Lessons from and to the Classroom – Bev Davies and Elaine Williamson Friday 15th April, 15.40 – 17.00

This was the last activity for the ES(O)L SIG at the end of a long day.  Bev and Elaine made this a highly intTeractive and fun session with all of us participating in a number of activities of the kind to which we subject our learners.  I met and had conversations with more people during this session than I had had the rest of the day!

We made a line of people from right to left depending on the following equation:

 The number of places you have taught multiplied by the  total years you have taught

 The highest number was over two hundred and the lowest under 10.  (My total was 120.) 

 Next we had conversations with the person next to us about different aspects of teaching. 

 Finally we completed speech bubbles with the number one problem we will face when we get back to teaching our learners after the conference.  We then discussed these problems which ranged far and wide from:

 How can I manage my class when a new learner turns up with no English and I have very competent English speakers in my class?

 How can I improve the attendance of learners who rarely come to lessons.

 How do I manage dominant speakers?  Etc. etc. etc.

 Bev and  Elaine used an on-line timer to keep us under control – an excellent device.