Focus on the classroom control
...immediately were silencing each other. The teacher sometimes was also using one different technique, but only with advanced students. After saying “Good morning”, she did not wait for students to unpack , she just started to run the lesson. Students were unpacking very quickly and in silence. The teacher has also a kind of agreement with students; when they are not prepared for the lesson they can take a “dot”. If they have two “dots” they get F. They also have chance to correct this mark. They have to do extra homework or write a short test. She also uses “pluses” to grading. When student gives the right answer for question or make an exercise correctly, she/he gets “plus”. If student collects five “pluses”, the teacher gives A. It is good technique because students are more motivated and active during the lesson. The teacher makes also a friendly atmosphere in the classroom. She call students by name, she knows where they are from. When there is time left on the lesson, she has friendly conversation with students. She asks what they were doing during the weekend, how are their parents, etc. She often speaks with students during the break. They are laughing and joking. I noticed few control problems especially during practice stage. There is a big problem with practicing speaking skill : * Students won't talk or say anything : The best way to solve the problem is to find the root of this problem. If it is unusual for students to talk out loud in class, or if students feel really shy about talking in front of other students, the one way to break this barrier is to create our own classroom culture in which speaking out loud in English is normal thing. One way to do this is to change the look of the classroom. We can arrange desks differently, e.g. in circle or in horse shoe. We also can decorate classroom walls in English language and culture posters. I also think that students do not talk because the communicative exercises are not as interesting as other activities. Speaking exercises should be connected with real life situations and also deal with students’ expectations. * When students work in pairs or groups they just end up chatting in their own language : If certain students spend their time on speaking in the L1, rather than concentrating on the task, then teacher should ask them to stay behind after lesson and speak to them individually and explain to them the importance of speaking English and ask them why they don't feel comfortable speaking in English in the classroom. Maybe they do not like to work with certain students or have some other problems that the teacher can help them to solve. The task should be also on the right level. If they are to easy, students will finish it quickly or get bored and they automatically will start conversations in their L1. The activity should not be also too difficult. It can cause ...