Today I want to share some useful information to you about pair work and group work activities
Thank you so much if you spend your time on reading and giving some comments
Pair work and Group work are the most effective techniques of classroom organization. Pair work and group work bring the students more chances to speak English in the classroom. Students take part in the lesson more actively because they are involved in talking to their classmates exchanging opinions, practicing new structures. Children also need the space and opportunity to be who they are. Therefore, group work in small groups or pair work gives them the ‘psychological space’ to do this.
Besides, research proves that learners remember only 20% of what they hear, 70% of what they themselves say and 90% of what they do and say such as pair work, role-play. This number proves that pair and group work have the positive influence to students’ perception.
Some tips when to organize pair and group work in the classroom.
Penny Ur recommends that teachers working with large classes should divide them into five groups which is the most effective organization for practicing speaking (Ur, 1993:85)
Some more tips are suggested by Byrne. (1989:34-35) to prevent problems with pair work:
– divide the students into pairs in the most convenient way possible
– make sure the students know exactly what they have to do
– keep activities simple
– don’t let activities go on too long
– carry out selective checking
– control the noise level as necessary
– provide feedback
How to set up pair and group work
– Be sure to fully explain the procedure before dividing the class.
– demonstrate the activity or show the examples first
– Ask students to tell you what they have to do before they do it to check their understanding.
– Have fill in activities ready for the quick finishers. However, you should be sure that they have accomplished the task correctly first and haven’t just finished early because they misunderstood what they had to do.
– Don’t forget to have feedback time after pair or group work
– Set a clear time limit.
– Control who works with who so children aren’t always being dominated or dominating others.
To organize these activities successfully, the teacher plays an important role in the classroom. Teacher is full control of what and how students study. The role of teacher will depend to a large extent on the function he performs in different activities. Harmer examines the roles of controller, organiser, assessor, prompter, participant, recourse, tutor and investigator. (Harmer 1995:200-205)
In addition, Watcyn-Jones (2002:10) stresses that once the pair or group work activity has actually started, the students should work independently of the teacher and their own pace. The teacher should walk round the classroom, pause briefly beside each pair, listen to them and note any language errors which can be taken up later on with the whole class. It is best not to interrupt them or correct them while they are working.
In conclusion, pair and group work are the useful activities for students. They are the necessary techniques for teacher using to develop students’ skills, especially oral skill. Therefore, teacher should organize these activities suitably and effectively to get the most result.