Something I am worried about as a future teacher is how to control the class, whether I would be able to manage it and to make all students participate, even if they are very extroverted or shy.. For this reason, the two items chosen to develop this task are: the use of classroom management to teach the target language and awesome strategies for getting the silent student to speak. The choice is also based on the fact that both topics can be linked somehow, since it is possible to make those shy students participate in easy activities related to classroom management.
Regarding strategies to manage the class, there are many. However, it is important to try them to see how students react to them and choose those that better fit each class group or, even better, that normally work for you as a teacher so you do not need to remember all the tools you use depending on the group. That might be almost impossible. During the internship I have seen my mentor using some nice strategies to easily include English in class, but I have also came up with some useful ones, too. For this reason, I have decided to explain those that better worked in all the group classes I have been, those that have been useful during my implementation and some nice strategies learnt during the seminars, which are the following ones:
There are many songs to use to manage the class or to go through different content areas. This is a very useful resource because it can be used for many things. From creating a routine, to work specific topics or even to simply have fun with students. Regarding classroom management, they are very useful to ask students for silence or to tidy up. The importance of this strategies regarding English is that it is an easy way to make children listen and repeat, paying attention to pronunciation and some grammar structures, which can be useful in their speaking activities. Moreover, they are learning vocabulary. And all these three important aspects of English are being acquired unconsciously and having fun. A very useful song could be the ‘Clean up’ song, which works very well with students from first to third grade.
This strategy was shared in one of the seminars and I found it amazing, I was so surprised by the idea because I had not thought about it never before. It consists of having all the stationary on a table, so students do not need to bring their pencil cases. Students go and pick whatever they need and, since it is labelled, they learn the vocabulary without having to go through it in particular. I find this a great idea because students learn without knowing, revising along the courses and what is more, the teacher avoids a typical situation such as ‘I’ve forgotten the pencil case in class / at home…’. Personally, I think it is very interesting because, apart of teaching English, the teacher transmits them values such as sharing or taking care of their belongings.
Something I came up with while preparing my implementation was to prepare some kind of activity for fast finishers that allow the rest continue without disturbing or the teacher having to be telling them what to do. In my opinion, this is an important aspect of classroom management, how to deal with different learning rhythms. So, my idea was to create games and dynamics that help children improve their English skills, but without being tough and boring. Some examples of activities I thought about and perhaps I may include in my future class are memories, who is who, roleplays, letters to the teacher, etc.
Apart from the reasons previously given, one other motive to choose this topic was that I could perfectly understand how these students might feel. I have always been very shy and one of the most difficult things for me from learning English was to speak. For this reason, I always tried to avoid to speak in class and, fortunately in that moment but unfortunately now from my teacher point of view, I was not asked to do it in class. Something I have very clear is that I want my students to feel comfortable and confident enough to speak in class, no matter their English level, and that is why I chose to know a bit more about this topic. So, some strategies I have discovered or thought about to encourage all students to speak in class are the ones below:
The good thing of this strategy is that the teacher can ask to sing altogether, so those students who are quieter for any reason can participate without feeling observed or having all the eyes on them. If we want that those silent students participate more by themselve it can be always asked to sing a repetitive song altogether through which each students has to invent or introduce a sentence or paragraph. An example could be the Hello! song, through which 5 or 6 students everyday can ask their classmates their feelings and the others need to think about an answer, trying to make it suitable for the rhythm. The first days, it can be asked the most proficient students to do it and once the rest know how it works,the following lessons they will be confident to do it.
This strategy is something I learnt in one of the degree subject, which was actually used with us the students. Sometimes students need to be pushed a little or taken away from their zone of comfort and I believe this is a resource that shows students that they might find themselves in a situation they do not like and need to face. The relation with English is clear; it can be used to ask students to do speaking activities, writings, to answer questions, etc. Moreover, it is useful to manage the class, since you avoid to pick always the same people.
This resource is usually used to make kids write. However, I believe it is a nice way to make children speak. It consists of cubes and different images on each side. Students have to throw them and create stories containing the images that face up. I believe that doing groups of 2-3 people and ask students to create oral stories using the cubes is very useful for two reasons. First of all, because doing that in small groups allow silent students to get confidence before doing in front of the whole class, it is easier for them if they need to speak in ‘small committees’. Secondly, it already give children ideas to guide their stories so children need just to think about how they are going to use the language and they are not worried about not getting ideas to create a story. This is important because when challenging kids with something hard for them, many tough or difficult tasks to do at the same time can make them get stressed and collapse.
A nice way to give students the confidence needed when speaking is to help them prepare their interventions at the beginning. It is not important that they speak fluently when they are no proficient enough, what is essential is to give them tools to dare to speak and role plays are a nice resource. Creating their own dialogues with the help of the teacher, classmates or by their own and then rehearsing their performance help children be secure. They can practice on pronunciation, decide which words fit best or they are more keen on using. It is a nice way to make them start speaking and, little by little, they will have the skills and abilities to start improvising and to speak as any other activity they do in class.
Personally, I believe the most important thing when dealing with silent students is not to expect them speaking in front of the whole group the first they or when they are asked. For this reason, it is nice to give them opportunities to develop their speaking skills in pairs or small groups and little by little increasing the audience. Once they feel confident enough to speak in the foreign language, they will participate more for sure. And if this is not the case, the teacher can regulate the interventions to help them be more participative.