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How to Manage the Classroom – Elements of the Classroom Management Jindřiška Šulistová Vysoká škola technická a ekonomická v Českých Budějovicích Abstract The paper deals with different parts of the classroom management. It draws attention to the planning in general as well as to the lesson planning. Next, the contribution deals with the importance and the impact of the classroom language. Teacher and student talking time are briefly tackled. Furthermore, rapport, body language and a tone of a voice are paid attention to, too. The last but not the least, seating arrangements and different students grouping are focused on. Keywords: classroom management, planning, classroom language, teacher and student talking time, rapport, seating arrangements, students’ groupings

Introduction Classroom management gives a lot of room for a discussion. Jim Scrivener includes the following areas into classroom management:”activities, grouping and seating, authority, critical moments, tools and techniques.” There are manuals, books, scientific articles on the issue but the reality forces teachers to act on the spot, respond to a certain situation, and react immediately.

Important parts of the classroom management What does classroom management include, then? The key word is planning. Planning of interaction, activities, different stages, how to change smoothly to another stage, seating in the classroom (some activities require different seating and if it is not possible to change the seating the activity loses its sense to take part in the classes). The proper lesson plan describes the individual procedures starting with raising the interest and finishing with free practice activities (when a lesson is supposed to meet the function aim) or with controlled practice (when a lesson deals with grammar). Although the procedure description (there is information on a stage, time, aim(s), and procedure –e.g. SS perform the task – and on a kind of interaction – T-SS, S-S or pairs, etc.) might seem rather complicated at the first glance, it can prevent a teacher from difficult situations. When a teacher thinks over the single steps of a lesson, it makes him / her to feel more confident and it helps to create the good learning environment. Jeremy Harmer in his How to Teach English says that managing the classroom covers using the L1 (a native tongue). The common tendency is to avoid the L1 at all if possible when learners study L2 (the pre-intermediate students and the levels onwards feel quite comfortable without the L1 use in the lessons).

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Language in the classroom is another key element of classroom management. Teachers are recommended to use clear, precise instructions. First, the students will tackle tasks without any further explanations and the time which would be employed in clarifications and more concept checking questions (CCQs), this saved time gives more practice to students. Second, accurate and exact instructions prevent from students getting confused and speaking in the L1. (Harmer 2011, p. 39). The language use in instructions can be pre-taught or the most important phrases may be placed above the board to enable each student to see them and in case of need to apply them. Gestures - usually having the international meaning - proved to be helpful when giving instructions. Gesture application puts students at their ease and they are ready to go on in learning process. Rapport with students is significant component to be mentioned. It covers teacher’s tone, his / her approach as well as body language. Students can read a teacher’s body language easily, they can recognize whether everything is alright or not and they respond in an appropriate way. (Harding da Rosa 2012, p. 23). As for the tone, a teacher ought to work with his / her tone to make learners realise that there is a change of a stage or it is very necessary when teaching the intonation of utterances. Next, a voice tone creates the rapport; it is a very important indicator for learners. Teacher talking time (TTT) and a student talking time (STT) are next parts of classrooms management. These go back to the lesson planning to an interaction column where the possible ways of interaction are listed next to the prepared activities. T for a teacher should be present in this column rarely. On the other hand, S-S, pair work, groups, whole class, these are the items which are expected and which give more speaking opportunities to students. The best lessons are where TTT is minimum and students have plenty possibilities to talk. There are two extreme tendencies. Teachers talking a lot, e.g. giving wordy instructions (e.g. I would like you to work in pair but there are not even number for that, erm, well, we can try groups of three. No, not a good idea. OK, groups of four.), echoing when not necessary, when monitoring intruding in students pair work, taking the other student a possibility to talk (S: Well, last summer I was in Barcelona. T: Did you? I was there too. Barcelona is such an amazing city. I would like to go there again.) Seating ways varies in many countries influenced by a kind of a school, institution, organization, by a number of students, etc. (Harmer 2011, p. 40). Seating one separate tables are suitable for group work, it gives students privacy, their own space for discussion, for coming up with ideas and carrying out a task (e.g. a project). Seating two a circle, it is very convenient for speaking activities, either standing or sitting. Students can see each other, there is no barrier of desks, and also a teacher has the same position as them. Seating three and six orderly rows, it is typical for many schools, institutions, universities. This way of desks arrangements enables many students, learners to attend classes, especially when going to lectures. The only difference in these two seating pictures is a position of a teacher. He / she dominates in seating three whereas in the seating six, a teacher is amongst students.

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Seating four a horseshoe is open, convenient for small to middle size classes. As a circle, this way of desk arrangement creates friendly environment (especially when a teacher sits, he / she is on the same level as his / her students). Seating five shows scattered desks with no teacher supervision. Seating seven also demonstrates scattered desks where a teacher can move freely amongst students. Students can also change their places without difficulty. A person of a teacher does not have any distracting impact on the students when doing monitoring.

1 Working in different grouping stimulates the learning process and it makes the studying more enjoyable. There is a wide range of different groupings, e.g. individual work, pair work, small group work and whole class work. Individual work provides each student with an opportunity to work in their own pace, test their own knowledge whereas group work and whole class work offers more interaction, different speed; it requires different skills and abilities. The change of the groupings gives possibility to all learners (Harmer 2011, p. 41).

Conclusion The topic of the classroom management covers a wide range of aspects where planning appears to be the most important one. Planning may be influenced by different points of view, the age, and nationality, number of learners, motivation, target, and cultural background of a teacher as well as his / her students.

1 http://www.google.cz/imgres?hl=cs&client=firefox-a&hs=HW8&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:cs:official&biw=1280&bih=637&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=h9ThF-EoTVTLvM:&imgrefurl=http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/uk/d/Jt0045e/4.10.1.html&docid=bAPXaG7GULKEHM&imgurl=http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/collect/ukedu/index/assoc/t0045e/p126.gif&w=1054&h=614&ei=qOWcUJufIYj_4QT37oCoDg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=945&vpy=303&dur=8982&hovh=171&hovw=294&tx=116&ty=113&sig=104232011264007955377&page=2&tbnh=138&tbnw=237&start=18&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:20,i:160, 9/11/2012;

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References SCRIVENER, J., 2011. Learning Teaching: The Essential Guide to English Language Teaching. Third edition. Oxford: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-72984-1. HARMER, J., 2011. Teacher Training: a Reference Manual. Seventh edition. Harlow: Pearson Longman. ISBN 978-1-405-85309-5. HARDING, J. M., 2012. Managing Your Classes. English Teaching Professional. 82(9/12), 23–24. ISSN 1362-5276.

Management třídy a jeho elementy Příspěvek se zabývá různými aspekty ovlivňující řízení třídy. Zaměřuje se na plánování jak obecně, tak se dotýká i plánování výuky, jež samotné má velký vliv na další zmíněné aspekty. Další téma je význam instrukcí užívaných během výuky, se kterými by studenti měli být seznámeni. Příspěvek se krátce zabývá časovou dotací, která by měla být určena studentům a dobou pro instrukce. Kromě toho je věnována pozornost vztahu studentů a učitelů, řeči těla, tónu hlasu a individuální a skupinové práci. Klí čová slova: řízení třídy, plánování, výrazy používané během výuky, časová dotace pro studenty a učitele, uspořádání třídy, individuální a skupinová práce Contact address of the author(s): Mgr. Jindřiška Šulistová, Katedra cizich jazyků, VŠTE v Českých Budějovicích, Okružní 10, 370 01, e-mail:sulistova@mail.vstecb.cz