You allow them to work at their pace and in a way that suits them.
You offer help when necessary.
You answer students’ questions.
You can let them know that time is closing in; e.g. “just five minutes to complete
what you’re doing”.
You monitor what is going on.
Whilst monitoring,
the teacher notes down
mistakes and examples of good work.
There are two ways of monitoring: walk around the class, hover over every pair or
group for a minute or so to listen to what they are doing. This allows you to focus
intensively on each group or pair. There is a disadvantage here, however: students
sometimes freeze up and look to the teacher for assistance, which defeats the purpose
of group and pair work. Personally, I prefer a different approach in a classroom where
the size permits. I arrange the groups or pairs in a horseshoe around the room and I sit
in the middle of that horseshoe. I then concentrate my attention on each pair or group
in turn without moving. You’d be amazed at how much you can hear. This approach
also means that you don’t have your back to some of the students.
After pair work or group work, ask students what they discussed, check answers, ask
them what decisions they came to, and so on (depending on the task you set). During
this stage you can also clear up any questions the students may have and review
errors and examples of good work.
1.8 Some disadvantages of group and pair work and what to do about it
Students might go off task; if they haven’t understood what is required of them they
might do something completely different. Explain carefully and check that they have
understood before forming groups.
Students might get noisy. Monitor carefully and say something immediately if it gets
too loud.
Students might use their own language. Make it clear from the start that you expect
students to use English, monitor carefully. Say something as soon as you hear
students using their own language. You might want to introduce a points system and
competition; students lose points for using their
mother tongue, gain points for using
English. At the end of the day or week, add up points and display them for the class to
see.
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