Korean Job Discussion Forums

[crazylemongirl]

That sounds great but I think we have very different classroom atmospheres. I teach 40+ middle school boys in classrooms made for students to sit in rows. During the smaller classes during the vacation sessions the kids tend to sit in groups and works fine.

[thursdays child]

GROUPS! I teach low levelled, unmotivated and diliquent High School girls (40 at a time)... Sure, groups provokes chatter and distraction but rows promote blank boredom. English speaking class is 'out of their world' and I try to get them to think more creatively and have fun. This is so hard for them to do - they're used to be being talked at, yelled at..... So when they come to me and have different seating - it's different, so they are allowed to be different - speak up... I also change the interaction all the team, mix the groups up - I'm so scared of boredom! It works I'm noticing huge improvements in their speaking since I broke the chain.

[elg]

I have taught using groups (of 5 ppl) for the last two years in a language school. the director has a passion for language learning and research and started the school from day one this way. (i teach classes of 20+- so cant comment on how it works for large classes)

my feelings, groups vs indiv desks? not completely sure at this time.

swain's transcripts from her research are encouraging but also these were motivated students with a desire to learn and take responsibility for their own learning. not always what an esl teacher is exposed to.

when the group setup works it really works. (we use 6 sided tables with the 6th side always open and thus 5 students who are looking at the front of the classroom. if the 6th side is filled then the whole table shuts down and the S quickly understands the 6th place is reserved for the teacher.) for language learning to really happen the control at some point needs to be turned over to the student ( i have taught only adults and young adults so cant comment on those even younger). one director i worked with and respected a lot was not into how much english he could teach the students but how much he could teach them to work together and then try and get them to take resp for their own learning. that was always one of his biggest priorities.

for adults and young adults i would tend to say that the groups are the way to go. i will soon find out what i really think as i will probably be changing to a new job and perhaps no longer involved with the group setting anymore.

downsides i have noticed is that as the students get use to working together they then tend to do so all the time. there are times when individual work needs to be done and an individual needs to find their own language and not always using that of another (*though i do believe we appropriate a lot of things from others).

seating - i use to want to control this and mix it up, especially with teenagers. it has been over a year since i have changed the seating (perhaps because i have become a better teacher. though, i am still crap, just less so). 6 mos ago i asked the director , who regularly teaches classes, when was the last time he arranged the seating or changed the tables and he said he cant remember the last time he did. (that doesnt mean we dont create new groups for a project in class.) in fact, letting the students chose their own seating gets to me in a new way as they then have a mind set that they have to be in that particular seat. sometimes one can see a really good student who gets it and everyweek changes to a new table.

there is a paper coming out this year where the researcher video/audio taped classes in a group setup. one of the main points in the paper will be that the tapes showed that when the group was left alone they tended to accomplish quite a bit. once the teacher approached the group the learning went to hell and the group interaction fell apart. the groups were made up of your average young teenage student who probably in truth is not that overjoyed about learning english.

with that said, having the table and being able to go to the table to work closely with a small group when necessary is super i think.

my gut instinct is that when i go to indiv desks in a new job i will miss the group table setup.

a couple of times i did the group tables with 25-30 students and it required quite a bit more energy on my part. not sure what i would do with a large class. would like to give it a try though!
i never have a student that is not facing, for the most part, the front of the room. it is a recipe for disaster.

as to the level of english ability; i teach those special classes where the student has almost -0- language, and that are just super to teach, up to the top level. the group table works just as well at the lowest of levels with students of no english ability (and starts teaching the student from early on to work together) as they do at a level with some english ability.

as for basic conv such as 'what are you going to do this weekend' the group thing couldnt be better. they get to explore the language together and questions. some will say that there are times when they are just copying another person and to some extent this may be true. but also, we all appropriate things from others throughout our lives and me giving the student a bit of language or they getting it from someone else is really ok with me. a year down the line it is interesting to see the changes in the students. perhaps the tables also make for a more motivational setting and enjoyable for the student. (*though hell classes are still hell, but for some reason i dont see them as much anymore which makes me think it might have a lot to do with me. in addition, one bane in this area is that in my school *we have generally created and taught the hell class to be a hell class. in a nut shell we advance a student to a higher level that cant do the work and /or doesnt want to do the work. as a teacher, at our school it is just plain easier to advance a student and tell them they are doing a fine job then to have to manage the situation, which takes time and effort.)

in observing lots of hours of several high level teachers one thing i noticed is that they move the class along very fast. they are willing to go back and pick up a straggler but in general a young student doesnt have time to screw off and many times another student at the table will get them in line if they do as the table has started to learn to work together (though i think this has to be taught as well and becomes evident in some classes i get that the previous teacher(s) put little effort into it).

just my two cents.