DOs and DON’Ts for teachers during team work/ pair work activities

DOs

1. Choose the appropriate method of grouping for each assignment;
2. Stay low, but offer help when needed;
3. Be a walking resource;
4. Encourage students to speak English during EFL classes as opposed to using their native tongue;
5. Encourage shy students to participate;
6. Encourage students to choose their representative for each presentation of their work, a different representative each time;
7. Try to keep the level of noise to the minimum;
8. Avoid boredom by not giving too long assignments;
9. Assign tasks that are appropriate to their level of knowledge;
10. Encourage the use of technology for research.

DON’Ts

1. Don’t use the same grouping method every time;
2. Don’t avoid using groupwork/pairwork;
3. Don’t use teamwork to solve personal conflicts;
4. Don’t encourage one team member’ s desire to outshine the rest;
5. Don’t praise the work of one individual, praise the whole team;
6. Don’t impose your vision on the teams;
7. Don’t lose control of the class;
8. Don’t give uninteresting assignments or tasks that present no interest to the students;
9. Don’t favour one team;
10. As a foreign language teacher, don’t encourage the use of their native tongue during the activity and don’t you use it yourself.

Tips for team work and pair work

How to group students for teamwork:




1. Randomly: You might not need specific students together, but you do want speed. Pre-assign groups of students so that they just have to get together without long transition time.


2. The same skill level: It seems to be good for ability- specific tasks assigned to each group


3. Mix skill level: Students learn well when different skills and levels are mixed. With this you can make sure your strongest students are intermingled with others.


4. Interest grouping: If you are aware of different interests of your students, you might want to put them together and have them connect their common interest to the task


5. Rotational system: Instead of having one partner or group, students can set up in a circle and a portion of each group rotates clockwise while the other portion stays in place.


6. Alphabetical rotation system: Group students based on the alphabetical order of their names; and if you choose, rotate them based on their names as well


7. Students choose groups: You can allow them to choose their own groups based on their common interests and friendships.


8. Birthday buddies: Who has their birthday in the same month as you? Ask students that question, and group them accordingly.


9. Pick colored pencils/markers: When creating a poster or colorful project, have students grab one colored utensil and ask them to mix with others with different colors.


10. Line it up and fold it: Ask students to line up in response to a question or trait. They could line up by height, or perhaps line up based on a spectrum of how much they know about the day’s topic. Then fold the line in half, so the least knowledgeable student is paired with the most knowledgeable student, and so on.

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