TEFL Classroom Management
Classroom management is a teacher?s ability to organize and control a classroom. It is important to establish rapport in the classroom, by establishing this relationship students are more apt to feel like they can trust the teacher. This trust will create a sense of respect in the classroom. Respect between the students and the teacher is a necessary element in the classroom so that students obey rules and regulations of the teacher and/or school. Another aspect to classroom management is keeping students involved and always making them feel like they are part of the class.
Interaction with the students is a teacher?s responsibility and a teacher should also be encouraging to the students in all activities. By clearly interacting with the students through eye contact, gestures, and voice projection a teacher can communicate with students and encourage activity in the classroom. Good eye contact between students and teachers demonstrates the teacher confidence and allows students to know that the teacher is interested in their learning process. Eye contact helps to maintain discipline in the classroom and to watch students to make sure that students are participating in the activities. Using gestures in the classroom can enhance the learning or lesson and help students to better understand certain objectives. The visual enhancement of gestures can add to a lesson and provide a visual interest as well as reduce the need for verbal explanation, especially for learning vocabulary or verbs; acting out or providing an example of the verb or vocabulary word can help in a students understanding. A teacher can also use his or her voice to control the classroom environment. A clear, understandable voice can hold students attention and get them involved in classroom activities. However, a low, timid voice and be portrayed as a lack of confidence and students can lose respect or get bored in a classroom because they cannot understand what the teacher is saying. Depending on the students and classroom situation a teacher?s voice should vary. A teacher would not use the same voice for a group of adolescents as he or she would use for a class of adult businessmen and women. The difficulty in vocabulary and language used should also differ according to the student group. A teacher?s voice can also help to control the classroom ? the teacher can use a firm voice in situations where more discipline is necessary or more laid-back and relaxed when the situation is normal and controlled. Inflection of one?s voice can also prevent a class from being boring. A teacher with a monotone voice can be difficult to pay attention to and can make students lose interest in the objectives being taught. A teacher can also use the student?s names to keep the classroom attentive and on their toes. This is good for organizing activities and show interest in the students. Using the student?s names can get the students attention and keep the classroom controlled and interested in the material.
Overall, classroom management is a skill that has to be learned through experiences in the classroom. Each classroom has a different dynamic of students and levels therefore require different actions to be taken to control the classroom environment. Establishing a relationship with the students and developing a sense of trust and comfort in the classroom will help to create an efficient and effective classroom environment.
International TEFL Teacher Training, Classroom Management Introduction. 1-17.
Author: Jennifer Johnson
Date of post: 2007-04-10
