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rickhorton44
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Location: Korea
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 Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 7:33 pm Post subject: How to teach partner activity skills |
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I'm getting very frustrated with my High School students. I believe that they don't have the ability to work well in a partner activity setting. Either they aren't interested in learning (highly likely), or they don't know how to proplerly work with a partner (highly likely), or both.
Does anyone have any suggestion on how to teach them to work together (teaching them how to co-operate, stay on task, etc.)? I would really like to use partner and group work, but every time I do, it turns into a disaster.
Oh yeah, the class size is 36-38. They are mainly 2nd year mixed ablility co-ed classes. It's really a nightmare, but I would love to help these kids. I have unlimited prep time.
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. |
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Woland
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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I don't know what you've been doing exactly that leads to such disasters in pair/group work, but one possibility is a lack of structure in the activity. If the students are just put in pairs or groups to do something and they don't have a sense of why they are doing it or what their job is in the activity, it's easy for them to get distracted or drift away from the activity into disruption.
Maybe if you spend a little time before the activity explaining what they will learn from it (what ed theorists call providing relevance) and giving each student specific roles and responsibilities in performing the task that can be followed up on, this might help.
You may also want to change how you follow up on group work. Again, I don't know what you are doing, but some disruption may come from knowing that the task will be followed by a whole class activity that only goes over what they've done in group (e.g., going over the exercise one item at a time). You might consider putting groups together to compare answers and reach consensus or preparing a poster or overhead for them to compare answers with and only discussing in detail the ones they report having differences with. Variety in follow up to group work may help.
If all this is completely off, my apologies. You can also try looking up 'cooperative learning' on google and see what comes up for possible activities. It may be that you just need to switch your activities and try some new things to find what will work. |
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rickhorton44
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I don't know what you've been doing exactly that leads to such disasters in pair/group work, but one possibility is a lack of structure in the activity. If the students are just put in pairs or groups to do something and they don't have a sense of why they are doing it or what their job is in the activity, it's easy for them to get distracted or drift away from the activity into disruption. |
I totally agree. Part of the problem is they got me stuck in this language lab so the students are in rows behind long (4 person desks) with a computer moniter between each of them. This gives them a lot of anonymity. Plus because of the large class size (and the fact I only see them once or twice a week) I don't know many of their names which gives them even more anonymity.
I'm going to start teaching them in their classrooms which have individual desks that can be moved. Then I can put them in the ole' double horshoe theater style seating arrangement.
| Quote: |
Maybe if you spend a little time before the activity explaining what they will learn from it (what ed theorists call providing relevance) and giving each student specific roles and responsibilities in performing the task that can be followed up on, this might help.
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I usually warm up the activities with a picture and elicit the vocabulary they will need. Then I introduce it. Then I have them practice the grammatical structure and answers. Then I have two different groups demo. The main problem is that hardly any of them cares nor pays attention. Even when my Korean counterpart is in the room, their attitudes don't change much.
| Quote: |
You may also want to change how you follow up on group work. Again, I don't know what you are doing, but some disruption may come from knowing that the task will be followed by a whole class activity that only goes over what they've done in group (e.g., going over the exercise one item at a time). You might consider putting groups together to compare answers and reach consensus or preparing a poster or overhead for them to compare answers with and only discussing in detail the ones they report having differences with. Variety in follow up to group work may help.
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Your dead on there. I often just use an overhead and randomly call on students to answer the questions until I've covered the sheet. I've totally forgot about the other ways to get them to check their answers.
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| If all this is completely off, my apologies. You can also try looking up 'cooperative learning' on google and see what comes up for possible activities. It may be that you just need to switch your activities and try some new things to find what will work. |
Will do. I couldn't think of the proper term for the activities, so I wasn't getting many hits with ESL/EFL partner work. Thanks for the help. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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I'd start with simple things like short dialogues and phonics. I did this phonics lesson with my students (stolen from Real Listening 1) and it worked quite well. You can do this sort of excercise with all sorts of letters using minimal pairs. When I do something like this I always go around to the laziest students first and make sure their getting started on it, then when the better students are finished try testing them with a few examples.
Phonics: P and F
A. You will hear one of the words in each of the following pairs. Listen and circle the word you hear.
1. pill (환약) / fill (충분한양)
2. pin / fin
3. pan / fan
4. copy (사본) / coffee
5. snip (가위질) / sniff (냄새 맡음)
6. cup / cuff (팔목)
7. ripped (찢는) / rift (갈라진 틈)
8. peel (껍질) / feel (느낌)
9. stripe (줄무늬) / strife (투쟁)
10. leap (뜀) / leaf (잎)
B. With a partner, take turns reading one of the words in each pair. Write down the word your partner says in the blank.
1. pill (환약) / fill (충분한양) ______________
2. pin / fin (탄미익) ______________
3. pan / fan _____________
4. copy (사본) / coffee ____________
5. snip (가위질) / sniff (냄새 맡음) ____________
6. cup / cuff (팔목) ____________
7. ripped (찢는) / rift (갈라진 틈) ____________
8. peel (껍질) / feel (느낌) _____________
9. stripe (줄무늬) / strife (투쟁) ____________
10. leap (뜀) / leaf (잎) _____________
(Sorry the cut-and-paste messed up the spacing.)
You can also change the handout to make it a phonics and vocab lesson by giving them sentences like 'Pill / Fill in the blank. Fish have fins / pins. Etc. |
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Woland
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 2:46 am Post subject: |
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I totally agree. Part of the problem is they got me stuck in this language lab so the students are in rows behind long (4 person desks) with a computer moniter between each of them. This gives them a lot of anonymity. Plus because of the large class size (and the fact I only see them once or twice a week) I don't know many of their names which gives them even more anonymity.
I'm going to start teaching them in their classrooms which have individual desks that can be moved. Then I can put them in the ole' double horshoe theater style seating arrangement. |
Sorry to hear about the room. Things will go much better when you move. I had a similar situation my first term here.
As for the names, get index cards (or appropriately sized pieces of cardboard). Fold them in half lengthwise to form little name plates for everyone. They put their names (in Roman letters) on one side and during class that side faces out towards you. You may feel that this is a bit infantalizing for them, but admit that it's really to help you call them properly. Let them decorate the cards as they see fit. I often asked them to write their names in hanja (Chinese characters) on the side facing away from me, with an English translation of them. It helped me connect their names to some meaning. Pass out the nameplates at the beginning of every class and collect them at the end. I used to use mine to take attendance. But really, being able to call students by their names is a way of showing respect for them and will gain you some respect back from many of them.
| Quote: |
| I usually warm up the activities with a picture and elicit the vocabulary they will need. Then I introduce it. Then I have them practice the grammatical structure and answers. Then I have two different groups demo. The main problem is that hardly any of them cares nor pays attention. Even when my Korean counterpart is in the room, their attitudes don't change much. |
Hmmm. In this situation I might make one of my lessons "Why are you learning English?" Let them talk in groups about it, maybe with some suggested possible answers like a survey. Of course, their likely answer is the test. But you'll hear that from them; you may even learn that a few of them want to learn English (future allies). It will also give you a chance to talk about why you are teaching them what you are and how it may help them in the future. It will help if you tell them that what you are doing will help them with the test. It won't turn things around, but it will make it clear that you are interested and will listen to them and will give you information about their motivations, which will help you plan in the future.
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| Your dead on there. I often just use an overhead and randomly call on students to answer the questions until I've covered the sheet. I've totally forgot about the other ways to get them to check their answers. |
Yeah, variety will spice things up some. Again, don't expect radical changes in attitude, but if a few of them start enjoying what they are doing, they can bring their friends around.
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| Will do. I couldn't think of the proper term for the activities, so I wasn't getting many hits with ESL/EFL partner work. Thanks for the help. |
Glad I could help. Good luck! |
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ajuma
Joined: 18 Feb 2003
Location: Anywere but Seoul!!
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| Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 7:11 am Post subject: |
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You could also try moving students. I've found that good students often sit next to good students, and poor students next to poor ones. If you mix them up, the good ones can help the poor ones.
An easy way to do this: Say you have 4 rows of students A B C D
Every student in rows A and D stand up. The front student moves to the back and the other students move up one seat. If they always sit in the same seats, sometimes change A and D or B and C. There is usually some confusion at the start, but they figure it out pretty quickly. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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| ajuma wrote: |
You could also try moving students. I've found that good students often sit next to good students, and poor students next to poor ones. If you mix them up, the good ones can help the poor ones.
An easy way to do this: Say you have 4 rows of students A B C D
Every student in rows A and D stand up. The front student moves to the back and the other students move up one seat. If they always sit in the same seats, sometimes change A and D or B and C. There is usually some confusion at the start, but they figure it out pretty quickly. |
Unfortunately this is very hard to do at high school with a class you only see once a week. It can take months just to figure out who the good and poor students are. Also, students are at the same desk all day long and have all their stuff at that one desk. |
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rickhorton44
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
As for the names, get index cards (or appropriately sized pieces of cardboard). Fold them in half lengthwise to form little name plates for everyone. They put their names (in Roman letters) on one side and during class that side faces out towards you. You may feel that this is a bit infantalizing for them, but admit that it's really to help you call them properly. Let them decorate the cards as they see fit. I often asked them to write their names in hanja (Chinese characters) on the side facing away from me, with an English translation of them. It helped me connect their names to some meaning. Pass out the nameplates at the beginning of every class and collect them at the end. I used to use mine to take attendance. But really, being able to call students by their names is a way of showing respect for them and will gain you some respect back from many of them.
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I've bought some heavy weight paper that I will cut and put on front of their desks. Since I will be teaching in their classrooms I can just leave them there. I totally agree, everyone's favorite word is their name. It really helps to be able to call them by it. Actually I just re-read your comment. It's a great idea. Kindof like a standing name plate  verses my hanging one I was planning.
| Quote: |
You could also try moving students. I've found that good students often sit next to good students, and poor students next to poor ones. If you mix them up, the good ones can help the poor ones.
An easy way to do this: Say you have 4 rows of students A B C D
Every student in rows A and D stand up. The front student moves to the back and the other students move up one seat. If they always sit in the same seats, sometimes change A and D or B and C. There is usually some confusion at the start, but they figure it out pretty quickly. |
I've actually come up with a different system. I used plastic chinese chess pieces and put yellow number stickers on them. I have them take one everyday when they came to class. It's good for them to be able to talk with different people. The problem is like Yu_Bum_Suk said it when I start teaching them in their room, they each have their own desk. I guess this will give them a reason to clean it off.
Thanks for all of the great ideas keep em coming. |
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