Practical N° 13 - Classroom management

1. Practice II – Camila Roldán & Federico Ramonda
Practical N°13 – “Classroom Management”
Chapter 3: Managing the classroom
C- Student talk and teacher talk
1- In a class of twenty students (working as a whole group) and one
teacher, how much speaking time will each student have in a fifty-minute
language practice class.
 The students will have more or less two minutes and a half each
or even less if the teacher speaks too.
2- Make an A & D chart for teacher talking time and student talking time in
an English lesson.
TTT STT
Instructions Listen
Presentation Repetition
Explanation Listen, take down notes & ask questions
(Cross) Checking & Feedback Solving an activity (pairs/groups)
Share it with an audience
Role play of a dialogue
D- Using the L1
Rewrite the following statement so that it reflects your own opinion:
“Students and teachers should be discouraged from using students’ mother
tongue (L1) in the classroom.”
Students and teachers should use English as much as possible, speaking in
their mother tongue only when it is necessary.
 Students should be encouraged above all to speak English because it is the
only opportunity they get to practice it. Therefore, teachers need to create
a fruitful environment where English is heard as much as possible. This
means giving instructions in English and a lot of input to students.
However, the presence of their L1 cannot be avoided. Teachers should take
it as a tool to explain difficult concepts or words, or even to ask children to

2. Practice II – Camila Roldán & Federico Ramonda
explain what they have to do in their mother tongue. This will show if the
students have understood.
E- Creating lesson stages
Number the following ways of regaining the initiative in a noisy class in order
of personal preference and give your opinion of their effectiveness:
The teacher blows a whistle. (4)
The teacher claps his/her hands. (1)
The teacher speaks quietly in the hope that students will quieten down to
listen. (3)
The teacher raises his/her hand, expecting students to raise their hands, too,
and quieten down. (2)
The teacher shouts at students to be quiet. (7)
The teacher stands on a table and shouts at students to be quiet. (6)
The teacher stands in front of the class with arms folded, fixing the students
with a baleful stare. The teacher waits. (5)
F- Different seating arrangements
What is the best seating arrangement for the following situations?
a- A team game with a class of forty. SEPARATE TABLES
b- A class discussion with fifteen students. HORSESHOE
c- Pairwork in a group of thirty students. SEPARATE TABLES
d- A reading task in a group of ten. ORDERLY ROWS
e- Students design an advertisement in groups. SEPARATE TABLES
f- Students all listen to an audio track. ORDERLY ROWS
g- The teacher explains a grammar point. ORDERLY ROWS
G- Different student groupings
1- Make an A&D chart for whole class, groupwork, pairwork and solowork.

3. Practice II – Camila Roldán & Federico Ramonda
Student
Grouping
Characteristics Advantages Disadvantages
Whole
Class
Teacher works with
the class as a whole
group. Students
focus on the teacher
& task in hand.
Useful for presenting
information &
controlled practice.
Dynamic &
motivating. Builds
a great sense of
belonging.
Fewer individual
opportunities to
speak or reflect.
Less effective to
encourage
individual
contributions &
discussion.
Groupwork
&
Pairwork
Students work in
pairs or in small
groups. It fosters
cooperative activity.
Students
participate more;
they have more
chance to
experiment with
language and
work without
pressure. It gives
the teacher more
opportunities to
focus attention on
particular
students.
Students may
not like the
people they are
grouped or
paired with. One
student may
dominate while
others stay
silent.
Solowork
Students work on
their own.
Students work at
their own speed
and have more
thinking time.
They are
concerned about
their own needs
and progress.
2- What is the best grouping for these activities, do you think? Put W, P, G
or S.
a- Students choose one of three alternatives when faced with an imaginary
moral dilemma. (P)

4. Practice II – Camila Roldán & Federico Ramonda
b- Students design a website for a school or special interest group. (G)
c- Students listen to an audio recording of a conversation. (S)
d- Students practice saying sentences with the present perfect ( I’ve lived
here for six years’, ‘He studied here for six months’) (W) (S)
e- Students prepare a talk/presentation on a subject of their choice. (P)
(S)
f- Students repeat words and phrases to make sure they can say them
correctly. (W)
g- Students work out the answers to a reading comprehension. (S)
h- Students write a dialogue between a traveler and an immigration official.
(P)
i- Students write a paragraph about themselves. (S)
j- The teacher explains the rule for the pronunciation of ‘s’ plurals (‘pins’,
‘cups’, ‘brushes’) (W)
Chapter 14: What if?
A- Students are all at different levels
1- Rewrite these sentences so that they reflect your own opinion:
a- Mixed-ability classes present the teacher with insuperable problems.
Mixed-ability classes represent a challenge to the teacher. This does
not mean they are an unavoidable obstacle. He/she needs to be aware
of the differences between students and find ways to exploit each
one’s potential.
b- The only thing you can do with a mixed-ability class is ignore the
problem.
Ignoring the problem is not the best option as it will remain present.
There are many plausible solutions such as using different materials or
different activities with the same material or even asking stronger
students to help weaker ones. It all depends on how resourceful and
creative the teacher is.
c- All classes are mixed-ability classes.
Most of the classes at school are mixed-ability classes, except perhaps
at schools where students are divided according to their level.
2- How would you approach these situations with a mixed-ability group?

5. Practice II – Camila Roldán & Federico Ramonda
a- You want to use the interview with Diana Hayden on page 141 with
your students. USE DIFFERENT MATERIALS/TECHNOLOGY
b- You want students to write a ghost story, having studied story telling,
and having been given some ‘ghost’ vocabulary and phrases. DO
DIFFERENT TASKS WITH THE SAME MATERIAL/TECHNOLOGY
c- You want students to study ways of agreeing and disagreeing – and
later use them, if possible, in some kind of discussion. DO
DIFFERENT TASKS WITH THE SAME MATERIAL/TECHNOLOGY
d- You have a poem which you want your students to look at. You can
refer to ‘Fire and Ice’ on page 108 if you want. USE DIFFERENT
MATERIALS/ TECHNOLOGY
e- Three of your students are making it clear that they’re finding your
classes too easy for them. USE THE STUDENTS
f- You want to hand back some written work and deal with the mistakes
that you found when correcting. USE THE STUDENTS
B- The class is very big
1- Complete the chart. In the first column write things you can do with
small classes (ten or under) but you can’t with big classes (forty or
plus). In the second column write things you can do with big classes
which you can’t do with small ones.
Small Classes Big classes
Individual repetition & controlled
practice
Use chorus repetition – reaction.
Whole class work (may be with
worksheets or on the board)
Use of worksheets for individual
work
Whole class work, individual work,
groupwork and pairwork.
Lots of groupwork and pairwork
The board is easily seen. The voice
is heard without inconvenience.
Maybe the teacher would need a
beamer or a bigger structure to
write on. As regards voice if the
group is too big, some teachers
use a microphone.
2- In big classes, what special considerations need to be taken into
account for the following?

6. Practice II – Camila Roldán & Federico Ramonda
a- The teacher’s voice: It needs to be loud and clear enough so that
everyone (even the students at the back) hear you.
b- The teacher’s place in the class: You should move around the
class if there is space but the most important aspect in big classes is
that they have to see you. You cannot be sitting the whole classroom
because students at the back will not see you and will maybe not
hear you.
c- The teacher’s board work/overheard projector use: You need
to write big enough so that everyone is able to see and your
handwriting should be clear.
d- Using the tape recorder: The sound needs to be as clear as
possible and the volume is important too. If you use a computer or
some other device to play the audio tracks, you could use some
loudspeakers.
C- Students keep using their own language
1- What action can teachers take if students use their own language in
class all the time? List as many things as you can think of.
2- In which of the following situations, if any, would you be happy (or at
least not unhappy) for students to use their own language?
a- Students are working in pairs to practice a dialogue. UNHAPPY
b- Students are debating the issue of whether birth control should be
imposed on the world to prevent overpopulation. HAPPY
c- Students are working in pairs to solve a reading puzzle. NOT
UNHAPPY
d- Students are checking that they understand the instructions for an
activity. HAPPY
e- Students are doing a group writing task. NOT UNHAPPY
f- Students are taking part in a business meeting simulation. HAPPY
D- Students don’t do homework
Write 1 (most favourite) to 9 (least favourite) in Column A (Me as a
teacher) and in Column B (Me as a student).
A B Homework Task
8 8 Students do a fill-in exercise, choosing between ‘going to’ and ‘will’.

7. Practice II – Camila Roldán & Federico Ramonda
1 4 Students interview residents/tourists in the street and bring the
results to the next lesson.
9 9 Students learn a list of words by heart to be tested by the teacher in
the next lesson.
2 1 Students prepare a presentation which they will give (individually) in
the next lesson.
5 5 Students prepare roles for the next week’s role-play.
6 6 Students read a text and answer multiple-choice questions.
7 7 Students write six sentences using the past continuous.
3 3 Students write a composition about the environment.
4 2 Students write a publicity leaflet based on something in the
coursebook.
E- Students are uncooperative
1- How many ways are there for students to be uncooperative in class? List
them in order where the first one is most difficult for the teacher to deal
with and the last is the least challenging for the teacher.
 Students misbehave.
 Students do not pay attention to you.
 Students remain silent.
 Students work with something that belongs to other subject.
 Students do not speak in English.
2- What might teachers and students write in this contract form?
THE LANGUAGE LEARNING CONTRACT
TEACHER LEARNER
As your teacher I will respect your
learning pace and I will explain to
you as many times as you need.
As a learner I will commit to the
subject and make my best effort to
learn.
As your teacher I expect that you As a learner I expect to be taken

8. Practice II – Camila Roldán & Federico Ramonda
participate in class and use English
as much as you can.
into account and to have the
possibility to talk whenever I want
to express my opinion.
As your teacher I expect you to be
responsible. This means completing
all of the activities worked in class
and the ones which are for
homework.
As a learner I expect that my needs
are considered. Also, I would like to
know in advance when we are near
an exam, I do not like surprise
tests.
F- Students don’t want to talk
Copy and complete the chart with things you could do to make reluctant
speakers talk – and say what possible consequences are (both positive and
negative).
ACTION CONSEQUENCES
Join in yourself in order
to try to stimulate
discussion.
It might relax students; on the other hand
students may end up listening more than
talking.
Use pairwork They may relax but they may also use their L1
Speak nonsense Students may react either laughing and it
relaxes the environment or reply what you said
and start talking.
G- Students don’t understand the audio track
1- What problems do students have (in general) when listening to audio
tracks in class? How can you help them overcome these difficulties?
 They do not understand every word – This is not necessary of
course but many students think that if they do not understand
some words, they will not understand the message. As teachers,
we need to emphasize the idea that the message is more than
just the amount of words as we also communicate through
paralinguistic features. Besides, it is a good piece of advice telling
them to focus in certain words such as nouns or verbs which are
the ones that carry meaning.

9. Practice II – Camila Roldán & Federico Ramonda
 The speakers go too fast – This is the most likely thing to
happen as students are not accustomed to the language, its speed
and rhythm. We need to consider this carefully when using
authentic materials. A useful tool is to play the audio track
entirely and then, for the activities, pause it each time the
students need to complete something.
 They do not understand the topic – They may understand
words but be unable to connect them and fully understand what
the text is about. In this case it is important that the teacher
explains a bit what the listening is going to be about, before
actually listening. A concept to have in mind here is the students’
background knowledge. It is useful to find out what the students
know about the topic and share it so that each of them has more
or less an idea of the words they are likely to hear. This helps
them to deduce meanings more easily. (Use predictions – Activate
schema)