Organising student practice
There are many ways to organise student practice of new language.
Amongst them are:
Open class
All students listen to the teacher or to the contributions of individual students. This is particularly appropriate when the
teacher is introducing new topics before pair/group work and also when getting students to report back after closed
pairs/group practice.
Open pairs
Two students are chosen by the teacher to ask and answer while the rest of the class listen. It is often a good idea to
choose students from very different parts of the class so that the rest of the class can hear what is happening and feel
included. This often provides a good model and clarifies instructions before a ‘closed pairs’ activity.
Closed pairs
All students work with a partner. This encourages maximum practice and is particularly appropriate for dialogue work. It is
important that the teacher monitors the different pairs as they are working and doesn't spend too long with any individual
pair.
Group work
This is best for activities which involve the collection or discussion of ideas. Students work in small groups and usually
report back ‘open class’ to share their ideas with the class as a whole.
‘Mingle’ activities
These allow constant repetition of a particular question or collection of the opinions of many students. Students stand up
and walk from one student to another, asking and answering as required - they ‘mingle’! These activities are effective with
classes where furniture can be moved out of the way to allow for free movement around the room. Clearly, activities like this
(especially with a large class) need to be set up carefully with clear instructions given.
Giving examples
It is always a good idea to give students an example of any exercise or practice activity that you want them to do. It is
much easier to understand a practical example than a verbal one. If, for example, you want them to do an exercise where
they have to choose the correct tense in a series of sentences then ask students to look at the first one and say which
tense they think is correct. Confirm the correct answer and then let them continue.
There are many ways to organise student practice of new language.
Amongst them are:
Open class
All students listen to the teacher or to the contributions of individual students. This is particularly appropriate when the
teacher is introducing new topics before pair/group work and also when getting students to report back after closed
pairs/group practice.
Open pairs
Two students are chosen by the teacher to ask and answer while the rest of the class listen. It is often a good idea to
choose students from very different parts of the class so that the rest of the class can hear what is happening and feel
included. This often provides a good model and clarifies instructions before a ‘closed pairs’ activity.
Closed pairs
All students work with a partner. This encourages maximum practice and is particularly appropriate for dialogue work. It is
important that the teacher monitors the different pairs as they are working and doesn't spend too long with any individual
pair.
Group work
This is best for activities which involve the collection or discussion of ideas. Students work in small groups and usually
report back ‘open class’ to share their ideas with the class as a whole.
‘Mingle’ activities
These allow constant repetition of a particular question or collection of the opinions of many students. Students stand up
and walk from one student to another, asking and answering as required - they ‘mingle’! These activities are effective with
classes where furniture can be moved out of the way to allow for free movement around the room. Clearly, activities like this
(especially with a large class) need to be set up carefully with clear instructions given.
Giving examples
It is always a good idea to give students an example of any exercise or practice activity that you want them to do. It is
much easier to understand a practical example than a verbal one. If, for example, you want them to do an exercise where
they have to choose the correct tense in a series of sentences then ask students to look at the first one and say which
tense they think is correct. Confirm the correct answer and then let them continue.
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