Hi,
I have recently started teaching in a company -one class per day. The class is good as they have high level of english. There are between five and six people in the class.
A problem i am having however is that about wo memebrs of the group are not as outgoing as the other members. My aim is to ensure that all students in the class have equal participation in speaking their views but unfortunately this is not happening as the same few members are dominating the class.
I am just wondering could anybody come up with some ideas to include all members in a class equally so no one student is felt left out? The group are very familiar with each other as they work together so i dont need to bond the group closer.
Thank you in advance!
I guess my request is kind of unusual...
Need some help in a company class..
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fluffyhamster
- Posts: 3031
- Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 6:57 pm
- Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
Design activities in which the more vocal members of the class make themselves "useful" in dragging answers and opinions out of the (kicking and screaming) two dormice of the class; this way, you won't be tiring yourself out forever reigning in the former whilst whipping up the latter - it'll be the former who are (unwittingly) giving the latter a chance, HA! Take advantage of, and make their differing personalities work for you and your aims.
Drill work.
Hey there!
I'd be careful and sensitive to the dynamics between these students if they all work in the same office or company. The two who don't speak may be just lower down on the pay scale and may be deferring to their bosses who "need to practice more" because they will have more contact. Or any of a thousand other situations based on heirarchy that you will need to divine before forcing those two to speak or taking the word away from those who always speak.
Find a common denominator among all of the students. Despite differring "levels" or "motivation", all of your students will have one thing in common that they need to work on. That may be fluent pronunciation of sentences, it may be a particular grammar point. Don't leave them to themselves to chat on to their heart's content. Do rotating drill work with them all, each having his/her ten seconds of fame and then passing it on to the next. There is no threat in this type of exercise, those who do them better serve as example to those who need to improve, no one is getting his/her toes stepped on and everyone is equally participating in the class.
Finally, and I am repeating myself here, don't chat in your ESL class and don't let your students chat. Chat over a coffee during a break, chat after class when you go out to have a beer. In class make them work on improving specific problems. Chat has absolutely no place in any classroom (said revel from high atop his soapbox!) it wastes valuable time that ought to be spent on concentrated exercise.
peace,
revel.
I'd be careful and sensitive to the dynamics between these students if they all work in the same office or company. The two who don't speak may be just lower down on the pay scale and may be deferring to their bosses who "need to practice more" because they will have more contact. Or any of a thousand other situations based on heirarchy that you will need to divine before forcing those two to speak or taking the word away from those who always speak.
Find a common denominator among all of the students. Despite differring "levels" or "motivation", all of your students will have one thing in common that they need to work on. That may be fluent pronunciation of sentences, it may be a particular grammar point. Don't leave them to themselves to chat on to their heart's content. Do rotating drill work with them all, each having his/her ten seconds of fame and then passing it on to the next. There is no threat in this type of exercise, those who do them better serve as example to those who need to improve, no one is getting his/her toes stepped on and everyone is equally participating in the class.
Finally, and I am repeating myself here, don't chat in your ESL class and don't let your students chat. Chat over a coffee during a break, chat after class when you go out to have a beer. In class make them work on improving specific problems. Chat has absolutely no place in any classroom (said revel from high atop his soapbox!) it wastes valuable time that ought to be spent on concentrated exercise.
peace,
revel.
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Alexanndra
- Posts: 39
- Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2003 4:33 am
- Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Hey Revel,
My students would kill me if I didn't give conversation ("chat")! Do you really think it's that bad? I give them a topic at the beginning of class, we discuss it for 20 minutes or so, and I write the new vocabulary on the board (which they write in their notebooks). Then we use the remaining part of the hour for grammar, drills, etc. I give them homework related to the new grammar, as well as a writing assignment based on the topic of the day. It seems to work pretty well. I think if we eliminated the conversation part, they would be bored to death and would feel that they weren't getting enough practice!
My students would kill me if I didn't give conversation ("chat")! Do you really think it's that bad? I give them a topic at the beginning of class, we discuss it for 20 minutes or so, and I write the new vocabulary on the board (which they write in their notebooks). Then we use the remaining part of the hour for grammar, drills, etc. I give them homework related to the new grammar, as well as a writing assignment based on the topic of the day. It seems to work pretty well. I think if we eliminated the conversation part, they would be bored to death and would feel that they weren't getting enough practice!
to chat or not to chat?
Maybe a mixture of chat and more structured speaking work would be good. I have started off a class with "blamestorming", where each person gets 2 minutes to say why their day (or the day before) was the WORST because... and then the class decides who had the worst day. (You can start off if you like, whingeing about the weather, public transportation, rude salespeople etc.) I've also used short dialogs to focus on pronunciation and intonation: one person is a dissatisfied customer, another the harried employee, for example. That way the shy people don't have to come up with English, and the more talkative ones have to wait their turn to speak. You can have them write the dialogs, if they're advanced enough, otherwise write a few yourself or find some in a text.
Great books for instructors and teachers
I highly recomend two books no teacher should be without:
First "The Big Book Of Business Games"
The second is the CORE Success Journal, this is more than a journal but a serious and imediately aplicable series of steps toward increased sense of self worth, core values and personal purpose. This book pumped me up and I use the content in every class I share with.
Get yours at www.lulu.com/charlesspeaks.com
First "The Big Book Of Business Games"
The second is the CORE Success Journal, this is more than a journal but a serious and imediately aplicable series of steps toward increased sense of self worth, core values and personal purpose. This book pumped me up and I use the content in every class I share with.
Get yours at www.lulu.com/charlesspeaks.com