Workshop organized in Niamey by SNELT on December 30--31, 2010.

Workshop organized in Niamey by SNELT on December 30--31, 2010.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT presented by Grema Malam Mamadou- MA in education: Curriculum and instruction -- ELT ADVISOR

Good classroom management is the key to a successful class.
The following points will help you manage your class better and have an environment conducive to better learning for your students.
Set ground rules
The first day of class, set some rules:
Focused on discipline
attendance
Testing
Cheating
Homework
Class activities
Learn your students' names through name cards, table charts
While in class, you have to adopt a position that helps you direct activities.
Stand up when you are directing activities.
Sit down only in two occasions:
Students are doing an activity that for the moment does not involve you.
You are having a conversation or discussion with the class.
Remain standing in order to have a good control of the class.
For most activities, move around the class so that the students see you, in particular your mouth and eyes.
Keep your language to a minimum when students are doing an activity.
Once you have introduced an activity and made clear what is wanted, be prepared to keep quiet.
Don’t interrupt the students unnecessarily while they are doing an activity.
Do not dominate the discussions yourself.
Do not tell students what they have to say.
Do not use more language than is necessary to direct and control classroom activity.
Combine gestures and the imperative that both ensure clarity and lively pace.

Don’t be afraid of silence
Silence has a valuable role in language lessons: students need time to think, collect their thoughts, make notes, etc.
Do not break the students' concentrations while in activity: reading a text or explanation, completing an exercise, preparing a piece of work.
Constantly injecting ideas will make them sit back and expect you to do the work.
Try to have a balance between activity and quiet moments for reflection.
Pair /group work increase student talking time
Divide the group into pairs and make sure all students know their partners /role
Explain the activity and demonstrate it with one or more pairs.
Give them a time limit.
Go round, listen, and check that they are doing it.
Make it a habit.
A-B sharing
Be explicit
You have to structure classroom activities.
Plan in advance what is to be done and how it should be done.
Classroom instructions and explanations should be simple, precise, and explicit.
Do not create confusion in their mind.
Don’t ask “Do you understand?”
It is rare for students to admit that they do not understand because they may be asked what they do not understand.
Check understanding by asking specific questions about the lesson or explanation you have just given.
The questions should require short, linguistically simple answers.
If there is no answer, it is immediately apparent that nobody has understood.
Admit your ignorance
No teacher can know everything and there is no harm in students knowing this.
No matter how much you have studied English, taught it, you will still come across things you do not know.
Do not undermine the students' confidence in you by giving an answer that may later turn out to be false.
Tell them you will check and make sure you give the answer the next class.
Consult colleagues
Consult a colleague to find the answer to a question or individual difficulty.
Submit the problem to your pedagogic unit as teachers with different backgrounds have different insights and skills.
A trouble shared, is a trouble halved.
Practice coaching/mentoring
Consult students, but not frequently.
Are some of your lessons better than others? If you have answered yes, two more questions arise: Why? How do you know?
Ask the students: What activities in your English lessons do you particularly like/dislike?
What activities do you think we spend too much time/too little time? Etc.
Ask for improvement. Thus, they will feel involved in the teaching.
Class meetings/Appreciations and concerns
Divide the blackboard
The blackboard is a visual aid. So, it should be well organized.
One small section for listing new words and phrases.
Another small section for drawings, etc.
The large central section is used to present the main material of the lesson: grammatical examples, examples for exercises, etc.
Reference
Michael Lewis and Jimmie Hill (1985), practical techniques for language teaching, Commercial Color Press, London E7

GRAMMAR PRESENTATION METHODS: inductive, deductive and guided discovery methods adapted by Soumana Boureima Igodiame, MA in ESL and presented by Grema Malam Mamadou—MA in education: Curriculum and instruction --ELT Advisor

1. Deductive method
 It relies on reasoning, analyzing, and comparing.
 In the deductive classroom, the teacher gives a grammatical explanation or rules first, and then asks students to use the rules to do a set of exercises in order to understand the grammatical points.
 From general to specific.

Steps for deductive method
Presentation: by example
Explanation:
 the underlying grammar rules
 native language terms
 comparisons
Production: applying rules to produce sentences

Example 1
(How to teach the Present Continuous Tense)
 1. Presentation (by example)

 I am teaching English.
 You are listening to the teacher.
 She is talking to her classmates
 2. Explanation
 It is to express someone is doing something at the present time when the speaker speaks the words. And it generally lasts for a period of time.
 And then the underlying forms and positions.
be (am/is/are)+—ing.
 And more examples.
 Comparisons: differences between it and general present.
• He studies hard.
• He is studying hard.
 3. Production
(Making sentences as instructed with given prompts.)

 Words: sing, swim, dance, etc.
 Situations: …
 Pictures or simple drawing…
 3. Production
(Making sentences as instructed with given prompts.)

 Words: sing, swim, dance, etc.
 Situations: …
 Pictures or simple drawing…
Example 2
POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS: MINE, YOURS, HIS, HERS, OURS, THEIRS
(a)
This book belongs to me.
It is my book.
It is mine. POSSESSIVE
ADJECTIVE POSSESSIVE
PRONOUN A possessive adjective is used in front of a noun:
my book.
My Mine
Your Yours A possessive pronoun is used alone, without a noun following it:
That book is mine.
(b)
That book belongs to you.
It is your book.
It is yours. Her Hers
His His
Our Ours INCORRECT:
That is mine book.
Their Theirs
Complete the sentences. Use object pronouns, possessive adjectives,
and possessive pronouns.
 1. I own this book. 4. She owns this pen.
This book belongs to me This pen belongs to ___.
This is my book. This is ____ pen.
This book is mine. This pen is ____.
 2. They own these books. 5. He owns that pen.
These books belong to __ That pen belongs to ____.
These are ___ books. That is ____ pen.
These books are ____. That pen is _____.
 3. You own that book. 6. We own those books.
That book belongs to ___. Those books belong to __.
That is ___ book. Those are ____ books.
That book is ____. Those books are _____.

Disadvantages of DM

 In an isolated way
 On form
 Mechanical practice
 Frustrating for younger students

This is the man that owns the cat that kills the rat that lives in the house that Jack built.

Advantages of DM
 Time saving (difficult and abstract grammar)
 Successful with selected and motivated students and analytical learners
 Good for examination

2. Inductive method

 Provide with authentic language data
 Induce learners to realize grammar rules without explicit explanation.
 From specific to general

Steps for IM

Presentation is done by examples in contexts.
Induction
The rules are worked out by learners themselves.
Production is done with given visual aids or verbal prompts.

Example 3

 What is the rule?
1. Look at the sentences:
 He walks to school every day
 We learn English from 8.00 to 10.00.
 She works in an office on Market Street.
 They eat lunch at noon.
 It rains almost every day in June.
 You speak English very well.
 I like Jazz.
 Elicit rules
2. There is a final s on the end of the verb only with certain subjects. What are they?
 __I __you __ he __she __it __we __they

 Use the rules!
3. Circle the right verb.
 I drive/drives to work every morning.
 We speak/speaks both mandarin and Sichuan dialect.
 My cat sleep/sleeps all day.
 He take/takes the bus home.
 You watch/watches the news every night.
 They travel/travels to Europe about once a year.
 She drink/drinks coffee with her breakfast
Disadvantages of IM
 Time-consuming
 Lack in system
 Highly-risky
 (students may hypothesize the wrong rule, or their version of the rule may be either too broad or too narrow)
 Difficult
 Can’t apply to all grammar phenomena

Advantages of IM
 More meaningful and memorable.
 Students’ active participation and they are more motivated and attentive.
 Greater self-reliance and autonomy

3. Guided discovery method
 Induce the students to discover rules by themselves (similar to IM).
 Teacher’s careful guide and assisting in process of discovering rules (different from IM).
 Elicit rules (similar to IM) and teach them explicitly (different from IM).
Two key theoretical issues of guided discovery method

 The role of explicit knowledge
 Conscious knowledge
 Discovery learning
 Refers to learning that takes place when students engage in experiences and experiments from which they derive their own knowledge and meaning.

Steps for Guided discovery method
 1. Presentation (with contextualized scenarios or examples illustrating a specific structure)
 2. Discovery of rules and meanings (under teacher’s guiding)
 3. Explicit teaching and learning of target structure.

Workshop organized in Niamey by SNELT on December 30--31, 2010.

Reading and learning strategies presented by Grema Malam Mamadou—MA in education: Curriculum and Instruction --ELT Advisor

INTRODUCTION
We have focused a lot on comprehension questions in our middle and high schools as far as reading is concerned. We should change our approach to reading in order to develop creativity and imagination in our students. We also have to work hard to integrate the four skills into most of our lessons.

1. K.W.L (Ogle, 1986)

Literacy objective
• To activate the students’ prior knowledge related to a topic to prepare them to read a text that gives them more details about the topic.
Example: Geography

K W L
The surface is 498,000 square miles.
Two third of the country is desert.

It has only three months of rainy season.




2. Anticipation Guide (Herber, 1978): topic: decrease in the quality of education in Niger
Literacy objective
• To have the students discuss the reasons why an issue prevails and have them make some suggestions on how to improve the situation.
• The students work in groups to outline their proposals after they have read the text.
• They come up with a letter that could be sent to the minister of education to voice their concerns.
Example questions
Put a check mark next to the statement you believe to be true.
a. The lack of teaching materials in your classes hinders your success. ---------------
b. You cannot study at night because there is no electricity in your classroom. --------------
b. All the teachers do not have good working conditions. ------------------
c. You need some computers connected to the Internet to do some research. --------------

3. Opinionnaire/Questionnaire(Reasoner, 1976)

Literacy objective:

• To examine students’ attitudes and experiences related to selected issues.
• To enable students to interact with their classmates as they interview them.
• Students read the text to reinforce their attitudes and experiences about the topic.

Example questions for an interview on democracy

• a. What do you know about the system of government in Niger before 1990? ----------------
• b. Democracy started in Niger in 1990. How did we get democracy? -------------------
• c. What impact did it have on people’s life? ---------------------
• d. Now, the president has been overthrown in a coup. What do you think about the future of democracy? ---------------
Students work in small groups to share and compare their responses, and then write a summary.

5. Cloze exercise
• Literacy objective:
- to have students recall the content of a text that that they have already read in class.
- It helps students to think and engage in writing activities.
Example: HIV/AIDS
Cure, mosquito bite, rash and diarrhea, hand shake, sexual intercourse, muscles and joint pain, mother to baby
• The main way of transmission of HIV/AIDS is --------------- -----------------. It is not transmitted by------------ -------------- or ------------- ---------------, but it can be transmitted from-------------- -------- ----------. Some of its symptoms are ----------------- and-------------------. It has no-------------yet

6. Knowledge rating scale (Blachowics, 1986)
Literacy objective:
To find out many words from the upcoming text that the students are going to read. Their prior knowledge of the words will facilitate their understanding of the text.

• Example: Desertification

Words Know it well Have heard about it No clue
Drought
Tree felling
Overgrazing
Tree nursery
Reclaim land
sensitization

7. Think, Predict, Read and Connect (TPRC) (Ruddell, 2005)

Literacy objective: to help students develop their general knowledge before, during and after reading. They think about the topic, predict what will be in the text, read it and then make connections with their own lives.
Connect: I once had 40c of fever after I slept outside my mosquito net. I was immediately rushed to hospital where I spent three days, etc.
Topic: Malaria
Tell the students the topic of the lesson. Divide the class into groups. Have them think (T) about what they know about malaria.
Think Predict
I know that mosquitoes cause malaria.
Mosquitoes breed in dormant waters.
It kills many children under 5.




8. Possible sentences (Moore &Moore, 2004)
Literacy objective:
• To have students anticipate the meaning of a passage before they begin reading.
• To have students use their prior knowledge to make sentences based on key words selected from the passage in order to predict the meaning of their upcoming reading assignment.
• As they read the text, they can determine the accuracy of their predictions about the selected key words.
Procedure
• Select 10 to 15 words related to the reading assignment that help students understand the text selection. Be sure to choose words familiar/unfamiliar to students.
• Ask students to select at least two words from the list and write one sentence that may occur in the passage.
• Ask them to read their sentences.
• Ask them to read the text silently and see the accuracy of their sentences.
• Conduct a discussion as each sentence is evaluated.
• Ask them to replace the incorrect ones.

9. Anticipation/Reaction Guide
Literacy objective
Write “yes” in the blank preceding the statement if you agree or “no” if you disagree. Do the same after you read the text. Be prepared to discuss your response.

Example: Keita project

Before reading After reading
1.----------- Repetitive droughts have hindered development. ---------------
2.----------- The Keita project was launched to reclaim land. ----------------
3------------- No reforestation trenches were dug on the hillsides. ---------------

10. Jigsaw

Literacy objective
• To have the students reconstruct a text.
• To have the students work cooperatively.
How to proceed
• Cut the text into five sections (A-E).
• Divide the class into groups of five and give each student within the group one section of the text.
• Each student reads their section and summarizes the content for the other students.
• The students reconstruct the text following its original order.

11. Dictogloss

Literacy objective
• To develop students’ listening skills
• To develop students’ ability to reconstruct a text
Procedure:
• Pick a small text
• Tell the students that you will read a text.
• Ask them to listen carefully without taking notes.
• Read the text and then ask them to write everything they remember.
• Let them work in pair/group to reconstruct the text.
• You can also write up a series of questions on the board and tell them that the answers will help them reconstruct the text.

12. ReQuest (Manzo, 1969)
Literacy objective:
• Students ask their own questions about what they are reading
• While reading, they monitor their understanding of the text and have better comprehension
Procedure
• Select a text containing new challenging ideas.
• Read the 1st paragraph aloud, ask and answer questions about the passage.
• Ask them to read the next section to ask you questions and you answer.
• Ask them to read the next section and you will ask them some questions about the section and they answer them.
• Continue until the entire text is read

13. Journal/Free writing
Literacy objective
• To give students the opportunity to express their own thoughts/opinions in a non threatening way
• It serves as a warm up and continuous way to develop writing skills
Procedure
• Inspired by teacher prompts or students selected topics.
• Present a general format to follow
• Free writing: give the students 10-15 minutes to write a paragraph or 2 based on a topic and let some of them read their paragraphs.