This document discusses various classroom management strategies for teaching English as a foreign language. It addresses topics such as using one's voice effectively, giving clear instructions, encouraging student use of the target language, creating lesson stages, seating arrangements, grouping students, dealing with mixed-ability classes, and strategies for when students are uncooperative, don't want to talk, or don't understand audio tracks. Specific techniques are provided, such as pairing stronger with weaker students, using role plays and readings aloud, providing a language learning contract, and pre-listening activities to aid comprehension.

1. Practical
Nº 13
Practice II. 2015
Corso, Erica.

2. Practice II, Didactics of ELT and Practicum at primary School Level.
CORSO, Erica; IRUSTA, Carla.
PRACTICE PAPER Nº13 –CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Chapter 3: Managing the classroom.
A) The teacher in the classroom – Using the voice
Rating of a teacher I remember well:
ERICA’S BIOLOGY TEACHER
Appearance 1 General presence in class 1
Audibility 1 Movement 1
Clarity 1 Vocal quality 1
ERICA AS A FUTURE TEACHER
Appearance 1 General presence in class 2
Audibility 1 Movement 1
Clarity 1 Vocal quality 2
CARLA’S TEACHER
Appearance 1 General presence in class 2
Audibility 1 Movement 2
Clarity 1 Vocal quality 2
CARLA AS A FUTURE TEACHER
Appearance 1 General presence in class 1
Audibility 2 Movement 1
Clarity 1 Vocal quality 2
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3. Practice II, Didactics of ELT and Practicum at primary School Level.
CORSO, Erica; IRUSTA, Carla.
B) Giving instructions
1. The first and fourth instructions are the most appropriate.
2.
HOW TO FRY AN EGG
First, turn on the stove at a low flame. Then, put a frying pan with a spoon of oil over
the heat. After it gets hot, break a fresh egg and put the content in the pan. Let it fry
from 3 to 5 minutes, until it is done. Finally, take the egg out and put it on a plate. If
you want, add some salt. Enjoy!
C) 1. In a class of twenty students and one teacher, in a fifty-minute class, students can
devote more or less 2 minutes each on orally practicing their L2.
2. Student talk and teacher talk
Teacher Talking Time (TTT) Student Talking Time (STT)
ADVANTAGES *Teacher is a good
language model.
*Teacher is the one who
gives all the instructions.
*Good teachers rough-
tune their language
according to their
students’ level of L2.
*Good teachers maximize
STT and minimize TTT.
*It gives the teacher and
students awareness about
how well the students are
doing.
*Students can retell to
their classmates the
explanation of an activity
after the teacher has given
the instructions.
*Students need to practice
their own speaking.
DISADVANTAGES *Students cannot practice
their own speaking.
*Students have less time
for practicing reading and
writing.
*Excessive TTT can be very
boring.
*It can be very noise,
especially in big groups.
*It can be very chaotic.
D) Using the L1
Teachers should encourage students to use the L2 to communicate in the classroom,
by providing them with the necessary lexis and structures.
E) Creating lesson stages
Personal preference:
1. The teacher raises his hand, expecting SS to raise their hands too, and quieten
down.
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4. Practice II, Didactics of ELT and Practicum at primary School Level.
CORSO, Erica; IRUSTA, Carla.
2. The teacher speaks quietly in the hope that students will quiet down to listen.
3. The teacher claps his or her hands.
4. The teacher stands in front of the class with arms folded, fixing the students with a
baleful stare. The teacher waits.
5. The teacher blows a whistle.
6. The teacher shouts at students to be quiet.
7. The teacher stands on a table and shouts at students to be quiet.
F) Sitting arrangements
The best setting arrangement is…
a. Five groups of eight people joined with separate tables.
b. A horseshoe.
c. In orderly rows, working with the partner next to the student.
d. Solowork in separate tables.
e. Small groups joined with separate tables.
f. Orderly rows, working on their own.
g. Orderly rows.
G) Different student groupings
1. Advantages Disadvantages
Whole class *Ideal for presenting
information, for showing
things.
*Useful for controlled
practice.
*SS can build a sense of
belonging.
*Individual SS get fewer
opportunities to speak.
*It is not good for
individual contributions
and discussion.
Groupwork *It fosters cooperative
activity.
*It allows opportunities for
SS to develop several
different opinions.
*It gives the teacher
chances to focus attention
on particular SS.
*It can be noisy.
*It can be difficult to
organize.
*Some SS may not like the
people they are grouped
with.
*One student may
dominate in the group
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5. Practice II, Didactics of ELT and Practicum at primary School Level.
CORSO, Erica; IRUSTA, Carla.
while others stay silent.
Pairwork *It fosters cooperative
activity.
*It increases more
speaking time.
*It is easy to organize.
*It gives the SS chances for
working and interacting
independently.
*Some SS may not like the
people they are paired
with.
*Some SS may preferred
working individually.
*SS can get disruptive and
distracted.
Solowork *SS work at their own
pace.
*SS feel more relaxed.
*Speaking time is more
quiet.
*It is less stressful than
whole-group performance.
*It does not necessarily
help group solidarity.
*It involves more work for
the teacher.
2. a. Groupwork.
b. Groupwork.
c. Whole class.
d. Pairwork.
e. Solowork.
f. Whole class.
g. Solowork.
h. Pairwork.
i. Solowork.
j. Whole class.
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6. Practice II, Didactics of ELT and Practicum at primary School Level.
CORSO, Erica; IRUSTA, Carla.
Chapter 14: What if?
A) Mixed ability classes present a challenge to a teacher but there are different
strategies to deal with it.
1. a. Mixed-ability classes present a challenge to teachers, but there are different
strategies to deal with.
b. One way of dealing with a mixed-ability class is to pair the best students with the
weakest ones.
c. In most classes we can find students that have different levels of abilities.
2. a. Students can answer questions about the interview according to their abilities.
b. All students can work individually and write the story at their own pace and
according to their level of the L2.
c. The students can work in mixed groups to practice their abilities.
d. Students can work individually and use the dictionary to look for unknown words.
e. The teacher can divide the class in groups according to the student’s level and
provide them with different materials.
f. The teacher can adopt the strategy of peer help.
B) The class is very big.
1.
IN SMALL CLASSES IN BIG CLASSES
*Teacher can make contact with the SS
sitting at the back.
*SS can ask for and receive individual
attention.
*Teacher uses a lot of individual
repetition and controlled practice.
*Classes are personalized.
*Teacher can work with the whole class.
*A lot or pairwork and groupwork is
preferable, so as to maximize SS’
participation.
*Teacher can select one group leader for
each row, so that he/she can hand out
copies or collect homework.
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7. Practice II, Didactics of ELT and Practicum at primary School Level.
CORSO, Erica; IRUSTA, Carla.
2. a. Teachers should not shout so as not to hurt their vocal cords, and the tone of
voice has to be audible for all the class.
b. Teachers should walk around the whole class so as to monitor and control that
students are working properly.
c. The handwriting has to be clear enough so each student can see and understand
what is written on the board.
d. The quality of the recordings has to be appropriate so that everyone in the class can
hear properly.
C) Students keep using their own language.
1. a. Make the students read aloud whenever is possible (stories, instructions to solve
activities)
b. Say the date and what the weather is like.
c. Make personal questions to students, e.g. What did you do on the weekend?
d. Tell the answers of an activity to a classmate, so as to check.
e. Chorus repetition so as to check pronunciation.
2. We chose the b, d, and f situations.
D) Students don’t do homework.
ERICA
A B HOMEWORK TASK
2 2 Fill-in exercise
3 4 Interview
4 6 List of words
2 4 Presentation
1 2 Role-play
2 2 Multiple choice
1 2 Write sentences
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8. Practice II, Didactics of ELT and Practicum at primary School Level.
CORSO, Erica; IRUSTA, Carla.
3 4 Write composition
6 7 Write a leaflet
CARLA
A B HOMEWORK TASK
3 2 Fill-in exercise
1 1 Interview
1 2 List of words
1 1 Presentation
1 1 Role-play
2 1 Multiple choice
1 1 Write sentences
1 2 Write composition
1 1 Write a leaflet
E) Students are uncooperative.
1. a. Students being constantly rude towards the teacher/being disrespectful.
b. Students refusing to talk in the L2 in class.
c. Students not paying attention to the teacher.
d. Students refusing to do the homework.
2.
THE LANGUAGE-LEARNING CONTRACT
TEACHER LEARNER
As your teacher I will guide you in your
learning.
As a learner I will do the assignments.
As your teacher I expect you to respect
me.
As a learner I expect you to take the time
to explain me things in class, and to teach
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9. Practice II, Didactics of ELT and Practicum at primary School Level.
CORSO, Erica; IRUSTA, Carla.
me how to be a good student and person.
F) Students don’t want to talk.
ACTION CONSEQUENCES
*Join in, in order to try to stimulate
discussion.
*It might relax students; on the other
hand students may end up listening more
than talking.
*Remind SS that speaking is mandatory. *Students still refusing to talk in class.
*Give small prizes (candy, chocolate) to
those who participate in class.
*It might create jealousy among students.
*Use pairwork with students, it will help
quiet students to talk.
*Some students may still feel
uncomfortable talking in another
language.
*Use role-play or reading aloud in class, so
that students can feel more confident.
*Students might feel nervous standing in
front of the class and speaking.
G) Students don’t understand the audio track
1. The problems that students have, in general, when listening to audio tracks in class
are the bad quality of the audios, the audio track is not appropriate for students’ level
of L2, the voice quality and pronunciation of the recorded speakers is not well
understood.
There are a number of alternatives that a teacher can use to help students:
a. Use the tape script (students can put different parts in the right order, complete
missing words).
b. Use vocabulary prediction (teacher gives key words and ask what the audio might be
about).
c. One task only (students can complete a task that doesn’t demand too much detailed
information).
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10. Practice II, Didactics of ELT and Practicum at primary School Level.
CORSO, Erica; IRUSTA, Carla.
me how to be a good student and person.
F) Students don’t want to talk.
ACTION CONSEQUENCES
*Join in, in order to try to stimulate
discussion.
*It might relax students; on the other
hand students may end up listening more
than talking.
*Remind SS that speaking is mandatory. *Students still refusing to talk in class.
*Give small prizes (candy, chocolate) to
those who participate in class.
*It might create jealousy among students.
*Use pairwork with students, it will help
quiet students to talk.
*Some students may still feel
uncomfortable talking in another
language.
*Use role-play or reading aloud in class, so
that students can feel more confident.
*Students might feel nervous standing in
front of the class and speaking.
G) Students don’t understand the audio track
1. The problems that students have, in general, when listening to audio tracks in class
are the bad quality of the audios, the audio track is not appropriate for students’ level
of L2, the voice quality and pronunciation of the recorded speakers is not well
understood.
There are a number of alternatives that a teacher can use to help students:
a. Use the tape script (students can put different parts in the right order, complete
missing words).
b. Use vocabulary prediction (teacher gives key words and ask what the audio might be
about).
c. One task only (students can complete a task that doesn’t demand too much detailed
information).
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