Classroom Management

CELTA
Classroom Management
The Instructions Cycle
1. Get everyone’s attention
Do not try to talk over students, or give instructions to small groups or individuals.
Do not hand out texts or questions to read before you give the instructions.
2. Use simple language and clear gestures
Remember the level of class. Point to the page/place where the students need to work.
3. Demonstrate and do an example with them
Let the students do the example rather than yourself. Elicit the answers to two or three questions, and
consider how this improves the pace of your lesson. If the exercise involves writing, do an example on the
board.
4. Check the students understand what to do if there’s something new
Use questions to check they’ve understood anything new or particular about the task and do not answer
these yourself. If you’ve done clear examples with the students, you might not need to check anything else
at all!
5. Give out the handout
Give everyone a handout since they should always have the chance to work alone first on language tasks
(unless it’s speaking of course!).
6. Set a time limit
If you set a short time limit, this should speed the exercise up. But try to stick to it otherwise they’ll soon
start to ignore you!
7. Monitor, but don’t interfere
Consider when you need to stand up, walk around or sit down for this. Monitor that students understand
and are working together and keep an eye on the time. If all students don’t understand the task then you
should stop and instruct the whole class again, but do not stop the class for individual problems. Help
students who are having problems. Do not give them answers yourself but try to elicit them. Make sure
your monitoring informs you of when you need to stop, and what your students have achieved. This will
lead to more focused feedback.
8.Give a time warning e.g. ‘one more minute’
Speak loudly and start moving back to the front of the class to show the task is drawing to a close
9. Get feedback
Ensure students have checked in pairs or cross pairs before you do whole class feedback. Make sure this is
clear and complete so students know what the correct answers are and why. Nominate so that you don’t
have different answers shouted out. Ask for peer confirmation before you confirm answers are correct. Ask
for justification of answers when there are differing opinions.
CELTA
Things to remember for each and every lesson
Before your lesson
 Are you sure what you are supposed to be teaching? Check with your tutor if you have any
doubts.
 Have you liaised with your colleagues? You must make sure you know what is happening
before and after your part of the lesson. Remember - one of the criteria or assessment on the
course is professionalism and this means working well with other people.
Look at your plan - Does it contain:-

 realistic timing?
Try and divide your lesson into sections - don't start worrying about odd minutes.
 pronunciation?
 lots of pair and group work?
 clear aims for each stage?
Ask yourself why you are doing the activity - answer - To ....
 logical staging?
Remember - you have to move from recognition stages to production stages of the language.
 an extra idea/activity just in case you get through your material faster than you had
planned?
 an indication of which activity you might drop if you are running short of time?Remember -
you must finish on time and at a logical place.
 Does it look professional? Is it complete?
Remember - the assessor will look at these. If they are scrappy or too brief, it will reflect badly
on you during the assessment.
 Make a copy for your tutor and make sure you give it to them before the lesson - we need
to follow it during your lesson.
Photocopies
 Are they copyrighted?
 Do they look professional? (No nasty black marks/lines etc. Will the students want to or be
able to read it easily?)
 Are you wasting paper? Each copy should contain about 30/40 minutes of work
In the classroom
 Have you got a couple of different coloured board pens?
Remember - try not to write in red - use it for highlighting etc
 Where are the students sitting? Are they spaced out round the classroom? If so, move
them! If you are teaching first, start thinking about this (with your colleagues before the lesson
starts).
 Write the time you start your lesson in the corner of the board!
Remember - you mustn't overrun your allotted time.
 Do you know the students' names? If you are first, make a plan of where they are sitting:
start doing this 5 minutes before the lesson - don't wait for the lesson to start.
 Are you sure how to use the tape-recorder? Make sure you know how to use it. It’s
surprisingly difficult to use when the whole class is watching you, so practise!!
CELTA
During the lesson
 Have you got your plan or crib-sheet?
 Are you eliciting rather than explaining?
 Are you doing some drilling?
 Are your instructions clear? Remember:- it's easier to show than tell
1. Hold up the book or copy and indicate where the exercise is and roughly what they have to
do.
2. Give out the handout after you give instructions - don't give instructions and handouts at
the same time.
3. Look at the example if there is one and then do one more question with the whole class. Wait
for them to tell you the answer.
4. Students do exercise (quickly monitor to check they have really understood).
5. When about 60/70% of the class have finished, tell students to check in pairs.
6. Do feedback with the whole class but don't get students to read large chunks of text
out loud.
 Are you talking too much? Loud enough? Using enough intonation?
 Are you setting up lots of pair work?
 Are you maximising student-talking time? (STT)
 Are you selling the material to the students?
Remember - you have to persuade them that your material is the best they will ever see/the secret to
perfect English. Avoid being apologetic or dismissing parts of the lesson as boring.
 Have you organised the board logically? Have you got a vocabulary section on the board? Are you
marking stress patterns?
 Are you chewing gum? Don't!
 Are you echoing? (repeating everything students say). Don't!
After the lesson

 Wipe the board so that it is ready for the next teacher (but check if the next teacher wants you to
leave anything on the board; e.g. – grammar table etc
 Leave the board pens for the next teacher to use or at the end of the class collect your board
pens in. Have you got your tape / all your books?
 Start to fill in your hot feedback sheet - try to put a few points in each box with some examples of
things that happened during the lesson.
Remember - the assessor will look at these to see how aware you are of the teaching process. The
briefer your form is, the more it will reflect badly on you during the assessment!
 LEAVE THE ROOM TIDY
During your colleagues lessons

 Pay attention - you will learn from them. It might be something good or bad!
 Make notes about their lesson.
Remember - you will be expected to join in during the feedback sessions but be constructive and tactful.
Having nothing to say will count against you. You will also have to quote from your notes when you are
writing Assignment 2 - things you have learned from watching your peers.
 Sit quietly and don't talk/whisper - it is distracting and off-putting.
 Your lesson should be prepared beforehand. Don’t write your lesson plan during your peers’ lessons.
 If a student asks you a question, refer them to the teacher. Please don't join in when it isn't your
turn.

Classroom Management

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CELTA

Look at your plan - Does it contain:-

After the lesson

During your colleagues lessons

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