Teaching Methods Quiz

The teacher has planned to start the lesson by going over homework set in the previous lesson. However, only half the class have done it.

• The teacher puts the students into pairs, one who has done the homework and one who hasn't and goes over homework with the whole class.

• The teacher collects the homework from the students who have done it and tells the other students to bring their completed homework to the next class.

• The teacher starts the lesson by going over homework as he had planned.

The teacher has finished what she planned to do in the lesson but there are still five minutes of the class left.

• The teacher tells the students they can leave the class early.

• The teacher tells students to close their books and to try and remember six of the new words from the lesson.

• The teacher plays the listening text from the lesson again and tells students to listen more carefully.

The students are passive and always wait for the teacher to tell them the answers and to give examples. He wants them to participate more actively in the lessons.

• The teacher lets students check answers and ideas in pairs before eliciting answers from the class.

• The teacher tells the students that they must participate more.

• The teacher asks a question or asks for an example and then waits until a student answers.

The teacher is dealing with a class of 6 adult intermediate students. One of the students, a middle-aged man, tends to dominate all the conversations in class and regularly interrupts the teacher and/or his fellow students.

• The teacher starts appointing students when asking whole class questions and monitors attentively all pair work/group work activities which the student is involved in, acting as a discussion moderator when he clearly dominates the conversation.

• The teacher ignores the issue: the student is adult enough to understand that his behavior is not particularly considerate or polite and at some point, he will stop behaving this way. Why create extra tension?

• The teacher makes time for a quick talk with the student after a lesson and politely asks him to listen to his fellow students attentively and keep the classroom conversations balanced. The teacher also reminds the student of the importance of being a good team player when studying in a group

One of the students keeps silent most of the lessons whichever topic it is. The girl is young, about 20, and seems to be a bit too insecure to say anything in front of the class.

• The teacher makes sure the shy student is always paired up with a talkative one. In this way, the quiet one will pick up some confidence from the active one.

• The teacher respects the students way of expressing themselves and just micro teaches her and/or gets her peer taught. The teacher doesn’t insist on regular and extensive feedback and contribution from the student.

• The teacher asks the quiet student more often during whole-class activities and helps them formulate their sentences, by giving sufficient prompts and being extra patient and friendly to her.

The teacher has to present and practise the difference between the past simple and present perfect to a group of elementary students.

• The teacher prepares a detailed presentation of the tenses and gives a 15-minute talk: it's essential that the students know everything about the difference and usage.

• The teacher gives students an opportunity to analyze the target language in context, gets them to come up with the rules and suggests a set of exercises.

• The teacher gives a set of exercises, including a number of exercises on differentiating between the tenses and if it proves to be a challenge, presents the differences and teaches/revises the forms

A student keeps arriving 20-25 minutes late for a 60-minute group session.

• The teacher welcomes the latecomer and repeats everything that has been said and done in class up to the moment he arrived.

• The teacher greets the student and gets the other student peer teach him as soon as such an opportunity arises in class.

• The teacher ignores the latecomer: they mustn't be late in the first place.

Two students in a beginner group tend to question the efficiency of the tasks that the teacher sets in class, as well as the teacher’s approach to teaching the language. At times they refuse to follow the teacher’s instructions.

• The teacher insists in a firm but polite way that the students really have to follow the instructions and reminds them that they are in class to learn and make progress. The teacher finds new ways to get the students involved and patiently keeps building trust and developing rapport with the students.

• The teacher teams these students up with stronger and more active students who peer teach them and help them get involved and trust the process.

• The teacher explains the meaning and effect of the tasks so that the students try doing them. She doesn't want the tension to build up and misunderstanding to increase further.