Classroom Management-TEFL

Task 1 -How can a teacher use his/her physical presence and voice in the classroom?

Physical Presence

The physical presence of teacher in the class is important for the proper management of the class. The teacher should think carefully about where he/she stands in the room.He/she try to avoid standing or sitting for long periods of time in a position where he/she cannot see the whole class. Most people, including youngsters, find it easier to hear when they can see the whole of a person's face. Very young pupils in particular need to read expression as well as hear what the teacher is saying.
The teacher's posture whilst he/she is teaching can have an impact on the richness of his/her voice and the way it projects in the classroom. The teacher can also use body language to give messages to the children as he/she teach and therefore rely less on his/her voice, removing some of the potential strain.This does not mean that the teacher takes centre stage and do all the talking. The teacher's speaking style (clear and loud enough for all) and his/her physical presence in a large class help to manage the room. Avoid sitting behind a desk or standing in a corner. Move around, interact with all pupils at the questioning stages, scan the room and make eye contact as if in the theatre.
The teacher should take care of his/her physical position and movement during following lesson stages:
Language Presentation - The teacher likes the attention of all the students at this stage, therefore standing is the best position.
Giving Instructions - Here also the teacher likes the attention of whole class, so standing is the best position.
Reading Activities - When students are reading then there is no need to be dominant so much. Just sitting and occasional monitoring is enough.
Activation Control - The teacher can loose control and allow the students freedom to carry this stage. The teacher should be at a distance from the activity, preferably be seated. However the teacher should be available when needed.
Controlled Practice - Here occasional monitoring is enough, otherwise the teacher may allow students to focus on activity.
Checking Work in Progress - Teacher should move from one group to other in order to check their progress without interrupting them.
Voice
The voice of the teacher should change naturally according to the situation e.g. greater projection is required in big noisy classes as compared to quiet and small classes. The teacher can make lessons interesting or dull just because of alterations in his/her volume. A greater variation in voice can be helpful in getting better results from the students. A lively and energetic voice of the teacher keep students active and alert during the learning process.
I had observed during my student life that those teachers who changed their position in the class according to the requirements of the activity and had variations in their volume had good effects on my learning as compared to those teachers who just stood or sit in same position and had no variations in their volume.


Task 2 - Is there a best seating arrangement for a class? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the various seating plans?

Seating arrangements play vital role in learning activities. No seating arrangements can be regarded as best sitting arrangement, as the seating arrangements depends upon various factors e.g. Class size, number of students, type of chairs and tables in the room, age of students, nationality, personality of student or type of activity to take place in the classroom. There are many types of seating arrangements in the classroom. Some of them are mentioned below:

Orderly rows - The tables are placed in well-organised rows. This is the traditional form of a classroom. Advantages of this are that the teacher can see all students, move freely around the classroom and can gain the attention of all the students. The main disadvantage is that there is very little scope for student interaction.
When teaching adults, this method is usually not recommended. In some cases, it can be beneficial when teaching young children though. Children can be noisy and are sometimes difficult to control. By placing the tables in rows, there will be very little possibility to talk and to play with other students. If the teacher has too many difficulties with the class, this will make his job a bit easier! Larger class sizes may also be a reason to use this method. Another reason to place the tables in rows is when a test is being given. This will make sure, for children and adults, that the cheating possibilities will be minimized.

Circles and Horseshoes - This type of arrangement is useful in smaller classes where the board and teacher are present at the open end of the arrangements. The teacher´s position is less dominating and students have less feeling of sitting back or infront. This allow students to concentrate on the lesson. This arrangement is usually useful for pairwork, discussions and eye contact with other class members. The disadvantages are that it takes up a lot of space and it could be more difficult for a teacher to get attention, especially with children. When teaching adults in small groups, this method can be extremely beneficial.

Separate Tables - This is the informal way of seating arrangement. Students are seated in small groups at separate tables.This arrangement is very common in situations where there is a lot of group learning and work. The desks together make it easy for all students in the group to see each other and to discuss. In this situation the philosophy of the teacher is more collaborative learning. This lets the students have hands on activities and learn by practicing. The teacher shares and gives guidance and help to the students. This arrangement also, allows for students to do individual work at their desk. This type of arrangement sometimes create discipline problems as students feel that they are not part of the whole class. This is easy for the teacher to work on one group while others can carry on other task. Here it is difficult for the teacher to have eye contact with the students. These arrangements are not very good during test or quizzes because students can easily cheat off each other. This can be a disadvantage to the teacher when giving a direct instruction lesson because students may not be oriented toward them. Students may have their back to the teacher and not be focused to the front of the room. If there are many students in the classroom, it may also be too noisy to use this arrangement.
From my learning experience, I think that for teacher's instructions and lesson explanation, the best seating arrangement could be orderly rows and for group works and discussions separate tables would be appropriate.

Task 3 - List the different student groupings that a teacher can use and give advantages and disadvantages for each:

Grouping in the class depends on the type of activity. Some activities may require larger groups, other require smaller groups, pairs or individual work. There is no such limit for teacher how to group students. However, sometimes class size or furniture could effect the grouping.
Some of the grouping methods, their advantages & disadvantages are mentioned below:

Whole-class Grouping

Advantages
- Creates sense of belonging among the group members.
- This is suitable for activities where teacher wanted to be in control.
- It helps students to have interactions with each other.
- It helps the teacher to have attention of the class.
- Its arrangement is quicker and easier.

Disadvantages
- It can be off-putting to  shy students, who do not want to speak or perform infront of the whole class.
- It does not provide opportunities to all the students to speak.
 
Pair Work

Advantages
- It helps teacher to work with certain pair while others can do their own work.
- The students can express freely their ideas before putting them to the whole class.
- Here stronger students can help weaker students very effectively.
- Here all the students have enough talking time and allows greater student to student interaction.
- This gives the students to share responsibility for work and share the burden of others.
- This is easy and quick to organize.

Disadvantages
- It is sometimes noisy and students can start talking in their native languages.
- Some students may not like to work with their partner.
- Some students just communicate with the teacher and they do not communicate with their partners.

Group Work

Advantages
- Personal problems are less problematic as compared to pair work.
- Students are able to choose their level of participation.
- Like pair work it increases the student talk time and student to student interaction.
- This also encourages students to negotiate and talk in english.

Disadvantages
- It can take longer to organize groups and get started.
- Sometimes it is very noisy.
- The exchange of ideas among the group members can slow down the activity.
- Some group members can be more dominent, while passive students don't get enough opportunities to participate.

Students working on their own

Advantages
- This gives the teacher the opportunity to address the individual problems of the students.
- This is less stressful for students as they do not have to perform in front of the class.
- This helps to build the confidence of the students and make them self-reliant.

Disadvantages
- This reduces the possibilities of student to student relationship.
- This may sometimes take long hours to complete the activity.

I have an opportunity to work in groups during my masters program in Germany. In group work I have the opportunity to work with the students of different nationalities. In group work I have the advantage to learn from the experiences of different persons and different cultures.
 
Task 4 - How can the teacher make sure all students are equally involved in the lesson and give individual attention?

The involement of the students in the lesson depend on the following factors:
- The teacher make sure that all the students have understood the instructions.
- Whether all the students have interest in the lesson or activity.
- Every student should be provided equal opportunity to express himself/herself.
- The doubts of the students should be removed.

Individual Attention

- The teacher should know the names of the all students. The teacher should not ask only to those students whose names he/she
   knows.
- The teacher should spend longer time with the weaker students so as to slove their problems, but try to keep other students busy in
   other activities.
- The teacher should not concentrate only on weaker or stronger students.
- The teacher should include all the students equally in all the activity.
- The teacher should not go round and ask the students in a certain order. It is very predictable for the students and they will not pay
   attention untill they have to. It is better for the teacher not to use any particular order, then the class will be on toes.
- If students do not want to, or cannot contribute, it would be better to let them remain silent. They should not feel that they are
  picked up. To build the confidence of the such students its better to ask simple questions, whose answers they know.

I can remember my Mathematics teacher in Secondary school, who was always ready to help weaker students. He was ready to give extra time to weaker students even after the school time. This helped the weaker students to solve their problems and work along with rest of the class.

Task 5 - When is teacher talking time important?

The teacher provides the exposure to a new language to students. The students mainly depend on the teacher for correct, natural english which is specfically geared towards their ability.  
It is important for a teacher to talk during follow activities:
- Presenting, checking, clarifying or modelling.
- Giving instructions and setting up activities.
- Establishing rapport.
- Providing language input.


Task 6 - How can the teacher reduce unnecessary teacher talking time?

Following are the Measures required to reduce unnecessary teacher talking time:
- Usage of gestures, mimes, maps, pictures etc.
- The teacher should choose carefully the language for instructions and explanations for the activities or lessons.
- The teacher should not over-elaborate, but try to be brief and to the point.
- Try to keep the things simple and easy.
- The teacher should use the language which is below the level being taught.
- Try to avoid TEFL jargon.


Task 7 - What can a teacher do to ensure that instructions are understood?

The proper way to check whether the instructions have been understood by the students is to question them regarding the lesson. It is not the proper way to ask them that they have understood or not. This may not serve the purpose. The best way is to ask them to explain back to the teacher and in this the teacher can judge how much they have understood the instructions.
The teacher should also monitor the students to see whether they are working according to the instructions.