If you like students to be quiet and concentrated, you might say,

With your eyes shut, listen to the sounds and name them mentally in
English or do some guided visualisation exercises. Clem aroy
!"##$% asks students to dra& a s'iral on a 'iece of 'a'er, starting
from the outside of the s'iral and &orking to the inside. Its
im'ortant that students do this silently and really follo& the
movement of their 'en &ith their eyes. (he concentration involved
quietens the students and as they come closer to the centre of their
s'iral they focus more on the here and no&. (hey are then more
collected for the &ork that follo&s.
()E C*+CE+(,-(I*+ ./I,-
If you like students to be lively and eager to 'artici'ate, you may
tend to choose team games as starters.
0 If you need to make a friendly atmos'here, you &ill tend to socialise,
asking students ho& they got on in the last lesson or &hether they
have been &atching the s'ort recently. (here are lots of &arm1u'
ideas in the 2rst section of indstromberg "##3. 4elo& are some
ideas for starters that increase learner 'artici'ation.
Rounding of
-s you and your students emerge from one 'iece of &ork, you need to
round things o5. ,ounding o5 activities come as a &elcome rest from
'eriods of intense concentration. (hey signal the end of a chunk of &ork
and can be used to revie& &hats 6ust been done, as a bridge to the next
block of &ork, to add interest and variety or to activate di5erent learning
styles and intelligences. )ere are some ideas to choose from7
0 -fter doing as much on a 'iece of &ork as you feel is fruitful for the
time being, s'end a minute 6ust 'laying &ith the letters of one long
&ord connected &ith the sub6ect you have 6ust dealt &ith. .o if you
have 6ust been discussing 'enal systems, a long &ord like
I8/,I.*+8E+( &ill do. If you have been &orking on verbs,
/-,(ICI/E is a nice long &ord to use. Whatever long &ord you have
&hich sums u' &hat you have been &orking on, you no& have some
choices7
9 Cla' out the stress of the &ord and see if students can guess the
&ord, e.g. -+I8-. *nce they have guessed, see if they can call out
other &ords that have the same stress 'ro2le, e.g. 4E-:(I;: and
)*,,I4E !stress7 *oo%.
9 .cramble the letters of the &ord on the blackboard in anagram form.
.ee if students can unscramble the letters to 2nd the original &ord
and then see if they can make funnier anagrams. ;or exam'le, once
they have made anagram from ngaamar, let them have fun
making nag a ram and am a gran.
9 .ee ho& many ne& &ords they can make from the old one using
each letter only once. .o, from generalisable you can get gene,
able, lean, etc.
9 .ee ho& many connected &ords they can build onto the l letters.
*ther ideas are7
0 -sk the students to tell you one thing they have understood, one
thing they havent and one thing they found interesting or sur'rising
in the &ork 6ust done.
0 -sk the students to &rite do&n four ne& &ords they think they &ill
forget.
0 (ell the students &hat is coming u' in the next 'art of the lesson and
ask them &hat they kno& about it already.
Complete break in class
Even if you have to stay in class, you can still give yourself and your students
a change.
0 If students have been listening, let them talk !... mother tongue time
... you have t&o minutes to say anything you &ant in your o&n
language%.
0 If they have been talking, let them sto' talking and s'end one minute
thinking of a beautiful sight they once sa& or say, 4et you cant stay
silent for a &hole minute< !see -''el "##= '. ""=%.
0 If they have been facing the front, let them face the back.
0 >ive them a t&o minute &indo& break, &here they can look out of
the &indo& and give you a running commentary on &hat they can
see.
0 If they have been sitting still, ask them to stand u', stretch, rub their
'alms together, rub their faces, their forearms, their u''er arms,
&riggle their feet, bend and stretch their knees, touch the ceiling,
touch the ?oor.
0 If you have been doing dry &ork, read them a lovely 'oem, or 'lay
some music.
-ll these breaks &ork because they are a com'lete change from &hat
&ent before. (hey are also useful if you &ant to either stir and build
energy or settle and quieten energy in your class ready for the next
activity !see 8aclennan "#@A%. 4reak activities can act as smooth transitions
to the next 'hase if you choose them carefully. If you have taught a class
&ith ne& students in, you can give time for students to hel' each other to
learn the names of everyone in the class. Bou can also declare a oneminute
holiday<
Complete break outside class
-sk your students to come back from the break &ith one of the
follo&ing7
9 the names in English of all the colours that have caught their eye
9 the name of the thing that made the loudest or quietest noise
during the break
9 a descri'tion of one of the 'ictures in the hall
9 one unusual but re'eatable thing they learned about a classmate
9 a verbal list of ten &ords learnt in the 2rst 'art of the lesson
9 a summary of the 2rst 'art of the lesson
9 information on &hat to do if there is a 2re in the building
9 the names of some of the books on a certain shelf in the library or
book cu'board
9 the names and 6ob titles of all the sta5 on the sta5 'hoto board
-s 'eo'le 2le back into class after the break, check their break &ork.
Bour choice of break &ork needs to be considered in ho& far it
su''orts the &ork done in the 'revious or follo&ing 'art of the lesson. If
you have a large class, for exam'le, s'ending a long time after the break
listening to the results of break &ork could disturb the ?o& of the lesson
and lead to an ebbing of energy you could use more 'roductively to tackle
9 something that needs lots of concentration..
Stage 3: Remembering (or mental storage)
If students use the 'hysical storage systems mentioned above this &ill
hel' most of them to start getting the language into memory. 8ost
remembering is hel'ed by both the frequency of meeting the target items
and the quality and de'th of 'rocessing of the items. 8ore ideas for both
of these aids to memory are described belo&.
Frequency of meeting
-lthough features of some &ords, 'atterns and discourse ty'es are
doubtless learnt 2rst time because they are of im'ortance to the learner,
other items may need as many as "C meetings before they are &ell and
truly in the learners re'ertoire. (his means 'lanning lots of varied 'ractice.
)ere are some ideas7
0 Grouping Items can be organised and reorganised into categories, or
'rioritised lists, according to criteria such as things I like, things I
dont like, things I think Ill remember or things I dont think Ill
remember.
0 Ordering Items can be ordered by letter of the al'habet, chronology,
siDe or other criteria that make sense to students.
0 Rote learning (his can involve sim'le co'ying, re'eating silently or
aloud in di5erent voices !shoutE&his'er, slo&Efast, &ith di5erent
emotions, 'itch or intonation% or in di5erent &ritten voices
!ca'italsElo&er case, slo&Efast, in 'encil or on the keyboard%. (he
rote learning can be made more fun if it involves di5erent activity
ty'es such as 6aDD chants, songs, 'oems, short talks or &riting texts
&ithin di5erently sha'ed outlines.
0 Reference work (his can involve learners in searches, co'ying and
note taking from dictionaries, grammar books, cor'ora and other
reference sources as &ell as from magaDines, stories and other
authentic sources.
0 Serial practice Exam'les here are students reading the same text
re'eatedly and trying to increase their s'eed each time, or ans&ering
increasingly diFcult com'rehension questions each time or counting
instances of the ne& language as they read or listen. In s'eaking it
could involve students telling the same story to di5erent 'eo'le and
trying to tell it faster or better each time. (eachers can give
dictations that feature 'reviously met items in ne& situations or that
feature dictation in, say, the mother tongue, &ith students &riting
do&n in the target language.
0 Matching exercises Items listed on se'arate cards can be matched by,
for exam'le, 'utting the cards together. Items in 'arallel vertical lists
can be matched by lines dra&n bet&een matching items. 8atches
can be of various ty'es such as item to meaning, item to collocation,
item to 'icture, item to key &ord, item to mnemonic !e.g. funny
&ord in o&n language or funny 'icture%, item to association &ith a
story or text, 'aragra'h to box on discourse chart, summary
Quality of processing
-bove I mentioned that the sheer number of meetings &ith ne& language
is im'ortant for remembering. -nother im'ortant factor is the quality of
'rocessing since this &ill mean that the students gain 'ersonal connections
&ith the target language items. anguage items gain rich associations
as the learners use them more for their o&n ex'ressive intentions
and for reasons of 'ersonal, social and cultural identity. (he reasoning
goes that the dee'er the ex'eriences the learner has in the language, the
dee'er the language &ill sink in. (here follo& some ideas for dee'ening
the 'rocessing of the target language7
0 Engage learners in to'ics and tasks that have real life force and
meaning to them rather than distant to'ics.
0 >ive learners a chance to come u' &ith their o&n exam'les and
ex'lanations in class and encourage them to make their o&n links
and associations &ith the content.
0 -llo& students to organise &ork in &ays that are meaningful to
them and allo& time in class for this.
0 Encourage students to make the items to be remembered vivid in
some &ay, 'erha's making them bright and colourful or connecting
them &ith craDy stories.
0 :se activity ty'es that encourage students to a''ly ne& learning to
their o&n situation, e.g. guided dialogue 6ournals.
0 :se activities that allo& students to get really involved in the
language e.g. role 'lay, simulations, 'ersonal story telling and
discussion.
0 :se out of class reality as much as 'ossible by bringing in real
ob6ects, 'ictures, visitors, 'ro6ects, intervie&s and surveys.
0 4e real yourself, res'onding to students &ith human remarks as &ell
as &ith error correction or grading strategies.
0 ;ollo& the smoke. (his 'hrase from 'sychodramatic language
learning im'lies an ability in the teacher to 'ut their o&n concerns
and 'lans on hold sometimes and to sense &here the students real
'assions lie, and allo&ing time for these to be follo&ed in class.
Listening
When listening, one has to be able to7
0 recognise sounds, &ords and 'hrases
0 get the general idea, remember salient 'oints and 'redict &hats
coming next
0 understand the discourse ty'e or genre youre listening to
0 get used to listening to di5erent ty'es of 'eo'le for di5ering lengths
of time
0 screen out &hat youre not interested in and focus on &hat you are
interested in
0 deal &ith accents and dialects
0 inter'ret a message against a background of ex'ectations and
res'ond accordingly
&rite di5erent kinds of texts such as letters, 'ostcards and
summaries, &ith a''ro'riate choice of layout, vocabulary and
logical structure
0 read and reread our o&n &ork, crossing out, re&riting and
reorganising as &ell as correcting grammar, s'elling and 'unctuation
0 &rite &ith accuracy, ?uency and con2dence
Practical principles for working on skills and sub-skills
-ll of these skills and sub1skills can be dealt &ith in the language classroom.
)ere are a fe& suggestions if you decide to include this ty'e of
&ork7
0 (ake nothing for granted. Individual students can have very di5erent
skill 'ro2les. Gust because a student can s'eak ?uently, for exam'le,
it doesnt mean they can &rite &ell. >rou's too can di5er &ildly in
this res'ect. *ne intermediate grou' &ill have good listening skills,
another &ont.
0 Hont forget the fact that students having 'roblems &ith skills &ork
may not 6ust be su5ering from a lack of facility &ith the target
language. 8any students are either short1sighted, hard of hearing,
stutter or su5er from &eak or severe dyslexia or &ord blindness.
0 Gust because you hear of certain things as being forbidden !such as
using mother tongue9English dictionaries, asking students to read
aloud in class, letting students read transcri'ts &hile listening to a
ta'e, etc.%, doesnt mean you have to acce't this &ithout thinking
about it.
0 In the same vein, there are good reasons sometimes for using a
'articular skill order, but there are no hard and fast rules. Its
acce'table to do &riting before s'eaking or reading before listening
if the &ork builds that &ay naturally.
0 If you think there may &ell exist an initial silent 'hase in language
learning, then build in some no res'onse necessary or minimal
res'onse activities to your classes.
0 (he 'ro'ortion of time you s'end on di5erent skills &ill de'end on
&hy your students are learning the language. If they have no chance
to listen to or s'eak to other English language users, dont deny
them the chance to stay in touch &ith the language and gain 'leasure
from it by reading.
0 .kills can be &orked on individually and in combinations de'ending
on &hat students are ho'ing to use the language for.
0 (here used to be quite a lot of attention 'aid to the di5erences
bet&een formal !usually &ritten% and informal !usually s'oken%
texts. (he sorts of di5erences often mentioned &ere that &rit
Hont al&ays concentrate your feedback on student s'eaking and
&riting at the micro level correcting individual sounds and commas,
im'ortant though these may be. .'end time on the larger issues such
as &hether an essay has any real content or 2ts its title, &hether a
talk sho&s enthusiasm and &hether a s'eaker has good eye contact
&ith listeners.
0 Work to im'rove your feedback skills, 2nding di5erent &ays to
comment on &ritten &ork and res'ond to student talk. earn
something ne& yourself. Its a good &ay of reminding yourself ho&
distressing and frustrating it can be to be a beginner or intermediate
student.
0 et students learn to &rite by doing lots of &riting, learn to s'eak by
s'eaking, etc.
0 :se 'lenty of di5erent styles, lengths and genres.
If you &ould like a useful methodological model for doing skills &ork in
class see the 're1, in1, 'ost1 model on 'age "$I.
In order to be able to listen, s'eak, read and &rite, learners need to kno&
lots of individual &ords and lexical 'hrases and to be able to recognise
and use 'atterns at sentence level and beyond. 4ut also 4B listening,
s'eaking, reading and &riting learners &ill 'ick u' and learn more about
3! Culture
Culture is another broad combination of &ork that gets 'ast a focus on
discrete units and moves to&ards self and grou' ex'ression and the
com'rehension of other 'eo'les messages. 4y culture I mean the features
that characterise the &ay of life of a 'articular grou' of 'eo'le, &hether
they are young or old, &omen or men, national, language or ethnic
grou's. Culture is about di5erence and variability and thus contains
both the 'otential for o''ortunity and for con?ict. -lthough this section
a''arently 'laces culture &ithin a range of o'tional sub6ects for the
language class, it is, in my vie&, actually im'ossible +*( to &ork &ith
culture in the language class, although the &ork may be ha''ening
unconsciously. ;irst of all, as a good user of the target language, you &ill
sho& by the &ay you s'eak and move and the materials and methods
you choose, not 6ust &ho you are in terms of your o&n genes, 'ersonality
and circumstances but also in terms of the amount of target culture
that has rubbed o5 on you. .econdly, the moment the learners hit a
di5erence in the target language, &hether this be a sound or sight, a
gesture, or a &ay of ex'ressing a conce't, they are ex'osed to cultural
di5erence. Bou can consciously choose to treat matters of culture too, of
course, &hether by discussing di5erences in the language, the ma's, bus
tickets or 'oems of the target culture. (he o''ortunities that o'en out
from this are7
0 the chance to meet the ne& culture and deal &ith the interest andEor
stress that this involves
0 the chance to learn about as'ects of the ne& culture, understand its
signi2cance for 'eo'le in that culture and thus, by contrast and
com'arison, to learn more about the home culture
0 the chance to develo' the intercultural abilities of getting on &ith
'eo'le &ho are di5erent and learning ho& to ex'ress yourself in a
ne& language &ith minimum distortion or loss of meaning and
ex'ressive 'o&er
Whether you choose to deal &ith cultural di5erences in music, food,
clothing, myths and legends, holidays, taboos, language, kno&ledge or
other matters there follo& some 'ractical 'rinci'les you might like to
consider.
Practical principles for working wit" culture
0 Hont forget that cultures change and so things may no& be a little
di5erent from the time &hen you had most contact &ith the target
culture. (ake time to kee' yourself u'dated.
3 hat can go into a lesson!
(hink through your o&n material before you teach it so that you
can 'oint out study skill o'tions as you go along by saying, for
exam'le, Bou might like to underline this as its im'ortant, or (his
could go into your story folder.
0 Work on the study skills that &ill have 'ay1o5s for students in both
the short and long term. (his is kno&n as short1term and long1term
'ractical surrender value. .hort1term surrender value could be, for
exam'le, sho&ing students ho& to mark the stress on a 'articular
&ord that comes u' in class. ong1term surrender value, for
exam'le, &ould be dis'laying several di5erent &ays of marking
stress on &ords and encouraging students to choose, stick &ith and
remember to use the system they like best.
0 8ake sure you kee' abreast of ne& study methods yourself. /ractise
doing mind ma's, brainstorming, circling key &ords and surveying
books yourself as &ell as learning to a''reciate di5erent kinds of
thinking !see Claxton "##@%.
0 If you are 're'aring students for real study such as an art foundation
course abroad, a one1&eek study break in England or an
undergraduate degree in soil sciences in the ca'ital city, familiarise
the students &ith both the content -+H methods of the sub6ect they
are headed for. If students are headed for an art degree in 4ritain,
they &ill need ex'osure not 6ust to art vocabulary but to art course
study and assessment methods such as the brief, the crit and the
'ortfolio too.
0 If you choose a 'ro6ect based a''roach to your study skills
com'onent, requiring students, for exam'le, to 'roduce an essay,
you need to kee' the 'ro6ect clear and short and 'rovide 'lenty of
guidance and su''ort, 'ossibly by tutorial. 8any students are not
used to &orking on their o&n and need hel' to get used to it.
I feel that &orking on study skills gives added value to a course. It sho&s
that the &ork done in class has been thought about by the teacher, can
be stored, 'revie&ed and revie&ed. Even if you have s'ent a morning
doing light1hearted exercises, it 'ays to s'end a little time hel'ing
students to notice &hat they have been doing in terms of language and
content and &hy and making sure that they have an adequate record
some&here that they can look at again on their o&n later.
Perip"er# learning: $rammatical patterns
If youd like to 'rovide students &ith the chance to do some 'eri'hery
learning of, say, &ays of talking about 'ast time, here are some things you
might try7
0 )ave 'osters on the classroom &all listing, for exam'le, regular 'ast
sim'le verb forms on yello& 'a'er and irregular ones on blue, and
also sho&ing, say, short 'oems and interesting texts containing 'ast
tenses co'ied out in hand&riting.
0 )ave a natural listening thread running through your classes. /erha's
for 2ve minutes a lesson, either talk naturally yourself, bring in an
interesting English1s'eaking colleague or 'lay sni''ets of home1made
recordings of 'eo'le talking about their driving tests, funniest or most
embarrassing moments, s'orts highlights, recent learning ex'eriences,
etc. .tudents sim'ly have to listen and try to understand. *nce the
listening is over, they tell you &hat they understood. Hont correct.
(reat it as ?uency 'ractice.
0 4uild in little tasks &here students have to intervie& each other,
visitors or their families !in mother tongue if necessary% about similar
occurrences to the ones above. (hey can then &rite do&n the gist of
the non1con2dential bits in their 6ournals. (ell them youre interested
in content rather than accuracy.
0 :se graded readers &ith students and let them choose the level and
the to'ic. Encourage them to read for 'leasure.
If you choose the materials carefully, students may absorb
Practical principles for working wit" large classes
Crowd control
0 /lan to invest 'lenty of time in learning students names so that you
can nominate individuals, so breaking u' the grou' and having
?eeting one1to1one encounters &ith lots of di5erent students.
0 :se clear eye contact &ith individuals.
0 Hont bank on achieving grou' control by sim'ly s'eaking more
loudly, as youll be hoarse &ithin an hour. :se other systems for
attracting students attention such as hands u', ta''ing on the
board, ringing a little bell or shaking a tambourine. ,emember to
ex'lain &hichever system you 'lan to use beforehand. -lso &ork out
ho& you &ould like students to attract your attention.
0 /lan to establish a certain amount of routine. Hont make the
routines too 2xed, though, or the class &ill go into automatic 'ilot
and itll be very diFcult to turn them once theyve started.
0 Jee' students involved from the start of the lesson so that a &orking
atmos'here is achieved &hile social energy is high.
I remember once, in an
international teachers grou',
a .&iss teacher talking about
a large class of $= students.
.ome of the other 'artici'ants
laughed. (hats not large,
said a Ga'anese teacher, I
regularly teach classes of ==.
.ome 'artici'ants gas'ed.
(here &as a chuckle from a
teacher from India, 8y
largest class has about "$3
'u'ils in it. .o I su''ose a
de2nition of a large class is
one that feels large to you
:se 'lenary 'hases and large dis'lay surfaces, such as the board, as
a &ay of returning the &hole class to cohesion after grou' &ork.
!.ee the section on 'age $K$ on undisci'lined classes for more 'ractical
ti's.%
%asic c"ores
0 +umber or colour code materials so you can check quickly &hos
got &hat and get back any returns.
0 -llot roles to students so that basic chores like checking the register,
handing out materials and cleaning the classroom u' are done &ith a
team of hel'ers.
$roup work
Contrary to &hat teachers of smaller grou's sometimes think, teachers
of large classes need to use 'air and grou' &ork a lot in order to give
students natural oralEaural target language 'ractice and use. When doing
grou' &ork &ith large classes, you need to 'lan it &ell other&ise there
&ill be chaos. /lan to attend to all the follo&ing 'oints7
0 8ake sure that the &hole class &orks together quite &ell before you
consider breaking do&n into smaller units.
0 >ive the smaller units a chance to bond and form an identity.
0 8ake sure the tasks you 'lan are clear. >o through them beforehand
to make sure that the instructions are unambiguous, the time given
realistic and the outcome achievable by your grou'.
0 8ake sure the tasks are interesting and ex'lain to the students &hy
they are useful. .tudents need to 'erceive the value of a task before
they feel like 'utting in time, energy and commitment as &ell as,
nearly al&ays, sus'ending disbelief.
0 8ake sure that 'air and grou' tasks involve student interde'endence.
(his means that no one student can com'lete the task on their o&n.
(hey need others to organise, com'lete or be graded on the task.!.ee
Gohnson et al "##K for hel' on ho& to do this.%
0 Work out &ho is going to &ork &ith &hom and ho& you are going
to ex'lain this.
0 /lan clear ste'1by1ste' instructions &ith demonstrations and checks
&here necessary.
0 Work out clear timings and ho& you are going to communicate
these.
0 Work out &ho in the grou' is going to have &hat role. ;or exam'le,
one 'erson can act as chair, another as scribe for the task, another as
verbatim the main things that &ere said during the task &ork in the
mother tongue.
0 /lan &hat you &ill do yourself during the task &ork, for exam'le,
listen and &rite correction sli's.
0 ,emember to give timing &arnings to&ards the end of the grou'
&ork. If you have checked the task beforehand and 'lanned the
timing realistically, you should avoid the des'erate cry so annoying
to students, .to' no&< It doesnt matter if you havent 2nished<
!Hoesnt matter to &homL I al&ays &ant to re6oin<%
0 /lan ho& you &ill check the &ork and make students accountable
for it.
0 /lan your evaluation stage, &hich in my vie& should include not
sim'ly an evaluation of language used, but also of task content, ho&
&ell grou's &orked together, and &hich mother tongue utterances
need translating into target language for next time, etc.
(his may seem an encyclo'edic list but the sort of gentle, unstructured
task &ork that seems charming to a small grou' of adult learners can get
you slaughtered in a large class of energetic teenagers. 4ecause large
classes are al&ays heterogeneous ones too, you may like to look back to
the 'ractical 'rinci'les for heterogeneous classes on 'age $"I as they
may &ell be relevant to your class too !see also Cross "##=%.
&ne-to-one (or 'er# small group) teac"ing
When you start !or s&itch to% one1to1one &ork, several things may strike
you 9 that it feels 'ersonal and intense, that instructions that include
everyone, all of you or get into 'airs, &hich may come out of your
mouth naturally, are no longer a''ro'riate< Bet, if youve found it
diFcult to cater for everyone in a large mixed class, in one1to1one &ork
you can no& ad6ust to student 'ace and interests and have authentic
conversations to your hearts content. (hese classes are a real luxury.
Bou 6ust have to learn ho& to kee' things interesting &ithout you or the
student feeling that the heat is on you 'er'etually. (here are some very
useful books on teaching one1to1one. 8y advice is to look at 8ur'hey
!"##"% and Wilberg !"#@A%, in that order. (he sort of 'ractical guidelines
they and I &ould give for 'lanning follo&.
Practical principles for teac"ing one-to-one or 'er# small
groups
0 /lan 'lenty of time at the 2rst meeting for getting to kno& each
other, letting the student take as much res'onsibility as they &ish
and com'leting 'ersonal 'ro2le forms on the students background
&ants.
0 8ake the encounters as equal as 'ossible by, for exam'le, doing the
&ork you ask the student to do yourself, either before or after the
student does it, sitting near rather than o''osite the student, letting
the student handle any equi'ment, and so on.
0 8ake the occasions you meet a real exchange of information and
underline this meta'horically by exchanging things such as 'oems,
books, CHs or cassettes &ith the student.
0 :se the student as a resource by, for exam'le, asking them to
demonstrate their 6ob to you, dra& a diagram of their home, tell you
&hat theyve been doing and 'lan to do, and ask them to teach you
things.
0 4ring other 'eo'le in !by 'hoto, letter, 'hone call, anecdote, etc.% so
that neither of you feels lonely or bored.
0 :se the local environment, e.g. corridor, co5ee area, street, 'ark, so
that neither of you feels coo'ed u'.
0 4ring in more materials and activities than you &ould normally so
that you can be very ?exible as to level and interests.
0 4ring in 'lenty of variety in the &ay of movement, music, colour,
ob6ects, 'ictures, 6okes.
0 -d6ust to a''ro'riate forms of error correction such as
reformulation, &here &hole texts and utterances are re'hrased so
that they are natural. ,eformulation can also include reformatting,
&hich is ty'ing out or transferring &ork to text, ta'e or gra'h !see
Wilberg "#@A, '. =%.
0 8ake 'lans, reca's and summaries even more clearly and 6ointly
than usual.
0 (ry to extend your contact time &ith the student !unless, of course,
youre meeting very intensively%, by exchanging 'ostcards or 'hone
calls bet&een classes.
()am classes
If students are &orking to&ards an exam, the advantages are that
the syllabus is external and thus clear and already &ritten for you. (he
learners aims are clear too since most of them &ill &ant to cover the
syllabus and 'ass the exam. (his gives a certain amount of motivation.
(here are usually lots of 'ractice materials available commercially so you
'robably &ont have to make your o&n.
(here are disadvantages to exam classes though. .tudents may
be no&here near the level necessary to 'ass the exam. -n overconcentration
on exam technique can lead to too little actual language.
*sing a topic-based lesson
/rovided the class youre going into as a substitute teacher is intermediate
or above, the to'ic1based lesson can be a useful one to use. Bou
&ill need to do a little 're'aration beforehand but this could be done
&henever you have some free time. ;irst you 2nd a cou'le of to'ics.
(hey need to be ones that are unlikely to be found in the normal range
of coursebooks and thus not already done by the class. (hey also
need to be ones that are right for the kind of classes youre going into.
(hinking of grou's that I could 'resently be asked to cover for, I could
take any of the follo&ing to'ics7 4reaking bad habits, (M chat sho&s,
)eadaches, ,elationshi's or (he in?uence of :. culture on our
country. *nce you have some 'ossible to'ics, 6ot do&n on 'a'er some
things that could come u' under each one, as here7
Practical principles for dealing wit" surprises and "i+acks
.ome of the advice given earlier under the 'ractical 'rinci'les for dealing
&ith undisci'lined classes &ill stand you in good stead here, for exam'le,
being generally observant.
0 Watch and listen to your students and fello& sta5 a lot. ;ind out the
&ay theyre thinking and feeling. (hat &ay youll kno& &hat
normal is for them.
When something unex'ected ha''ens, allo& the interru'tion on any of
the follo&ing grounds7
0 Bou have no choice.
0 It involves true communication in the target language.
0 .tudents are trying to tell you something they feel is im'ortant.
0 (he hi6ack is actually more useful and interesting than &hat you had
'lanned or takes &hat youd 'lanned dee'er or further in some &ay.
0 It allo&s you to cash in on a teachable moment.
0 (he ma6ority of the students state clearly that they like the
interru'tion and its for their good.
0 It doesnt take long and makes one or t&o 'eo'le very ha''y by, for
exam'le, accommodating their learning style.
When something unex'ected ha''ens, try to disallo& it &hen7
0 Its a case of one or t&o students dominating the air s'ace for too
long.
0 -fter checking, you 2nd that all the other students are bored or
u'set by the interru'tion.
0 Bou havent got the emotional stamina or skill to deal &ith the
hi6ack.
Whether you allo& or disallo& a hi6ack, try to do so after you have
considered quickly and carefully. .tate your reasons and decision as
calmly and clearly as 'ossible to the grou'. ,emember these 'oints7
0 In many grou's of teens and older the grou' itself &ill often deal
&ith the hi6ack or hel' you to. Bou &ont normally be on your
o&n.
0 Hont be afraid to call on grou' members, teachers in ad6oining
classrooms, the director of studies, etc. if you feel absolutely stuck.
0 Its often -;(E, the event that you feel most shaken, so indulge
yourself by taking time to calm do&n, go for a &alk, talk things
over &ith a colleague or &ith the 'erson things &ent &rong &ith, or &hatever you
need to feel better and learn from the ex'erience.