Category: Classroom Techniques

7 useful verbal techniques to improve discipline in the English classroom with Young Learners

5/6/2019

When it comes to building discipline in the English classroom, teachers usually give many verbal directions to stop or discoirage students's disruptive behavior. However, these verbal directions might not always be appropriate. In this short blog entry, we want to provide teachers with some ideas that can be helpful guidelines.

Technique 1: Use positive directions

When we use positive directions, we get higher compliance than when we use negative directions. Compare the following types of directions:

"Don´t make noise"
Compared to
"Stop talking"
or even better
"talk ina quiet voice"

Technique 2: State rules impersonally

For example you can say “the rule in this class is not wearing caps in the classroom”, or the rule in this house is not pushing your sister rather than you taking ownership of the rule.

“In the classroom we always use English to ask for permission to go to the bathroom”

Technique 3: Give Alpha Commands

Alpha commands involve a clear, direct, and specific statement without additional verbalizations, and they allow reasonable period of five to ten seconds for the child to respond. Alpha commands are short and they tell the child exactly what to do.

“Put your toys on the shelf”

Technique 4: Give more request and fewer commands

Do not give a command if a request would do it as well. When doing it consider the following:
-Stay close to the child
-Make eye contact
-Limit yourself to two requests, making the same request only twice.
-Use soft, but firm voice.
-Give time for the child to comply with your request.
-Reward compliance with a mile and a “Thank you”

Technique 5: Use forced choices

To make sure the child does the behavior we want, we limit the choices given to the child to only two.

“You can paint the book right now or you can start completing the workbook”

Technique 6: Use pauses

We can add a pause before or after the key message, suggestion, or command in a sentence or paragraph to enhance the persuasive power of the message.

“Would you please…sit down?”

Technique 7: Voice regulation

This technique has four sequential steps:

Step 1: Your first word needs to be louder than the child’s voice. This creates a surprise element and the child will become still.
Step 2: Speech pause. By pausing and being silent, we show the child what we expect from her.
Step 3: Start whispering. This causes the child to become more attentive and to listen more closely.
Step 4: Continue speaking and move from whispering to using your regular voice.

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A checklist to effective questioning

25/4/2019

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When teaching English, classroom interaction is a key element in order to develop students' language abilitites. In order to promote this interaction teachers have to use questions all the time for different purposes. The use of questions happen through all the different instances of an English lesson because they allow the teacher to elicit information that can help identify students' needs, opinions, levels of achievement, preferences, and so on. How can teachers be sure that the questions they ask are of real value for their students?

Penny Ur (2012), in her book "A course in English Language Teaching," presents a simple checklist that can easily guide treachers in the construction and discrimination of the type of questions they ask, This classlist can refine the questions used to promote interaction in the classroom and at the same time maximize students' responses and demands on their practice of English. The following chart shows the checklist:

Adapted from Penny Ur (2012) "A course in English Language Teaching"

Let's analize how the next two quetions adjust to the checklist:

"what are three things you like to do on your vacationS?"

Comment The question seems clear. Then, talking about vacations should be a topic of interest to most of the students. If the teacher has considered that students are capable of answering the question at the level of proficiency they have, then accessibility is covered. The question requires from students to answer with at least three activities which means that the demmands of the question are clear, This question might have learning value if it is used to elicit some previous knwoldege, or if it is used to culminate a lesson about vacation activities. We take for granted that teacher's reaction would be appropriate when students are stating their ideas.

do you like to eat dates?

Comment: The use of the word 'dates' could immediately confuse students if they are nor familiar with this very low frecuency vocabulary about and unusual dry fruuit. Most might think of dates as a romantic meeting. As for interest, this question seems to be very valuable if students are developing English related to the very specifc field of gastronomy. Due to the level required by the key word 'date', this question might not be accessible to all studebnts. The answer in Yes/No questions is usually rectricted to an affirmative or negarive response which lowers both the level of answer and the learning value. Even if we take for granted a supportive reaction of the teacher, this might be limited by the fact that the students' response will be a simple yes or no taking away the possibility to continue a long conversation.

It is clear that having a amore defined criteria as the one presented by Ur can help teacher make better decissions on the questions they ask and refine their questions when planning lesson.

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F.I.V.E.-A technique to write questions for reading comprehension

5/8/2018

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One easy way to write good questions for reading comprehension exercises is by using the acronym F.I.V.E. The letters in FIVE stand for factual, inference, vocabulary, and experience questions:

Factual Questions, questions whose answers can be find explicitly found in the text.
Inference Questions, questions whose answers can be inferred from the information stated in the text.
Vocabulary Questions, questions which help students understand/figure out meaning of words from context.
Experience Questions, questions which help the reader relate the text with their own experiences or opinions.

Let’s see examples of these different types of questions in the following text.

It looked like rain. The sky was gray. It was almost noon, but the sun was hidden by a gray blanket. It was cool. There were no birds flying anywhere. A couple of birds sat on the telephone wire. Bob was standing outside talking to Bill. They both had their hands in their pockets. They knew that it was probably going to rain shortly. A sudden breeze blew some leaves off a tree onto the sidewalk.

(Extract from: http://eslyes.com/eslread/ss/s004.htm)

Factual question: What color was the sky?
Inference question: Will Bob and Bill keep talking?
Vocabulary question: What does ‘breeze’ mean?
Experience question: How often do you see weather like the one described in the text where you live? Explain.

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9 reasons for using L1 in the EFL classroom

31/5/2018

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Atkinson (1987: 241-247) offers a list of nine reasons for using L1 in the EFL classroom:

1. Eliciting Language
“How do you say ‘X’ in English?”

2. Checking comprehension
“How do you say ‘I’ve been waiting for ten minutes in Spanish?”

3. Giving complex instructions to basic levels

4. Co-operating in groups
Learners compare and correct answers to exercises or tasks in the L1.

5. Explaining classroom methodology at basic levels

6. Using translation to highlight a recently taught language item

7. Checking for sense
If students write or say something in the L2 that does not make sense, have them try to translate it into the L1 to realize their error.

8. Testing
Translation items can be useful in testing mastery of forms and meanings.

9. Developing circumlocution strategies.
When students do not know how to say something in the L2, have them think if (sic) different ways to say the same thing in the L1, which may be easier to translate.

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Verifying Understanding of Instructions

26/5/2018

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One of the difficulties English teachers always have is getting students to understand the instructions to develop one activity or task. This is more frequent when the teachers has to speak only in English in order to provide students with more input. One easy step teachers can take to overcome this difficulty is to use questions to verify understanding of instructions. The following is a sample interaction teachers could follow to be sure instructions were clearly understood:

T: (While delivering instructions) In this activity you need to work in groups, discuss if you agree or not with the following statement: "It's a bad idea for university students to have part time jobs." After five minutes, you will choose someone from the group to present your conclusions to the class. Carlos, What is the statement you'l talk about?
Carlos: We need to talk about university students and part time jobs...Is it good?
T: Fine. Maria, how much time do you have for this activity?
Maria: Ten minutes.
T: Not really, I said you have five minutes.
Maria: Ok, five minutes.
T: Jose, what will you do after the discussion?
Jose: We will select someone to present the conclusion.
T. Yes, that's right...You can start now.

The following are some tips to ask more effective questions when verifying understanding.

-Ask these questions after instructions have been given to students.
-Try to use Wh-questions.
-Call on individual students.
-Provide students with feedback after their responses.

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7 useful verbal techniques to improve discipline in the English classroom with Young Learners

Technique 1: Use positive directions

Technique 2: State rules impersonally

Technique 3: Give Alpha Commands

Technique 4: Give more request and fewer commands

Technique 5: Use forced choices

Technique 6: Use pauses

Technique 7: Voice regulation

A checklist to effective questioning

F.I.V.E.-A technique to write questions for reading comprehension

9 reasons for using L1 in the EFL classroom

Verifying Understanding of Instructions

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