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UNIT 2: VARIABLES TO TAKE INTO ACCOUN IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE…
10
When grouping students
AT RANDOM
, there are some possible methods:
The teacher can hand out numbers in a particular order and then ask students
with the same number to go together.
The teacher can ask them to form groups of a specific size and students choose
the group they want to join.
The class is divided according to likes and dislikes, colour of eyes, color of
clothes, or some other form of sub‐categorizing.
By giving students some cards related to different semantic fields (colours,
food, means of transport and so on) and the students get placed in a group
according to those categories.
We can also use other strategies when grouping students, such as mixing introvert
with extrovert pupils, taking into account the relationships among them, or according
to topics of shared interest, etc.
As we have seen, students get many benefits from working in groups in English class
because language fluency is increased. The different ways of grouping helps them
speak up and practice the language that they are trying to learn. When group work
happens, collaboration is part of the process and students help each other learn. That
means less accomplished students will become better speakers just by talking to
others who more advanced, without help and without pressure. By working together,
your students will also develop relationships with each other. They will share personal
opinions and life goals and that means facing pupils with different values, expectations
and beliefs. When our students can accept and appreciate their classmates, they will
be on their way to doing the same for people all over the world.
Once we have dealt with the different groupings in the English class we are going to
focus our attention on space and time distribution, aspects which will influence our
diary practice.
4. SPACE AND TIME DISTRIBUTION.
Space as well as time distributions make reference to the learning environment
including the characteristics of setting (personal, instructional and physical
characteristics of the classroom) which will condition the teaching‐learning process
and the students’ performance so we are going to deal with both aspects, beginning
with space distribution.