How to make your classroom more dynamic

Re-structuring is change with a purpose • Have a clear reason for the change • Give clear, easy instructions • Make the language to be used clear and check that students use it • Give fe

How to make your classroom

more dynamic!

Alan S Mackenzie

Head of Professional ELT Development

British Council, Thailand

How to make your classroom

more dynamic!

Alan S Mackenzie

Head of Professional ELT Development

British Council, Thailand

For VTTN Conference 8 th – 9 th December 2006

What is this?

Destroy the order!

Increasing interaction

• Ask five people…

– How long they have been teaching

– Where their family lives

– If they are enjoying themselves

• Find someone who…

– likes the same kind of movies as you

– has been teaching for the same length of time

as you

– was born in the same month as you

Re-structuring is change with a

purpose

• Have a clear reason for the change

• Give clear, easy instructions

• Make the language to be used clear and check that students use it

• Give feedback on language use if needed

• Change the task a little and repeat

• Stir and settle

Stir: You are calm in the centre of

chaos

Settle: You are active while tasks

are being completed

Paired Heads Together

are better than one

• Why is it good to find people who are the same as you?

– Humans love sharing similar experiences

– Common understanding is comfortable

– Bridges between two people

– Something to talk about

4’s

What happens in a traditional

classroom?

• Imagine I am an alien from another planet! I have never seen a

traditional classroom

on earth

• Explain to me what happens in them

The traditional classroom

Changing the physical setup,

changes the interaction

• Students can move around more

• Boys and girls are mixed so can

communicate more with each other

• The teacher can move around more

• Students can talk to each other and may

be more likely to volunteer

• Different people have different ideas to share

How much attention do the students at the back really get?

Teacher and students are getting

closer!

Roles are useful

Moving group members

Use language points to set up

Why is it good to talk to different

• Designing activities where different group

members have different pieces of information, creates opportunities for communication

Information Gaps: Examples

• Cut up texts: Jigsaw readings

• Gapped texts

• Texts on the same topic with different information about it

• Slightly different pictures

• Different pictures of the same type

• Same questions to different people

• Opinion role-plays

How does group size change

• from?

• school?

• problems?

Structuring order within chaos…

Other ways to change group

members

• What’s your favourite ice-cream flavour?

– Group leaders are the first 4 different flavours Others chose what flavour they want

• Adjectives

– Four adjectives: good, beautiful, fantastic,

great! Tell the students who is who

• Animals

– Are you a dog? No I’m a cat!

1 1

1 1

g re a

t l tifub

fa n ta s tic l rfu o w

4’s!

The teacher is active: How?

What does the teacher do?

• Really listen carefully to what

students are saying

• Note language difficulties

• Only encourage students

• Talk about what they are doing well

• Make changes to what the group is

doing if necessary

• Interfere as little as possible

• Observe what students are doing

and how they are communicating

M O N I T O R

Structure is Key

• Unstructured interaction in a group almost

always leads to unequal participation, or no

communication

• For more equal participation and learning,

teachers need to structure the interaction

• Can be integrated into any lesson, not just

Content + Structure = Activity

• A good lesson is a series of activities

carefully sequenced to reach an

important educational objective.

• Give individuals and groups

opportunities to earn P oints

• A cknowledge all contributions from

students

• P raise students when they do a good

job or give a good answer, and have

them praise each other

• H ighlight particularly good work

• Make sure you give clear Y ardsticks so

that students have a target to work

towards and measure their work

against

• H A P P Y

Spencer Kagan:

www.kaganonline.com

• the single most powerful determinant of the cooperativeness of children is the situations in which they are placed

• Situations determine social behaviour

• Teachers need to design situations that elicited cooperation among students

• at every moment in the classroom,

there is always a structure!

Another useful resource

• Oxford Resource Books for Teachers: Jill Hadfield: Classroom Dynamics

This presentation is available at:

http://access.britishcouncil.or.th

Resources

• http://www.kaganonline.com

• Oxford Resource Books for Teachers: Jill

Hadfield: Classroom Dynamics

Contactalan.mackenzie@britishcouncil.or.th