Classroom Dynamics

Classroom Dynamics Jill Hadfield Resource Books for Teachers This very popular series gives teachers practical advice and guidance, together with resource ideas and materials for the classroom. Jill Hadfield Classroom Dynamics Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam OXFORD and OXFORD ENGLISH are registered trade marks of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Oxford University Press 1992 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 1992 2014 2013 2012 20 19 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press (with the sole exception of photocopying carried out under the conditions stated in the paragraph headed ‘Photocopying’), or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the ELT Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Photocopying The Publisher grants permission for the photocopying of those pages marked ‘photocopiable’ according to the following conditions. Individual purchasers may make copies for their own use or for use by classes that they teach. School purchasers may make copies for use by staff and students, but this permission does not extend to additional schools or branches Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale Any websites referred to in this publication are in the public domain and their addresses are provided by Oxford University Press for information only. Oxford University Press disclaims any responsibility for the content ISBN: 978 0 19 437147 6 Typeset by Wyvern Typesetting Ltd, Bristol Printed in China This book is printed on paper from certified and well-managed sources. Acknowledgements I would like to thank the staff and students of the following institutions who sent replies to the questionnaires ‘Moaning and Groaning in the Foreign Language Staffroom’ 1 and 2, and ‘The Old Lags’ Project’: Bell School, Cambridge; Bell School, Norwich; Bell School, Saffron Walden; Bourneville College; Bradford and Ilkley College; Brighton Polytechnic; Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology; Centre for Applied Language Studies, Reading; Christchurch College, Canterbury; Eurocentre, Bournemouth; Eurocentre, Forest Hill; Filton Technical College; Greenhill College; Hammersmith and West London College; Kilburn Polytechnic; Kingsway College; The Language Centre of Ireland; Millbank College; Pilgrims, Canterbury; Redbridge Technical College; Tresham College. Particular thanks are due to: Rod Bolitho, Larry Cole, Charlie Hadfield, Maggy McNorton, Jenny Pearson, Gill Porter-Ladousse, Adrienne Short, Tessa Woodward, and all the staff of the Language Centre, South Devon College of Arts and Technology for stimulating discussions and revealing insights into group problems. Above all, my thanks go to Angi Malderez, with whom this project began, and who has contributed more than I can possibly acknowledge to my understanding of groups and how they work. The Publishers and I wish to thank the following for permission to reproduce copyright material. There are instances where we have been unable to trace or contact copyright holders before our printing deadline. We apologize for this apparent negligence, and if notified will be pleased to rectify any errors or omissions at the earliest opportunity. ‘A Boy’s Head’ (p 58) from Miroslav Holub: Selected Poems translated by Ian Milner and George Theiner (Penguin Books, 1967), copyright © Miroslav Holub, 1967, Translation copyright © Penguin Books, 1967. First four lines from ‘People’ (p 85) from Yevtushenko: Selected Poems translated by Robin Milner-Gulland and Peter Levi, SJ (Penguin Books, 1962), copyright © Robin Milner-Gulland and Peter Levi, 1962. ‘The Door’ and Tonight at Noon’ by Adrian Henri, published by Andr? Deutsch. ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ from The Oxford Christmas Carol Book © Oxford University Press, 1988. Melody for ‘Five gold rings’ added by Frederick Austin, and reproduced by permission of Novello & Co. Ltd. Zodiac chart adapted from Project Video 3 published by Oxford University Press. For Angi The authors and series editor Jill Hadfield has been involved in EFL, either as a teacher or teacher trainer, for over 20 years and is the author of over 20 books for teachers, some written with her husband Charles. She has taught and trained teachers in Britain, France, China, Tibet, and Madagascar, and held workshops and courses for teachers around the world. She is currently senior lecturer in the School of English and Applied Linguistics at Unitec, Auckland, New Zealand. She is the co-author of Presenting New Language, Simple Listening Activities, Simple Speaking Activities, Simple Reading Activities, and Simple Writing Activities, all in the Oxford Basics series published by Oxford University Press and of the Communication Games series for Longman as well as two travel books and a novel. Alan Maley worked for The British Council from 1962 to 1988, serving as English Language Officer in Yugoslavia, Ghana, Italy, France, and China, and as Regional Representative in South India (Madras). From 1988 to 1993 he was Director-General of the Bell Educational Trust, Cambridge. From 1993 to 1998 he was Senior Fellow in the Department of English Language and Literature of the National University of Singapore, and from 1998 to 2002 he was Director of the graduate programme at Assumption University, Bangkok. He is currently a freelance consultant. Among his publications are Literature, in this series, Beyond Words, Sounds Interesting, Sounds Intriguing, Words, Variations on a Theme, and Drama Techniques in Language Learning (all with Alan Duff), The Mind’s Eye (with Fran?oise Grellet and Alan Duff), Learning to Listen and Poem into Poem (with Sandra Moulding), Short and Sweet, and The English Teacher’s Voice. Foreword This book tackles that most elusive, yet crucial, of factors in classrooms – the ‘atmosphere’. Why does one group ‘gel’ while another gives off ‘bad vibes’? We all know that if the atmosphere, the ‘feel’ is right, learning is facilitated. As the author says, ‘a positive group atmosphere can have a beneficial effect on the morale, motivation, and self-image of its members, and thus significantly affect their learning, by developing in them a positive attitude to the language being learned, to the learning process, and to themselves as learners’ (page 10). But can something so intangible and insubstantial as an ‘atmosphere’ be created? This book is an attempt to show that it can. The author begins by analysing what characterizes successful and unsuccessful groups. She goes on to offer a range of activities to develop such positive characteristics as mutual trust, confidence in self and in the group, empathy within the group, and the building of a group identity. Many teachers will be familiar with ‘warmers’ and other activities designed to facilitate group formation. The originality of this book lies in its attention to the group process throughout the lifetime of the group. By far the majority of the activities are designed to sustain the life of the group after it is up and running. There are also suggestions for preparing students for the end of the group experience to avoid the sometimes painful withdrawal symptoms which follow the disbanding of a tightly-knit learning community. The activities and comments are always practicable and are clearly based on the author’s long and varied experience (from Torquay to Tibet!). She makes no great theoretical claims but the whole book is infused with two rare qualities – common sense, and good-humoured kindness. Teachers at all levels will find it invaluable.     Alan Maley A boy’s head In it there is a space-ship and a project for doing away with piano lessons. And there is Noah’s ark, which shall be first. And there is an entirely new bird, an entirely new hare, an entirely new bumble-bee. There is a river that flows upwards. There is a multiplication table. There is anti-matter. And it just cannot be trimmed. I believe that only what cannot be trimmed is a head. There is much promise in the circumstance that so many people have heads.     Miroslav Holub Introduction I didn’t mean to write this book. I actually set out with a colleague, Angi Malderez, to write a completely different book, on learner training. But before beginning, we decided to do a little fact-finding and try to discover a bit more about the problems involved in the learning process, as perceived by both teachers and learners. To this end, we sent out two questionnaires to language schools and state colleges all over Britain. The first, called ‘Moaning and Groaning in the Foreign Language Staffroom’, invited teachers to list their most common staffroom moans about problems involved in the teaching/learning process: the kind of preoccupation that fills your head when you have just finished a lesson you were not completely satisfied with. The second, called ‘The Old Lags’ Project’, asked teachers to invite their outgoing students at the end of a term to write a letter to an imaginary new student, explaining the difficulties they had found in learning English, and offering advice. The replies to ‘Moaning and Groaning’ took us by surprise. Teachers nationwide seem to be far less worried by such concerns as finding new and exciting ways to teach the present perfect or getting students to retain new vocabulary items, than by the atmosphere in the class and the chemistry of the group. By far the most common complaint was, as one teacher put it, ‘My group just doesn’t gel!’ There were many variations on this theme, for example: – The same students always answer questions, quieter members can’t get a word in. – No-one can understand what X says and the others laugh at him. Y is more serious then the others and is getting frustrated. Z has been here two terms and has seen it all. He’s bored. – A refuses to work with anyone. – Students are very bad at listening to each other. – I have a ‘spirit-killing’ student who is bored with everything. – I have a split-level class with language ghettos. – Disappointing lack of interest in talking to each other and learning about other cultures. – B wants to study grammar and the others don’t so he brings up grammar at the end of every lesson and then always doubts my explanations. The others get irritated by this. – Student ‘passengers’ make no contribution to the group. – C is only interested in hearing herself speak and seems jealous if the teacher’s attention is drawn to anyone else. – They’re only concerned with what they want out of the lesson and show no feeling for their peers. – They’re a really odd mixture. – I can’t establish a co-operative feeling. At a workshop for teachers following this survey, we asked teachers what it felt like to have a group that ‘did not gel’. They discussed their experiences and brainstormed a list of symptoms of ‘lack of gel’. They produced the following list: – Students don’t listen to each other. – They don’t laugh at each others’ jokes. – They don’t make jokes. – They can’t deal with problems: molehills become mountains. – They stay in nationality groups. – They are territorial; they don’t like regrouping. – They are culturally intolerant. – They don’t socialize outside the classroom. – They are all sitting in silence when you go in. – They make you dread teaching. – They won’t work with each other. – Nothing you do seems to work and the harder you try, the worse it gets. – The more uncooperative they are, the worse you teach, the more uncooperative they are, and so on. – There is often an ‘indigestible’ group member. – They question everything you do and if you make a mistake they crucify you. – They are teacher-dependent. – They all want different things and won’t compromise. – There is no trust. This showed that all the teachers present recognized the problem and knew exactly what it felt like. The teachers at the workshop were all very experienced and included teacher-trainers, heads of departments, materials writers, and EFL experts of various kinds, which shows that the problem is not confined to inexperienced and trainee teachers. The ‘Old Lags’ Project’ was, disappointingly, far less revealing, mostly, I think, because it was mistaken in concept: students at the end of their stay in Britain are not in a particularly analytical frame of mind. We should really have asked for comments from the sticky middle of a term. But many replies indicated that group dynamics were an important concern for students too, with such comments as: ‘In this term I found good friends and a kind teacher so I progressed a lot.’ ‘Learning English is a love and heat (sic) relationship.’ ‘I like the people and also the English language. It can make you suffer but it’s beautiful.’ ‘I do prefer to work in groups, couples, but the classroom mates (sic) not everyone is friendly.’ The students are very young. I think you could feel quite strange in these groups.’ ‘I am blessed with good teacher and good friends in class.’ ‘The teacher is a friend more. He will help you. You will find several difficulties but you will never feel sad or angry.’ These comments showed that the affective side of language learning is very important to students. Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию (https://www.litres.ru/jill-hadfield/classroom-dynamics/?lfrom=688855901) на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.