practice till
they form 5 groups of 5 learners each
to create work groups, then the
teacher can
do the opposite to change from working in
groups to working
in pairs then individual work.
1-Individual Work:
In individual type
of student work, the benefits are
that students work at their own pace,
they are
confident about what they know and what they
need to send more
time on, they can use their
preferred learning styles and strategies.
The disadvantage is that students don't get the
benefit of learning from
peers as well as working
with their peers. Individual type of student
work is
suitable when teacher wants students to do their
final task or
assignment.
2-Paired work
Paired work is suitable in inductive learning
activities in which instead of explaining a given
concept and following
this explanation with
examples, the teacher presents students with
many
examples showing how the concept
is used.
The intent is for students to
notice by way of the
examples, how the concept works.
As a conclusion to
the activity, the teacher can ask
the students to explain the rule as a
final check.
Kinds of pair work:
1-Open Teacher / student pair work.
2-Open Student / student pair work.
3-Closed pair work.
Advantages of using pair work
·
Pair work gives everyone a chance to speak in
non-threatening
environment, i.e. with a fellow-
student rather than in front of the
teacher and the
whole class. Students will learn from one another
in a
natural way that approximates more to the
world outside and gets away
from someone of
the constraints of the classroom.
Pair-work activities are students-centered rather
than teacher centered.
Once an activity has been
explained (and perhaps demonstrated), the
students work independently of the teacher and
at their own pace. This
means the students really
have an opportunity to see how well they can
communicate in English.
·
The language produced during pair work is
generally more natural and
authentic than in
teacher-led sessions. It is also more personalized
and, subsequently, more memorable for the
students and, subsequently, more memorable
for the students.
·
Pair work activities encourage co-operation
between students since, in
order to complete a
task successfully, they have to work together
and
help create a very positive learning
atmosphere in class – one where
they genuinely
want to work with others. It also normally leads
to
students being less afraid of making mistakes.
In addition, most
students grow in confidence as
they discover that they can complete a
task
successfully without constant help from
the teacher.
·
Many pair work activities (especially of the ice-
breaker type) lead to
greater rationalization and
students begin to express their own
personalities
in a more natural and less inhibited way.
This again
contributes to creating a better learning
atmosphere in class plus a
positive group feeling.
·
Many pair work activities are a lot more fun to do
than more
traditional exercises. Students who
enjoy what they are doing are more
likely to learn
than those who find the work boring.
3-Group Work
Group type of student work also have benefits and
challenges. It
involve benefits such as it provides
more opportunity for practice, an
increased variety
of activities is possible and an increased student
creativity.
The challenges may be that as with pair work,
the groups
must be carefully selected to ensure
students can work productively; not
all students
are able to work to their full potential in this
situation; assessment of student progress can
be challenging.
By dividing the class into groups students
get more
opportunities to talk than in full class organization
and each
student can say something.
The teachers working
with large classes should
divide them into five groups which is the most
effective organization for practising speaking.
When
learners work in pairs or groups, it is
impossible for the teacher to
listen and correct all
the mistakes they make and this is not the
purpose of the activity.
However, he/she can reduce the number of
mistakes before the students start working by
demonstrating the activity
to the class first and by
asking pairs or groups to perform in front of
the
class afterwards and discussing what they said
and pointing out the
most common mistakes.
Kinds of Group Work
1-Open Teacher / Group work.
2-Open Work Group/ Work Group.
3-Closed Group work.
1-Groups into pairs
It is often a good idea to have students discuss a
task and/or the language necessary for a task in
groups before they move on to do the task in pairs.
For example, with a role-play involving two people:
to exemplify, teenage daughter/father having a row
about coming home late.
The daughters’ get together in groups of four to talk
about what they might say in this specific situation
(the necessary general language having been
already presented and practised in a
controlled way), and the ‘fathers’ do the same.
The learners are then paired as father and
daughter to do the role play. In this way the
students feel more confident and already have a
repertoire of possible things to say. This is a
particularly useful technique in larger classes
with a wide range of ability.
2-Pairs into groups
This is a very generative way of working, particularly
in discussions, and
in its extended form is know as
‘pyramiding’. The students are paired
to discuss a
problem and its solutions. The pairs are then paired
into
groups of four to come to a group solution.
The fours are then paired
into groups of eight to
perform the same task. This can end up as two
halves of the class discussing their decisions.
The strength of the
activity comes from constant
defending and having to compromise upon
one’s
earlier decisions.
Other advantages of pair work and
small group work
Gives learners more speaking time.
Changes the pace of the lesson.
Takes the spotlight off you and puts it onto the
children.
Allows them to mix with everyone in the group.
Gives them a sense of achievement when reaching
a team goal.
Teaches them how to lead and be led by someone
other than the teacher.
Allows you to monitor, move around the class and
really listen to the language they are producing.
set up pair and group work
Be sure to explain the procedure before splitting the class up.
Always demonstrate either yourself of with the help of a volunteer exactly what they have to do.
Ask them to tell you what they have to do before they do it (in their mother tongue if need be) to check their understanding.
Have
fill in activities ready for the quick finishers – but be sure that
they have completed the task correctly first and haven’t just finished
early because they misunderstood what they had to do.
Activities of pair work
Roll the ball
This
can be used to practice any language that
requires a question/answer
pattern. They can roll
the ball to each other and have to say the
appropriate sentence as they roll the ball.
E.g. 'Hello.' 'Hello.'
'What’s your name?' etc.
Remember the sentences they practice should
be
fairly short.
Information gap
Give each pair a picture. The
pictures should be
nearly the same with two or three elements missing
from each picture. Without showing each other the
pictures they should
describe the missing objects.
They will practice color prepositions of
place, and
adjectives such as big, small, etc. Then they can
compare
their pictures.
Telephone conversations
Sitting back to back
they can practice telephone
language or just simple exchanges that don’t
have
to be connected to the telephone itself. Sitting back
to back
should arouse their interest and help train