Learning and teaching

Now consider the following extract:

Creating successful classrooms

Problem behaviour rarely occurs in successful language classrooms. When students are engaged, have a reasonable level of self-esteem and are experiencing success, there is no incentive for them to behave badly, disrupt lessons or create barriers between themselves and their teacher or their peers. We need, then, to examine how we can try to ensure that the classroom is a success-oriented environment.

Behaviour norms

Schools, just like any other group-based entities, need norms of behaviour if they are to function efficiently. It is worth thinking, therefore, about how we can get the students' active agreement with such norms; for if we do so, they are far more likely to adhere to them rather than feel they have been coerced into obedience. There are three things we need to bear in mind in order to achieve this.

• Norms need to be explicitly discussed: it is not effective just to tell students to read a set of rules about what is considered to be normal and acceptable behaviour. We need to discuss the rules with a group, explaining what they mean and why they are there. We might give students a handout describing the kind of behaviour we expect from them. Perhaps we can have a poster or wall chart which lists the rules so that we can refer to it whenever necessary. If students understand what is expected of them and why it is expected of them, they are far more likely to conform to these behavioural norms than if they just seem arbitrary and capricious.
• Norms can be jointly negotiated: if we really want students to 'buy into' a set of rules or norms of behaviour, we will go further than just explaining them. We will actively negotiate what should go into our list with our students by creating a jointly agreed code of conduct. The code (a kind of contract between teacher and students) could include details about classroom behaviour (e.g. when someone is talking, they will be allowed to finish before they are interrupted), discuss how often homework is expected, or establish norms of learner autonomy. When a teacher and students have divergent views about what is acceptable and what is not, we should take the students' opinions into account and try to work with them. However, ultimately we will have to be firm about what we are prepared to accept. With low-level classes, teachers may need to hold the discussion in the students' first language. Where this is not possible - as in a multilingual class - we will need to show quickly and calmly, through example, what is expected and what is not acceptable. Some teachers adopt a formula where teacher and students produce a chart which says 'As your teacher/a learner I expect ... ', 'As your teacher/a learner, I will ... '. These bind both teacher and learners to behaviours which will be mutually beneficial.

  When a code of conduct has been democratically arrived at (even when based on teacher direction) - with everyone having a say and coming to an agreement - it has considerable power. We can say to students that since they agreed to the code, they themselves have responsibility for maintaining it.
• Norms need to be reviewed and revisited: just because we have discussed a code of conduct at the beginning of a term or semester, it does not mean that our job is done. When students step outside the norms of behaviour, we need to be able to remind them of what we agreed on. This will be made much easier if there is a copy of the code (say on a poster or wallchart) which we can refer to. When the group starts behaving in ways that are not especially appropriate, we will discuss the situation with the group and get their agreement to come up with new norms to cover this new situation.

How teachers can ensure successful behaviour

• Start as we mean to go on: students will find it extremely difficult if we only begin to insist on certain behaviour when things go wrong. If, for example, we wish to start our lessons in a calm atmosphere, then we need to do that from the very first lesson by waiting for silence before we start the activities we have planned. If we have decided that we are in charge of who sits where, then we should exercise that decision-making from the very beginning rather than asking students to accept this halfway through the term.
• Know what we are going to do: students are far less likely to cause problems if we give them interesting things to do. They are far less likely to feel the urge to be disruptive if they understand that we have come to the lesson with clear ideas about what these things are, rather than making it up as we go along. This does not mean that we will always slavishly follow a plan, but it does suggest that a well-organised period of study and activity which has been thought about before the lesson has a far greater chance of success than a chaotic ill-thought-out (and ultimately frustrating) one.
• Plan for engagement: students who are interested and enthusiastic do not generally exhibit problem behaviour. When we plan our classes, therefore, we need to think how we can engage students in a reading or listening text before starting detailed work on it; we need to do our best to introduce topics that are relevant to our students' experience. Interest can be also be generated by a teacher's performance. There is no doubt that students can be engaged by the energy and enthusiasm of their teachers.
• Prioritise success: one of our most important tasks is to try to make our students successful. This does not mean making things easy all the time since that can provoke boredom or, at the very least, disengagement. But at the other end of the spectrum, if things are too difficult, students become demoralised. What we will try to aim for, instead, are tasks, activities and goals which challenge individual students but for which they can have a better-than¬ average chance of success. Getting the level of challenge right is a major factor in effective classrooms. Our use of praise is also a way for us to show students how successful they are being.
• Equality rules: in any dealings with members of the group, the group has to see that we treat everyone in exactly the same way, irrespective of who they are. We should not show obvious favouritism or appear to hold a grudge against particular students. We need to treat events in the same way each time they occur, too, so that students know exactly what is likely to happen in certain circumstances. What this means is that any student who behaves in a certain way is treated exactly the same as another student who behaves similarly in the same circumstances.
• Praise is better than blame: a piece of research carried out four decades ago (and often cited) suggested that when students were told off for inappropriate behaviour, it had little effect. However, even 'difficult' students responded extremely positively when they were praised for appropriate behaviour (Madsen et aI 1968). Praise works, in other words. Students are far more likely to avoid inappropriate behaviour if there is an obvious advantage (the teacher and the group's approval) in appropriate behaviour. However, praise has to be offered in the right way and for good reasons if it is to be effective.

Modifying problem behaviour

Despite all our best efforts to create successful learning environments, things sometimes get out of hand and students start behaving in inappropriate ways. The way we react in such situations will determine not only how serious the event becomes, but will also influence the attitude of the whole group in terms of their future adherence to the group norms which they have agreed. Punishing problem behaviour is not in itself an attractive action, but turning it into future success is. When students behave disruptively or uncooperatively, our first task is to find out what the problem is. We can then see if we can agree a solution with the student who is exhibiting the offending behaviour so that we can set a target for them to aim at - one which will ensure the success we are striving for. There are many things to bear in mind if we wish to achieve these goals.

• Act immediately: it is vital to act immediately when there is a problem since the longer a type of behaviour is left unchecked, the more difficult it is to deal with. Indeed, unchecked behaviour may get steadily worse so that where it could have been deflected if it had been dealt with immediately, now it is almost impossible to deal with. Immediate action sometimes means no more than stopping talking, pausing and looking at the student in question (Brown and McIntyre 1993: 42). Sometimes, however, it may demand stronger action.
• Keep calm: in many students' eyes, teachers who have to shout to assert their authority appear to be losing control. Shouting by the teacher raises the overall level of noise in the classroom, too. We need to find some other way. The first thing to remember is that whatever we feel like, we should never appear to be flustered. Despite the fact that students sometimes appear to be attacking our personality and threatening everything we hold dear, we need to remember, in the words of a participant at a conference in Montreal Canada in 2005, that 'it's just a job’. Somehow we have to stand back from what is happening and rather than taking it personally, we need to act calmly and carefully. When we are trying to modify student behaviour we need to look disruptive students in the eye, approach them, keep looking at them and speak in a measured tone. We can start by asking them questions to find out why they are behaving in the way they are. This will often be enough to defuse the situation. If more serious action is required, however, we will adopt some of the methods described below.
• Focus on the behaviour not the student: we should take care not to humiliate an uncooperative student. It's the behaviour that matters, not the student's character. Though it may sometimes be tempting to make aggressive or deprecatory remarks, or to compare the student adversely to other people, such reactions are almost certainly counter-productive: not only are they likely to foster hostility on the part of the student and/or damage their self-esteem, they may also be ineffective in managing the situation. Students can easily dismiss sarcasm as mere unpleasantness but it is much more difficult to keep behaving in ways which the teacher is criticising sensibly and fairly.
• Take things forward: where a simple look or brief comment is not sufficient, we need to think carefully about how we respond. It is always better to be positive rather than negative. It is usually more effective for a teacher to say Let's do this, rather than Don't do that. Taking things forward is better than stopping them, in other words. Our objective will be to move on to the next stage of an activity or to get a new response rather than focusing on the old one. In extreme cases, we may decide to change the activity in order to take the heat out of the situation and allow students to re-focus. However, we should be careful not to base such decisions only on the inappropriate behaviour of one or two students. Other ways of going forward are to re-seat students, especially where two or more of them have encouraged one another. Once separated in an effective (but not humiliating) way, students often calm down and the problem behaviour dies away.
• Talk in private: it is appropriate to discuss a student's behaviour in private and talk about how to improve it. This is not always possible, of course, but disciplining a student in front of his or her classmates will not help that student's self-esteem at all. Ideally, we will try to deal with problem behaviour with the student after the class, or at least privately in a one-to-one situation, perhaps at the teacher's desk. If, however, we have to deal with the situation in front of the whole group, the more private we can keep it - by speaking quietly and approaching the student - the better.

  George Petty suggests a three-stage approach to such conversations when dealing with teenagers. He calls the stages a 'chat', a 'word' and a 'telling off' (Petty 2004: 117). In a 'chat', the teacher shows that he or she thinks the student is quite able and willing to solve the problem and that the student has the teacher's respect. When offering a 'word', the teacher is being firmer and is exerting pressure so that the students can solve their problem. But in a 'telling off', the teacher is quite clear that the behaviour is unacceptable and that it needs to change right now. And whether or not we agree with Petty's threefold division, we will all agree that we should try to deal with a problem - in the first instance - as lightly as possible before gradually becoming more serious or, finally, imposing some kind of sanction.

  One way in which we can attempt to change students' behaviour is by writing to them - a general letter to each member of the class expressing a problem and asking students to reply in confidence. In this way students have a chance to make contact with us without other people listening or having to face us directly. However, this kind of correspondence takes up a lot of time, and there are dangers of over-intimacy, too. Nevertheless, the use of letters may help to break the ice where teachers have found other ways of controlling misbehaviour to be unsuccessful.

  Dealing with indiscipline is often a matter of 'pastoral' care, helping students to recognise the problem behaviour and start to find a way towards changing it. This is far less likely to happen in class with everybody listening, than in private ongoing communication with the student outside the class.
• Use clearly agreed sanctions: we have already suggested that ‘equality rules’. Quite apart from the need for fairness to all students, this means that students need to know what the penalties are for bad behaviour. They need to be aware that if X happens, Y will follow. There needs to be a gradual scale of action from a gentle reprimand (Petty's 'chat'- see above) to removal from a lesson and, finally, to exclusion from a school- though we will do everything we can to modify the student's behaviour so that this does not happen. Now, when X happens, the students know what to expect and they see it happening. This provides a sense of justice and a feeling of confidence in the system. What is less effective is either the teacher failing to impose a sanction that he or she has warned the group about (in which case it immediately loses its power for future occasions), or imposing a sanction far more serious than the one which the students expect (in which case they may lose respect at this arbitrary behaviour).
• Use colleagues and the institution: it is no shame to have disruptive students in our classroom. It happens to everyone. So when there's a problem, we should consult our colleagues, asking them for guidance. When the problem is threatening to get beyond our control (for example, a pattern of disruption which continues for a series of lessons), we would be well advised to talk to coordinators, directors of studies and/or principals. They should all have considerable experience of the kind of problems being faced and will be in a position to offer the benefit of their experience.

Whatever sector we work in (primary, secondary, tertiary, adult, state school or the private sector), we will all experience problem groups and encounter problem behaviour at some time in our teaching careers. More often than not, the problem is minor and can be easily dealt with, especially if we can refer to a previously established code of conduct, and if our responses to indiscipline are based on the principles and strategies we have outlined above. However, as we have suggested, it is far more attractive to try to avoid such problems occurring by managing for success.

Adapted from The Practice of English Language Teaching, Jeremy Harmer 2007, Longman.

As you gain experience as a teacher of ESOL you will come to realise that not all students learn in the same way. It is worth noting here that you may have many different types of learner in a class at any one time. What’s more their mood and the time of day may affect them, so you are never teaching exactly the same class day after day.

Remember our phrase TEACHING IS NOT LEARNING?

LEARNING STYLES

A learning ‘style’ is an individual predisposition to learn in a particular way. It is likely that the preferred learning style of any one learner will manifest itself in all aspects of learning, not just in relation to learning a foreign language. Though you, as their teacher for only a few hours per week, do not need to study and analyse each student’s individual style, these differences may become obvious and cannot be ignored. If you are teaching on a one to one basis you will, and should, get to know and work with your student’s individual approach to learning.

Much useful research that can be accessed on the internet and through good TESOL bookstores has been done on learning styles - the following section is to give you a few ideas to set you on your way.

SELF-CHECK 4:1 4

Look at the following statements made by ESOL students and add a comment about something you might expect the person to do in your class today:

a) I want my teacher to correct all my mistakes.

COMMENT: This student is going to ask for me to look at all her written work as she is doing it.

b) I want to be in an easier class so that I can understand all the listening materials.

COMMENT:

c) I don’t want to study grammar in class, I can do that at home.

COMMENT:

d) I like my teacher because she lets me ask questions about things I want to know and I am just waiting to ask…...

COMMENT:

e) I like working in a pair with that student Pieter who is better than me.

COMMENT:

f) I had a frustrating weekend because the internet was down so I couldn’t do any research for this topic.

COMMENT:

g) I didn’t buy anything when I went out yesterday because I didn’t know how to ask for it.

COMMENT:

h) I know the rule she’s teaching now but I forget it when I’m speaking.

COMMENT:

i) I know I make mistakes when I speak, but those girls in the disco understood me.

COMMENT:

j) My knee hurts.

COMMENT

Of course you cannot deal with every individual positive or negative approach to learning, but be aware that these, and more, exist and are possibly all in your class! (look back at Unit 3 Module 1 Motivation) Note that some comments will affect the student on this day only and they may be very different in the next lesson!

One easy idea to talk about here is VAK. If you have not heard of these letters they stand for Visual, (to do with seeing) Auditory (to do with hearing) and Kinaesthetic (to do with the body - touching, feeling and doing).

These terms describe ways that we process new information.

Let’s think about getting a new mobile phone. You need to find out how to work it.

What do you do?

a) read the manual

b) ask your friend who has the same model how to work it

c) work it out yourself by pressing the buttons.

If you answered a) then you are choosing to get the answer VISUALLY, by looking at the words on the page of the manual.

If you answered b) you got the information in an AUDITORY way by listening to what your friend has to say.

If you chose c), you are behaving in a KINAESTHETIC way, using your fingers to fiddle with the buttons and see what happens.

SELF-CHECK 4:1 5

Are these everyday activities visual, auditory, kinaesthetic or a combination? Choose the letters to fit the activity.

V - VISUAL A - AUDITORY K - KINESTHETIC

EXAMPLE Reading a map in the car

V (looking at map and matching to what you can see out of the window). K (if you use your finger to follow the route and give hand gestures to the driver!)

Spot the difference exercise

Listening to a song

Following your passenger’s directions while driving

Dribbling a football round some posts

Drawing a map accurately

Flower arranging

Sudoku

COMMENT 4:1 5

We bet that each and every one of you find at least one of the above activities very difficult!

Most people use a mixture of ways to process information, even if they have a preference and have greater success in some areas than in others. .

What you need to do as a teacher is to make sure that you are presenting language and information to your students in a way that they can understand easily. Next time you are teaching, look at what students do in your class. It is a big clue to how they process information.

• Some ask you what they have to do even when the instruction is written on the board. Others pick up a worksheet and turn it over and over, then ask their friend what to do. Some hum while they are working. Some are very good at pronunciation of new words and they can mimic teachers and speak well in role-plays.

These all like to listen and hear words in their heads. They like learning by hearing.

• Some tap their foot or their pencil on the desk. They doodle on their books and swing on their chairs. They use highlighters and colours and copy everything that you write on the board even if you asked them not to! They will volunteer to take messages and write on the white board. When asked to explain a new word they put their pen down and use their hands. They move the furniture about when asked to work in pairs. They look up and use new vocabulary when they are writing their homework and they often cross out a lot as they are working..

They like to do something and move around. They like learning by doing.

• Some do very neat diagrams and copy exactly from the white board, using colour coding for tables. They ask you to write the instructions on the board and always seem to miss what page they should be on unless it is written down. When they are remembering vocabulary their eyes swivel up to the left or right as they can see the word in their head. They enjoy it when the teacher draws on the board and they love silent reading, especially with diagrams or pictures. They often decorate their notebooks and make them look very neat. They are good at spotting changes (new desk, new teacher hairstyle) and they do well on DVD and video tasks.

They like to use their eyes and see pictures in their brains. They like learning by seeing.

Your class will have all sorts of people in it and you need to cater for them in your teaching so that they can access what they want to learn.

Here is an example of different ways to approach ‘comparatives’ with a class:

• Line the class up according to who is taller than who, then by who lives furthest from school etc, followed by the teacher and learners giving example sentences.

• Use a substitution diagram on the white board to show the pattern …er than using different coloured pens.

• Put everyone's bag in a line by the teacher's desk to see whose is the biggest and then writing sentences about the results.

• Put everyone's bag in a line by the teacher's desk to see whose is the biggest and then writing sentences about the results.

• A piece of card with ...ER written on it which learners come up and attach to the end of adjectives written on the white board.

• A listening exercise with a graph on which to mark different weights of objects.

• A speaking exercise that asks students to rate footballers or musicians depending on their tastes.

REMEMBER:

A good VAK presentation gives the students a chance to hear, see and use the language.