Promoting Promoting interaction interaction

between studentsbetween students

Promoting Promoting interaction interaction

between studentsbetween studentsDr. Antar S. Abdellah, PhD Dr. Antar S. Abdellah, PhD

Al MadenahAl Madenah

How can you encourage interdependence between

students?

1- By redirecting students' enquiries to other students and only answering them yourself as a last resort.

2- By not supplying everything yourself .3- By getting students to help each other.4- If a student can't correct himself ,by

getting another student to correct him 5- By getting students to evaluate each

other's work .

How can you encourage interdependence between

students?

6- When checking comprehension by getting the students to prepare and ask questions.

7- By allowing students to take over the teacher's role.

8- If the students' English is good enough 'by getting them to help you prepare their timetable for the coming series of lessons.

9- By encouraging students to talk about the classes. Regular discussion among students, in pairs or groups with no interference from you is useful.

Communication activities

1- encourage students to circulate and not just stick with one partner.

2- Make use of the 'pyramid' or 'snowballing' technique to encourage discussion.

3- Exploit the information gap.

Showing visuals1- It is big enough

to be seen. 2- It is

unambiguous3- It is presentable,

preferably mounted.

Visuals are used to :-create a need for new language which the teacher

then satisfies.-elicit already known language.-supply a context for an activity ,like a role-play-stimulate discussion.

Before the class, make sure that the appropriate details can be seen from the back of the classroom.When you first show the picture, hold it up so that everyone can see it. Ask one or two quick questions not related to your main aim to make sure the students are interpreting the picture in the way you intend.

Show the visual round the class. Display the picture by sticking it on the board.

Using the board

• Three basic prerequisites:• Start with a clean board or with a

board that only has on it what you have just put on.

• Write legibly. If necessary, get some practice outside class time. (This includes writing in a straight line!).

Using the boardWhat sort of thing will be put on the board?1-Permanent or reference material. Things that

might come into this category are new vocabulary items, model sentences and reminders of items that students persistently get wrong.

2-Material for the development of the lesson. It could be a dialogue the students are rehearsing, a substitution table you want the students to copy down.

3-Impromptu work This is the work you use to illustrate or exemplify the answer to an unpredicted

question.

Using the board• 4-Notes and reminders• In low-level classes it is worth writing the

full date (Thursday 25th December 1982). Also, questions that are answered with Ask me later and thing in a corner. It is essential that you plan the board in your lesson plan and decide which part you are going to allocate to which use.

• -separate the different parts of the board by drawing lines : it reduces confusion.

•-decide beforehand what is going to go into each section and how much space to leave.

Further points

1-Don't get so dependent on the board that you fail to give adequate oral practice.

2-If you think it is important for the students to write something down, allow yourself time to do the job properly.

3-Try and build up board-work bit by bit after each activity rather than put it up in one go.

4-Involve the students in the writing process by eliciting what you're going to put up , the spelling of difficult words and so on.

5-Transferring work from the main part of the board to the permanent part provides students with a useful summary of the main stages of the lesson.

6-Adjust the size of your writing to the size of the room and the size of the board.

7-Finally , clean the board at the end of the lesson!

The Teacher as Visual Aid

facial expression gestures and mimes “Listen carefully’ (teacher points to ear), ‘You’ve got five minutes’ (teacher points to watch and shows five fingers) Walk, Talk, Chalk Tone and Pitch of Voice. Speak Slowly, clearly, emphatically

The blackboard/whiteboard

Drawing, examples, Ss’ Use Maintain eye contact, Clear, big writing /simple fast drawing Read as you write Divide BB, tell Ss when to copy

Give Ss time to copy. Don’t hide writing with

your body

Flip chart

• Helps the teacher proceed through the material

• Conveys information • Can be prepared prior to,

as well as during, the presentation

• Can be used to record students’ questions and comments

When Developing Flip Charts:

Each sheet of paper should contain one idea, sketch, or theme.

• Words, charts, diagrams, and other symbols

• Use block lettering, since it is easiest to read.

• Use and vary the color

Mind maps

• to brainstorm a lexical field before reading a text for discussion or listening to a song, watching a video, etc.

Using audio and video tape recorders

1-Before you prepare your lesson check the quality of the recording you intend to use, preferably on the machine you will be using.

2-If you intend to record your own tape, do so before preparing the lesson (there's no point in preparing a lesson around a tape which turns out to be unusable ).

3-Make sure you actually use the controls of the machine a number of times beforehand, so you can manipulate them without having to look.

4-Before the lesson, put the tape on, wind it forward to the beginning of the piece you want to use and 'zero' the counter.

5-If necessary, check the volume and tone from different parts of the room during the classify the volume's too high it'll distort the sound)

6-Make sure you rewind to the right place.

Recording your own tapes

-find a quiet room although some background noise can add authenticity.

-use a separate microphone.-stand the machine on a soft surface to

reduce the amount of noise it makes.-rehearse your piece before recording it1-If you put your recording at the beginning

of a tape, it makes it easier to find .2-If you know you are going to play

something several times ,it is sometimes useful to record it that number of times to save you having to rewind.

Using video-the leads connecting the parts of a video

system are slightly more complex so it is essential that these are checked beforehand .

-unlike audio system, there are several types of video system which take different tape formats, so make sure the tape you want to use is compatible with the available machine.

Video is infinitely superior to audio when it comes to helping the students understand what is being said, because gestures, the physical context and behavioral clues are all present .

General reminders about the use of tapes.

1-Don't play any sort of tape without anticipating what language or skills work you hope to get out of it.

2- Nearly always give the students something to listen to or watch for while the tape is playing .

3-Don't play a tape without giving an introduction to the topic or setting the context.

4-Let the tape do the work .Don't 'bridge' it by saying yourself what the tape says. Play it as many times as necessary .

5-Don't play a tape for too long without stopping.6-Be sensitive as to how far you are expecting the

students to memorize what they hear and see. Be realistic and try not to overload their memories.