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Classroom management. Ways of organizing students. Types of interaction.

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Classroom management includes the following areas: arranging physical environment and intrusion into learning space by giving instructions, organizing interaction, monitoring and evaluating learners’ work. Teacher’s classroom management skills are divided into physical (gestures, voice, position, eye contact etc) and verbal (classroom language).

Arranging physical environmentdepends on the type of interaction demanded by the activity and existing possibilities (size of the room, size of the group, items of furniture and whether they can be moved). There may be different seating arrangement patterns:

· Desks arranged in rows, all learners face the board and the teacher’s table. Teacher dominates most of all, is in full control, atmosphere may be rigid, opportunities for learners’ interaction limited (learners sitting at the same desk form a pair). Suitable activities: accuracy oriented (drills, written texts) or fluency oriented (story-telling).

· Learners are sitting in a circle. The teacher is a part of the group, in full control (direct eye contact with all learners), atmosphere is more relaxed. Learners can see each other and interact with two neighbors or across the room. Activities: pair work, discussions, guessing games, listening, simulations etc.

· Desks arranged in a semicircle, teacher’s table is at the head. Similar to the previous plan but more formal. Teacher and learners can see one another and interact in pairs or as a whole class. The teacher is still the focus of attention if s/he doesn’t change her/his position and move around. Suitable for accuracy work in pairs (peer dictation, practicing model dialogues, completing questionnaires etc) and whole class accuracy and fluency work.

· Desks arranged in several “islands”. Most informal, provides a lot of opportunities for interaction (learners can talk to the people at their table or move around and join other groups from time to time. Classroom atmosphere is learner-centred. The teacher needs to move around to monitor learner’s work. Suitable for class surveys, games, group work (role play, projects, discussions, brainstorm etc)

· Desks are arranged in a long row, learners are sitting in two lines behind them (conference style), the teacher’s table is at the head. Arrangement is more informal than formal, though more formal than the previous one. The teacher is an organizer and then a conductor or monitor. Learners can talk to the two people next to them or to the person opposite them. Pairs are flexible since the two rows can easily move or learners can change their places. Suitable for discussions, role-plays (press-conference), surveys, practicing dialogues etc.

Giving instructions should follow some main principles:

· Take into account learners’ age and their level of language proficiency (adapt the language of instructions)

· Make instructions clear. Provide an example when necessary. Do not leave space for misinterpretation.

· Make instructions as short as possible (not sacrificing the clarity). Long instructions steal the time spent on the activity.

· The language complexity of the instruction should not be greater than that of the activity.

· If it is a pair or group activity, set a time-limit in the instruction.

Organizing learners’ interaction the teacher takes into consideration the purpose of the activity and its type, the stage of the lesson and the stage of learning, the age and proficiency level of the learners etc. Each mode of interaction has its advantages and disadvantages, so we should speak about selecting the most appropriate. It’s their appropriacy and variety that counts.

Advantages of pair and group work:

· They increase each learner’s talking time.

· Learners can face and talk directly to one another.

· Learners have an opportunity to become more independent.

· Most learners work harder in groups because they are involved and can really use what they have learnt.

· Pair and especially group work provide constant opportunities for integrated skills.

· It’s easier for shy learners and weaker learners to talk/work in small groups.

Some problems with pair and group work may be as follows:

· Learners make too much noise (but it’s because they are practicing). So ignore it or stop the activity and ask the learners to speak more quietly.

· Teacher cannot control every learner (but can s/he always do it working with the whole class?)So give clear instructions and stimulating tasks, monitor groups and pairs going around the classroom, give feedback after the activity etc.

· Learners’ mistakes are not corrected (but it depends on the focus of activity: accuracy or fluency). So provide some clear models before the activity, enough controlled practice and language input. During the activity note down the most serious and typical mistakes and do corrections and some more practice later.

· Pair and group work take a lot of time (but it depends on the activity again). Give short and simple instructions, get learners used to changing seats, forming pairs or groups, stop pair and group work at an appropriate moment.

· In pair and group work learners may sometimes switch to their native language. It’s unrealistic to hope that everything will be done in English. Some of the learners may have ideas but not the level of English to express them, others will have the language knowledge but not the ideas. To minimize the use of learners’ mother tongue the teacher is to provide tasks appropriate for the level of the learners. If pair work is accuracy oriented, English should be used most of the time.

Ways of monitoring learners’ work depend on the focus of activity and mode of interaction. The teacher may perform the roles of conductor, advisor, consultant, communication partner etc. S/he may collect mistakes and then organize correction work.

Ways of evaluation were described in the lecture on assessment.

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