Antar Abdellah

Managing a classroom means, among other things, that you have to set rules and procedures of conduct to your students. This includes: 2

 Eye contact  Gestures & expressions  position & movement  Attention spread  Voice  Meta language  Rapport  Seating arrangement  Pair & group work   Giving instructions  Monitoring  Using Ss’ names  Teacher talk  Questioning techniques  Elicitation  Correcting mistakes 3

1. Eye- contact A look can convey ` warning `, ` exclamation `, ` agreement `, ` disapproval `, ` stop talking `..etc. The main uses of eye contact in the language classroom are: 4

 to indicate to the student that you want to talk to him or you want him to do something.  to convey to the student who is talking to (stop talking).  to take place of naming students, for example when conducting a fast drill. 5

A teacher needs to look at the students to notice their reactions. Do they understand? Are they enjoying the lesson? Are they tired? Are they bored? Does anyone want to ask a question or make a comment ? etc. 6

2: uses of gesture and facial expression Gestures and facial expression help us get across what we want to say.  convey meaning, if students do not understand the word (tall) or (short) or (fat), a gesture of your may help get the meaning across.  manage the class, example (raise hands or clap) means: stop what you are doing, (hand cupped behind the ear) means : listen, etc. They are used to: 7

3: Position and Movement Your position in class tells your students many things depending on where you are in class:  at the front of class means that you are presenting the new language, giving controlled practice, or giving instructions. 8

Be careful, though, not to: Be careful, though, not to: be totally frozen out there in front move around too much, distracting the students. Develop habits. Like rocking backwards and forwards from one foot to the other.  find the optimum position not so close that you are on the top of the students, nor So far away that they can not see or hear you. 9

4: Attention Spread All students want to be given a due attention or acknowledgement when they participate in the learning activities Any time you give individual students attention, e.g. when you are asking questions, giving help, getting them to repeat, correcting, etc: involve all students as appropriate; draw out the silent students, do not teach exclusively to either the good or the weak students ; spend longer on students who do not understand or can not do what is expected; etc. 10

5: Using the Voice You can use voice to gain students attention, or to maintain attention, etc… For example use voice to get students attention when: students are standing around at the beginning of a lesson, talking; when you want to stop a group activity, when there is a lot of general noise and you want to regain control. 11

Voice varies according to the activity, the size of class, the size of the room, etc. When talking to individuals, pairs or groups, we reduce the volume, lower the pitch and narrow the range. When addressing a large group in a large room the opposite usually takes place. Don’t speak like this man Or like this man. 12

6: Meta language and the amount of talk Meta language is the language you use in the classroom in order to explain things, give instructions, to praise, or to correct – in other words, all the language that is not being (taught). 13

It is advisable that you give your students the chance to talk much while you talk little. Students, however, learn a lot from meta language because it is genuinely communicative language. 14

7: Rapport You can encourage an effective rapport in your class by : Showing personal interest in the students both inside and outside the classroom by finding out about their opinions, their attitudes and their day-to-day life when they are not learning English. Asking for comments on the classes. Responding and reacting to what students say. 15

8: Seating Arrangement If you are not restricted by having fixed chairs and tables, a U-shaped arrangement will allow easy, face-to-face contact between the students and between you and the students. 16

8.1 Pair Work: When two students talk across the classroom under your control, giving other students the opportunity to hear, the activity is known as (open pair work) and you have no reason to change the position of the seats. But in (closed pair work) where students are working together in pairs, outside your direct control, then they need to be able to look at each other, so you either get them to turn their chairs slightly towards each other, or lift their chairs and work facing someone other than their neighbour. 17

8.2. Group Work: 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, say with four students per group, you can make students sit around desks as the figure below : 18

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8.3: Individual Work : If there is a lot of reading and writing involved, it may be worth considering turning students away from each other to give them the freedom to concentrate. 20

9. Giving Instructions In giving instructions in class, economy and precision are required. Frequently, showing what to do is more effective than telling what to do. 21

9.1.Controlled Practice Activities Controlled practice activities such as drills, is so obvious that instructions are unnecessary. Your instructions will need to be as simple as possible. Students must know what they are expected to do immediately. Classroom instructions are usually best learned directly as meta language for an exercise, Example, Tell me, Repeat, everybody, All together, Try again, look at the board, turn to page ….and so on. 22

If your students do not understand the instructions, support instructions with pictures, physical guidance and gestures wherever possible 23

10. Monitoring When students are engaged in an activity independent of you, you may need to keep an ear on what they are saying or a glance at what they are writing. 24

During group or pair work the aim is often to encourage fluent, uninterrupted communication, therefore :  stand back once you have set up the activity and students got on with it.  Quickly check.  Don’t interrupt, unless the group has misunderstood what is supposed to be done.  Be easily accessible.  Encourage them during the activity. 25

11. Using Student’s Names Using student’s names right from the beginning ( using students’ names gives them the feeling that the teacher sees them as individuals, So: learn your student’s names right from the beginning. 26

12. Teacher Talk : Teaching means giving information, so some teachers,talk a lot in language learning classes. this is because teachers have the facts and they need to pass this knowledge of language to their students But If the teacher presents all materials by talking, the students will not learn to communicate well. 27

Students therefore need plenty of speaking practice, so teachers must learn to talk less in class and to plan how and when students can have more speaking practice 28

13. Questioning Techniques : Here are some ways of questioning which will help your students understand and speak English more easily Closed Questions  Yes/ no questions EX. Did the man climb slowly out of the boat at midnight ?  Or – Questions Ex. Did the man walk slowly or quickly up the beach ? 29

13.2 Open Questions : A more helpful but more challenging question technique is to ask open questions they usually start with “ What ……” “ when …..” “ Why ……” “ Where ……..” “ Who …….” “ How …….” And Example : Why did the man climb slowly out of the boat ? 30

13.3 Elicitation Elicitation is when the teacher asks a series of simple questions that lead the students towards finding the answer for themselves. For example : “ What do you think the old man was feeling ? or What would you do in the same situation, if you were that old man ? Or Why do you think this ? 31

14.Correction and Marking : There are some disadvantages of marking and correcting every mistake. This is because marking :  Can take a long time.  Can be demotivateing if student’s work is covered with red marks. 32

You can teach your students a correction code. Knowing this code prevents students relying on the teacher to correct everything and saves the teacher time in correcting every mistake. 33

 Eye contact  Gestures & expressions  position & movement  Attention spread  Voice  Meta language  Rapport  Seating arrangement  Pair & group work   Giving instructions  Monitoring  Using Ss’ names  Teacher talk  Questioning techniques  Elicitation  Correcting mistakes 34