Teach English in Yangquanqu Zhen - Luliang Shi

Classroom management is a critical skill that all teachers must learn to master. A classroom is meant to be a fun, safe and orderly environment, conducive to learning. The teacher being the leader or facilitator of English instruction is responsible for creating and maintaining such an atmosphere. A good teacher must know how to keep the balance between freedom, creativity, humor and openness with studiousness, respect, discipline, and organization. There are a variety of aspects involved in effectively managing a classroom. The first facet concerns the physical movements and personal projection of the teacher such as eye contact, gesture and voice modulation. All three of these are requisites for building good rapport with students as well as holding class interest and attention. An educator must maintain eye contact with his/her students while teaching in order to hold student attention, maintain control and monitor students’ comprehension. It is also utilized for conveying cues, such as the accuracy of answers and to indicate who is to respond. It is important to note however, that eye contact is unfavorable for student-centered activities like group or pair works. Gestures are equally as important in captivating students, ensuring understanding and encouraging participation. Body language is one of the key instruments of elucidation for teachers to get their points across, especially since the language of instruction (English) is not native to the students. Similarly, voice is another important tool available to a language teacher. The manner in which a professor speaks serves as an example to his/her students on how to pronounce words accurately, thus it is imperative that English teachers speak with clarity, proper diction and correct pronunciation. Moreover, an educator’s voice is his/her means of explaining language points; hence one must always speak loudly, clearly and with good projection. Grouping Students is another facet of classroom management. It entails careful consideration towards class size, classroom layout and type of activity in order to employ the most appropriate grouping for the occasion. Individual work is beneficial in that it encourages self-reliance and allows teachers to closely monitor students’ individual progress as well as difficulties and address them accordingly. However, it restricts student talk time and interaction. Pair work is extremely advantageous with regards to student talk time, stronger students helping weaker ones, providing a safer, more private space for students to discuss ideas prior to class sharing. Furthermore, it is relatively easy for teachers to manage and monitor pairs at work. Although, the class can become quite noisy with chatter and is at greater risk of students switching back to their native tongues. Groupwork also promotes verbal practice of the language, cooperation and reduces personal conflict between students. Nevertheless, it can be time consuming to organize and often introduces more noise and rowdiness into the classroom. Additionally, responsibility in groups becomes diffused and can result in some students slacking off and others being forced to work harder to compensate for them. Finally, whole-class grouping is quick to organize and allows the teacher to maintain control over an entire group at once. It increases student-student interaction but decreases their talk time greatly. Another component is classroom arrangement. For this, it is important to take the following into consideration: available space, chair and table types, student age group, nationality, student personalities as well as activity types. Due to the dependence on these details, seating arrangement may be changed on a case-to-case basis. Orderly rows, circles and horseshoes and separate tables are just some examples of class arrangements. A further aspect to consider is the teacher’s position in the classroom. Standing increases control and visibility, but is more taxing for the teacher and more intimidating for students. It should be used for language presentation and relaying instructions. A teacher should maintain a sitting position whilst facilitating reading activities, controlled practice and the activate stages of the lesson; as it makes students feel more at ease as well as increases freedom and intimacy within the classroom. When monitoring tasks, the instructor should move around the class and check on students, while being cautious not to disrupt their work. Writing on the board is an indispensible aspect of teaching but must be managed efficiently within a classroom setting. A teacher should strategize on how best to minimize board-writing time, as it reduces student interest and connection with the professor. Some helpful tips are to write on the board before students come in or while occupied, use other tools such as an overhead projector, PowerPoint presentation, visual aids or flashcards and lastly to write and speak in intervals so as not to leave ones back to the class for too long. Apart from attending to the class as a whole, a teacher must also give time and importance to individuals. Weaker students require more attention and patience but should not be allowed to consume all of a teacher’s regard; it should always be equally distributed. Similarly, no one student or group of students should be singled out or left out of class activities due to their strength or weakness in a language point. When giving instructions teachers should make it as simple as possible. He/she should make use of the same sets of words instead of introducing new more complicated ones. Hand motions and acting out an instruction are also helpful in explaining its meaning. Moreover, comprehension of instructions should be directly evaluated prior to commencement of an activity. Ultimately, establishing rapport is one of the main determinants of good classroom management. Students respond more positively, are more cooperative and obedient to teachers they like and feel comfortable with. Tips for building rapport are commencing the course with introductions to allow students and teacher to develop familiarity. Maintain a helpful, open, personable and approachable demeanor and conduct oneself respectably at all times. Rapport also boosts a teacher’s authority to assert discipline in class. Withal, classroom management is a crucial skill that is fundamental to the profession of English Teaching and must be mastered with proper training and extensive practice.