Teach English in Luotuocheng Zhen - Zhangye Shi

This section dealt with managing classrooms. I feel that I learnt a lot about how to arrange a classroom, and the benefits and negatives of each of these, such as the row, circle or horseshoe or grouped table arrangements. I learnt valuable information about how to conduct myself as a teacher and use eye contact, gesture and my voice effectively. Such as, I learnt that while it is important to maintain good eye contact with students, I must not over use this and make the students feel as if they are being stared at or intimidated. Additionally I learnt the benefits of gesture, when explaining or instructing and its use in reducing teacher talk time. I also learnt that varying my voice will be important in different situations, whether I am addressing a group as a whole, where I will need my voice to be projected and authoritative, and when I am addressing a student in a personalised tutor situation where my voice will need to be softer. This unit also dealt with grouping students. Such as I learnt that whole class grouping is a good method when wanting to create a sense of belonging to the group, but that it may prevent the students that are more shy from sharing their ideas. Alternatively, for example I learnt that pair work is very beneficial when encouraging student talk time, and will allow for stronger students to help weaker students, but that this can get very noisy and that sometimes students may revert back to their native language instead of using English. The unit also explained how it is not necessary for a teacher to be continuously standing or walking around the class, and that whether the teacher is walking or sitting can have an effect on how the teacher is perceived and the atmosphere in the classroom. I learnt that when needing to exert lots of control, such as when explaining or giving instructions that it is best when the teacher is standing, but that when the students are required to get on with their own work it is appropriate for the teacher to sit and occasionally monitor the work. Lastly issues of discipline were considered, and it was made clear that these issues should be approached carefully and that there are many factors affecting them. It was shown that bad behaviour from students can be as a result of family problems or low self esteem and other things. It was also shown that there are many ways to prevent poor student behaviour, such as being punctual and prepared as this encourages respect from students. It was shown that raising voices and making empty threats are ineffective ways of dealing with discipline, but that a teacher should rather keep a naughty student behind after class to address the issues, and that this should be done immediately so as not to let the issue get out of hand. Other things discussed in the unity were how to give instructions effectively, such as being consistent, using simple language and using visual clues, as well as how to give individual attention, which shows that it is important not to only focus on students whose names you know, and you must not allow certain strong or weak students to hog the attention. Overall this unit shows the importance of an effective and respectful rapport between teacher and learner and gives important tips on how to maintain this in order to avoid problems and make teaching easier for the teacher and more enjoyable for the learner, thus will be very helpful upon giving lessons.