The document discusses strategies for making pair and group work effective in language teaching. It outlines the benefits of communicative and learner-centered approaches that incorporate interaction. Challenges of group work like students speaking only in their native language, noise, lack of participation, and understanding directions are addressed along with strategies to overcome them. Examples of effective group configurations and the jigsaw technique are provided. A variety of online resources for additional classroom activities and pedagogical information are also listed.

1. Making Pair Work and Group Work Effective Strategies to overcome the challenges Amanda Bradford English Language Fellow Bel ém, Brazil

11. The Challenges #4: Some students don’t participate Strategies : -Give students who generally don’t participate the job of “spokesperson” in the group -Use “toothpicks” as a tool to control participation. Each student receives 6 and must use 1 toothpick every time they speak -Pair up two “quiet” students together

15. Effective Technique: Jigsaw -Students work in “learning” groups to understand a particular topic well -New groups are formed called “teaching” groups where each member comes from a different learning group -Each member of the new teaching group is responsible for teaching their topic Benefits : prevents “slacking off,” everyone participates, a lot of material is addressed

16. Now it’s your turn… - In small groups or pairs, design a pair work or group work activity for your students using only this photo as your classroom material. - Use your creativity!

19. Web Resources: Pedagogical Information The InTime web site provides a concise overview of the “three theoretical perspectives [which] have guided research on cooperative learning: social interdependence, cognitive-developmental, and behavioral.” http://www.intime.uni.edu/coop_learning/ch3/history.htm The Tools for Teaching web site… http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/collaborative.html … draws on widely recognized principles of collaborative learning from the hard copy book Tools for Teaching by Barbara Gross Davis (1993, Jossey-Bass Publishers: San Francisco). Group Work vs. Whole-Class Activities , from British Council, BBC. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/group-work-v-whole-class-activities A good overview: “Group and pair work are so much a part of our everyday teaching routine that we hardly pause to think before partitioning the class to tackle some particular communicative task. But group work may not always be the best option. There will be a time and a place for whole-class activities…just as there's a time and a place for group work.” Pair and Group Work in ESL/EFL , from OneStop English. http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?catid=59438&docid=146454 A realistic view of using group work in an EFL setting: “If the benefits of using English to perform purposeful communicative tasks are clearly explained to the class…a modest and increasing success rate can be achieved.” Teaching Multilevel Adult ESL Classes , from CAELA. http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/shank.html A useful overview of grouping strategies and self-access materials with mixed abilities learners. ESOL Starter Kit , from the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center. http://www.aelweb.vcu.edu/publications/ ESLKit/ESLKit_2002.pdf An in-depth guide to teaching integrated skills framework, effective use and management of group work, and integrating computer-based technology in the language classroom (242 pages).

20. Web Resources: Classroom Practices and Activities 76 Ideas for Group Work in English , from Simon Midgely, Raising Achievement in Schools. http://www.simonmidgley.co.uk/talklearn/groupwork.htm The web page is a bit oddly formatted but it has some good easy-to-apply suggestions for activities. EFL/ESL Lessons and Lesson Plans , from Internet TESL Journal. http://iteslj.org/Lessons/ Ideas from teachers for teachers worldwide. Gateway to 21st Century Skills and Educational Materials (GEM). http://thegateway.org/ Access to over 50,000 thousand quality learning resources along with learning resources from NASA, PBS, National Science Foundation and over 700 other contributing education content providers. Use the search box to search for “group work” or other topics of choice. Group Work Lesson Plans , from Lesson Planet. http://www.lessonplanet.com/search?keywords=group+work&rating=3 A great repository of group work lesson plans for all kinds of subject areas. Group Work Rubrics and Checklists , from the National Adult Literacy Database (NALD) in Canada. http://www.nald.ca/CLR/btg/ed/evaluation/groupwork.htm Examples of rubrics for evaluating various facets of group work. Jigsaw Group Work , from LeMill, Teemu Leiononen and Hans Põldoja. http://lemill.net/methods/jigsaw-group-work/view An explanation of the jigsaw, a collaborative technique where the students are split into home groups and expert groups. Lesson Plans for K-12 Teachers , from Teach-Nology. http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/ A lesson plans center with over 30,000 lesson plans. In particular, see “Language Arts” and “Web Quests” and/or use the search box to look for group work activities. TEFL.net, ESL Teaching, Lesson Plans . http://www.tefl.net/esl-lesson-plans/index.htm Ideas and activities that will help you animate your class. Some of these lesson plans are arranged by level, but you can often adapt them quite easily to another (usually higher) level.