WELCOME TO

MICROTEACHING
Week 1
UNIT 1: MANAGING THE CLASS
 Use of eye contact, gesture and the voice
Discuss

Good
Popular belief Extrovert classroom
teacher
 Personality is impossible to prescribe, for a class to learn
effectively you must be able to:
 Inspire confidence
 Know when to be firm and directive
 When to be unobtrusive and leave students alone

 In other words,
 YOU NEED TO SUBTLY ALTER YOUR ROLE
ACCORDING TO THE ACTIVITY WITHOUT GOING
TO THE EXTREMES OF DOMINATION A CLASS OR
LEAVING IT UNCERTAIN WHAT TO DO
Use of Eye Contact
 It´s difficult to talk to someone who never looks at you

 or
 someone who looks at you in the eye all the time.

 BUT

 Eye contact is important in signalling messages such as:

I want to speak to you or I´m addressing this remark to

you
Eye contact
 Good use of eye contact is crucial in helping to establish rapport.
 A teacher that never looks at students in the eye seems to lack confidence
and gives the students a sense of insecurity.
 BUT
 Having fixed glare doesn´t help either!
 Teachers need to look at the students to notice their reactions and to be
in touch with the mood of the class.
Don they understand?
Do they look puzzled?
Are they enjoying the class?
Are they tired?
Are they bored?
Would it be a good idea to change the direction or the pace of the lesson?
Does anyone want to contribute or ask questions?
How will eye contact vary at different stages
of a lesson or in different types of lessons?
 As the role of the teacher varies, depending on the type
and stage of a lesson, so does the degree of eye contact.

 The more direct eye contact the teacher maintains with

all those in the class the more teacher-controlled the
lesson.

 In activities where the students are working more

independently of the teacher less teacher-student eye
contact is necessary.
How can you use eye contact?
 To ensure students have understood what they are
supposed to do ad know what is going on. Puzzled
expressions quickly tell you you need to try again!
 To indicate who is to speak (usually accompanied by a
nod) when calling on one after the other to repeat a
word or sentence, or to make a response. Using names
can slow the pace of a practice activity and pointing might
be offensive;
 To encourage contributions when you are trying to elicit
ideas or specific language from students. Frequently you
only know students have something to say by looking at
them;
 to show student who is talking that you are taking
notice;
 To hold the attention of students not being addressed and
to encourage them to listen to those doing the talking.
With younger students this is a way of maintaining
discipline: a darting glance around the room can show
that you are aware of what everyone is doing;
 To keep in touch with other students in the class or
group when you are dealing with an individual, perhaps
when correcting. Your eyes can say to them: You´re
involved in this too;
 To signal to a pair or group to start, to stop or to hurry up. It
can be far less dominating than the voice;
 To indicate, with an accompanying gesture, that groups are on
the right or wrong lines;
 Together with a gesture (such as a shake of the head) to
indicate that something is incorrect, or to show that the
student should try again;
 To check that everyone is participating, especially when the
group is working together, perhaps doing repetition practice;
 To check silently with students whether they have finished an
activity – perhaps the reading of a text, or the writing of a
sentence during dictation.
When should you avoid eye contact?
 During any activity that doesn´t demand teacher-centred
control, unless you are specifically asked for help or
choose to join in.
 Examples:
 Pair work
 Groupwork
 Speaking activities such as roleplay
 Simulations and student-led discussions
 And even individual work when the student wishes to
complete the task independently
Is there any point in encouraging students
to look at each other?
 Yes, very much so.
 Confidence is gained and shyness lost through eye
contact.
 A student who has difficulty understanding is more likely
to understand if his or her eyes are on the speakers face
than if they are on the ground.
 So,
 Encourage students to address their remarks to each
other, not through you.
 Tip: it´s better to get them to move their chairs to make
eye contact easier.
Task 1
Aim: to learn to pace a lesson by looking at
individuals in the class
 Procedure
 1. Stand at the front of the group so that you can see
everyone.
 2.Dictate a short passage to the group, judging when to
start each phrase by looking at everyone´s hands. The
aim is not to leave anyone behind.
 Comment:
 Get the views of the group at the end, particularly the
slowest writer, as to how effective you were.
Task 2
 AIM: to encourage full eye contact and to practise spreading
attention randomly round the class.
 Procedure:
 1. Call out the names of the members of the group
 2. Make eye contact with each person as their name is called.
 Comment:
 This exercise needs to be brief and rapid to make the point.
Aim to cover everyone in the group once only in random
order. Ask the group if they were all called and where you
tended to focus your attention.
 For the next student the idea is the group will be less willing
to make eye contact. How do you, as a teacher, feel when
this happens? How do the students feel?
Task 3
 AIM: to encourage evenly spread but random eye contact and to
practise using eye contact in place of nomination.
 Procedure:
 Use a pack of coloured pens. Hold different pens up and elicit by
use of eye contact ad a nod, It´s blue, It´s red, etc. Get individual
members of the group to say the sentence – changing the pens each
time and signalling randomly to all members of the group. Ask each
member how many times he or she spoke.
 Comments:
 A variation on this exercise would be to use a facial expression to
indicate that a second repetition is required.
 You can use a controlled practice activity like this (sometimes
referred to as a drill) from a coursebook or make up your own.
General comments
 How did you feel doing these activities?
 Was it useful? Why?