Making Pair Work and Group Work

Effective

Strategies to overcome the challenges

Strategies for teaching large groups
Do you teach large groups?
How big are they?
How do you do it?
Why is Group Work Important?
Most descriptions of Communicative
Activities encourage teachers to use pair
work and group work during their lessons.
Why do you think that is?

What do you do in your context?

Team English for large classes

Team English is a technique for teaching

communicative language in large classes. This
technique has been used with middle and
high school students, as well as in
workshops.

How does it work?

 Pair and Group Work in EFL/ ESL

Let´s discuss….

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of

using pair work and group work in our classes?
 Pair and Group Work in EFL/ ESL

Advantages:
 increase students’ talking time
 can mimic real English conversations
 create a more secure and positive classroom
atmosphere36
 SGW and PW are more fun.
 Pair and Group Work in EFL/ ESL

Disadvantages:
 SGW and PW will not help students pass
university entrance examinations.
 The teacher may feel like they are losing control of
the class.
 Students will speak only in their L1.
 Teachers are often concerned that students will
pick up incorrect English from other students
 Classroom management: pair and
group work in EFL/ ESL
Do your students speak in English while
working in pairs or small groups?

Is there a need for them? Why?

Will learners immediately begin using English

to communicate with their peers if they are
asked for?
What do communicative tasks require?

What kind of tasks do you use in class to

make your students communicate in English?

Is your classroom student or teacher

centered? Why?
Communicative Tasks
 Interaction is the means and the goal
 Learning is task-based
 Meaning/understanding the message is more
important than exact grammar
 Authentic materials are used
 Many answers are possible
 Mistakes are a part of learning
Types of Communicative Activities
 Role plays
 Interviews
 Information gap
 Games
 Surveys
 Debates
 Pair work
 Drama
 Learn by teaching
Teacher-Centered vs. Learner-Centered
Classrooms
Teacher-centered: the teacher is the focus and
takes responsibility for everything - analyzing
ideas, organizing information, explaining rules,
correcting mistakes

Learner-centered: students work independently;

more responsible for activities; focus on
communicating with each other and the
teacher
Learner-Centered classrooms are better
-Just listening to the teacher doesn’t prepare
students enough to use English
-Students practicing English in pairs and groups will
help them understand and remember new
information better
-Just listening to the teacher all the time is boring!
Students lose motivation

Boring
Our class : SEE or DON’T SEE
1. Students always sitting in rows, facing teacher.
2. Students in groups.
3. Students in teams.
4. Students learning through games.
5. Students being tested through games.
6. All student groups writing the same thing.
7. The teacher giving feedback to the students.
8. Students giving feedback to each other.
The Challenges

What challenges do teachers face while using

Pair Work or Group Work?

How can we overcome these challenges?

What strategies should we implement?
The Challenges

#1: Students only speak in their language

Strategies:
-Teacher very strict about English-only in the
classroom.
-Close monitoring of pair work & group work.
-Providing incentives for students/groups who only
use English in class - candy, extra homework points.
The Challenges
#2: Students make too much noise, are out
of control
Strategies:
-Use a “quiet signal” to maintain control. It can be raised
hand, a clap, light turn off/on
-Set strong and clear guidelines about classroom
behavior from the beginning
-Assign a student monitor(s) to keep control
The Challenges
#3: Students don’t complete activity; they are
bored
Strategies:
-Know your learners! Always search for choose and
design group work activities with their motivation in
mind.
-Each student given a “job” in the group - ex. Secretary,
spokesperson, task control, etc
-Follow-up reports, summaries to be given
The Challenges
#4: Some students don’t participate
Strategies:
-Give students who generally don’t participate the
job of “spokesperson” in the group
-Use “toothpicks” as a tool to control participation.
Each student receives 6 and must use 1 toothpick
every time they speak
-Pair up two “quiet” students together
The Challenges

#5: Students don’t understand directions

Strategies:
-Prepare and practice giving simple, clear instructions.
Repeat many times.
-If students really don’t understand, it’s okay to use
Spanish, but try to avoid it
-Have one student who understands, explain directions
to the class; very motivating
 The Challenges

#6: One group finishes before the others

Strategies:
-Prepare a back-up activity for groups who finish
early
-Use members of fast group as “teacher helpers”
for the groups with difficulties
-Carefully check over group’s completed work
and correct or have them expand on ideas
Different Combinations of Group Work

Some suggestions about what usually

works best….
 Pairs - dialogue practice,vocabularly
drills and grammar review
 Groups of 5 - problem solving activities
 Groups of 4 - introductions and social
interactions
 Groups of 3 - discussions
Effective Technique: Jigsaw

-Students work in “learning” groups to

understand a particular topic well
-New groups are formed called “teaching” groups
where each member comes from a different
learning group
-Each member of the new teaching group is
responsible for teaching their topic
Benefits: prevents “slacking off,” everyone
participates, a lot of material is addressed
Now it’s your turn…
- In small groups or
pairs, design a pair
work or group work
activity for your
students using only
this photo as your
classroom material.
- Use your creativity!
 Questions & Feedback
 What questions do you have about using
group work and pair work effectively?
 Other feedback about what works and what
doesn’t?
Suggested Group Work Resources
 76 Ideas for Group Work in English, from Simon
Midgely, Raising Achievement in Schools.
http://www.simonmidgley.co.uk/talklearn/groupwork.h
tm
 Group Work Lesson Plans, from Lesson Planet.
http://www.lessonplanet.com/search?keywords=grou
p+work&rating=3
 Jigsaw Group Work, from LeMill, Teemu Leiononen
and Hans Põldoja.
http://lemill.net/methods/jigsaw-group-work/view
 Web Resources: Pedagogical Information
The InTime web site provides a concise overview of the “three theoretical perspectives [which]
have guided research on cooperative learning: social interdependence, cognitive-developmental,
and behavioral.”
http://www.intime.uni.edu/coop_learning/ch3/history.htm
The Tools for Teaching web site…
http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/collaborative.html
…draws on widely recognized principles of collaborative learning from the hard copy book Tools
for Teaching by Barbara Gross Davis (1993, Jossey-Bass Publishers: San Francisco).
Group Work vs. Whole-Class Activities, from British Council, BBC.
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/group-work-v-whole-class-activities
A good overview: “Group and pair work are so much a part of our everyday teaching routine that
we hardly pause to think before partitioning the class to tackle some particular communicative
task. But group work may not always be the best option. There will be a time and a place for
whole-class activities…just as there's a time and a place for group work.”
Pair and Group Work in ESL/EFL, from OneStop English.
http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?catid=59438&docid=146454
A realistic view of using group work in an EFL setting: “If the benefits of using English to perform
purposeful communicative tasks are clearly explained to the class…a modest and increasing
success rate can be achieved.”
Teaching Multilevel Adult ESL Classes, from CAELA.
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/shank.html
A useful overview of grouping strategies and self-access materials with mixed abilities learners.
ESOL Starter Kit, from the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center.
http://www.aelweb.vcu.edu/publications/ ESLKit/ESLKit_2002.pdf
An in-depth guide to teaching integrated skills framework, effective use and management of group
work, and integrating computer-based technology in the language classroom (242 pages).
 Web Resources: Classroom Practices and Activities
76 Ideas for Group Work in English, from Simon Midgely, Raising Achievement in Schools.
http://www.simonmidgley.co.uk/talklearn/groupwork.htm
The web page is a bit oddly formatted but it has some good easy-to-apply suggestions for activities.
EFL/ESL Lessons and Lesson Plans, from Internet TESL Journal.
http://iteslj.org/Lessons/
Ideas from teachers for teachers worldwide.
Gateway to 21st Century Skills and Educational Materials (GEM).
http://thegateway.org/
Access to over 50,000 thousand quality learning resources along with learning resources from NASA,
PBS, National Science Foundation and over 700 other contributing education content providers. Use the
search box to search for “group work” or other topics of choice.
Group Work Lesson Plans, from Lesson Planet.
http://www.lessonplanet.com/search?keywords=group+work&rating=3
A great repository of group work lesson plans for all kinds of subject areas.
Group Work Rubrics and Checklists, from the National Adult Literacy Database (NALD) in Canada.
http://www.nald.ca/CLR/btg/ed/evaluation/groupwork.htm
Examples of rubrics for evaluating various facets of group work.
Jigsaw Group Work, from LeMill, Teemu Leiononen and Hans Põldoja.
http://lemill.net/methods/jigsaw-group-work/view
An explanation of the jigsaw, a collaborative technique where the students are split into home groups and
expert groups.
Lesson Plans for K-12 Teachers, from Teach-Nology.
http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/
A lesson plans center with over 30,000 lesson plans. In particular, see “Language Arts” and “Web Quests”
and/or use the search box to look for group work activities.
TEFL.net, ESL Teaching, Lesson Plans.
http://www.tefl.net/esl-lesson-plans/index.htm
Ideas and activities that will help you animate your class. Some of these lesson plans are arranged by
level, but you can often adapt them quite easily to another (usually higher) level.
Thank you!