Suggestions to enhance participation in classrooms

Suggestions to enhance participation in classrooms

1. Draw connections to real life; engage students by showing them how the theme/topic/skill relates to their life.  

 2. Involve students in choosing the appealing lessons from the unit, or provide outside reading selections based on their suggestions.  

3. Engage students in discussions about the classroom situation and their needs such as class activities, language skills, types of participations, and methods of assessment.

4. Provide students with complementary/supplementary relevant materials to assist their knowledge on a particular topic; materials should range from the very easy to the very challenging.

5. Use different teaching methods: independent learning, cooperative learning, variable grouping strategies, class discussion, lecturing, explanation and note taking, etc. 

6. Compose varied activities to teach each skill. (For example, use flash cards and posters for visual learners; have kinesthetic learners move from their places in order to role play; use songs, videos, and CDs to involve auditory learners in the lesson, etc.)

7. Integrate two or more skills in each lesson. (For example, start a reading lesson with a speaking and/or a listening activity.)

8. Use extra worksheets on weekly basis to improve students’ level.

9. Incorporate students and give them equal chances of participation.      

 10. Provide students with tasks that are relevant and which make them feel powerful; tasks should be challenging, interesting, and designed with multiple intelligence orientation.

11. Modify the emphasis in the classroom where value is given to any product; accept all students’ contributions as valid and valuable.

12. Establish clear, firm and consistent classroom rules that guarantee proactive discipline.  

13. Use technology and educational websites to develop materials and activities that help bring active and up-to-date environment to the classroom.        

 14. Avoid prejudiced ideas & misjudgments; treat each student as an “individual” regardless of his/her gender, nationality, learning abilities, social background, etc.   

      15. Use activities that require physical movements (mainly after the recess); role play, project presentation and jigsaw are good examples.   

16. Pay attention to the duration of the activities; they shouldn’t be too long so that students do not get off track.

17. Start the teaching period with a lively warm up activity that arouses interest and refreshes students’ mind.    

 18. Develop friendly climate in which all students feel recognized and valued.  

   19. Vary the methods of assessment: questions and answers, class discussion, group response, projects, writing product (essay, paragraph, etc.), quiz/test, etc.    

20. Give instructions using: clear and audible voice; suitable tone and pitch; and simplified, repeated and variable sentences (according to the learning tasks and the students’ levels).    

 

 21. Consider students’ questions or incorrect responses as a means of ongoing assessment to determine their needs and misconceptions. 

       22. Check students’ understanding during instructions rather than wait until the end of lesson to re-teach or clarify any misunderstanding.    

   23. Communicate belief in the students’ ability to contribute more and maintain higher expectation. 

24. Provide constructive feedback and reinforcement to boost students’ satisfaction and encourage positive self-evaluation.          25. Accept phrases and partial answers, and model more complete sentences; modeling helps students elaborate their ideas into full sentences. 

       26. Model standard pronunciation and grammar. Slowing down, oversimplifying, or speaking more loudly are not necessary; rephrasing and gesturing are more helpful.  

27. Focus on the content of the message rather than its grammatical structure. Acknowledging a student's message is likely to increase interaction, while correcting grammar/language mistakes might shift the focus from content to form.