Chapter -5-

Classroom Management
Classroom management: The way teacher organize what goes on in the classroom.
Teachers have the authority to influence the kind of interaction so that students can make
progress in learning English.

How can EFL/ESL teachers create opportunities for students to interact in English in
meaningful ways?
1-Teacher talk
2.Teacher’s questions
3.Setting up classroom activities
4.Giving instruction
5.Keeping student on task
6.Making language comprehensible to students

Teachers Talk:
Teachers talk should promote meaningful interaction in other words it should be purposeful
and productive as Nunan points out that in many foreign language classroom teacher talk is
important in providing learners with substantial live TL input. However, students might stop
listening if teacher gives long explanations about language or long-winded speeches on
abstract ideas, some students will become passive learners because they will have the idea
that English lessons are beyond their comprehension.

Teachers should follow the following steps to make their talk purposeful and
productive:
1-elect to use English electively
2-give instructions
3-demonstrate useful reading processes
4-explain homework assignments
5-relate an amusing story that students can comprehend.
6-participate in daily interpersonal communication with students in English.
7-use talk as a part of listening comprehension exercise like dictation.

The Teacher’s questions:

The purpose o f question:
1- Display question: a question in which the teacher already knows the answer and want the
students to display knowledge (what color is your shirt?). It offers way to practice language
2-Referential question:can stimulate interaction and show genuine interest in the students. It
provide a means through which to bring a real question into the classroom.
3-Comprehension check: a question to find out if student understand (Do you understand?)
(who can tell me what I just said?)
4-Conformation question: a question to verify what was said,(we’ll meet at 6:00,right?)
5-Clarification question: to further define or clarify. Find when together is a little confused
(what time are we going to meet?)

The content of question:

1- Study of language: questions about language aspects (like grammar and vocabulary )
2- Study of subject: questions about the topic of lesson (How many countries are in the
world?)
3- procedure: like Did you do your homework ?
4- Life general: questions about lives of group of people (How do nigerians celebrate
birthday ? )
5. Life- personal : questions about the lives of individnals (How do you celebrate your
birthday?)

Finally, Teacher can consider waiting Time to create chances for students to engage is
meaningful interaction in the following ways:
1-The average length of students responses might increase.
2- Students could ask more questions.
3- Students may react to each other's comments.
4- The number of correct responses could go up.
5- Students might make more inferences

Setting up classroom activities:

1-Preparation: Teacher should first plan and orgnize materials before starting the lesson to
avoid disruption during the activity.
2-Clear objectives:Teacher should ensure each activity has clear and specifie learning goal.
This help students understund the purpose of task.
3- Active engagement: Activities should be engaging and appropriate for student’s language
level. They can be individual pair, or group work depending on the
nature of the task.
4 Transitioning between activities: smooth transition between different activities help
maintain the flow of the lesson and keep students focused.

Arrangement of seating according to the type of activity:

1- Traditionally or semi circle during discussion or lectures.
2- stand and walk around during role play or memorization lines in a poem.
3-face to face during intervien activities.
4- back-to-back during simulation activities like telephone call.
5- across from each other during
dialogue.
6- in circles as they solve a problem or discuss an issue.

The goal of these different arrangement is to create meaningful interaction to use English
communicatively.

Ways to Group Learners:

1-By Personality: Shy /Outgoing, Stone faced /Smilers
2-By Ability and Experience: Accurate /not, Fluent /not
3-By Location: Same side of room proximity
4-By Lottery: Same flavor of candy, Same coin
5-By Characteristics: Favorite color, music…
6-Students Self-Select or Pick -up to (according to specific task)
Giving Instruction:
1-Clear and simple by using understandable language for students.
2- Teacher should model or demonstrate task before ask students to do it themselves.
3-Check understanding: by ask clarifying questions or having students repeat the instruction.
4- Step-by-Step: Break down complex tasks into smaller steps to ensure students are not
overwhelmed.

Keeping Students on Task:

1.Active monitoring: Teacher should circulate around the classroom to monitor students'
progress, provide feedback and address any issue that arise.

2.Positive Reinforcement = Encourage students by acknowledging their efforts and offering

praise to keep them motivated.

3.Clear time limits: set a specific amount of time for each task to keep students on track and
focused on completing the activity.

Making language comprehensible to students:

(1) Simplify Speech:
1.clear pronunciation
2.Slower speech rate
3.frequent uses o f pauses
4.gestures
5.sentence expansion
6.completing students sentences
for them.

(2) Add Mediums

1.linguistic aural (speech)
2.linguistic visual (print)
3.nonlinguistic visual (pictures, object ,realia).
4- nonlinguistic aural (bird shrips,sound of water flowing)
5- paralinguistics (gestures, eye contact).

(3) Negotiate meaning:Teacher ask question that aims

at clarification and confirmation.

What can k-12 Teacher

Do to create a Learning Setting for ESL Students ?
1-pay attention to social and emotional needs of the new ESL students.

2- Adjust speech:
a.speak slowly
b.reduce complex words or sentences
c.increase repetition, pausing and use of gestures.

3-Use realia, objects, drawings while explaining concepts.

4-Check comprehension by asking comprehension questions.
5- Include students i n class discussion by asking questions.
6- Engage students i n group work and Task-based activities.
7-Assign amontor student whose job of coach and explaining assignment for students. Meet
montor period really to talk about problems, successes
and needs.

Classroom Management Problems:

(1)Time problem: Some Teachers don't have time to finish their daily lesson plan.
suggestions to solve this problem:
1.build time constrains into lesson plan
2.during group work let students knows the alloted time to complete the task
3.reflect on how much time it took to do different activities.

(2)Students don’t use English in class: There are some techniques that are followed by
teachers t o focas students attention toward using English in lesson for example:
-some teachers put up signs like" This is an English only zone!"
-others point out to student and say "Speak English"
-others utilize use students' native
language in necessary.

These techniques are useless without motivating students and persuading them to make
English as the classroom language. Also, Teachers need to negotiate
with them why it is important to use English in class. It is important to gain their trust and
commitment.

Students can cash in poker chips at times they want to use their native language.

This andlogy refer to that students might English for most of the class but if they're struggling
to understand an important concept, teacher might allow them to use their native language
and asking for clarification.

(3)Remembering name problem: some Techniques help teachers to remember their

student’s name :
1. paying attention to the name and face when meeting students individually..
2.Information sheet includes student names with information about themselves and photo for
them.

Some activities for remembering students’ name:

(1)have students interview each other in small groups or pairs and teacher joins each group.
They meet to learn each other's name and at least three things about each other.
Then teacher with students form circle and list what
they learned about each person in the class.

(2) A round-robin memory game.

a.students from circle.
b.start somewhere in the circle.
c.a student says her name and one thing she likes.
d.next student mentions the previous student information and then says her name and one
thing she likes.
e.the next student supplies the first two students information and then says her name and
one thing she likes.
f.the process continues till the last student who is required to supply the circle before
mention her name and the thing that she likes.
g.students can help each other and some of the name down as they hear them.

(3) cocktails party

Teacher and students walk around the classroom reading each other nametags and striking
up conversation.
Teacher pays particular attention to
person's name and face.

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