Job Discussion Forums

[crispintp]

I will soon be starting my second teaching assignment. I want to build on areas that I feel were good about my first job, and improve areas I have problems with.

I am naturally quite a nervous person, and I know from experience that it can undermine your respect in the classroom if the students can recognise this.

For this reason, I want my students first impression to be positive. I want to have rehearsed (but not contrived) routines in which to break the ice with the students. At the end of this routine, I would hope to have learned a little about the students, and maybe have told them something about me.

I would like to ask other teachers on this forum what different techniques they use to break the ice, with different levels and ages.

I will give you some background about the teaching environment. The school is in Kyrgyzstan, so I expect the students to be eager and hardworking. I will be teaching all levels, adults and children. Class sizes are between 6 and 10, and the students sit two to a desk.

Any ideas what sort of rapport will be suitable?

Thanks.

[dduck]

I've read up somewhat on Kyrgyzstan. From what I've found you should be worrying more about getting anything across to the Russian and Kyrgyz speaking natives. I found a report on the web from a Peace Corps teacher who said it was hard going to get the students to grasp his ideas. I imagine that the country is still pretty isolated (you don't fly in to Bishkek, you bus in from the neighbouring country) and the people are just not accustomed to a different way of life / thinking.

I also wonder if you've got the job I was applying for.

I have some more info on my website, if you look.

Iain

[been_there]

Yes, there is the fact that in many places, teaching is viewed as the teacher in front of the class, talking, and the students sitting facing him/her and absorbing it all in SO not only do you have to teach English, you have to teach them HOW TO LEARN... (different thread, maybe)

That being said, some things I have done to break the ice:

Most teachers go in and tell about themselves. I've gone in and written the ANSWERS on the board, and had the students guess the questions.
i.e., I write on the board:

32
1971
New York
Blue
Corner of 1st ave and 14th street.

and the students have to guess the questions (in no particular order, I just erase the answer when it is guessed) "How old are you?" "When were you born?" "Where are you from?" "What is your favorite colour?" "Where is the best Nepali restaraunt on Manhattan." etc.

Make it more or less complicated according to the students level.

OR, I've done it where I go in and tell them, "Ok, I'm not going to introduce myself, I want you to introduce me."
And I pull on student up to the front of the class to "Be me." The other students ask questions, he/she answers them as if he/she were me.
I give him/her a point for each question answered correctly. After a couple of questions, I bring another student up and let the class ask more questions (even the same ones if the first student got it wrong) and score the correct answers. Do this with a few students. At the end, I answer any unguessed questions.

The old "Find someone who..." is an old chestnut. Print up a sheet with a bunch of sentences like:
Find someone who has been to France. _________
Find someone who likes grapes. _________
Find the person with the biggest shoes in the class.__________

And the students have to go around asking the questions and writing the name of a person with this attribute/ability in the space. Include one that you KNOW is you and you only, so each one has to talk to you. Emphasize that they must ask the person, not copy off each other. At the end, go down the list and have them say, "Ivan has the biggest feet." "Vladimir likes to eat grapes." etc.

[FGT]

I, also, do the answers on the board, students ask appropriate questions. This can be used at all levels as you decide on the lexis employed. Eg "11 years" requires the question " how long have you lived in Turkey?", whereas "1993" requires only past simple, not present perfect.
A variant is: sentences on the board, some true, some false. Students ask you questions and then decide if they are true or false. Eg: I've met the queen. I've written off three cars etc (you can decide what lexis you want to concentrate on). By the way- yes I have and no I haven't (only two)!

[Freaky Deaky]

Been-there and fgt - these 'introducing yourself' ideas are great. I've often used them in the first class. You can get the students to do it too. After 2 or 3 students it's obvious what is meant when they see a number like 19 or 22 on the board ('how old are you?' if you're not sure! ), but it builds their confidence no end.

At the end of the first lesson you could try this guessing game. Pick a student to sit at the front of the class with their back to the board. Write a name of someone all the class would probably know (you kind of have to guess this one!) - for example Jiang Zemin. The student has to ask questions which the others can only reply 'yes' or 'no' to - eg, 'Am I a woman?'. By deduction they can find out who they 'are'. However, be careful the other students will give the game away after a few seconds - keeping them quiet is tricky...

[Gordon]

Another one I like is "Two truths and One Lie". Students first write down and then say 3 sentences about themselves, 2 are true and one is a lie. The others try to guess the lie. You model it the first time, like:
1. My favourite sport is hockey.
2. I can play the guitar.
3. I have written a book.

[Freaky Deaky]

^ I've tried this idea, but when I made my lie the last sentence all the students did the same!!!


No imagination these people...

[Gordon]

My lie was #2.

[crispintp]

Some really good ideas there. Thanks everyone.

I also tried the three statements - only one is true game as part of my conversation lesson. I then asked them to come up with their own 3 statements by the next lesson, and they were either slight deviations from mine, or just really boring statements, such as: "I once lost my visa card in a cash machine", and "I have eaten lobster". Boring statements from frankly, quite boring students.

[arioch36]

Can't imagine doing that with Chinese students...where have you been? well, assuming they understood the question, most of them have never done anything but sit in a classroom from 7:00 in the morning to 9:00 at night, 6 1/2 days a week for the past 12 years

[Dr.J]

It's very hard to change student's first impressions of you, so start as you mean to go on in terms of classroom atmosphere/management. That said, make it more about meeting people than teaching English. I often ask myself: What would work if you weren't teaching, cause then you're treating them like real people which always gets good results. I call it the 'dead poet' method.

heh, wrote "resluts" the first time heh heh

[been_there]

Dr. J says,

[JamesD]

This is one I use for the first day of classes that have some English ability. You may have give them help with the tense ans what to ask in the beginning but it's worth it. It gets all the students out of their seats and interacting.


Prepare questions like .............

Who has been wearing the same watch the longest?
Who has been living in the same house the longest?
Who has eaten the strangest food?
Who has traveled the farthest?
Who's known their best friend the longest?
Who's been playing a favorite sport the longest?
Who has been married the longest?
Who has met the most famous person?
Who has been to the biggest city?
Who has been to the most cities?
Who has spent the least (most) money this week?


Review grammar.
How long have you..........?

Write out the questions on slips of paper and give one to each student. They must talk to everyone in the class and find the appropriate person. They then must get as much information as they can concerning the answer. Once they are finished have each student read their question and identify the person they found. I then ask the questioner about that person.


Example: After talking to all the students John finds that Mary has been wearing her watch for 5 years so she has worn the same watch the longest. I would then ask John (NOT Mary), "Where did she get it? Who gave it to her and why? How much did it cost? Has it ever stopped running?" The idea is to have students ask as many questions as possible of each other. They are usually much more comfortable talking to each other.

[dyak]

I like this one. It shifts attention away from the teacher, which is good if you're a little nervous; though I think it works better with lower levels.
1. Give each student a blank sheet of paper.
2. Have as many interesting 'getting to know you' questions as there are students in the class.
3. Read out the first question and make sure they write a full sentence for the answer.
4. Students then pass their paper to the person next to them and you ask the next question.
5. Repeat until you've asked as many questions as there are students.
6. Ask them to stand up and find a name to write next to each answer (at this point all the guys in the class will head straight for the prettiest girl).
7. You can mingle and encourage follow-up questions then do the feedback where you simply take your register and say, 'tell me about... Andre etc.'
8. You could wind it up there or encourage them to correct the sheet they have; this is another chance to mingle and talk to them individually while they talk to each other.

Works like a dream, usually.

Cheers.

[Gordon]

This is one way to learn students' names on the first day, if you're like me and have a difficult time remembering them. This only really works if no one really knows each other, as it would be tedious if this exercise was only for your benefit. Students sit in a circle and go around saying their names and what they like (what they like has to start with the same letter as their name). My name is Gordon and I like golfing. The next person says all the people who have gone before them and what they like before they say their name, etc.. The last few people have the most difficult time, especially in an int'l class, where names can be quite difficult. This works best with intermediate and lower students, I've found and it has always helped me remember their names.