher, but it is difficult to arrange for whole class activities and it is very formal feel. Semi-circle style makes teachers appear less dominant and it is easy to set up pair work. But, the position of the teacher is very important because some students are no able to see the teacher’s motion. The final individual seating has potential advantage like easiness to give individual attention and being good for ‘lecture’. the potential disadvantages is that it is difficulty to maintain eye contact and the interaction of student to student. They are the main tree seating arrangement. There are classroom management issues like writing on the board, giving individual attention, the use of TTT, giving instructions, rapport building , and discipline. First, in terms of writing on the board, teachers use pre-prepared material, ask students to write for you, put work up before the class starts and cover it and use study activity time to write information on the board. The next issue is giving individual attention. Teachers don’t ask questions in a predictable order. They don’t allow individuals to dominate and use student names when asking questions. Students’ names should be put at the end of the questions. All students should be allowed to answer when they can. Also, teachers don’t force students to answer. When considering teacher talk time, the advantage of TTT is teachers are usually the only real model for the correct use of language. However, overusing TTT reduces the opportunity for STT. Then, how can we reduce TTT? First, by using mime, gesture and picture, etc., language at their level and avoiding jargon and elaboration, TTT can be reduced. The core key point is to keep it simple !. Another consideration is giving instructions. In order for students to carry out their activity, teachers give clear and unambiguous instruction. It can be achieved by using simple language and doing a visual demonstration of the activity rather than explaining it. And common terms as often as possible like look, listen, your partner, think, etc. should be used for students’ clear understanding. In order to check understanding of students, ask them what they are going to do. If they don’t answer, then we need go back and then demonstrate once again. Another consideration is to build and maintain rapport. At the start of the course, make a name card which everyone can see, and 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 and allow students to correct each other. The final consideration is disciple within the classroom. Teachers should always be seen to be fair. They are punctual. and well prepared. They don’t make threats without carrying them out and they show their students respect. If teachers give homework, take it in, mark and return it. Finally, they always should be enthusiastic in their teaching. When behavior problems take place, teachers always act immediately before the problem can get worse. it is ideal to use nonverbal techniques first and keep calm and never shout. All the problems have to be addressed within the school discipline code. And it is good to try to humor where possible.