Opening Plenary at the Braz-Tesol Regional Chapter event in Natal - May 26, 2012.

1. Promoting Individual Attention
within Large Groups
E dua rdo
S a nto s

7. How does the number of students in
a classroom affect your teaching
and the students’ learning?

10. Source: http://www.spotbeam.org/newsSpring11

11. www.demandhighelt.wordpress.com

12. Low Demand
We demand far less from our students than they
are capable of. Much contemporary teaching
is unchallenging and has low expectations.
Source: http://demandhighelt.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/the-issues/

13. Unassertive Classroom Management
While teachers have become good at basics
(instructions, group making etc) they are weak at
more challenging classroom management (getting
engagement from all learners, not letting the
strong students dominate etc). There is a general
fear of - and avoidance of – assertive, supportive
intervention.
Source: http://demandhighelt.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/the-issues/

14. Hands-on Language work.
We do not work hands-on, in-the-moment, with
language. There is a taint of guilt to doing
demanding focused language work.
Source: http://demandhighelt.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/the-issues/

23. Practical Experiment
In a suitable language group class, try out
the idea of working for a short time one-
to-one with an individual while the rest
of the class listens and looks on.

24. Reflection
• Was this any different from what you usually do? If so how?
• Were the rest of the class engaged by what was happening?
Did they learn something?
• Were you completely committed to that single student or was
your attention dispersed by anxiety about the rest of the class?
• Was there any connection between the quality of your
attention to the individual student’s work and the degree of
engagement of the rest of the class in what was happening?
Source http://demandhighelt.wordpress.com/2012/04/28/one-to-one-teaching-within-a-group/