Matakuliah
Tahun
: G0454/Class Management and Education Media
: 2006
RUNNING a CLASS (1)
Pertemuan 9-10
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I. SEATING ARRANGEMENT
 However your classroom is laid out, it is worth taking time to
consider what variations are possible in the ways that Ss stand,
move and sit. Similarly, the T’s own position needs to be considered.
 Changing seating arrangements can help Ss
 interact with different people,
 change the focus from the T where appropriate,
 Allow a range of different situations to be recreated within
the classroom,
 Simply add some variety to the predictability of sitting in
the same place every time.
 It’s difficult to sit still for a long time;
 It’s worth including activities that involve some movement, even if
only to give people the chance to stretch their legs.
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II. GIVING INSTRUCTIONS
 An essentially simple activity can become
impossible, not because the Ss couldn’t do it, but
because they didn’t understand what to do.
 Often Ss are judged to have failed when it is actually
the T who failed to clarify what was required
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STEPS TOWARDS BETTER INSTRUCTIONS
1. Become aware of your own instruction-giving ( listen to yourself; record
yourself; ask others to watch you and give feedback ).
2. For a while, pre-plan instruction :
 Analyze the instruction beforehand so as to include only the
essential information in simple, clear language.
 Sequence the information in a sensible order. Use short sentences
– one sentence for each key piece of information.
 Don’t say things that are visible or obvious ( eg I’m giving you a
piece of paper ).
 Don’t give instructions that they don’t need to know at this point.
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3.
In class, separate instruction clearly from the other chit-chat, telling off,
joking, etc that goes on :
 Create a silence beforehand,
 Make eye contact with as many Ss as possible
 Find an authoritative tone, make sure they are listening before
you start.
 Use silence and gestures to pace the instructions and clarify the
meaning.
4.
Demonstrate rather than explain wherever possible.
5.
Check that they have understood what to do :
 Don’t assume that everyone will automatically understand what
you have said,
 Get concrete evidence from the Ss that they know what to do.
Getting one or two Ss to tell you what they are going to do is one very
simple way of doing this.
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WHAT HAPPENS IF YOUR INSTRUCTIONS
ARE NOT CLEAR ?
 Students are distracted from the language point they’re supposed
to be practicing.
 The inherent enjoyment in any good task activity will be ruined if
the task doesn’t proceed smoothly.
 A lot of time is wasted ( i.e. stopping the activity : re-explaining ).
Spending a little time on making things clear beforehand saves a lot
of time in the long run.
 If an activity “fails”, the students will lose confidence both in
themselves and in you as a teacher.
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TIPS ON MAKING INSTRUCTIONS CLEAR
• Before giving instructions, remember to :
• Set the scene and get the students interested in
what’s coming.
• Pre-teach any necessary vocabulary items.
• Clear up any problems of cultural content in the
materials.
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When giving instructions :
1.Adopt a step-by-step approach.
2.After each step, check that all students have
understood.
3.If your checking is verbal, make sure that your
question forces the students to show that they
understand what they are supposed to do. They
will always say “yes” if you ask “Is that clear?” or
“Do you understand?”
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4.
Keep your instructions as short and simple as
possible, except with the more advanced classes.
5.
Don’t give the students information or instructions that
are unnecessary for the performance of the task.
6.
Two students in an open pair, or all students in closed
pairs.
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7.
Make clear whether the students should be writing or not. Give
a demonstration. A demo for a mini dialogue, for example, can
be done in these following sequence :
(a). Teacher talking to herself,
(b). Teacher with a (capable) student,
(c). during the activity. If so, where they should write and what
they should be writing : full sentences, notes, single word, ticks
or crosses ?
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8.
Make clear who should start speaking in an activity.
Also, emphasize the opening words of the activity so
that the students can get started, i.e. the use of
realistic, social language such as “Good morning,
Madam. Can I help you ?”
9.
Where possible, use gestures to reinforce verbal
instructions.
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10. Once the activity has started, go round and check
early on that everyone is doing what they should be
doing, a little encouragement may also be necessary
at this stage.
Then, the activity, keep checking for puzzled faces,
students speaking B.Indonesia, students writing when
they shouldn’t be, students not actually talking to each
other, etc, and take appropriate action.
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11. Be especially careful when introducing a new type of
activity for the first time, e.g. mingle.
Once the students have done this a couple of times,
they’ll know what to do without the need for very
explicit instructions.
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