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"Sit on the floor/ on the mats/ on the rug/ in the story corner"
"Take a flashcard as you come in, they are for the first game"
"Line up in order of age/ height/ the date of your birthday/ in alphabetical order"
"Can the last person in close the door?"
"As you come in, ask the next person their name and say 'Come in please' and
'Thank you'" [gesture hand coming from your mouth towards the other person, and
then back from them to you]
"Knock on the door and say 'Can I come in?'" [mime knocking with knuckles]
"Entrance drill! Today's question is 'What colour is your bag?'"
"Line up against the wall and then you can come in" [show the line where you want
them to stand, and then mime squeezing up into that space]
Greetings
"Okay everyone, stand up please. Jimmy, that means you too. Right. Good morning
everyone/ Good morning class/ Good morning boys and girls/ Good morning
children... Okay, just 'good morning' is right too, but I want you to say 'Good morning
class. Good morning teacher.' like we practiced last week. Can you do that? Okay,
one, two, three. Much better, but remember that the 'or' in 'morning' is a long sound,
oooooooooor" [gesture something very long coming out of your mouth with your right
hand] "Oooooor... Good. Moooooorning.... Okay, (that was) maybe a little too long,
ha ha! Morning... Great. So, let's do the whole thing one more time from the start.
Good morning class... Much much better. Okay, sit down please"
"(Good) morning/ afternoon/ evening"/ "Hello/ Hi"
"Merry Christmas"
"Happy New Year"
Introductions
"My name is Mr/Mrs/Ms Kim. I'm your new English teacher/ I'm your English teacher
this year/ this term/ today. (Can you ask me some questions, e.g. where I'm from and
my free time?)"
Initial chitchat
"How are we all today?"/ "How are you (today)?" / "How are things?" / "How's life?"
"Did you have any trouble getting here? I heard there were problems on the Central
Line"
"You all look freezing. Is it still snowing outside?/ How's the weather outside now?"
"(Did you have a) busy day at work?"
"I see we have a few new faces. Can you briefly introduce yourselves to the class?"
"Long time no see, Julietta. How was your holiday?/ Does anyone have any
questions for Julietta about her holiday?"
"(Did you have a) good weekend? Did anyone do anything different/ interesting/
exciting?/ John, you said you were going to.... How was it?"
"Did you enjoy your holiday?"
"Did anyone notice my haircut/ tan/ sunburn/ broken arm/ new suit? Any questions
(about my evening/ weekend)?" [point at noticeable thing]
"Vlad, you wanted to ask me a question. Can you ask it now?/ Can you ask that
question to everyone in the class?"
"You (all) look tired/ hot/ cold"
"Is it hot/ cold/ humid/ snowing/ raining outside (at the moment)?" [mime rain or snow
falling from sky, fanning yourself, or shivering]
"Are you (all) feeling better today?"
"(Have you )had a haircut?" [mime scissors with index and middle finger cutting hair]
"(We are all) dressed up smart today, aren't we? (Is there) any special reason?"
"I was sorry to hear about..."
"Did you hear about...?"
"Are you looking forward to...?"
"I can hear quite a lot of sniffing/ sniffling. Is there a cold going round/ does everyone
have a cold?"
Waiting to start
"I'm waiting for you to be quiet/ to settle down/ We won't start until everyone is quiet."
[cross arms and look impatient, maybe tapping foot]
"Please stop talking and be quiet" / "(Can everyone please) settle down so we can
start." [arms out with palms down, moving slowly up and down]
"(Everyone be) quiet please!" [index finger in front of lips, or zip across lips with
thumb and index finger]
"Okay, I'm glad you're excited, but let's calm down a little, shall we?"
"Yes, okay, we'll play the Stations game, but you have to sit down quiet and then
doing the normal greetings first."
"I'm still hearing some noise at the back"/ "What's going on back there?" [stretch your
neck and/ or stand on toes and look in that direction]
"We have the same thing every week. What am I waiting for?... For you to be quiet,
that's right."
"They'll be plenty of time for speaking/ games once the class has started."
"... or would you prefer to start by checking your homework instead?"
Lateness
"Where have you been?" [gesture tapping watch or look at clock]
"We started ten minutes ago. What have you been doing?"
"What time does the class start?... And what time is it now?"
"Sorry, we are in the middle of a listening exercise. Can you wait outside for two
minutes until we finish?"
"Did you miss your bus?"/ "Are there still problems with the underground?"/ "Did you
get stuck in traffic?"/ "Did you have problems getting a taxi (in the rain)?"
"Did you oversleep?"/ "(Is your) alarm clock broken (again)?"
"Don't let it happen again."
"It's okay, but come in quickly/ quietly so we can get on with class"
"Don't worry, but try to be on time next time"
"You missed the progress test, so you'll need to do that another time"
"You can do the part you missed for homework"
"Can someone explain what we are doing to Jose Maria?"
"Where were we?"/ "Right, let's get back to/ get on with..."
Tests
"Today is the test, remember. So, I want you to come in without speaking and take
out just one pencil and one eraser. No books and no pieces of paper. Got it? How
many books are you allowed?... No, Sabrina, not a hundred. Yes, okay, a thousand,
very funny. Seriously. How many books?... Yup, zero, none, nowt. When you've got
your pencil and eraser out of your bag, put your bags at the back of the classroom.
Ready? Quietly, come in one at a time."
"Any questions before the test starts?"
"Today's the test, but we'll do something else for 10 or 15 minutes to give other
people a chance to get here"
What stages above wouldn't you bother doing in your classes, e.g. initial
chitchat in a large class, low level class or very young class?
What order do you usually do the stages that you do? Could you do them in a
different order?
Which of the phrases in each of the stages you do use above is the right
language level for your students? Is each one also suitable for their age, polite
enough etc? If not, how could you change it?
Pick at least 5 sentences above that are totally unsuitable for your classes.
Why are they unsuitable? What kinds of classes and situations might they be
suitable for? What could you say instead in your classes?
How could you make each of those phrases easier to understand, e.g. what
gestures could you use and what language could you add to your syllabus?
Once your students get used to that phrase, how can you make it more
complicated in order to boost their level but still making sure they understand?
Is there any way of getting students to use the same phrases with each other?
Do you do any of the stages above in L1 rather than English? What do you
think students' reactions to you switching to English would be? How could you
make that transition easier?
There are also some examples of more difficult and idiomatic words and
phrases like "nowt" and "How are things?" that students would probably still
understand from the context. How do you feel about using these in your classes?
If you use natural sentences at natural speed students will hopefully learn to
guess the meaning from context, to accept not understanding every word, and to
remember language in longer stretches rather than word by word. They might,
however, never understand what the individual words are and might never be
able to tie it in with the language on the syllabus. Which of these are more
important for your students, do you think?
Some people like to start English class in exactly the same way as the other
classes so that students take it seriously, and other teachers like to start it in a
more relaxed and friendly way to set the atmosphere that they need for an
interactive, communicative classroom. Which thing is more important to you? Is
there any way of combining the two things?