Macmillan Summer Training – Classroom Management, Lesson planning, Grammar , Pronunciation

 July 21, 2014

Organized by  English Book Georgia and LCC Int    ernational Centre and Teacher’s Professional Development Centre

Venue: Public school #64

 Duration: 4 hours

Macmillan Summer Training in Georgia was concerned and included four sessions on Classroom management, Lesson Planning, Pronunciation and Grammar.

This self-traversed, stress-free course was designed for the teachers who wanted not only to improve their teaching skills, but also to prevent embarrassing their pupils, colleagues  and superiors. It was an innovative course designed as a refresher course for the people who required  brushing up their skills. After the completion of reviewing the basic rules of classroom management, lesson planning, pronunciation and grammar, then you can move forward to lesson style, for tips on improving your professional  skills and avoid common mistakes. Since it was  a brief course it did not mean that you will be left on your own. There will be an instructive website and it will be to answer any queries and provide assistance to innovate your skills. Why not join it, learn at your own place and schedule and procure the benefits? The handouts and materials of the training were available for download on the website.

What might classroom management mean?

•       Teachers in small groups were encouraged to explore what this might mean to them, consıder whether management changes with age of classes/size of groups/times of year etc.

•       Idea for feedback (Ask.fm) is to get teachers to choose one idea of what CM means. Divided into 2 groups. One group of half of teachers were on inside facing outwards. Other group on outside facing in. All teachers on outside to ask the person opposite them and then move on to their right. Changed  inside group to outside group and reverse the process.

Teachers were answering the question, Why is classroom management important? The mind map was filled with such ideas as:

·         To create a supportive and caring relationship between the teacher and the children

·         To encourage the students to engage and optimize their learning

·         To help all students to self regulate and direct their own learning

Teaching Pronunciation

 Ts decoded what the title of the session is:

Answer: Teaching Pronunciation.

With Phonetic Chart poster, stickedt up on the wall.teachers very briefly discussed  Pros/Cons of Phonemic Script and do Ts use it? Why? Why not? Problems? Advantages?

Received Pronunciation , US or other accent? Brief discussion. What is the Ts’ aim? Or is a good Georgian accent OK? International English etc.Then teachers were  shown what Jim Scrivener advises in his book Learning Teaching (slide above).

RP or not?

A.      Teach the pronunciation you speak yourself

B.      Draw attention to local variations you are aware of

C.      Highlight differences in accent that occur in course materials

D.      Use the Course CDs whenever possible

Trainers suggestion was D as she suspected  many don’t use the CDs. Ask and find out why/why not. This is a KEY resource for Ts’ pron too!

«Avoid telling children that they sing out of key: you may break their vital spirit and enthusiasm and induce a lack of confidence that will be difficult to remove.»

                                                Martens and Van Sull 1992