missteacher

I know what it feels like to have one's own classroom now. I asked... and I got it. I'm so happy! You can't imagine how nice it feels. It's a bit like feeling home. I can decorate, I can put tables and chairs as I want, I can move the desk, etc.
So I reorganized the classroom. I made a big U shape with 19 chairs and tables and a smaller U inside with 6 chairs. In front of the whiteboard are 2 chairs (for very talkative pupils!).
Why a U shape? For some of you (especially American readers I guess), it seems obvious. Well, here it's not, particularly in my school. All the classes, ALL of them are not in U shape, but in rows. A bit like this:

For a foreign language class, I think this is awful beause kids can't see each other and therefore talk to each other in English. They have to turn on their chairs, in uncomfortable positions. So I asked them to move the tables to create a U shape. But as I used to change room every day, tables had to be moved and re-moved again and again. It was a pain.
Now the problem doesn't exist any more.

The U shape makes sense, above all if you use groupwork with your pupils. I started using groupwork quite recently. I only had a vague idea of what it meant when I was a trainee. I never did it back then. Last November, somebody came into my class to see how I was doing. She encouraged me to use groupwork, to "maximise every pupil's speaking time". I was doubtful. Wouldn't they speak French? Would they be serious enough to do it ? Would it work? Well, I had to try. And it worked. And I try to do it more and more.

How does groupwork work?

Well, you need a simple communicative situation. For example, asking questions. Questions with a simple pattern (you can even do the questions beforehand so that they just need to ask them).
Let's take the "back from holidays" lesson plan. There were questions about preterit: what the pupils did during the holidays. We did a couple of questions together: Did you sleep a lot? Did you eat chocolate? Did you visit your family? etc. Then we wrote them in a grid which I had handed out.
I then expain the work in French to make sure everybody gets it. They have to stand up and go and ask questions to other pupils, all at the same time. Sure, there is some noise but come on... languages are made to be spoken. So they get up and they actually love asking each other's questions, more than I thought! The activity lasts about 5 minutes, not more. They have plenty of time to ask their questions several times, therefore practising the structure A LOT.
Then, they come back to their seats and tell the class what they found out.
It works great and I'm now convinced that it's the right way to do it. Surprinsingly enough, they don't speak that much French. Most of them speak English all the time. It's like a game for them.
I'm trying to find any situation to pracise this activity. I'm not doint it every week, but I'm trying to do more and more. With more practise, I guess I'll find more situations.
If your practise this, you'll realise that it makes sense to have a U shape. Pupils (and you!) can move much more freely. You also have more space.

While pupils are doing the groupwork, you just watch and help correct if needed. The beauty of it is that they do it on their own. they don't need you any more.