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.