Harmer

1. What if?
Chapter 13 - Harmer
Members of the group: Schmidt
Candela and Rubio Florencia.

2. What if students are all at
different levels?
 Use different materials: - Different groups
- Self-study facilities
 Do different tasks with the same
material:
- According to students’ abilities.
Eg. Reading texts (questions at diverse levels)

3.  Ignore the problem:
- Let students find their own level.
- The danger  boredom and frustration.
 Use the students:
- Peer help
- The danger  feeling of alienation or oppression

4. What if the class is very big?
 Use worksheets
 Use pairwork and groupwork:
- To maximise students’ participation.
 Use chorus reaction:
- Class division
- It’s useful at lower levels
 Use group leaders
 Think about vision and acoustic
 Use the size of the group to your
advantage: - Humour
- Drama

5. What if students keep
using their own language?
 Talk to them about the issues:
- Students may agree that it denies chances
to learn English and have feedback
 Encourage them to use English appropriately
- Native language is not banned
 Only respond to English use
 Create an English environment
- Students´ constant exposure to English
 Keep reminding them:
- During speaking exercises

6. What if students are uncooperative?
 Talk to individuals: - Outside the classroom
- Ask for students’ feelings
 Write to individuals: - A confidential letter
 Use activities: - Condition
 Enlist help: - Colleagues
- A friend' observation
 Make a language
learning contract: - Expected behaviour from Students and teacher

7. What if students don’t want to talk?
 Use pairwork: - Not so much pressure
 Allow them to speak in a controlled way
at first: -Write what students will then read
- Then, allow ask them other questions
 Use acting out and reading aloud
 Use role-play: -Taking a new identity
 Use the tape recorder: - outside the lesson

8. What if students don’t understand the
listening tape?
 Introduce interview questions: - Predictive power
 Use ‘jigsaw’ listening
 One task only: -Describe the speaker through the voice
 Play a/the first segment only:
-Predict what is coming next
 Use the tapescript: -cut into bits
- put in order as they listen
-with blanks
 Use vocabulary prediction: - “key” vocabulary

9. What if some students-in-groups finish
before everybody else?
 One group finished: - give a “spare activity”
- extra work on it
 One group doesn’t finish: - stop de activity