|
|
Post by Sunaru on Nov 24, 2003 19:27:44 GMT 7
Ok, I am hitting a wall with one small class. NCE book two, I am their third FT in the last year. There are only 12 students but they are sitting there like logs and I am losing my patience. I ask a question and get nothing but silence. Usually by the third week the class starts clicking, this one ain't.
|
|
Wolf
Charter Member and Old Chum
Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.
Posts: 1,150
|
Post by Wolf on Nov 25, 2003 10:40:23 GMT 7
I tell my students from day 1 that my classes will be me guiding and them speaking for the most part. I make it clear that they've paid to come to me to learn English, and are here of their own free will (yeah, we all know it isn't true, but I use a bit of Don Quixote in my Engish teaching style. If it should be true in my opinion, I'll stride blindly forward as far as I can.) And therefore, they will have to trust me, even if my teaching style is different from what they have been used to.
Are you free to pick and choose what to do from the textbook? Try taking the general theme of a unit you think might be easiest or the most interesting, and try supplamenting it with games that involve communicative activity. You don't have to do this 100% all the time, but it might be a good way to "get their attention" at first.
Also, I like to use any activity that gets them out of their seats. I don't conduct a circus, but I do have them talk in groups while standing, etc. By doing that sometimes, they get the message that this isn't a "teacher teaches, students sit like bumps and learn" class.
I encountered this more in Japan than I did in China, and I had little freedom or incentive to correct the problem. I don't know how useful my tactics are, but they worked for me.
|
|
|
|
Post by con's fly is open on Feb 27, 2004 10:29:43 GMT 7
Don't waste your time with sublety. WAKE THEM UP!
1. Startle them. Drop a book, or scream a word at the top of your lungs without warning. If a student has that glazed-eye look, sneak up on him and ask him a sudden question. They'll be afraid, and very attentive.
2. Get them moving. If they're too sluggish, tell them to get up and come to the front of the class; if you can't think of something to do with them once they're up, just stare at them for 8 seconds, them tell them to sit down again. If you can't dazzle 'em, baffle 'em.
3. Favouritism. Make the first student who raises their hand your Pet of the Day. Treat the first student who embarrasses himself the Fonz. Jealousy will move the rest.
4. Prison. When it's time for a break, tell the students who were participating to go. When the other students rise, say "NOT YOU! SIDDOWN!" Take 3 seconds to savour the horrified look on their faces, then keep them for 2 minutes and make them recite something boring. THEN let them go. Works miracles.
These tactics have brought excitement where my own substandard teaching can't. Enjoy.
|
|
