First of all, this week's reading is the one I am presenting on. About 6 weeks ago I happened to have a free evening and decided to get a head-start on the presentation. So I looked up the topic, Classroom Dynamics, very nice and decided to start with some online research rather than reading the book. The key here is that the book was not within my reach, and I was to comfortable to get up and walk across the room to retrieve it. Anyway, I researched the subject and found some really interesting articles, and practically had the presentation ready. Imagine my surprise when I was actually reading the L&S chapters this weekend and realized that the topic is not so much classroom dynamics as class types and observing different classrooms. Surprise!

As far as the types of classes go, I am for a combination of structure/communicative/task-based approach. There has to be a certain type of structure (especially in adult education), filled with communicative and task-based activities. The teacher also has to make sure that the students are getting enough exposure to the language, both written (books, published materials) and spoken (movies, TV and radio programs, guest speakers, podcasts).

The chapter also talked about types of feedback we give our students. I think that it is wrong to correct them every time they make a mistake, so I usually keep a mental list of things to be addressed or surreptitiously mark them somewhere. Once everyone is done talking we can go back and look at the mistakes together.