Now after your teaching practice you have some first-hand experience which you may use doing the tasks below.
. Answer the following questions about certain aspects of the teaching-learn-ing process:
What do you think about the penalty of copying the text ("a hundred lines") practised in English and American schools?
What would you do at the lesson if there were any attempts to rag the teacher by banging desk-lids, tittering or some other kind of rowdyism? 3. Do you think that feeling for atmosphere is impor-tant for a teacher? 4. What do you think is the best way to achieve the ideal situation at the lesson-genuine enthusiasm and attention on the part of the pupils? 5. Do you think complete silence at the lesson agrees with enthusiasm of the pupils? 6. What do you think should be done if the interest of the group flags? Have you ever ex-perienced that kind of situation? 7. Does it make any difference to you when your lesson is being observed by a visitor? Does it seri-ously affect the pupils? The teacher? 8. Do you approve of teach-
ers who prefer to ask only top pupils in the presence of visitors? 9. Which forms did you prefer during your teaching practice? Was the discipline better in senior or in junior forms? 10. On the whole, what are the main pitfalls that may await a young teacher at school? 11. Do you think teaching is an art, or merely a skilled occupation depending on experience?
Make up situations using the words and word combinations in brackets:
Imagine that you are speaking about a lesson of English you have just observed. Your opinion is rather favourable, (genuine en thusiasm, to maintain discipline, orderly, to drill pupils in smth., to
capture attention, to catch words on the fly, to feel the time, with unflagging interest, one's feeling for atmosphere, quietly but in a voice that carried well, to take attendance)
Speak about a lesson of English you did not like. Give your criticism of the methods used at the lesson and of the discipline, (to parade the best students to perform before the visitor, a text-bookish language "yes — no" questions, to rap one's knuckles on, to undermine discipline, not to demand active response from, the interest flagged, to struggle through passages, a complete and utter failure, to be glued to one's notebook, tittering, to impose silence)
Speak about the pitfalls that may await a young inexperienced teacher at the first lessons, (to be tongue-tied, peals of laughter, to impose silence, to undermine discipline, to follow the well-beaten path of, interest flags, crowded curriculum, defective memory for names, traces of fatigue on the part of, formidable exercises, not to feel the time, recess, rowdyism)
Speak about your last teaching practice, (basic school, to be allotted (to), grade (form), an instructor on teaching practice, to observe a lesson, a definite clear-cut aim for each lesson, genu ine enthusiasm, various types of approaches, for the presentation (or drill) functions, to split the class into subgroups, out-of-class activities)
Speak about any lesson you observed or your own lesson where audio-visual aids were used, (to capture attention, to black-out the classroom, film-strip projector, slides, to create situations, to devel op speech habits, to describe stills, tape-recorder, tape, to play the tape back)
с) Make up situations using the following conversational formulas of threat or warning and act the dialogues in class.
Don't you dare! If I catch you. Do that again! You'd better not...
I won't have that sort of thing again! Look sharp! Look out! I won't hear it again! ...did you hear me? Mark my words! I'll give it hot to you! You'll get it hot! I won't have it. Take care (not to...). Be sure (you don't...). You've been warned.
Suggested circumstances:
\. You don't like the idea of your younger brother having mixedup with some rough boys you disapprove of.
Your pupil is a bully and he has just been naughty in spite of your numerous warnings.
Some boys and girls badly treat a newcomer to the class and consider him to be an absolute outsider.
You've found out that a pupil of yours while on vacation from school was guilty of some misbehaviour.
In spite of your numerous attempts you can't impose silence at the lesson and you catch somebody who is making much noise.
One of your pupils does not fulfil his allotted role of the monitor.
You try to put your foot down on account of your pupils' mis
behaviour during the recess.
8. You reprimand a lazybones who is lagging behind the group in your subject.
IV. Discuss the following points:
1. The role and place of a teacher in our society Note: Consider the following:
The social role of a person in the society depends upon the amount of esteem, admiration and approval we get from our immediate so-cial group, as well as society in general. It also depends on such cri-teria as well-being and intelligence. In the course of the discussion try and answer the following questions:
Is the social status of a teacher high in our society?
Do you think that the ability to speak a foreign language con fers a high status on an individual in our society? What do you think of your own status as a language teacher?
What is the role of a teacher in the upbringing of the younger generation?
The personality of a teacher
Note: Consider the following:
Our personality fundamentally affects our reactions under differ-ent circumstances. Some individuals tend to be attracted by certain roles which they hope will satisfy their personal needs, such as a desire for.power or caring for others. A typical description of per-sonality types might include the following:
Authoritarian: shows tendency for liking authority and exercis-ing power
Affiliative: shows tendency for preferring to form close relation-ships with others
Conformist: shows tendency for wanting to think and act as oth-ers do
Aggressive: shows tendency towards aggressive behaviour in or-der to achieve aims
Co-operative: shows tendency to work closely with others in per-forming tasks
Achieving: shows tendency towards wanting to achieve status, power, success
In the course of the discussion try and answer the following questions:
Do you think that only certain types of personality make ideal teachers?
What do you think is the best explanation of personality: that it is basically fixed, or that it develops and changes?
What do you think of the view that we exhibit different aspects of our personalities in different situations, e.g. teaching different age groups?
Do you think that a good teacher is the one who has an inborn gift for teaching or can the skill of teaching be taught?
INSIGHT INTO PROFESSION
KEEPING ORDER IN CLASS
Talking Points:
1. What do you think is the best approach to keeping order in class? Do you think this skill is an inherent ability? Or is it acquired through training and practice?
Do you think you kept order well during your recent teaching practice? If so, what is it that helped you to maintain discipline?
Do you regard any of your experience as a pupil valuable? If so, what is it?
Have you any exemplar, e.g. a teacher of your school-days who is a model to you in this respect?
I. a) Read the following text:
Naughty — or Inquisitive?
The inherent naughtiness of children! Heavens above, do teach-ers really believe such rubbish? Evidently so, for the phrase comes from a letter you print and Mr. Tomkins, a head, no less, writing a two-page article, says it is "in the nature of children to be mischie-vous." Do they really think that the child is already naughty or mischievous as it emerges from the womb? I doubt it. What they probably mean is the inherent inquisitiveness of children which pro-vides the fundamental drive to learning. Part of this learning is de-rived from the testing-out of adults with whom the child comes into contact, and unfortunately the pressures of society often make adults impatient or selfish or even, occasionally, sadistic in their respons-es. Inquisitiveness becomes frustrated or distorted into naughtiness (in the eyes of adults, though not necessarily those of the child), The prime function of school should be to nurture, and where necessary, restore inquisitiveness to its fullest vigour; but how can we achieve that with woolly formulations about "naughtiness" ?
Actually, I think that such woolliness is often the product of teach-ers' refusal to face up squarely to the basic question relevent to disci-pline in London schools: namely, "to cane or not to cane? " So long as the cane is available, even if only as a last resort, to extract obedience through fear, discussion of alternative policies must remain ham-strung. The learning of complex skills, leadership and the ability to use initiative is not taught through the cane. Caning has ceased even in the Navy's boy training establishments — they found that corporal punishment did not work. Yet some teachers — including correspon-dents to "Contact" — want it restored in London's junior schools. Maybe someone would explain to me why London teachers lag some years behind our military men in this matter, and 190 years behind the Poles, who abolished corporal punishment in schools in 1783.
Charles Gibson