Making It Work in Practice

28/05/22, 11:59 Making it Work in Practice
Making it Work in Practice
This part of the section sets out practical ideas and examples to demonstrate how you can make your
lesson work in practice.
Site: i-to-i Online Courses

Course: 120 Hour Online Course
Book: Making it Work in Practice
Printed by: Alice Bassa
Date: Saturday, 28 May 2022, 9:59 AM
https://www.i-to-i.com/courses/mod/book/tool/print/index.php?id=249 1/17
Table of contents
Putting it into Practice in the Classroom
Making Your Classroom Look Appealing
Maintaining Discipline
Classroom Management
Effective Presentation
Practising Skills Using CALL
Testing the Four Skills
Error Correction Techniques
Using Correction for Activities
Dealing With Problems
Putting it into Practice in the Classroom

In a moment we will explore some practical ideas to help make your lessons work in the classroom.
First, let’s look at a short film of a TEFL teacher in action. As you watch the film, make notes about
areas that you think work well, and any ideas you have to improve the lesson. In particular, think
about:
Classroom management: What is the seating arrangement? How varied are the activities?
What interaction is there?
Adapting activities: How does the teacher adapt a simple drilling activity? How does that
change the motivation in class?
Dealing with problems: What problems arise? How does the teacher deal with these?
09:56
Here are our comments on the film.
Click to reveal
The students are seated in a horseshoe arrangement. This helps to ensure that all the attention is
on the teacher when he presents the target language. Students seem comfortable with this
seating arrangement and are focused on the teacher.
The teacher uses flashcards to introduce the vocabulary. He first models each word and then
uses choral drilling as a way for students to repeat / speak the word.
The teacher uses gestures to encourage and motivate students (for example, he cups his ear to
get students to say the words louder). Positive reinforcement is used throughout, as are the
student names, which all help create a positive environment. Although this part of the lesson is
teacher-student centred, all students are involved, and appear to be motivated and having fun.
The teacher has adapted a simple teaching technique (drilling) to add variety and engage
students more. For example, rather than just showing the flashcards the teacher builds a tower
using the flashcards and cups. This makes it fun. Students still have to say the word on the
flashcard but now there is a reward at the end – they get to add to the tower. Adding this twist
leads to every single student raising his / her hand in the hope of being picked to say the next
word. This creates full class participation and high student motivation.
The teacher also introduces a fun twist to maintain student attention for choral drilling: students
carry out this activity whilst walking around the classroom. When the teacher is confident that
they have learnt the word, he tries to capture them and they run back to the seat. He then repeats
this for the other words. Whilst this may not work in an adult class, it is extremely effective
with young learners. This shows an excellent example of how being creative can change the
whole class atmosphere – usually for the better.
Making Your Classroom Look Appealing

It is important to make your classroom student-centred and appealing. This will help to create a
positive environment, conducive to learning.
Here are a few ideas for materials that could be useful, stimulating and encouraging for your students.
Classroom rules
A poster of the classroom rules will ensure everybody is aware of the rules at all times.
Students’ work
Knowing that good work goes up on the wall can really encourage students – particularly
younger students.
Adverts for school / local / English activities
Advertise social events that will encourage your students to use English outside of class.
Relevant pictures that link to work you have done in class
Pictures of local places or things you have covered in class can really help to brighten up the
room.
English calendar
Write important dates on the calendar, such as tests, student birthdays, end of term dates.
Study tips
Produce a handout, covering points such as how to be more effective with reading, writing,
listening and speaking. Students can use this for reference in class.
Language points
You could have items such as the tense system, parts of speech, list of irregular verbs and / or
useful expressions displayed.
Maps
Maps are great for brightening up the room, and can be a useful reference point in lessons.
Maintaining Discipline
It is important to get a balance between exercising control and encouraging a relaxed, friendly
atmosphere conducive to learning. If in doubt, start off being relatively strict and let yourself relax
gradually. Doing it the other way round tends to make life more difficult.
It’s also important to understand why a student is causing a problem. For example, the student could
be bored, have family problems, peer problems or even be in the wrong class.
This means that you need to be aware of your students as individuals, rather than just seeing a
problem.
A lot of discipline problems are actually caused by the teacher. Here are some things to be aware of:
Don’t appear careless, disorganised or unprepared.

Be fair in the attention you give to students.
Don’t take things personally.
If you make a threat, carry it out – be consistent.
Never lose your temper.
Treat the students as you expect to be treated.
Put time, effort, enthusiasm and interest into your lessons.
Set rules and be consistent!
And if all else fails …
Make sure you know what the disciplinary procedures are in the school. Don’t let a problem go on.
Classroom Management
Many new teachers worry about classroom management.
Look at the following four issues that you may face in the classroom.
Think about what aspect of classroom management you need to address and how you will address it.
1. Students are frequently using L1 in class.

2. Students do not interact with each other - nobody speaks!
3. One student never seems to do what she is told immediately.
4. Students are not motivated to answer any questions.
Answers (Click to reveal)
Students are frequently using L1 in class.
You need to set clear class rules. If students are using L1 then it is important to emphasise the rule for
using English in the classroom. If students are still speaking in L1, then you could even have a
punishment system (for example, three strikes of speaking in L1 and they have to sing a song) to
ensure that students pay attention to the rule.
Students do not interact with each other - nobody speaks!
If students are not speaking to each other then you need to look at the classroom relationships. Are
they not speaking because they are shy? Is it a cultural issue (eg that women are not usually expected
to speak freely in front of men)? Is the layout of the room undermining communication? Or have you
simply not given them the opportunity to get to know each other?
Once you have identified the issue, address it (eg move around chairs, ensure suitable groupings for
pairs / small group work). It is also useful to introduce activities that will help to improve
relationships between the different members of the class.
One student never seems to do what she is told.
Before you decide the student is being disruptive on purpose, consider if there is a reason behind his /
her actions. Maybe she does not understand what to do – are you remembering to use gestures to back
up your instructions?
If the problem persists, speak to the student and find out what you can do to help. If all else fails, seek
help from the school.
Students appear not to be motivated to answer any questions.
You need to ask yourself why. Have they chosen to study English or are they there because they have
been told to attend? Are you giving positive reinforcement when they answer questions? Find out
what interests your students, and shape classes and activities around these topics. Also, use a reward
system – it will give them a reason to want to answer the questions!
Effective Presentation
The way that you present a topic can make a significant difference to your students’ ability to
remember it.
To demonstrate this, look at the following two posters, each of which demonstrates a rule for a class
of young children.
Which of the two posters do you think will be more effective?

Why?
Poster 1
Poster 2
Answer (Click to reveal)
Poster 2 is much more effective as it shows a rule visually. This is particularly important for young
learners.
The students are much more likely to remember “An Elephant In Orange Underwear” than a simple
statement of a rule. It’s fun and looks interesting. This means that students will look (and read) it
again and again.
Use pictures and fun rhymes as much as you can to support learning, particularly with children.
Practising Skills Using CALL

As with any resource it’s important that you find relevant material or activities that meet your lesson
aims.
Here are some ideas for using different resources.
(i) Use an on-line news source such as www.bbc.co.uk as a basis for activities
There is such a wealth of information on all topics and interests that you are likely to find something
useful for every type of class here. The articles on the site are usually fantastic for learners as they
tend to be a lot shorter than in newsprint.
A site such as this offers opportunities for you to devise activities for many different skills. For
example:
Reading skills: both detailed reading and skimming / scanning.

Listening skills: making use of the wide range of clips and podcasts on the site.
Speaking skills: you could ask students to research a topic on the site and then hold a
discussion about it.
Writing skills: you could ask students to write a short report about a news piece.
Remember that the BBC website doesn’t only have news; it also has TV listings (you could ask
students to find out times of programmes), weather forecasts and reports as well as interactive games
and its own learning / educational pages.
(ii) Give your students a project that requires them to use the Internet
You can cover a wide range of skills if you structure a project well. For example, you could tell your
students to plan a two-week family holiday to the US. This could require your students to practise a
number of skills, such as:
Choosing search vocabulary correctly: Intermediate and Advanced students could even
feedback to the group as to what were the best search terms for them.
Scanning: looking for flight times, suitable destinations, hotel details and so on.
Detailed reading: finding out visa regulations, how to book, how to get from a to b.
Listening skills: listening to website clips “selling” the destination.
Writing skills: many travel websites have "live chat" facilities where your students can ask
questions in “real time”. Alternatively, you could ask your students to write an itinerary or
details of their trip and follow this up by the class voting on the most exciting trip.
Speaking skills: after the research phase of this project, you could ask your students to present
each holiday / try to sell it to the rest of the class / discuss the bits they like or don’t like / devise
the perfect holiday in groups.
Testing the Four Skills

You can test each of the four skills on their own or as part of a larger test. Here are some ideas as to
how to begin to test each skill area.
Reading
Ask students to write a summary of a text they have been given to read
Set comprehension questions about a piece of text
Choose the summary which best describes the passage
Tell students to organise / order pictures based on the passage
Listening
Tell students to listen and then answer a set of comprehension questions

Tell students to listen and then discuss the content of the piece
Tell students to listen and then complete a gap fill of the content
Ask students to identify key words, grammatical structures, parts of speech
Writing
Ask students to:
Write a letter of complaint

Write an essay
Write a story based on information you provide
Reply to an advertisement
Apply for a job
Speaking
Get students to interview each other using questions provided

Interview students about topics covered during lessons
Ask students to discuss a topic / picture / description
Ask students to relate what happened during a particular period or event in their life
Ask students to tell a story
Set up pretend interviews (eg job or celebrity interviews)
Error Correction Techniques

As a teacher, you need to be quick and efficient. However, don't over-correct and be careful not to
focus on one individual too much. Involve the class by getting other students to help out or do it as a
class feedback session, focussing on just a few errors made by the class.
Where possible, try to elicit the correction first so students are engaging in the language. Sometimes
though it may be more prudent to repeat the mistake correctly. This can be useful when you don't
want to lose the focus of the lesson, but you also don't want to let the mistake go.
Here are some correction techniques and activities you can use in the classroom.
Facial expression
A facial expression showing doubt (a frown, raised eyebrow or a wobbling hand)
Saying the type of error
For example, “tense?” or “word order?”, often combined with a frown. This draws the student’s
attention to where the error is.
For higher levels you could ask a question to focus the student on the meaning, for example: “do you
think you really will win the lottery? (No) So which tense do we use?”.
Pronunciation mistakes
You can show the shape of the mouth in order to elicit a correction to a sound. For example, you
might show pursed lips for the 'sh' sound.
Use your hands
Use your fingers as prompts. For example, you might hold up one finger for one missing word. Don’t
tell the students what the word is, but silently draw the word from them. This can also be used when
there are too many words used in a sentence.
Echo correction
In “echo correction” you repeat the error but add a rising, questioning intonation, perhaps combined
with a raised eyebrow, to make sure your students understand you are highlighting a mistake.
Use a device
You could use a device (a buzzer or bell) or make a sound to indicate a mistake.
Whispers
A less intrusive way to encourage correction is to whisper the correct form to the students from
behind as they speak. It might take a while to get the feel of doing this well, but it’s worth the effort.
It’s far more discreet and far less of an interruption than the head-on approach.
Variable correction
Conduct one class where corrections are very strict and consistent and then offer hardly any correction
in the next week’s class. Alternatively, ask students how often, how strictly, and in what areas of
speech they would like correction. Some may want to be pushed the whole time, while others want
less pressure.
Student checklists
Tell students to make a list of all the points they want to stop getting wrong. Students can then use this
as a personal checklist to monitor their own mistakes.
Class correction
Write a selection of errors that have been made on the board, then brainstorm improvements with the
class. Let students correct the errors wherever possible. Only tell them the correct version as a last
resort. Also, be careful not to single out students who make frequent errors.
Traffic light cards
Have students select a correction card for the day as they walk into class. A red card means “stop and
correct me every time I make a mistake”. A yellow card means “stop and correct me sometimes”. A
green card means “just let me go ahead and speak English. Don’t correct me”. This lets the teacher
know how much correction each student would like for that day. An alternative approach is for you to
select the colour card for the student, which helps avoid them choosing the same one each time.
Using Correction for Activities

As a teacher, you can use your students' mistakes and errors to underpin activities. It can be
particularly useful if you want to focus on common and repeated errors your students are making.
Here is a selection of activities you can try.
Error race
Write a selection of mistakes / errors from a previous activity on the board. Tell students to work in
pairs to see who can correct them fastest. Alternatively, you could put them in teams, and get them to
race up to the board to correct items in turn.
Right or wrong
Identify errors from homework or a previous activity. Correct some of these and then leave the others.
Then dictate each sentence in turn and tell the students to write them down. Next students need to
work in pairs, or individually, to mark whether each sentence is right or wrong. You can also offer an
additional bonus point if they can correct sentences that are wrong.
Error poker
This is an extension of the previous activity. Give your students some (pretend!) money to play with.
In groups or pairs, tell students to decide which sentences are correct and how much money they want
to spend to buy them. You then carry out an auction for each sentence. A sentence goes to the highest
bidder. The winners are the ones who have bought the most correct sentences.
Correction city
Write mistakes on the board and ask the class to correct them. Students can work together as a class,
in groups or in pairs. It needs very little set-up and is a quick way to focus on just a few errors /
mistakes.
Editing
Hand out or read a pre-prepared text containing typical student errors / mistakes. Ask the students to
either circle the errors or note down when they hear them.
Circling or noting down the points gives all students the chance to consider the mistakes to feed back.
However, if you need to inject pace, competition and excitement into the lesson, try getting students to
shout out when they hear an error.
Finger correction
Using your fingers you can devise little gestures to help students out with identifying the error and
suggest ways to fix the error. This takes a bit of practice but is a very effective and quick way to
correct spoken errors in class.
Written correction
The basic approach for correcting written work is the same as with oral work. Don't overcorrect, try to
put the errors back to the students and see if they can correct themselves, and help out with some
clues.
You can write key errors from written work on the board and ask students to work in pairs to correct
them.
Dealing With Problems

Here are three problems that you may come across as a TEFL teacher. Make a list of your own
suggestions and ideas before reading ours. Who knows, maybe these ideas will end up being life
savers for you during your teaching career.
Problem 1: Lack of learner motivation
Students skip class, and when they do show up it seems to be due to fear of failure more than anything
else. They lack any semblance of attention during class, chatting with classmates, doodling in their
notebooks or (gasp!) in their textbooks.
Problem 2: Insufficient time, resources and materials
What can you do when charged with teaching English in only one or two hours per week? Add this
lack of time to a decided lack of materials and virtually zero other resources in many third-world
classrooms and you have a critical teaching / learning situation indeed.
Problem 3: Over-crowded English classes
The number of learners in a classroom can range from one, for those who teach individual private
learners, to 15 or 20 learners in a typical classroom up to multitudes of 35 or 40 or even 50 or more
learners packed into a language learning situation. Forget anything even remotely resembling
“individual attention”.
Click to reveal
1. Ways of addressing lack of student motivation
Use activities matched to the personalities, learning styles and characteristics of the learners as
often as practically possible.
Ensure you have set up as positive a learning environment as possible.
Make sure students are aware of the goals.
Find out your students’ goals and the topics they want to learn, and try to incorporate them into
the curriculum.
Encourage your students to find out their learning style, and the best way to use this to learn
English.
Introduce activities that will help to increase your students’ self-confidence.
2. Ways of addressing insufficient time, resources and materials
Use your imagination!

Ask students to use something in the class (pens, pencils, desks, rulers) in a non-traditional,
unusual or inventive way. For example, use different sizes of pencils to teach the comparative
form, or match pens, pencils, and rulers of the same colour to teach colours.
Bring in realia - ie actual objects that students can see, touch, and hear in the classroom.
Use local materials like leaves, mud, bamboo, or coal from burnt firewood for colouring.
Ask students to bring in recyclables, such as empty soda bottles or milk cartons for class
projects.
Ask students to bring articles from the home related to a particular topic to use as a talking or
writing point for the class. This will encourage responsibility and participation in the activity,
and it will help build community in the classroom.
Use the talents of your learners to create teaching aids. For example, have them draw charts
and pictures.
Recycle newspapers and magazines. For example, your students could cut out letters of the
alphabet or words to make their own sentences. They can then create a story by gluing together
these sentences, along with cut-out pictures from the publications.
Make flash cards from used cartons or sheets of regular paper.
3. Ways of addressing over-crowded lessons
Use choral, small group and pair work to help lessen the load on both you and the large group
of learners.
Identify a few of the more advanced learners to help with group work elements.
Adopt a task-based approach to teaching. Divide the class into groups and give each group a
different task on the same topic.

Making It Work in Practice

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28/05/22, 11:59 Making it Work in Practice

Making it Work in Practice

Site: i-to-i Online Courses

Putting it into Practice in the Classroom

Here are our comments on the film.

Making Your Classroom Look Appealing

Adverts for school / local / English activities

Relevant pictures that link to work you have done in class

Don’t appear careless, disorganised or unprepared.

And if all else fails …

1. Students are frequently using L1 in class.

Answers (Click to reveal)

Students are frequently using L1 in class.

Students do not interact with each other - nobody speaks!

One student never seems to do what she is told.

Students appear not to be motivated to answer any questions.

Which of the two posters do you think will be more effective?

Answer (Click to reveal)

Practising Skills Using CALL

Here are some ideas for using different resources.

Reading skills: both detailed reading and skimming / scanning.

Testing the Four Skills

Tell students to listen and then answer a set of comprehension questions

Ask students to:

Write a letter of complaint

Get students to interview each other using questions provided

Error Correction Techniques

A facial expression showing doubt (a frown, raised eyebrow or a wobbling hand)

Saying the type of error

Use your hands

Traffic light cards

Using Correction for Activities

Dealing With Problems

Problem 1: Lack of learner motivation

Problem 2: Insufficient time, resources and materials

Problem 3: Over-crowded English classes

1. Ways of addressing lack of student motivation

2. Ways of addressing insufficient time, resources and materials

Use your imagination!

3. Ways of addressing over-crowded lessons

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