PLINEJ2

Problem behavior and what to do with it

What it represents What to do to promote the use of English

1. disruptive talking set clear guidelines

2. inaudible responses choose appropriate tasks
3. tardiness create an English atmosphere
4. sleeping in class use persuasion
5. cheating
6. not doing homework

3 things teacher should know

1. why it occurs
- family background;
- previous education ('my teacher let me do this');
- external factors ('classroom is cold');
- boredom;
- self-esteem (low self-esteem)
2. how to prevent it
- code of conduct (rules you arrange with students on how to, for instance, act in classroom)
- interest and enthusiasm (come up with classes before the class, your attitude also counts)
- professionalism (don't tell students to be late and then you come late)
- rapport between students and teachers (mutual respect)
3. reacting to problem behavior
- act immediately (don't ignore it)
- stay calm
- reprimand students in private (tell the students in private)
- focus on the behavior not the pupil
- don't take things personally

Please speak English

1. why students use mother tongue in class
2. choice of task (sometimes you give
them a task that is not appropriate for
their level of knowledge)
3. code switching is a natural thing
4. if the teacher uses it a lot (then they will
use it a lot)
- It is more effective if you, for instance, explain
tasks in mother tongue because then you don't
spent too much time on trivial things. Or it
depends on the activity (e.g. when they read in
pairs, and in order for them to understand what it
is about, they should both talk between each
other in mother tongue, whereas practicing
speaking in mother tongue is not a good option)

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How to teach speaking

What of speaking should students do

- do not focus solely on the grammatical structures you have covered in a particular class, but rather use
'activate exercise' which means that students use all the language at their command.

Why encourage students to do speaking tasks

1. rehearsal - free discussion. e.g. practice for real life situations (at the airport)
2. feedback (teacher can see the progress and students can see what they need to improve)
3. engagement (it provides motivation and fun for students)

What do speaking activities look like

1. information gaps (important with elementary and intermediate level; e.g. give students different
parts of information that make one whole; or describe and draw - one students describes what
the other needs to draw; it is important for students to swap so that both get a chance to practice
speaking)
2. story telling (Divide students in 4 groups. Each group should get different picture. All 4 pictures
make one story. Then, one student from each group should tell one of the other 3 groups the story
from his/her group and they should come up with a new story. This is interesting as you get
different story plots)
3. discussion (professors tend to forget that student need time to assemble their thoughts, this is
important to memorize; all students need to be engaged in topics)

Writing

1. 10 papers 4. 7 papers (low passer)

- wide vocabulary range - adequate range of vocabulary
- good command of idioms - less frequent vocabulary, but with inaccuracies
- rare spelling errors - mix of simple and complex sentences
- wide range of structures - errors in grammar and punctuation, but they
- well organized and coherent don't reduce communication
- fully developed ideas - mechanical cohesion
2. 9 papers 5. 6 papers (low passer)
- same as 10 but some inaccuracies in word - uses limited and elementary range of vocabulary
choice and collocations
- it has less pages - limited range of structures
3. 8 papers - lacks organization
- sufficient range of vocabulary 6. F paper
- not good with collocations - uses only basic vocabulary, often repetitively or
- errors in spelling inappropriately
- good control of grammar and complex - very limited range of basic structures
structures, but some errors occur - basic grammar errors occur
- not fully developed answers
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Writing in class

How to come up with ideas

1. brainstorming - write a topic on board in a circle; students should call out anything that comes to
mind that is connected to the topic; then write it on board; then select ideas that students like
2. text-starts - comment on other texts or summarize
3. fast writing - just start writing about the topic, do not stop writing, don't worry about spelling or
grammar (there will be useful ideas at the end even though it may seem rubbish at first)

Set writing task Planning classroom writing work

Instead of just giving task, you can help them. 1. introduce the topic
How to help them: 2. introduce and summarize the main
writing task (what they should do)
1. choose a topic 3. brainstorming ideas
2. choose a genre 4. fast writing
3. get ideas 5. select and reject ideas (from what
4. select one they've already written)
5. make notes 6. sort and order ideas (from what is left of
6. find grammar suitable for the text the ideas)
7. plan the organization 7. decide on style, layout etc.
8. make a rough draft 8. focus on useful models (give them
9. get feedback
example on how essays should look
10. final version
like)
9. plan the text
10. get feedback
11. prepare draft
12. edit
13. prepare final text
14. readers (give someone to read that)

Reasons for teaching writing

1. gives more time to students to think about the language instead of just talking right away
2. writing for learning - to study and practice the language (e.g. write 5 sentences using grammatical
units that have been covered in class)
3. writing for writing (to develop skills as writers)

Writing issues
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Give students tasks based on their age and level of knowledge. There are 3 separate issues in order to help
students write successfully:

1. genre - show students different texts of different genres to help them construct their own text
2. the writing process

3. - planning - reviewing
- drafting - editing

4. building the writing habit - engage students from early levels

Writing sequences

1. postcards (words out or words in; fill the spaces with words, and then write your own postcard;
this is for elementary level)
2. email interview - show them an example first, then discuss how its put together; write questions
on board from the email; students should work in groups, they sort questions and give them to
another group to answer, the other group then sends the replies back
3. writing a report

4. - stage 1 - choose topic - stage 4 - write a draft

- stage 2 - gather information from - stage 5 - check it
variety of sources - stage 6 - final report
- stage 3 - plan report

More writing suggestions

1. instant writing - give them a sentence, and they should continue writing a story based on that
sentence
2. music and pictures - e.g. listen to music, and then let them write what the music reminds them of
3. newspapers and magazines - write articles
4. brochures and guides
5. poetry
6. collaborative writing -writing in groups
7. writing to each other

Correcting written work or come up with symbols for each error, for
instance VP - verb phrase)
Overcorrecting can be demotivating. How can
we avoid overcorrecting (e.g. in this particular Handwriting
essay we will be correcting particular mistakes /
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legibility problems (not understandable) encourage neatness (and show

examples)

Large classes

Cons Criteria for choosing activities:

not enough time for each student
hard for teaches to manage a large class
pairs and groups can't be controlled all the
time
1. learning value (something must be
learned)
2. level appropriateness
3. syllabus related (it must be related to
what's been covered in classes)
4. preparation and organization (teaches
should be prepared)

Discussion and debate

Discussion Debate

1. group two sides with different opinions

2. common (all students equally participate) choice of topic is important
- encourage all students to participate, should be neutral topic
even the shy ones
- can easily turn into a debate

Correcting - how and when

teachers should not only correct, but listen to students as well (if you correct them then they are
going to think that they should only focus on the technical stuff and will not talk fluently
eventually)
use hints such as gestures and facial expressions to let them know they are wrong
peer correction should be controlled by teachers
you should correct students immediately after they make a mistake
teachers should get feedback (evaluation)

Typical language lesson

Cons

teacher focus on language structure and translation

they do not focus on communication and student participation
they stick to textbooks too much
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Heterogeneous class (different learners)

There is no such thing as homogeneous class as every students is different. Heterogeneous can also be
called 'mixed ability' classes, but the term is misleading as someone might find it offending.

Teaching problems in large heterogeneous Differences between learners in

classes heterogeneous classes

discipline age
correcting written assignments maturity
interest motivation
effective learning for all (the most confidence
important) cultural background
materials (the most important)
participation

Solutions

1. discipline (boredom causes it so switch tasks and materials)

2. correcting written assignments ( include students)
3. interest (involve students ideas)
4. effective learning for all (let students pick and choose)
5. materials (adapt textbook materials)
6. individual awareness (go from pair to pair)
7. participation (stimulate students by collaborative work)

Advantages of heterogeneous classes Some solutions to problems

1. more experience and knowledge that can
be used in class interaction (more people
more experiences)
2. educational value in communication
among all those students
3. peer teaching and collaboration
4. more opportunities to be creative
1. switch your topic methods and texts (if
you see that it's not going well, you
change it)
2. make activities interesting
3. encourage collaboration
4. individualize (let students choose what
they want to do)
5. personalize (let them choose what they
want to answer to)

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Teaching strategies

1. compulsory + optional - the class is given a task or material and told that a certain minimal
component of it has to be learned or done by everyone and the rest by some
e.g. syllabus - compulsory items are carefully presented, whereas optional items are presented
more casually
e.g. give them 10 questions, you have to do 6, and if you want, you can do more (some
compulsory and some optional)
2. open ending - learning tasks that don't have a right answer but more potentially right ones (for all
levels)
3. close ended - for specific levels only (task that only has one right solution)

Designing your own activities

1. brainstorming
o say something about the picture - teacher gives associations for students to picture
o how many things can you think of that are...
2. recall and share
o spelling - write few words that have been covered and then erase them and then they have
to write what they have memorized
o what have people said - a student listens to another and then they have to retell what the
other student told them
3. doing your own thing
o five minute writing storms - teacher gives e.g. 'last movie you saw' and then students
have to write one paragraph in five minutes
o metaphors - teacher give students some metaphors for some experience and then they
choose metaphor they think is the most appropriate for that event and then they have to
explain to others why they think so
4. fluid pairs
o finding twins - teacher asks 10 questions about them and they write them on paper and
then all students put all papers into one place and then students have to find as many
people as possible that have something in common with them
o marketplace - teacher gives each students three papers and then they have to write a
statement and then pass that paper to other students and if they agree, they sign their
names below
5. passing it round
o collaborative composition - teacher gives students a topic and every student has to write
at least one sentence on that topic and then pass that paper to others and other students
have to add something or respond to what it's written
o passive possibilities - teacher gives each student one paper and there is a one word on the
paper and students have to write things that they associate with that word

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Teaching grammar
There are two approaches

1. deductive
you first set the rule and then give examples
common thing is grammar translation technique (not helpful), meaning they don't speak target
language as much as they should as the translation of words is dominating in mother tongue

disadvantages advantages

it can be off putting to start a lecture time saving, straight to the point
with grammar good for learners who have analytic
teacher is the lead role because he learning style
knows the rules, and this is off putting
as well
people might think that learning a
language is simply learning the rules

2. inductive (natural learning path)

give examples and they should conclude the rule from that
criteria for good rules
truth
limitations (e.g. we use will to refer to the future)
clarity
simplicity
familiarity (connect with something already acquired)
relevance

Pros: this approach favors pattern recognition

and problem solving abilities
people are more likely to remember the
rules Cons:
students are more actively involved
time and energy spent
we may get a wrong rule

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Natural language acquisition

e.g. you go to US and you learn language in one year, but there are huge gaps in knowledge