UNIT 13 THE LANGUAGE OF THE CLASSROOM

Structure
13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 13.10 13.11 13.12 13.13 13.14 13.15 13.16 Introduction Objectives Greeting and Small Talk Taking Attendance Managing Late Comers Revising the Previous Lesson Cleaning the Blackboardlwhiteboard Using Audio-Video Equipment Individual Work and Group Work Controlling the Class Setting Homework Ending the Lesson Making Announcements LetUsSumUp Answers to Check Your Progress Suggested Readings

13.1 INTRODUCTION
You are expected to use English in the classroom while teaching students. English is the medium of instruction in the Navodaya Vidyalaya. This unit makes an attempt to help you use English in the classroom. As a classroom teacher, you perform different functions in the classroom. Could you pause for a minute here and think of the different functions you perform as a teacher in the classroom apart from teaching the lessons? You may have thought of the following functions. In the classroom, you

o reciprocate students' greetings, o engage them in small talk, o check attendance, o deal with late comers, o give instructions, o give the students pair and group activities,
o maintain discipline,

o give them homework, and o cope with interruptions such as late comers, school notices.

As stated above, all these functions have to be performed in English. This is possible when you know the different expressions which can be used for performing these functions.

The Language of the Classroom

13.2 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you should be able to: use different expressions to~greet students and engage them in small talk, list the expressions which can be used for revising the previous lesson, ask the children to clean the blackboardlwhiteboard,
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state language expressions required in a teaching situation using audiovideo equipment,

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use appropriate language expressions while organising individual work and group work, give homework to them, make announcements in the class.

13.3 GREETING AND SMALL TALK

As you enter the class, your students rise from their seats and greet you. You reciprocate their greeting. Depending on the time of the day they greet you, for example, if they greet you in the morning by saying, "Good morning, sir/madam, " you can reciprocate it by saying one of the following:

Good morning, children. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, boys and girls. Good morning, class 9.
When you reciprocate their greeting you should do it enthusiastically. You should look into their eyes and follow it up with :

How are you all today? How are you this morning?
To make the class feel relaxed, you can ask them some more questions which revolve around the interests of the learners. For instance, if your students are interested in cricket, you can ask them about it.

How many of you watched the cricket match highlights yesterday? Can someone tell us something about that match? Could you tell us what the cricket match was like?
You can also ask them general questions like: What did you do yesterday after school? Did you enjoy the weekend? Tell me what you did at the weekend?

Developing Language Skills

Encourage them to answer your questions in the English they know. You can prompt them if necessary. As they start speaking, you can encourage them by saying:

Yes, Preetam? Go on Preetam. Go ahead, Preetam.

When students start speaking, you need to make sure that they take turns to speak. When you find the same students trying to speak again and again, you can control them by saying:

Just a minute, Sonali, let someone else have a turn Not you again, Bhupender, You've said a lot today.
Remember, it's very important for the students to feel relaxed in the classroom. It has been found in a study that if the students feel tense or bored they are not likely to learn anything in the classroom. This kind of small talk will help ease the situation and to start the class on a positive and cheerful note. Besides, it gives students practice in the use of English.
Check Your Progress 1

What are the advantages of beginning the class with small talk?

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13.4 TAKING ATTENDANCE
After greeting and small talk, you usually pick up the register to see if all the students are present. The different expressions that you can use for this function are:

Quiet, now, please. Let's see ifyou 're all here. OK! Lot S see if anyone's away. Now! 1'11 call the rolls. Let's see who is absent. Right! I'm going to call the roll. OK! I'm going to take the register. Now! I'll call your names.
If you have the habit of calling numbers, you can say numbers instead of names.

Right! I'll call your numbers. OK! Listen while I call your numbers

13.5 MANAGING LATE COMERS

If you take the first class in the morning, you find that at least some students come late. You need to show your disapproval and if they continue to come late you need to reprimand them. Here are some expressions which will help you in doing this.

The Language of the Classroom

You 're late today? Is anything wrong? Where have you been?
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Did you get up late/miss the bus/set out late? Was the bus late? Did you get stuck in the traffic? You ought to have asked someone to tell me, ifyou were coming late. You should have set out earlier. It's OK today but next time try to be on time. Alright, but, please try not to be late again. Never mind today, but next time, you shouldn't come late. It doesn't matter just for once, but next time, I won't allow you to attend the class.

13.6 REVISING THE PREVIOUS LESSON

Before you start the new lesson, you may want to make sure that learners have understood the previous lesson. You can ask students some general questions like:

Can anyone tell me what we learnt/didread about/wrote about last time? Who can tell me what we learnt/didread about/wrote about last time?
After they tell you what you had done in the previous class, you can say:

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Shall we revise it again? Let's revise it, shall we? How about having another practice? OK? How about doing it again quickly? Alright? What about going over it again? OK?

13.7 CLEANING THE BLACKBOARD/ WHITEBOARD

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It is very common for most teachers to ask the students to come up to the blackboardlwhiteboard and write something. Before the student does this, you have to ask himlher to clean it, if there is something written on it. Some of the expressions, which you can use for these purposes, are as follows:

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Please will you clean the blackboard whiteboard? Please can you clean the blackboard whiteboard? Rub everything o f i please

Developing Language Skills

If you do not want the student to clean the whole thing, you have to specify what portion of the blackboard/whiteboard needs to be cleaned.

Just clean this halfbit/side/section. Don't clean this half/bit/side/section/part. Clean the top-right hand corner, please. Clean the bottom- left hand corner, please. Please could you wipe offthe drawings.on the left at the bottom? Leave this on please Leave this section. Leave this part. Thank you

13.8 USING AUDIO-VLBEO EQUIPMENT

When using tape recorders and video cassette players, you need to give them several instructions. First, you need to tell them where the socket is, ask them to plug the equipment in, adjust the volume, tone, and focus. These expressions can be used for such purposes.

Rahul, can you plug the cassette player in, for me? The socket is in the wall below the blackboard. Good. Now will you turn it on? Oh! It's too loud. You 'd better turn the volume down. Oh! It's inaudible. You'd better turn the volume up. Could you possibly plug the 0 .H. P. in,for me? Oh! The picture is too brighthot clear enough. Will you please adjust the focus? It's out of focus. I'll just adjust the focus.
Sometimes, you find the equipment does not work after it is plugged in and turned on. In that case, you need to find out what is wrong with it? You need to get it to work. For this you need to check if it is properly plugged in, if the switch is on. If it still does not work you will have to get someone to fix it. Then you may have to say: I'm sorry. It still won't work. I will have to get someone to see it. We'll have to do something else today. I can't get it to work. I'll have to go and ask our technician if he can fix it. But, if you are lucky enough to see what the problem is and rectify it yourself, then you can say:

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There we are. We can begin now. Ready?

It is not enough if you simply play the cassette and sit back. You need to find out if the learners are able to understand what is on the tape. If they do not understand, you need to stop and play that part again.

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Have you understood that? No, not fully Shall Iplay the tape again? OK. I will rewind it. Hear it again before I ask you questions on that?

The Language of the Classroom

After the class, you ask a learner to turn it 08 turn offthe switch and unplug it.
OK. We 'vefinished with the VCR now. Could someone unplug it please?
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We don't need the OHP anymore. Could someone switch it off at the wall please?

Check Your Progress 2

You want your students to practice listening. A student is waiting with the tape recorder and the cassette. Give instructions to the student on setting up the tape recorder for the listening activity.

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13.9 INDIVIDUAL WORK AND GROUP WORK
English language is a skill. A skill can be acquired only by practice. Hence, in order to give our students practice in using the language, we give them individual and group activities. In individual activities, you expect individual responses from the students and not group responses. You should ensure this by giving suitable instructions.
You must answer questions one at a time. You must not answer all together. One by one, right? Will you please put your hands up before you answer? Now, don't put your hands up, I'll ask one of you.

When it is not clear as to what a student had said, you can say:
Oh dear that wasn't very clear/very good or It was a good answer. But a bit louder please.

Developing Language Skills

If you wish to divide them into small groups, then you should let the students know the number that you want each group to consist of. For instance, if you want them to sit in groups of three, you can say: For this activity, I would like to divide you into groups of three. If you wish to divide the class into two groups, you can say:

I'm going to divide you into two groups. I'm going to divide you down the middle. I'll divide you in h a g I'll call your group 'A' and the other group 'B '. Right. First, group 'A' will ask questions and group 'B ' will answer them. In the second round, group 'B ' will ask questions and group 'A' will answer them. Is this clear? I'll write points on the board and we'll see who gets the most points.
Check Your Progress 3
Think of a group activity for your students. It could be based on their lessons or on something related to their lessons. Then think of the instructions you would give them and write them below.

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13.10 CONTROLLING THE CLASS

When you give them pair and group activities, you expect them to interact with each other but without making a noise or interrupting the others. You don't allow them to use any other language except English during these activities. If they do so, the very purpose of giving them these activities gets defeated. In such situations, you can control the class by using the following expressions:

Stop doing that! Now get on with your work. Be quiet! Settle down. That's enough! Come on, let's get on. No, that's not the way to behave in class. No playing around whispering/turning roundchatting! You'd better not start until I tell you to.

You shouldn 't be speaking Hindi/Bengali! Could you do it the way I told you to? Could you read the bit I askedyou to? Where 's your book? (I've forgotten it?) Never mind, you will have to bring it next time. Couldyou share the book with Rahul.
If the students continue to misbehave, you may have to warn them.

The Language of the Classroom

Ifyou keep wasting time, I'II dejnitely punish you. Ifyou don't do your homework once more, I'II have to write to your parents. I'll reportyou to the Principal ifyou go on behaving like that.
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t3.11 SETTING HOMEWORK

For teachers, setting homework is an everyday phenomenan. You can give them the homework, saying:

At home I want you to ......... For homework, I want you to .............

You may want them to read, write, learn something or do some exercise in the book etc. You might just want them to go over what they had learnt in the classroom. Along with setting homework, collecting homework books is also a regular phenomenon. You can ask them to give them in or pile their books on the table or put their work on their desk as they leave. When you return their books, you can give them individually, or you can pass them to the end of the row.

13.12 ENDING THE LESSON

A good teacher is one who knows how to draw the lesson to a close. You need to sum up the lesson you have just finished and tell students what you will do in the next class.

It's time we stopped now. So today we have practiced we'll go on to ......

................ Tomorrow

It's time for us to stop now. OK, today we have written Tomorrow we will ............

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It's time you went for the next class. So, in today's class we have read about

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In the next class we shall .... It' time for you to take a break. So, you've learn't how to ........................ Next, you will learn how to ........

Developing Language
Skills

If you have given them a group activity, which involved moving furniture and different things in the classroom, you need to ask your students to tidy up the place again. You can use the following expressions:

Will you put everything back in its right place, Rajender, please? Rashmi, will you see that all the books are returned, please? Will everyone put the chairs back in their original position? Make sure it's all tidyfor the next class. I hope you all enjoy yourselves. I hope you have a good weekend.

13.13 MAKING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Teachers have to make announcements in the classroom. These announcements may be required to prepare them for the next class. For example, you may want to discuss how to look up a word in the dictionary and so you may want to ask all the students to get their copies of the dictionary to the class. I have something to tell you before I go. Don 'tforget to bring your dictionaries tomorrow. Or if you want to use a polite form, you can say:

Willyou please remember to bring your dictionary tomorrow?

Sometimes you have to make announcements regarding things lost and found.

Who does this belong to? Who do these belong to? Whosepencil is this? Whose is this pencil? Has anyone left their pencil/book behind? Has anyone left their bag behind? Has anyone lost a pen? Who has lost a pen? Who hasfound a bag? Has anyone found a pencil/pen/book/bag?
Come and see me after the lessodclass. I '11 give it to you.

Check Your Progress 4

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The Language of the Classroom

Write how you will make the following announcements: a. They should take a test in your subject next Friday.
b. You want them to bring their supplementary reader on Monday

c. You are planning to take leave tomorrow. Students should go to the library during your class.

13.14 LETUS SUMUP

In this unit, we have identified the different functions which a teacher performs in the classroom and the language expressions which can be used while performing those functions. As you will be dealing with children, we have not listed the most polite forms of expressions in some sections in the unit. You can modify the language or the way you say it to suit your purpose. For instance, you can make your expressions polite by changing the tone of your voice or by adding 'please' to the expression. Similarly, if you want to be firm, you can do that by modifying your tone. If you would like to improve your classroom language hrther please read the book given in the reference.

13.15 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Answer to Check Your Progress 1

It creates an informal situation. It helps in easing the situation. Learners do not feel tense and so take active part in the activities of the classroom. This helps the learners in improving their English.
Answer to Check Your Progress 2

Here is the socket. Plug the tape recorder in and insert the cassette in the tape recorder. Now turn it on. Adjust the volume. See to it that it is neither too high nor too low.

Developing Language Skills

Answer to Check Your Progress 3

I want you to work in groups please. In groups of three.

Why don't you move up and make a three. Oh. You haven't anyone to work with, have you? OK, you turn around and join in with them. Good. Now in your groups, I'd like you to write a paragraph on pollution and its harnlful effects. After you've finished I'd like one person from each group to come here and read out the paragraph.

Answers to Check Your Progress 4

a) The monthly test in English will be held next Friday

b) - On Monday I would like you to read a lesson in the Supplementary Reader. So all of you should bring your Supplementary Reader.
c) I am going to be on leave tomorrow. So all of you go to the library and read some story book. You will have to tell me what you have read when I meet you next.

13.16 SUGGESTED READINGS

1. Willis, Jane, (1982): Teaching English through English. A Course in Classrqom Language and Techniques. English Language OK Society1 Longman, Singapore.