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I learned that good eye contact is useful to engage the whole class, to ensure discipline, to indicate who should speak, and to encourage contributions. On the other hand it is essential to avoid eye contact when the activity is not teacher-centred. Gestures is a good way to express myself in a non-verbal way and get across various instructions without the need to speak. However, it should only be used if the meaning is obvious or already establish with the students. As a teacher, my voice needs sufficient clarity, range, variety, and projection. More projection would be needed in a bigger or noisy classroom and the complexity of the language use will vary on the level of the class. Thus tone and intonation can be beneficial to liven up or quiet down a class. I learned that in order to keep the whole class alert, it is smart to use the name of the student at the end of a question (when I indicate who should answer). Student grouping can be termed as follows: whole-class grouping, students working alone, pair work, and group work. Each of these have their own pro and cons. Whole-class grouping is good to use when the teacher needs the attention of all the students and allows the students to react to all of their peers. But this could be very intimidating to shy students. Working alone allows the teacher to respond to individual differences in pace and ability, and isn’t intimidating to shy students. But it restricts interaction amongst peers and the possibility to create a feeling of group belonging. Working in pairs is good to increase student talking time and student to student interaction. It allows students to share ideas and try out answers in a safe space before having to share the answer with the whole group. But this also creates the opportunity for students to revert back to their native language, leaves them working with a student they might not like, or it can be quite noisy. Group work also increase student talking time and student to student interaction and allows for the opportunity to negotiate in English. But because students can choose their level of participation, it might lead to some students dominating the activity and it can be very noisy. The type of grouping a teacher chooses will depend on the activity and class size. Classroom arrangement depends on available space, type of furniture, the age of the students, nationality, and student personality. It is good to allow for the mixing of seat arrangement so that pairs working together are shuffled regularly. Orderly rows encourage eye contact and a higher level of discipline management. This is the best or only seating for bigger classes of 25 or more. For smaller classes, circle or horseshoe seating is more effective. It makes working in pairs easier and allows everyone to have eye contact with each other, making the environment much more intimate. Seating students at separate tables make the classroom more informal. This seating arrangement is useful for group work, but can cause discipline problems as students can feel more part of a small group than part of the whole class. The teacher won’t be able to maintain eye contact with all students. Students are very aware of the teacher’s position in the classroom. The teacher’s position in the class will already be an indication for the type of activity it will be, what the teacher’s role will be, and what the students will have to do. Standing will allow for greater visibility, mobility, and control. Sitting creates a more intimate atmosphere, but can cause a loss of control. The teacher’s position will change during the different lesson stages. For language presentation, giving instructions, and checking work in progress it is best to be standing. For reading activities, during the activate stage, and during controlled practice it is better to be seated. To reduce the amount of time you have your back to students (in regard to writing on the board), you can ask students to write, write ahead of time, write while students are busy with another task, use a projector, or cards for vocabulary. I also learned that the teacher should allow for individual attention without allowing a student to hog their attention. The teacher shouldn’t be the only one who speaks during class time and teacher talking time shouldn’t exceed student talking time. To give instructions effectively, teachers should use simple language, be consistent, use visual clues, and check instructions.
