Tips for Managing Class Grouping in a KG Class

1-   Divide class into groups with 2 or 3 different tasks and give directions clearly to each separate group.

2-   Work with those who are writing or the weak group and keep an eye on the others.

3-   Don't allow students to leave their seats and come to you when they are done.

4-   If you know one task would be finished quickly assign a double task.

5-   Teach students to get the books they are going to need from the beginning or assign a student in each group to collect/ distribute books if you feel they're capable of doing that.

6- A good suggestion for dividing the groups would be: 1 group working on their journals, another playing with sight words or sound cards, another using play dough to form letters or shapes, and the rest one or two groups working on their activity sheets.  

7-  When one of the writing groups is done have them switch with one of those who are playing.

8-   Whole class activities should be used only when you are introducing a new concept, reviewing for a short period of time, doing whole class reading, echo or choral reading but not when you work with weak students while the others are only watching.

9-  It's all about routine! Teaching students to get into the routine is number one rule in classroom management. Once you get them used to it, very little is left for you to manage.

I Build Walls

I build walls:
Walls that protect,
Walls that shield,
Walls that say I shall not yield
Or reveal
Who I am or how I feel.

I build walls:
Walls that hide,
Walls that cover what’s inside,
Walls that stare or smile or look away,
Silent lies,
Walls that even block my eyes
From the tears I might have cried.

      I build walls:
    Walls that never let me

Truly touch

Those I love so very much.

Walls that need to fall!

Walls meant to be fortresses

Are prisons after all.

* Copied from an anonymous writer*

The poem is amazing and describes what most of us do in hiding our feelings. Sometimes, we need to cover our feelings because showing them would mean we're weak and we can't be weak. However, at times, it's necessary to share how we feel with others for this helps relieve our stress and get some support from people who care about us.

What Does It Mean to Be a Coordinator?

 For many, a coordinator is this picky person who is always at your heels trying to find faults and weaknesses in everything you do. For me, a coordinator is a facilitator, trainer, and FRIEND for the teachers he/she works with. A coordinator is not a person who looks for mistakes; he/she is a person who elaborates on positive points to compensate for negative ones. A coordinator is not a person who imposes his/her ideas on teachers; he/she is a person who discusses the different issues suggesting new ideas and giving teachers the freedom to choose from. A coordinator is not only responsible for your teaching methods and students' results; he/she is also, and most importantly, responsible for you as a person, cares for your welfare, and is ready to support and take your side whenever you need it. 

Personally, I love it when the teachers I work with say, "She is our coordinator." I love it when I see them gathering around me at recess times to "gossip" about things that are totally "not educational". I love it when they surprise me with a gift they all participated in getting for me on a special occasion. I love it when one of them comes to talk to me about a personal problem and asks for my advice. I love it when I feel their love and readiness to help and support in anything I need to do regardless of whether it is something within our department or no. 

I'm not saying I'm a perfect coordinator, but I guess I managed to be a good friend.

Teachers' surprise gift for me on Teachers' Day.

Maps and Prepositions

The usage of prepositions is very important in conveying our message in the right way. Because we are teaching English as a foreign language for Arabic speakers, we see a lot of our students making errors in the use of prepositions. Those errors are the result of transferring their L1 knowledge to the language they are learning. Sometimes they make funny errors, sometimes their errors affect our understanding of what they want to say, and sometimes those errors alter the meaning of what they want to say totally. To avoid such dilemma, it's important to teach them the use of prepositions in meaningful contexts.

Maps can very useful to serve this goal. To read a map or give directions to reach a certain place, you need to use prepositions of place and movement. I used them in my classes and students really enjoyed it. For the purpose of integrating grammar with the other domains like listening and speaking, I used maps in listening activities and asked students to draw a map to their homes and give oral directions on the map to their friends to reach their houses. In such activities, students will have to say for example, "Go through Palm Street, turn left at the liberary, my house is opposite to the supermarket." Such activities helped my students practice using prepositions in real life situations and the direct feedback provided helped in learning this concept in a better way.

Sample Map

On the map below, you can mark specific areas and ask students to locate them, or you can say that someone is at a specific spot and needs help to reach his/her destination. Using prepositions of place and movement is the only way students can perform such tasks and doing that properly would mean your goals have been met!

Calendars in the Grammar Class

Who said grammar lessons are boring and dull? A lot of materials can be utilized and grammar can be easily made interesting and practical. Calendars make a great tool to practice verb tenses in writing and speaking. Let's say you're teaching the past tense. You can use a month's calendar to have students speak or write about the past activities of someone. If you're teaching the future, then they can talk about future plans. Teaching tenses is not about having students choose the correct form of the verb or fill in the blanks with it; it's about getting them to use those tenses correctly in the appropriate situations. calendars would provide a good opportunity for you to help students realize that tenses are not restricted to grammar sessions; they are rather there every time they want to talk about something. Using such activities in grammar classes will help students transfer the knowledge they receive in grammar classes to other domains, and most importantly, to real life situations.

Sample Calendar

April 2012
Sunday	Saturday	Friday	Thursday	Wednesday	Tuesday	Monday
5 Wash the car	4	3	2 Today's Date	1
12	11	10 Ali's Party	9	8	7	6
19	18	17	16	15	14	13
26	25	24	23	22 Hand in science project	21	20
			30 Mom's arrival from Paris	29	28	27