TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
An A-Z
of classroom
management
Simon Brown has got a little list.
ou will find my ‘A–Z of
Y classroom management and
relationships’ on the opposite
page. This is a list of tips which I use on
teacher training courses to help trainees
to manage their classrooms and to build
productive classroom relationships with
their students. On CELTA (Certificate
of English Language Teaching to
Adults) courses, which usually last
around four to six weeks, I present the
list in one of the early sessions of the
course after an input session on
teacher/learner styles and after the
trainees have taught their first lessons.
Having said that, I see no reason
why it could not be used for or by more
experienced teachers as some kind of
revision, reference or in-service teacher
training tool. I think it also has potential
to be used for observation purposes,
perhaps preceding or following a
continuing professional development
tutorial. Trainers could focus on a
different letter or group of letters for
individual observations/teachers: ‘Today
we’re going to be looking at letters A to
E or letters BRIAN (a BRIAN lesson).’
The choice of letters could be made by
the observer or by the observee.
Using the list
In the CELTA context, I usually give the
list to the trainees after they have looked
at their own and each other’s feedback
50 • Issue 62 May 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
notes from the day before. I invite them
to highlight any comments that could
fall under the banner of classroom
management and relationships. As I
always give them the same main aim in
their first lesson – to establish rapport
and feel comfortable in the classroom –
these comments are generally easy to
find and, of course, tend to be repeated
several times. Having done this, the
trainees are more open to making sense
of the A–Z list. They are then asked to
read it individually and instructed to put
an asterisk next to any letters that they
either don’t understand – some ELT
jargon is used – or on which they need
more clarification. They compare their
asterisks with a partner and then, finally,
we all come together to clear up any
remaining muddiness and, importantly,
to highlight the letters that they had
already addressed in their first lessons
and those that have been highlighted as
points to work on in their next lesson.
Throughout the course, I ask the
trainees to refer to this list each time
their peers teach and in trainee-led
teaching practice feedback. I often invite
them to begin the session by focusing
on a particular group of letters – HUG
feedback or RIPE feedback, etc.
Adapting the list
There are, inevitably, several letters that
may seem a little fluffy, woolly, flippant
or even questionable, both in the
CELTA context and beyond. My advice
here is to change any letters which may
grate or offend.
So your D may well become Drill,
drill, drill and your P might become
Prioritise your plan.
Responding to the list
The response from the trainees I’ve dealt
with in my last few courses has been
almost unanimously positive, and I think
the main reason for this is that it has
been a document that has revealed its
value and relevance the longer the course
has gone on. Q and Y, for example, are
difficult to digest on day two of a
CELTA course, but become gloriously
obvious as the days go by. Similarly, D
and T may seem impenetrable early on,
but then become second nature in weeks
two and three. ETp
Simon Brown has
taught in France, Spain
and the UK, and he is
now a freelance teacher,
CELTA tutor/trainer
and assessor. He is
interested in the welfare
and motivation of CELTA
candidates as they
progress through their
intensive training, and
he is an enthusiastic
advocate of teachers as
humanists rather than
linguistic technicians.
snickolas2002@yahoo.co.uk
TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
An A–Z of classroom management and relationships
A nimate yourself/your learners/
your material.
B ring real-world examples and
experiences into your classroom.
C ontextualise, conceptualise and
clarify.
D evelop recognition of, and
recording of, collocations.
E mpathise equally.
F oster cross-cultural exchanges.
G roup learners with imagination
and variety.
H elp the students to help
themselves.
I nclude the excluded.
J ustify unpopular classroom
decisions.
K eep the students on their toes.
L et communicative activities run
their course.
M otivate intrinsically.
Nodding is not proof of
comprehension.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 62 May 2009 •
O pinions are more than ‘it
depends’.
P repare plan Bs, Cs and Ds.
Q uestion questionable grammar
rules.
R ecycle and revise.
S ilence should not be
mechanically filled.
T est teach test. Test teach test.
Test teach test.
U se the students as your primary
resource.
V ary your lead-ins, your
interactions and your feedback.
W rite student–teacher and
teacher–student contracts.
X tra enthusiasm on Monday
mornings.
Y ou are a different type of
teacher from the ones they are
used to; show them why.
Z ig-zagging is often a more
interesting path to follow than
the mechanical A to B.
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