CePa2014
In-Service Training
Session 2
Managing
Children Positively- Part B
Managing Children
Positively was presented in two sessions. Session one covered the following
topics:
1)
motivation;
2)
student engagement;
3)
classroom control;
4)
and discipline.
In session 2 the
following topics were discussed and explored:
1) practical tips for
effective classroom discipline;
2) components or parts
in a lesson;
3) sequence planning
- i.e. how to go from more controlled
activities to free production;
4) the use ofstirrers,
settlers and fillers to provide variety in each lesson.
Effective Classroom Discipline
Teachers were given a
copy of the list below and in groups were asked to choose ten items they
considered essential ingredients of a disciplined classroom. Each group presented
their list and gave reasons for their selection.
Practical hints for teachers on classroom discipline
- Start by being firm with your students, you can relax later.
- Get silence before you start speaking to the class.
- Know and use the students' names.
- Prepare lessons thoroughly.
- Be mobile, walk around the class.
- Speak clearly.
- Make sure your instructions are clear.
- Have extra material prepared (slower/faster-working students).
- Look art the class when speaking, learn how to "scan".
- Make work appropriate to pupils' age, ability, cultural background.
- Time your lesson to fit the available period.
- Vary your teaching techniques.
- Anticipate discipline problems and act quickly.
- Avoid confrontations.
- Clarify fixed rules and be consistent in applying them.
- Treat students' with respect.
- Use humour constructively.
- Be warm and friendly with the students.
What is a lesson?
& Features of a Good Lesson
WHAT IS A LESSON?
"It is not a haphazard collection of more or less interesting items, but a progression of interrrelated activities which reinforce and consolidate each other in establishing the learning towards the teacher is directing all efforts."
(Rivers, 1981)
WHAT IS A LESSON?
"A lesson is a type of organized social event that occurs in virtually all cultures. Lessons in different places may vary in topic, time and place, atmosphere, methodology and materials, but they all, essentially, are concerned with learning as their main objective, involve the participation of learners and teachers and they are pre-scheduled as regards time, place and membership."
(Ur, 1996)
The two slides shown
above were presented and the definitions discussed. In Rivers' definition the
words: HAPHAZARD – PROGRESSION and INTERRELATED ACTIVITIES were highlighted and
examples were given.
Features of a good lesson
Teachers were asked
to mention characteristics of a good lesson and to support their answers.
Examples and practical tips were given.
FEATURES OF A GOOD LESSON
- It is adaptable and flexible.
- It has clear objectives.
- It has a variety of skills, activities and materials.
- It caters for individual learning styles.
- It has intresting and enjoyable content.
- It has an appropiate level of challenge.
- It is well-planned, well-prepared an well-timed.
Lesson Framework
FRAMEWORK OF A LESSON
A lesson should have:
- a beggining,
- a middle,
-and an end.
Factors to be taken into consideration when planning a
sequence of activities
The way you select and sequence activities will depend on different factors.
- Types of activities.
- Types of interaction.
- Language skills.
- Difficulty.
- Level of pupils' responsibility.
- Classroom arrangement.
- Materials.
Planning a sequence – Sample Tasks
Sample A
Target Language: have got - affirmative
Aim: to talk
about possession
ü Task 1: revision of toys through
a guessing game or through scrambled words accompanied by the corresponding
visual.
ü
Task 2: a spaghetti matching
task in which students have to match pictures of children with their new toys
and complete the speech balloons,eg :
ü Task 3: Pass the Bag game.
There is a bag filled with small toys or pictures of toys.This bag is passed
round. Background music is played. When the music stops, the child who has just
received the bag has to take out an object and say “Look, I’ve got a car, etc.
ü
Task 4: A show and tell activity. Students imagine it is their birthday and
they have received three new toys. They draw these toys on a sheet of paper and
then they stand up and show their new toys to the class. Each has to say the
toys they have got.
Sample B
Target Language: simple present –
affirmative
Aim: to
describe one's daily routine.
ü Task 1: students revise
everyday activities through a matching task or a miming task.
ü Task 2: students receive a
list of everyday activities and they have to sequence them to show a logical
order. Example: they receive have lunch – go to school – get up – have
breakfast, go home and they have to order and say “ I get up, then I have
breakfast, etc”.
ü Task 3: balls galore
(students get balls made of newspaper sheets. On each sheet there are words
that make up a sentence. Students rearrange the words to make a logical
sentence.Balls galore is a variation of the typical task “order the words”.
Students read the sentences aloud.
Example: get up –
every – I – day – early. These words make up the sentence “I get up early every
day”. A possible follow up may be to ask students to say if the sentences
describe their real everyday routine. Students may say “This is true for me or
this is right or this is not true, etc” If the sentences do not reflect their
routines they may change one part in order to describe what they usually do everyday.
ü Task 4: Students have to
choose their favourite day in the week and describe what they usually do on
that day.
ü Task 5: “ A Crazy Day”
Students describe a crazy day in their lives in which they do different
activities from their usual routine.
Stirrers, Settlers and Fillers to add variety
· TPR activities
·
Simon Says
· Think fast and give
me five…. ( and give me five colours,
and give me five words that start with S, etc)
· Categorizing (the
teacher writes five categories on the board such as FOOD – TOYS – FEELINGS –
SCHOOL SUBJECTS – SCHOOL OBJECTS, etc and in groups students have to write as
many words as they know for each category. It is important to set a time limit.
· Odd one out (students
in groups prepare examples for other groups to solve).
·
Coffepotting (the
teacher chooses a verb but does not tell the class. Students have to ask
questions to guess the verb using the word “coffeepot” to replace the unknown
verb. Example: if the verb is COOK, possible questions may be “Do you like
coffeepotting?” “ Do you coffeepot everyday?” “Do you coffeepot alone?”, etc.
This is an excellent activitiy to practice asking questions.
·
Word Jar: all new
words are written on slips and put in a jar. In the last minutes, students draw
a word out of the jar and are asked to read the word, to spell the word, to
give a sentence using the word, etc.
·
Unfinished sentences:
the teacher writes a beginning of a sentence and students are asked to finish
it with their own ideas. It is a good stirrer as students like to talk about
themselves. Possible beginnings may be “ Myfavourite food is……” I love…….” “I am
always happy when…..”
·
Beat the clock: the
teacher uses a timer and challenges the class to get ready to leave in less
than two minutes. Students do things fast and focused in order to beat the
clock and finish before the alarm goes off.
·
Secret Trash: this is
a good activity to tidy up before leaving. The teacher tells the class that she
has chosen her secret trash (a piece of paper on the floor or a sweet wrapper,
etc). Students have to pick up all the papers they see on the floor. The
student who finally picks up the paper chosen by the teacher in secret is the
winner of the day.
Bibliography:
Brewster J., Ellis G., Girard D. (1992) The
Primary English Teacher’s Guide. Penguin English Guides.
Ur, P. (1996) A Course in Language
Teaching. Cambridge: CUP.
Harmer, J. (2007) How to teach English.Pearson.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CePa 2014
In-Service
Training
Session
1
Managing Children Positively-
Part A
This topic will be covered in two training sessions:
Part A will focus on:
1) motivation.
2) student engagement&
classroom control.
3) discipline.
Part B will cover:
4) organizing a good
lesson.
5) planning a sequence
– from a more controlled activity to free production.
6) usingstirrers,
settlers and fillers to provide variety in each lesson.
PART A
1)
MOTIVATION
Motivation is an internal drive that directs behaviour towards some end.It
is a desire to act, to participate, to do things to achieve a goal.
·
Motivation & Learning
According to Dornyei (1998:117), “motivation has been widely accepted as
one of the key factors that influence the rate and success of second/foreign
language learning”. It is key to learning. Teachers can play a pivotal role in
creating and /or increasing motivation in students.
·
Factors for lack of motivation
- history of failure or fear of failure;
- lack of challenge in the material presented;
- lack of meaning in the text presented (zero connection with students'
lives and realities);
- poor bonding with teacher or peers;
- and/or emotional problems.
·
Simple ways to motivate your students:
A) withyounger students
- through a new song, chant or rap.
Students learn the words and then they can act it out.
- through a new game or a different version of an "oldie".
Positive competition is always good motivator.
- through a simple project based on a topic appealing to students (this
year´s world cup, a pop band, a famous sportsperson, etc).
- bychoosing a class pet and organizing daily tasks around it.
B)with older students:
- by choosing a song by their favourite pop band andpreparing a video
clip with it.
- by completing a project about a topical issue suitable for their age
and interests.
- by playing simple games such as "English in Spanish"
(students have to list all the English words they know that are used in Spanish
and create posters or simple notices with them).
- by introducing a simple "Mentor Programme" in which older
students visit younger kids and prepare games or activities to do with them inorder
to recycle a vocabulary area younger kids have already learnt.
2)
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
Find below details of two video clips worth watching:
- How to engage students in our lessons, by Rob Plevin.
In this video Rob Plevin explores three different areas. See chart below
and listen to what he says about each of them.
SENSE
OF EMPOWERMENT SENSE OF BELONGING FUN
success cooperation active learning
achievement teamwork variety
recognition community humour
praise relationships novelty
- How to motivate the unmotivated, a talk by Ken Wilson for the British
Council.
2)
CLASSROOM
MANAGEMENT
The main aim of managing children positively is to create a happy
working environment in which the norms and rules of behavior are respected and
childrenare engaged and motivated to learn.
According to Carol Read, in order to establish clear working parameters
when you meet a new class you may find it useful to consider the seven
"Rs":
Relationship with your
students: teachers should establish a healthy and happy working environment.
Points to take into account in order to build a good relationship:
-
It is important to learn and use students’ names.
-
Teachers should listen to what children have to say
and be polite and courteous (should smile frequently, use “Please”, “Thank you”
at all times).
-
It is essential to build up children’s self esteem and
confidence.
-
Teachers should praise appropriately and encourage
participation and effort.
-
Humourand fun must be present in the lessons.
Rules:teachers should
have few rules and make these clear at the beginning of the school year. Rules
should be expressed in a positive way. Examples: “Please, walk in the hall”
rather than “You mustn’t run in the hall”.
Routines to create a safe
learning scenario: routines are established patterns of behavior in
which everyone knows what is expected of them and what they should do in
different parts of the lesson. Routines help make children feel secure and
confident in the classroom. Routines provide opportunities for natural language
acquisition. Once routines are established, children will only need a prompt and
they will know what to do.
Rights and Responsibilities:these are two sides
of the same coin. If children have the right to speak in the classroom, then,
they also have the responsibility to listen to others when they do the same.
Respect: respect works both
ways. If children feel that you respect them and treat them like individuals,
they will also respect you and respond to you as individuals.
Rewards:they can be an
effective way to change negativity in demotivated students, to reinforce
appropriate behavior and to increase motivation if things are going well.
3)
DISCIPLINE
The relationship between
discipline and learning in a lesson is of vital importance. In a discipline and
organized classroom:
-it is easier to activate
students in the way teachers want.
- time is probably spent on
task rather than wasted on disruptive behavior.
- students are engaged “doing
things”.
- a smooth-running process is
the outward manifestation of good organization and discipline in the classroom.
(Penny Ur)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT –
Factors that contribute to classroom discipline.
The factors below are
potentially within the control of, or influenced by, the teacher:
-
Classroom
management skills
-
Methodology used
-
Interpersonal
relationships
-
Lesson planning
(type of work + content)
-
Student motivation
Penny Ur has devised the chart
below in which she recommends different ways to handle everyday incidents of
indiscipline. She describes three stages:
-
before the problem
arises.
-
when the problem is
beginning.
-
when the problem
has exploded.
CONCLUSION
Every teacher, every class and every child is different. This is what
makes language teaching a unique learning experience. As a teacher we need to
have a portfolio of tools, strategies and resources for creating optimal
learning conditions where learning can take place.
So, inspire, surprise and motivate your students to make the difference.
Bibliography:
Brewster J., Ellis
G., Girard D. (1992) The Primary English
Teacher’s Guide. Penguin English Guides.
Ur, P. (1996) A Course in Language Teaching.
Cambridge: CUP.
Harmer, J. (2007) How to teach English.Pearson.
Read, C. (2007) 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom.
Macmillan.
