Tips and Ideas for the
First Day of Classes
One of the most
important class days is the first. The first day can excite students about the
class, calm their fears, and set their expectations for the semester. The first
day is an opportunity for the teacher to get to know and begin to evaluate
students and to express expectations for the semester.
Be
early for class, even if only a few minutes, so that you can write on the board
what the class is, i.e. Conversation 305, Intensive Level 5. Being early allows
you to arrange the room the way you want to and to make sure all the necessary
equipment is there. Write your name on the board. Do you want your students
first impression of you to be one where you run in like a chicken with your
head cut off, or one where you appear organized and in control?
When
your students have arrived (or, frequently, as they are arriving) introduce
yourself. If you use a nickname, explain what it means and why you use it. If
you have office hours, tell students when they are and where your office is.
Giving your students your pager and office or home telephone numbers allows
them to call you when they won't be in class or to find out what work they
missed, and makes them feel closer to you. You seem more accessible. Give them
your e-mail account and tell them they can practice writing by sending you
messages.
At
this point you can write students names in your roll book. Encourage students
to take English nicknames. Not only will this make remembering them easier for
you, it allows shy students a false identity to hide behind when they answer
questions or do role plays.
Location, Location, Location
Explain
the location of rooms and areas in the building. Students need to know where
the toilets, smoking areas, and vending machines are. Tell students where the
school secretaries and the bursar's offices are. Don't forget to advise the
students of procedures in case of emergencies.
Talk
about class rules. Students need to know what the absence and homework policies
are. If you don't allow cell phones or eating in class, it's easier to deal
with it on the first day, rather than address it when it occurs. You may have
to address it then, as well, but you laid the ground work on day one.
Students
should be told about school opportunities. Some schools have English clubs, or
international student associations. If your school offers TOEFL classes or ESP
classes, tell the students. Advise students of study areas. School breaks and
holidays should, also, be addressed.
Asking students what
they expect and want from class not only gives you ideas of how to tailor the
class to your students needs, but it starts them talking.
Show students the
textbooks and tell them where they can buy them. This will ensure they have the
right books and reinforce that they are in the correct class. However, if
possible, don't jump into the book the first day. There are other introductory
activities that can be used to get students talking to each other.
There
are a myriad of introduction games to get to know students and to get them
talking. Very simple ones, such as introducing yourself and telling an
interest, with the next person repeating the information and adding theirs,
works well with lower level learners. A variation of this is to toss a ball, or
other small object, back and forth, with the person catching providing the
information.
Interview games are
sometimes better for students too shy to speak in front of groups. Prepare a
list of questions, such as "Who can play piano?", "Who can say
'good morning' in German?", and "Who has one brother?", and have
students walk around and interview each other to gather the information. A
variation of this is to put the questions on a Bingo board. If students shyly
stand waiting to be approached, take them to other students and walk them
through an interview. The teacher should also participate. This is a chance for
you to get to know you students.
An activity that works
well with classes that have been together for several months is Timeline. A
timeline is a graph that notes important events, such as birth, school
graduations, moving from one town to another, and marriage, and the dates they
occurred on. Feel free to include less serious moments such as "my first
kiss". Students enjoy learning special things about the teacher.
Before class, teachers
prepare a timeline of their life. Teachers show their example, explain the
idea, give the student paper, and have them prepare one. Tell students to list
at least five or six events and not to put their names on the timelines.
Collect them, when the students finish, number them, and tape the time lines up
around the room. Students then need to walk around the room and interview each
other to determine which timeline belongs to which classmate. Students can ask
either open ended information questions (When were you born?) or yes/no
questions (Did you get your first kiss in 1995?), but cannot ask the
interviewee's number. After students have determined which timeline belongs to
which student, or after a set time, remove the timelines from the walls and ask
students who is who.
These introductory tips
and exercises work best with a two hour block of time, but can be adjusted for
shorter classes. Stretching this into a longer class could become tedious.
All the time you are
doing the exercises, you should be evaluating the students. Who has a good
command of grammar? Who spells well? Who is shy, or outgoing? You can use all
of this information during the semester.
Finally,
thank the student for enrolling in the class. This is a simple thing, but in
the first days of class, when a lot is happening, students need to know they
are appreciated. This is, certainly, important with private language
institutes, but university students need this, too.
Remember when you were a student starting a new class. You wanted
to know who those people next to you were. You wanted to know who the teacher
was and what was expected of you. And you wanted to know where the bathroom
was. Following this plan, or a similar one, will answer your student's
questions and help you to get to know them better and faster.
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