Korean Job Discussion Forums

[withnail]

Here's another quick tip for new teachers!

One of the things you can do before you start teaching your class is to change the layout of the desks in your classroom to give yourself a headstart for a better lesson.

Of course you may have to change them all back again before you leave but you can get your students to give you a hand at the start and at the end. Perhaps in your school it's not possible or you are prohibited from doing so but...

So often in Korean classrooms the desks are set up in the fashionable old u-shape or the traditional victorian style rows - and often new teachers never think to change them.

What I find far better is to arrange your desks to form little units of 4s or 6s - this way you can get your students to work in microgroups.

Here are the pros:

1. Sts can speak together not just in pairs, and have a greater variety of stimuli with three or 5 other faces.

2. Arranged in this way, they are not always looking at you and the pressure is less on you. Soon you'll get used to being a helper and facilitator rather than the dispenser of all knowledge!

3. The students get used to being autonomous.

4. Students can be moved around from group to group for a variety of purposes

5. Microgroups make teacher assistance / error feedback easier as when you are working with one group you are not disturbing the others.

6. You can shut up and let them get on with it for stretches at a time - crucial for letting them find their own voice away from "public performance"

So - IMHO - make things easier for yourself and your students, especially in large classes, by going for microgroups!

[frankly speaking]

Hello 1985, you can have your free flow chair design back. This idea is so old, you make me feel young.

I do like the idea of helping new teachers, but layout of desks and floor design has been discussed to death for decades. If you like to have a change of pace go ahead, but long term studies have not shown any difference in learning.

I will agree that grouping desks is good for certain activities, but with every floor layout there is weakness. Someone is always blocked by someone else in a grouping. No matter where you move there is always someone who cannot see you or has to look over someone else's shoulder. Also for a teacher walking around can be difficult because there seldom is room enough for the groups, their chairs and ample walking space.

I also like the added IMHO

What is humble about your opinion. I just find statements to be more arrogant that way. You are not humble none of your posts are humble. You are a self proclaimed expert and give old unsolicited advice.

Just write down your teachers guide and try to publish it outside of Korea.

[withnail]

No problems. Withnail is gone for good.

[frankly speaking]

come on, I was just teasing a little. You have some good ideas from time to time.

[Mint]

[andrewchon]

This, I reckon, is what happens when an attractive avatar is replaced with a grotesque one.

[Perceptioncheck]

[some waygug-in]

I disagree. Changing the seating arrangement can have a very positive effect, especially when dealing with issues of classroom management.

Separating trouble makers, or pairing up stronger and weaker students.

I think it depends on the size, type, level and age though.

[jinks]

Sometimes it's difficult to rearrage the seating in your classroom/s. I teach classes of around 20, but the rooms are stuffed with seating for around 40 students. For my teaching style, it is definitely worth stacking the unused desk-chairs at the back of the class and rearranging the remainder into groups of 4/5. Last semester I asked the department assistant to put all my classes into 1 room to cut down on desk moving. Once the students know the score they can put the desks into groups themselves if they come to class before me (minus participation points for EVERYBODY if the desks are not in groups helped get the idea across).
Once the students are in groups, they can spend a lot more time speaking English with each other (in-group and across groups) and making sure everyone in their group is aware of what the activity is about. There's also no 'front' to the class this way, and I can move around easily and see what everyone is doing. Students can also talk to me without having to talk across the whole class. A good tip I picked up recently from a workshop on mixed-level classes is to set up your class so that whenever the teacher asks a question, the students give the answer to their neighbour. This way, half the students get the chance to respond to a question rather than just the one student who gets his hand up first.

[son of coco]

The only problem I found with this approach is that the Korean students tend to think they're in a coffee shop and start chatting to everyone around them. The rows keep them all facing the front. I had an English Cafe to work in though and the desks were set up so they worked in groups of 6. It meant the talkative kids couldn't see me coming sometimes, so that was good

[The Gipkik]

Frankly Speaking, pot calling the kettle? And who gives a flying F what you think of Withnail. Either contribute or shut up.

Anyways, that's small fries. Grouping kids in microunits is sometimes good, but as has been said, it will more than likely turn into a gossip session in L1 and keep them from paying attention to the class. Yes, it can be good for some group activities and games, but at other times it's just distracting. In an ideal class, it would be salutary to be able to move desks together when necessary, in rows when necessary, in a horse shoe shape when necessary, and so on, but that is usually not practical. In my classes, I prefer not having desks in the first place. We do so little writing anyways. And if we do write it is either on the whiteboard or they can kneel down and write on their chairs, which I'm not adverse to either. It also depends on the class. There are the quiet classes, the hyperactive classes, the extremely enthusiastic classes, and they all need different seat (and desk) formats.
1. Quiet classes: Set up the seats in such a way as to promote communication. Face to face.
2. Hyperactive classes: Set up the seats in such a way as to discourage physical activity at times; at other times set up seats to encourage physical movement as these kids need movement or they'll go nuts. So rows and horse shoe format.
3. Enthusiastic classes: Microunits is good, along with horseshoe shape, and rows. Getting them to have the space to stand in lines and do relay type activities would also benefit them.

Classes should function as organic wholes and that includes the space and how it's used on a day to day basis. This includes other factors such as lighting, windows, soft and hard surfaces, intermittent spacing, colors, and so much more.

[sugarkane59]

Just keep the old fashioned 'Victorian style' seating of pairs in rows and just swap the kids around every so often. Much Simpler.

[Fishead soup]

I use that seating plan when I want to teach directions and blindfold one students and have the rest of them order him/her around. I also use it when I give the students a strip diologue story I want them to arrange in the correct order. I'll sometimes use it for peer dictation.

[jiberish]

My desk layout is designed so that all the students can easily see me and the board. The korean teacher changes hers, the students find it interesting, but not so much so when they have to have their head turned at a 90 degree angle for 15 minutes while the she explains something.

[frankly speaking]

No matter how you arrange the desks if your lesson is boring and lecture based, your students will not be engaged. As waygugin said student placement is important and effective, but actual arranging the chairs in different shapes isn't going to make a bad lesson good.