Some common problems that teamwork has

Floudering: discussions, and decisions my be posponed

Dominating participants and reluctant participans: take more than their share of the discussion by talking to often, asserting superiority, telling lengthy, or not letting others finish

Digressions and tangents: too many interesting side stories can be obstacles to group progress

Rush to work: one person in the group is less patient. This person may reach a decision more quickly than the others and then pressure the group to move on before others are ready

Feuds: occasionally a conflict

Ignoring or ridiculing others: Sb ognores or ridicules what others say, criticizing their experience or knowledge

Noisy: the noise level may rise because of the close interaction

Native language: the learners may start talking about whatever they want in their native language

Loss of attention: the teacher may not be able to get the learners' attention again and lose control of the class.

( This information was taken from a Literature course in the University of Veracruz., 2004)

Reasons to organize Students to work in groups

• To develop of a range of skills such as chairing, organization, group/interpersonal work and peer tutoring
• Ability to work in a team is one of the most important qualities looked for by most employers
• team work encourages creative thinking
• Assessing group work saves assessment time
• Variety and dynamism

THINGS THAT HAVE TO BE CONSIDERED FOR WORKING IN GROUPS

• Groups work best if people know each others' names
• Be sure to include everyine when considering ideas
• Take turns for different works or different phrases of the work
• Go around the group and hear everyone's ideas or encourage divergent thinking by brainstorming

The good language teacher

The good language teacher:

• friendly
• explains things
• gives good notes
• knows how to treat sb who sits ate desk for six hours
• lets the Ss do it by themselves
• elicits info. from Ss
• plays games related to the topic of the subject
• asks Ss' oppinions
• is forceful but not strict
• is educated
• knows about psychology
• uses movement to make meaning clear
• makes sure everybody understand
• is funny sometimes but not always
• believes in Ss and makes Ss believe in teacher
• makes grammar clear
• gives advice
• among others...

Use storytelling in class

Use storytelling in ESL class because:

1. It helps to develop the Ss' udnerstanding of narrative structure
2. You will have the Ss' attention
3. Telling folktales themselves will help the Ss with their paragraphrasing skills, which in turn is helpful in writing research papers
4. Folktales are in public domain, their themes are timeless and universale, and they are part of everybody nation's oral tradition
5. When you tell a story instead of reading it you have eye contact with the audience and can judge when to give more explanation or wen to skip over some datails to get to the climax. The audiece also has full access to your gestures and facial expressions.
6. The stories themselves can be a jumping off point for the major skill areas.

Choose a tale that:

1. You want to tell
2. With one simple plot
3. With few interesting characters, not too many
4. With lots of action building to a climax
5. That has a short introduction that sets the stage
6. That will be interesting to your audience

An effective Storyteller:

1. Tells a story that has a beginning that catches the audience's attention, a clear telling of all the events in sequence, and an effective ending
2. Uses pauses to emphasize an importan word, but not too many unnecessary pauses
3. Looks at the audience
4. Uses posture and gestures to help te story
5. Uses different voice pitch for different characters such as a deep voice for a night.

Tips for learning a tale:

1. Read the whole tale yourselve
2. Read it again out loud. listen to the sound of the language
3. Memorize the opening sentence, the conclusion, and maybe a few key words but no more. Don't memorize the whole tale. That will make it boring for your listeners.
4. Develop pictures in your mind of the action in the order that it happens. It might help to draw pictures or list a few words to remind you of the events
5. Try to tell the tale in your own words to remind you of the events
6. Practice the tale until you feel comfortable with it. Remember, you are not memorizing the story word for word. you are remembering te story, just like you remember what you did last week or the plot of your favorite movie, so that you can tell a friend.

(This information was taken from a workshop given by Sandy Miller and Patricia Lima Costa in a MEXTESOL convention 2005)