Job Discussion Forums

[chryanvii]

I have found that when I have students stand in the center of the class to do their role-plays [U-shaped setup], that many of them are talking amongst themselves, and are so loud that they over-bear the sound of the room.

It is not only too difficult for me to hear them, but it is too difficult for anyone else to hear them either. I am standing right next to them while they are doing the role plays, I continue to try get them to speak louder, and it still seems highly problematic.

Please provide me some suggestions. I tried the Nazi-style thing of making everyone write about the role-plays and turn in their papers at the end of the class for a participation grade, but I decided this was too much work for me. Also I felt that it was too controlling, and the students just copy off of each others' answers anyway.

I am fighting the idea of being too much like a typical Chinese teacher. But I have no strategies at this moment for getting the class to listen except to say things like "okay let's keep it down while others are talking"

Right now my only strategy is to just ignore the noisy students and just allow whoever wants to listen to do so. Then to choose the students who were noisy to get up there first to try to make some kind of point.

But...I'm not so sure how much I like this idea, and I'm not sure that the noisy students get the picture of what I'm doing anyway.

Thanks for your positive input.

[7969]

i think part of it could be the setting/situation for the role play. They may be bored. What have you got them doing in these role plays?

[wesharris]

Make the role-play funny, interesting, and educational. That works fairly well, you might also try having each group compete for the best one.

[bythebookie]

Agreed !

Like it or not, when your students are bored or disruptive it is simply the fault and responsibility of the teacher - either your lessons are too boring, too long, or lack of proper discipline.

Make things more interactive for everyone and figure out on your own what is needed for your specific students.

[Lobster]

I have similar problems with students being noisy while other students role play, make presentations, read aloud or do focussed pronunciation drills.

I think the root cause is their indoctrination into a totally teacher-centred learning environment has rendered them incapable of learning from each other.

Unfortunately it also seems that the older the students are, the worse it gets.

Dealing with the situation:

Clear expectations.

Make it clear that in an FT's class, learning is a cooperative endeavour and students are expected to learn from each other's mistakes.
Make it clear that disruptions are rude behaviour and disrespectful of classmates and the teacher. They should show students the respect they'd want to receive themselves.
Make it clear that talking when others speak will not be tolerated at all and that they can anticipate a harsh reprimand.
Make it clear that talking over others makes the teacher's job impossible, or at least extremely difficult.

Decisive Action

Before the activity begins, remind students that absolute silence is required.
If a student begins to chatter, point at them and tell them directly to be quiet. Quiet please > Be Quiet> Shut up!
On the second incidence, restart the activity with an explanation and criticism.
If a student or group repeats the behaviour, they are told that they will not be allowed to present or role play, but instead must stand at the front and tell the class why their behaviour was wrong and apologize.
If the entire class remains uncooperative, cancel the activity and tell them you are going to return to teacher-centred instruction for a while and then conduct the most boring and pedantic lesson you can imagine (verb tense review or vocabulary spelling drill is usually fun) completely without student oral participation.
Give them the choice of behaving properly or continuing the boring lessons.

Here's your personal problem: you don't want to be too controlling. Sorry, but class control is a key factor in successful teaching. A classroom isn't a democracy, it's a benevolent dictatorship. It's either that or anarchy. You are the boss, el Duce, der Fuerher. You may dislike the political comparison, but you have to agree that this style of leadership attracted many devoted followers. Left to their own devices, the little swine will do nothing, splinter into factions or drift off aimlessly. Set the rules, make them clear, give your reasons and enforce them relentlessly from day one.

A bad cop is overbearing, harsh and misuses his/her authourity. A really bad cop lets the criminals get away with murder.

RED

[creztor]

I love how it is immediately the teacher's fault if students are too noisy. The simple fact is that some students lack manners and don't give a shit about others.

Anyway, a solution might be to say you'll randomly ask students what the role-play was about or what they said. Tell em that their answers are part of "class participation" and will count towards their final grade.

It is "easy" for people to say that your class/lesson/task is too boring, but how can you really define boring and interesting? Something I find interesting may be boring to others. Also, you can't expect ALL of the responsibility for students' behavior to fall on the teacher's shoulders. I assume the OP is teaching in uni. Those students aren't babies anymore, but they probably still act like it.

[daCabbie]

"Teacher Creztor?"

"Yes, student."

"What do randomly and participation mean?"

The teacher might not be at fault, but the teacher needs to find what works.

What are the students talking about?

[chryanvii]

[El Chupacabra]

What often works for me is to give the audience a positive incentive to listen. Give the role players goals in their expression, and the audience things to notice. For example, recently I tasked groups with expressing transitions in emotion (ex: surprise>happiness, fear>anger, happiness>sadness) with their scenarios. Beforehand, I taught them new vocabulary, and reviewed the vocabulary they already knew about emotions. Class members had fun guessing the intended emotions, and recognized that other emotions can be part of human situations, too.

Another task that got the audience involved was having groups tell stories about their Spring Festival vacation. Each person told a story, but one person in each group deliberately told a lie. The audience got to ask questions before guessing who the liar was. This was quite popular in my oral English classes this semester.

One thing that helps is to foster friendly group competition. This gets the audience to pay attention to what the competition is doing. You've got to try to make your role-playing more of a language game for the whole class, if you want the whole class to engage.

No matter what, keep the incentives positive. Punishment decreases student engagement. Have fun, and your students will have fun too. Perhaps they may still be a bit unruly, but less so if they have a fun reason to pay attention to their peers.

[the_otter]

It can help if you let the class jokers start the role-plays - they can get their peers paying attention. Also, don't let two lots of quiet students perform in a row. I know that's easier said than done. About 80% of my classes are shy about speaking English.

If the students talk over the role-plays, pleasantly remind them that it's not polite. Because you're a foreigner, they may pay attention to that reminder - they won't want you to get the impression that the Chinese have no manners (...the otter writes, as she throws herself out of her seat on a bus before anyone else has noticed that the latest passenger is a bit grey around the temples).

[themanymoonsofjupiter]

i agree with the goatsucker. students need a reason to listen. telling them that they can learn from others' mistakes isn't really enough (though it should be). there are multiple ways to do this.

1st way:
group 1 doing a presentation. groups 2-3-4 listen and mark down any errors they hear. you can assign each student in a group with a certain thing to listen for (grammar point you just taught, pronunciation, whatever else) if you want. when group 1 finishes, group 2 gets an opportunity to report errors found. points are awarded by whichever errors they caught that you also caught. then group 3, then group 4 can do the same. when it's group 2's turn to present, then group 3 gets first crack at errors. and so it goes.

2nd way:
each group is assigned to assess a certain part of the presenting group's english. as i mentioned above, you could do something like 'recently taught grammar point', 'pronunciation', and 'following directions exactly' (they could time the students if you have a limit or whatever). they then award points based on how well they met requirements. they explain any score lower than 10/10. you don't have to grade a thing because they do it for you (just don't actually mark it as a real grade). you may not agree with the score, but again, you're not actually giving a grade anyway. the highest score wins whatever li'l prize you have for them.

both work almost-perfectly (there will always be a couple that don't participate, but at least they're not talking) in my classes every time.

[petebeatstreet]

My kids can be quiet, and they can be rowdy.

They respect me though, and If I need to quieten them down I need to stand with a hand up, and they take the cue.

I prefer a bit rambunctious too nervously quiet.

They can get super excited with the role playing and Hot Topic discussions I prepare for them.

[creztor]

Exactly, give them a reason to listen. Some very good tips above. That's what I was also getting at. If they don't know what random or participation is, then I guess this is a good real-world setting for them to pull out their dictionaries and look the words up. There's a good chance they'll remember them.

[flyingscotsman]

[Non Sequitur]

In my exp the main noise makers are those who have had their turn, are relieved that it's over and that generates noise.
Is there any way students can leave when they've completed their play?