Practice Activities – CMTRP

SUBJECT PRACTICE ACTIVITIES:

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT -
TECHNIQUES AND REFLECTIONS ON PRACTICE

GENERAL INFORMATION:

The subject practice activities consist of doing individually five short exercises. The
document must fulfil the following conditions:

- Length: 4 pages (without including cover, index or appendices –if there are any-).
- Type of font: Arial or Times New Roman.
- Size: 11.
- Line height: 1.5.
- Alignment: Justified.

Besides, the activities have to be done in this Word document: leave the activities’
statements where they are and just answer below them. In order to make the correction
process easier, please, do not write the answers in bold, and it will then be easier to
distinguish between them and the activities’ statements. On the other hand, the
document must still fulfil the rules of presentation and edition, and follow the rubric for
quoting and making bibliographical references as detailed in the Study Guide.

Also, it has to be submitted following the procedure specified in the “Subject

Evaluation” document. Sending it to the teacher’s e-mail is not permitted.

In addition to this, it is very important to read the assessment criteria, which can be
found in the “Subject Evaluation” document.

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 Practice Activities – CMTRP

Name and surname(s): Sandra Milena Rojas Trujillo

Group:
Date:

Practice Activities

Do the following exercises and justify or explain your answers where

appropriate.

Task 1

Categorise each of the following errors under one of these headings: grammar;
pronunciation; meaning; appropriacy. Justify your answers.

- How you come to school?

Is a grammar error, the learner forgot the auxiliary verb (do), the correct form is: How
do you come to school?
- I go always to France for my holidays.
Grammar, the order of the words does not correspond to the structure of the sentence,
the learner places the adverb of frequency after the verb. The adverb of frequency is
between the subject and the verb: I always go to France for my holidays.
- I don’t like travelling by sheep.
Meaning, incorrect spelling, student uses the word sheep instead of ship, it would be
correct: I do not like traveling by ship.
- (Mike speaking to his boss) That’s a load of rubbish, mate.
Appropriacy, it is impolite to tell your boss; That's a load of crap, my friend. In the
workplace, a communication should be maintained where the respect between superior
and subordinates is preserved.
- She suggested us to go home.
Grammar, when the subjunctive is used, "to" before the verb is written, the appropriate
form is: She suggested us go home.
- Oh, of course! - you’re Peter, aren’t you? (rising intonation on aren’t you).
Pronunciation, tag questions are used for the purpose of asking the opinion or approval
of the interlocutor, therefore it is not necessary to raise the voice in aren't you.
- (student in pub) Give me a beer.
Appropriation, when establishing a conversation with strangers, it is important to have a
more formal conversation, it would have been more appropriate to say for example: a
beer please? can I have a beer please?
- She went to the library to buy a book.
Meaning, FALSE COGNATES or FALSE FRIENDS. In the case of false friends refer to
words that have some similarity with words in Spanish but their meaning is different, it
tends to confuse the meaning of library with bookstore o bookshop.

Task 2

Below is a list of classrooms ‘procedures’ (activity types) which will, in theory,

allow for individualisation in the language classroom. To what extent does each

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cater for individualised learning? What advantages and what drawbacks can you
identify with each ‘procedure’ if you were to use them with your own classes?
(Ur, 1996:236) Explain your answers.
1. Readers. Students choose individual simplified readers, of varied level and
topic, from a school library, and read quietly in class.

Individualized learning starts from the interests and abilities of the learners, so
that they can choose the subject according to the things that generate interest
in them. When they are allowed to select what they want to read, it gives them a
positive motivation, an aspect that facilitates learning. According to (Naiman
1978) this one of the aims of individualisation: to promove learner
independence and responsibility.

A disadvantage for individualized learning is that the student may lose interest
and self-demand.

2. Response to listening. The teacher plays a recorded text on a topical issue,

and asks the class to note down points they understood.

Listening activities improve the ability to acquire and transmit information, in

addition to avoiding distractions and being able to understand the essence of
the message, is a good tool to strengthen feedback and develop listening skills,
as a disadvantage highlights the risk of entering into the vice of repetition as it
happens to parrots, that is to say to repeat information without consciousness of
meaning. However, it is a good strategy in the teaching-learning process of L2.

In a personal way, this strategy is used as a way to improve pronunciation and

strengthen learners' listening skills, as well as providing additional information
that is retained by the learner and at the same time can be used for new
purposes.

3. Workcards. A pile of Workcards prepared by the teacher is put in the centre of

the class, all practising the material the class has recently learned, but each
different. Each student chooses one, completes it and then takes another.

It corresponds to individualized learning, from the moment each student has the
opportunity to choose a card, which will probably have a different level of
difficulty.
It is interesting when you have time to do the feedback according to the needs
of each one. Disadvantage in large groups by the amount of time that should be
used in the development of the activity, implies more wear on the part of the
teacher as well as greater preparation.

4. Textbook questions in class. The class has been given a set of questions
from the textbook to answer in writing; each student does them on his or her
own.

The activity attends the individual learning, because the students work
according to their rhythm, although they propose the same subjects for all and
do not have the possibility to freely choose the advantage of this activity
consists of the opportunity to go at their own pace.

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Drawback do not have the opportunity to make corrections from the exchange
of ideas when they are working in pairs and this makes them only aware of the
errors when the teacher Give the answers to the questions.
5. Worksheets. The teacher distributes worksheets which all practise the same
grammar point, but containing various sections with different kinds of practice
tasks and topics. The students choose which sections they want to do, and do
as much as they can in the time allotted.

It is a great activity for individual work, which allows students to select

the sections they want to do and has a specific time to do it, this is
positive and favorable because it gives each student the opportunity to
work according to their level.

I see a single disadvantage and it is the level of exigency in the

preparation of the teacher, because this activity implies that the teacher
must handle very well each one of the activities of the worksheets.

6. Textbook exercises for homework. The teacher gives three sets of

comprehension questions from the textbook, of varying difficulty, on a passage
that has been read in class; each student is asked to select and do one set.

Allowing you to choose what to work with according to your level, learners have
the opportunity to reinforce at home and improve their level of knowledge,
however the development of homework assigns free time that should be used in
activities to strengthen affection and communication at home, today the need
arises that the students have time to share.

7. Varied tasks. The teacher has prepared a number of work-cards based on

different language skills and content. There is a cassette recorder in one corner
with headsets for listening tasks, and another corner available for quiet talk.
Students select, work on and exchange cards freely.

When you have a good range of activities you can practice different skills
because you have the possibility to choose and take the decision on work skills,
it strengthens the autonomy of the student.

Its organization is not very easy, however, when the learning stations are
organized it facilitates varied tasks, causing a space of wider participation for
learners.

A disadvantage of this activity is the provision of resources for its development,

as well as the age of the learners to achieve an activity that has efficiency in
terms of its process and effectiveness in its results that should focus on the
acquisition of L2.

8. Research. The teacher asks the students to form groups of four in order to
carry out a web-quest, based on an environmental issue. Each student is given

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a specific role and asked to find out particular aspects of the topic from internet
sources, to later share with the other group members. The group will then arrive
at a consensus, formulate a collective report, and present their findings to the
class.

Efficiency is perceived in the individualized work, so it is a group activity, each

student has a responsibility and must respond positively to its realization,
individual commitment depends on the success of the research.
Autonomy, commitment and collaborative work are strengthened.

The perceived disadvantage is that if for some reason one of the members of
the group does not comply with the assigned, the results would be affected in
the quality of the research.

Task 3

a) To what extent do you agree with each of Ur’s statements in your

materials? What are your own views on the issue of mixed-ability? Do you
think that mixed- ability groups always result in more successful SLA for
learners? Or can the opposite seem to be true? Why? Draw on your own
experience as a teacher or learner in order to prove or disprove each of
her statements, providing concrete examples of classroom
experiences/activities. Can you add any other advantages to her list?
b) What other considerations have now come into play regarding this issue,
especially those which have made the phrase ‘mixed-ability’ seem almost
old-fashioned or unnecessary?

Task 4
Say whether you agree or disagree with each of the following statements. Justify
your answers.
1. If you give instructions for activities in the mother tongue, you deprive students
of an important opportunity to be exposed to natural L2 use.
2. Students should be allowed to ask the teacher (in English) if they may say
something or ask something in their own language, and all other use of their
mother tongue should be prohibited.
3. Teachers could sometimes use mother tongue texts with students, but
comprehension tasks should always require students to produce English.
4. If students translate the meaning of new vocabulary they will develop the
mistaken idea that there is a one-to-one correspondence between words in
English and in their own language.
5. Instructions should always be given in both languages - but in English first.
6. Translation should never be used with young learners.

Task 5
Are the following statements true or false? Justify each of your answers.

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 Practice Activities – CMTRP

1. ‘Teacher thinking’ refers not just to the way we think as teachers, but also to
what effect the way we think has on our teaching.
2. Our beliefs as teachers affects our classroom management more than any
other factor in the classroom.
3. Examining our pre-, inter- and post-active decisions as teachers is the best way
to investigate our thinking as teachers.
4. As teachers, we are doomed to repeat teaching behaviour that we ‘learnt’
through our ‘apprenticeship of observation’.
5. There is always a mismatch between a teacher ‘espoused’ theories and his/her
real classroom behaviour.
6. Teachers’ beliefs, which are formed early in life, are very difficult to change.
7. A teacher will usually have a deeply-rooted (possibly unconscious) view about
who his/her learners are, and this view is related to how the teacher believes
languages are learned.
8. Taking into account the affective climate in a classroom is likely to affect a
teacher’s classroom management decisions.