Instructive Language

Preparation for the lesson

Will Humphreys came to observe me on 04/04/2019. It was the first week of term and I had a new class of beginner Intermediate learners. My lesson aims were to build rapport and to establish the idea of appropriacy in starting and finishing conversations.

I brought 15 hats to the classroom in order to lighten the atmosphere which can be tentative during the initial weeks with a new class. After introducing and practising the new language and drilling the pronunciation and intonation the learners chose a hat and created a character for a social function/mingle activity where they could practice the target language. I was satisfied that the hats had encouraged cohesion within the group after they insisted on taking photos of them all together in their headwear.

Post-observation feedback session

During the feedback session later that day, Will helpfully and skilfully pointed out a classroom management development need that I might wish to consider. He had noted that there were a few occasions during transition between activities that the learners did not pick up on my instructions and were left confused. Will mentioned that sometimes he occasionally noted this in his class also. On reflection, there were indeed moments where the class were looking to each other for guidance on the new activity. My observer suggested that if I were to research signposting terminology then this could improve my classroom management. This could streamline the staging between activities and give important vocal cues to the learners.

I have to admit that it was not something I had noticed or given any great consideration to. Looking at the subject with fresh eyes I can see how useful signposting language can be. Every teacher is required to signal the start and close of many activities and exercises during each lesson. Clear signalling by the teacher therefore can only be of benefit to the structure and flow of each lesson.

I reviewed all three of my assessed observations and found that in general I subconsciously relied on ‘So’ almost exclusively, to introduce and close segments of the lesson. The utterance did vary in length yet what does it achieve ?

BBC Learning English website offers the following language to encourage better classroom management:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/business/talkingbusiness/unit3presentations/expert.shtml

Signposting

Beginning 
There are a number of points I’d like to make.
Basically/ Briefly, I have three things to say.
I’d like to begin/start by …
Let’s begin/start by …
First of all, I’ll…

Finishing a section
That’s all I have to say about…
We’ve looked at…
So much for…

Starting a new section
Moving on now to …
Turning to…
Let’s turn now to …
The next issue/topic/area I’d like to focus on …
I’d like to expand/elaborate on …
Now we’ll move on to…
I’d like now to discuss…
Let’s look now at…

I intend to make a copy of these to keep on hand in the classroom. I will use these when teaching next week and reflect on the effect of the phrases on the lessons.

Post-trialling observations and reflections

After being observed by Will last Thursday, having a feedback session on Thursday afternoon and writing about it and researching  the issue of signposting over the weekend I would now like to reflect on the last two days of teaching.

Though I haven’t been with my usual group I do have some interesting findings. I took the above remarks with me and kept them on my desk in order to use them as prompts.  On Monday morning I taught a rambunctious group of mix-level Italian teenagers for 4 hours. It is hard to judge how effective the opening remarks were as I feel it was quite obvious when a task or activity was over and then a new one beginning, as the previous one had been completed and also new material is introduced. What did make a difference though were the remarks used within tasks, so the Starting a new section phrases were especially affective. I noticed that the more weighing and emphasis I gave to the words ‘move’, ‘turn to’, ‘now’ and ‘let’s’ the more significant the reaction. I paid particular attention to the students consulting each other for guidance after I had given instruction and facilitated. Considering it was for many their first day in England and some were at pre-intermediate level I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction. It also had an impact on my impulse to control the class by talking too much and therefore reduced the teacher talk time required in the lesson.

Now Tuesday. Today’s class was completely different. Due to illness, inexperience and holiday I am still away from my normal intermediate class and taught an advanced class. Again I took my prompts and as the class was so high nothing I said was misunderstood. Reflecting upon this I understand that if I have standard remarks for introducing, moving between activities and closing them I can increase the effectiveness of my classroom instructions and give clear signs and signals to the learners. This is turn will ease their cognitive load and allow them more ‘bandwidth’ to process the target language. I will continue to trial these remarks and eventually refine them and have a standardized set for each level.