Situations for problem-solving activity

What would you do?

Instructions:Read the following problems individually. Consid-er the possible solutions. Decide on one solution that you think is the best one and be able to justify it. Then discuss your solutions in your group, giving your preferences and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each.

If pupils pass notes or talk when you feel they should be listen-ing, there are ways of dealing with the situation. But what can be done if a quiet boy of twelve just does not belong? He just sits with an absent-minded look and nothing can arouse his interest.

"Are you here, Pete?" I asked him when I felt I could not have it any longer. He looked up startled. A minute passed and he was off again. I insisted. Then he said, "But I'm not doing anything wrong."

There was a provocative note in his answer.

— You're riot listening. You're day-dreaming. He had to admit that.

— I can't help it. I like it.

— But why is it that you dream at the lesson?

— I don't know.

That's it! He does not know.

We often talk about Peter's case in the teachers' room but can-not find the proper solution.

And what would you do?

My first observation of Mike's flair for drawing cartoons was ac-cidental: I saw a few faces on the back cover of his exercise-book. I could even recognize them — the mischievous J., the lazy N., the pretty M.

Remembering the necessity of developing creative approaches in education, I said, "You do it well but why not draw things on sepa-rate sheets of paper?"

Situations for problem-solving activity - student2.ru

A few weeks later I saw them passing some sheet of paper at the lesson. Some were giggling.

"Give it to me! Do you hear?" I attacked M. furiously.

N. who had just passed it back to him protested, "Please, don't! It's private."

She was evidently lying and I insisted. So M. gave in. It was a car-toon all right. Of whom do you think? Of me, of course.

I was at a loss for a moment. But then I came up with a fitting re-sponse to it.

What was it?

I was not exactly a fully-fledged teacher yet, but I had already gained some experience when I had to face up to the fact that I could not reach my class of sixth-formers. I struggled hard to gain acceptance but a month had passed since September and they were still unman-ageable. (If you have a feeling for atmosphere — and you should if you teach — you always know when there is something wrong.)

I kept looking for clues in whatever they said or wrote. I went to the theatre with them, I went on outings and excursions, together with their class-mistress. (There are a number of rewards in this line of work, you know!) But it had no effect this time.

After some meditation on this problem, I came up with a fitting response.

What was it?

I soon discovered that M. did her homework in a very careless way though her handwriting looked nice on test papers. Later I discov-ered her secret: she lived within an hour's distance from the school and used her travel time in the bus to do her homework.

"You shouldn't do it," I said firmly. "You'll become a bad writer in general. You'll spoil your eye-sight."

I did my best to convince her it was doing her harm. "Besides, your homework looks nasty," I added.

Once as I was travelling to the school by Metro busy with my fi-nalizing chores '(correcting the student's test papers, of all things), I caught sight of M. sitting opposite me also busy with her homework.

Goodness! I had been sitting there huddled in my corner seat, M. just in front of me!

That served me right. But I had to tell her something.

What would you say to a girl of fourteen in that kind of situation?

At school you can easily notice that most of the teachers repeat instructions too many times. It is not that the pupils are regular trou-ble-makers. It is just that you are struggling for communication when their minds are occupied with something more absorbing.

I have always looked for interesting attention catchers to be used if the necessity has arisen.

What would you advise to q teacher of ten-formers?

Today I have sent P. home from school for smoking in the lavato-ry. That is bad enough for a thirteen-year-old boy, but the more seri-ous part is that he regularly takes money from his parents' pockets. His father, a respectable-looking researcher, confessed it last week.

He is a rather easily led boy, so they tried to reason with him, but to no avail.

I wonder if sending him home with a note to his parents was a good idea.

And what would you do?

With all my eagerness to teach I cannot find a suitable solution to my problem. The fact is I cannot keep order well. I devised a num-ber of tactics but it did not help. Next year they will be trying to en-ter different institutes. They like to talk art, music and fashions... But if you observed one of my classes, you would never guess that! You'd hear noise which makes whatever you are trying to explain uninter-esting in the extreme.

So today when I saw K. rude and contemptuous, hands in pock-ets at the blackboard, I suddenly made up my mind...

What would you do?

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M. had always strived to be different from others. He used to be at war with everybody. A sort of outsider. So I felt something should be done. It was simply necessary to interfere into his relationships with the class.

By and by things were becoming worse and worse. He was becom-ing a real grumbler and fault-finder.

Once he went as far as this; he threatened the deputy head mas-ter. He said, "Tell the class master to stop summoning my parents and tell them about my bad progress."

Certainly the deputy head master was taken aback.

"You're being impudent, don't you think? You sound rather cat-egoric for a student. The next step on your part will be the ultima-tum."

"This is the ultimatum!" "And if nobody responds?" "Then I'll take measures." "What measures?"

No answer.

"What's the world coming to?" we thought.

So when he passed all his final exams and left school, we felt re-lieved, you may believe me.

But four years later things took an unexpected turn. M. appeared in the school. He looked grown up and mature — he was just after the Army. In fact — a different person.

The preparations for the winter camp were on and he tried to help. He avoided the teachers, but helped the children. And suddenly (it was a sort of verbal bomb) he asked the head master to let him work as a sport instructor.

We really had to do a lot of thinking.

What would you do?

The performance of the scenes from "Romeo and Juliet" was a terrible success. There were many people in the play, but it was O. who really starred in it. There was a lot of smiling, joking and hand-shaking after the first night and he felt smug, I think.

Though, frankly speaking, I don't think it was all so perfect. For example, he said the last line in the final scene in a small flat voice

which I hated so much during the rehearsals. But I could not make him change it, as he believed he was doing it well.

And now I dimly sense in him that growing self-esteem. More than that, he started putting on airs. For example, the other day I asked him to fetch a few books from the library.

"Why me?" he said.

I insisted. "Hurry please and do so. Don't keep me waiting." He obeyed reluctantly.

I must certainly do something.

What / wonder?

That boy had been a newcomer for a month or so, when I noticed he hated doing homework I gave to the class. He was known to have come from a far-away place, but his English was rather good. (Much better than other subjects.) I had the impression that he had learnt English not through textbooks, but from detective stories.

"Why don'tyou do your homework?" I asked. "It's dull," he said, "Do you mean to say you would like to do something different?" He nodded in agree.ment.

And I feel now I need some good advice.

What kind of work would you give to this kind of ninth-former?

Never in history have people been travelling, relocating their fam-ilies so much as they are doing now. (Some sociologists even say we are witnessing a historic decline in the significance of place to hu-man life.) I personally disagree here, as "East or West, home is best" to me, but professionally more than once did I have to solve problems resulting from that phenomenon.

For example, last year N., a boy of 12, showed a remarkable in-'difference to the class members by saying he "was not interested in communication."

"How come?" I asked. "Wouldn't you like to make friends?" "It makes no sense," answered the twelve-year-old sophisticate. "I'm sure we'll have to move to a new place very soon."

And that was it.

How would you manage this kind of situation? Do you think you could get him involved?

It was more than a flair for painting. He had a real talent. That was clear to all the members of the teaching staff. To everybody but his parents who insisted that he should go on with English as a special-ity. (Otherwise what was a school specializing in English for?) They even came to see me and pleaded not to interfere.

I must admit he had a gift for languages too, a perfect ear for ac-cent and pronunciation.

In his final term at school he did a wonderful piece of painting, so I made up my mind. I couldn't help it. I said to him: "We know you're undecided about your future. You and I must have a real heart-to-heart talk about it."

My "talk-in" took a lot of thinking but it worked.

What do you think I told him?

Do you let your students leave the class-room during their writ-ten test with an easy heart? I don't.

I have always suspected Nina was using the lavatory as a reference room when she wrote a test in any subject. Later we had a mutual understanding about it in the teachers' room.

This time there was a definite proof about it again. Her paper was excellent but I made up my mind to do something about it this time.

And how would you do it?

For reasons of his own D. from the 8th В stole away the register. It was strange because he had always been a top student and there was no evident reason for him to do it.

He confessed at the class meeting it was he who did it but would not tell anybody why he had done it and where the register was at the moment.

Later he was summoned to the head master's office and got a lot of talking there but would not say a word about it.

What could the reason be? How do you think we should have dealt with him?

Situations for problem-solving activity - student2.ru

Many members of the teaching profession hold strong views on prompting in class. Really, those who prompt do a disservice to the one they think they are helping.

Frankly speaking, as for me, I have always been against stern measures (I mean giving a bad mark or something of the kind both to the receiver and to the giver, or to either of them). Still I thought I had had enough of that in my class and launched "a campaign" against prompting taking up a different approach.

What would you do in this kind of situation?

The other day it was too noisy in class. The boys fidgeted and whispered, the girls giggled. I asked what the fidgeting was about. Averted eyes. As I half-turned to the blackboard, everything started again.

What could I do? I said I wanted "their undivided attention". Nothing. Suddenly I noticed that one of the boys who had been sort of labelled as a trouble-maker since he appeared in this school made a move. So I rushed upon him and made him leave the class-room.I knew I was wrong, but I had to do something to impose discipline.

What would you do? Do you think I was wrong?

When I met my new 9th form, I immediately saw that N. was not just a good thinker and talker, but he had an astonishingly good memory.

I have no doubt that we should recognize the unique potential of an individual approach to each member of the class. So I gave him a lot of attention.

But one day I recognized that the class became jealous... Or may be there was something wrong about his relationships with the class? I do not know.

What would you do about it?

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Situations for problem-solving activity - student2.ru

It is common knowledge that access to oceans of information and the rapid development of science and technology are fascinating, but I think that in terms of the teaching situations it can be embarrass-ing to a teacher.

The well-read M. of the 10th A always uses most fascinating in-formation with facts and figures for his reports. Sometimes I even feel ill at ease about it as I simply do not know whether it is true or not.

How do you think we should act in such cases?

Yesterday I had a few panicky moments as I heard a "cu -coo" chimed by somebody instead of "Good morning". I froze. At first I had no idea what to do. Then I made up my mind. I saw no sense in trying to dodge it. Inwardly I swallowed the threat of tears and de-cided to take firm action to set the class of fifth-formers to order.

I answered, "Cu-coo, cu-coo! Good morning!"

What do you think about it? What would you do?

No one in my 5th В can look so crestfallen over unprepared home-work as P. can. His forte is facial expressions and the class enjoys them very much indeed.

Yesterday I called upon him. (The homework was to memorize a poem.) He stood in front of the class without saying a word, just making faces. He was obviously entertaining the children.

I thought I should take up something immediately to stop his clowning.

I wonder what is the best way to deal with this kind of situation?

CONTENTS

ESSENTIAL COURSE

Insight into Profession......................................................................................... 6

Unit One

Text One: "The Passionate Year" by James Hilton............................... 13

Commentary............................................................................................................ 15

Essential Vocabulary........................................................................................... 15

Exercises................................................................................................................... 19

Profession-oriented Questions and Activities......................................... 26

Conversation and Discussion:

What Makes a Good Teacher?................................................................. 26

Insight into Profession....................................................................................... 37

Unit Two

Text Two: "The Escape" by Somerset Maugham................................... 41

Commentary........................................................................................................... 44

Essential Vocabulary.......................................................................................... 45

Exercises.................................................................................................................. 49

Profession-oriented Questions and Activities......................................... 55

Conversation and Discussion:

Books and Readers....................................................................................... 56

Insight into Profession....................................................................................... 67

Unit Three

Text Three: "One Stair Up" by Campbell Nairne................................... 71

Commentary........................................................................................................... 73

Essential Vocabulary.......................................................................................... 74

Exercises.................................................................................................................. 79

Profession-oriented Questions and Activities......................................... 87

Conversation and Discussion:

Cinema: Its Past, Present and Future..................................................... 88

Insight into Profession....................................................................................... 99

Unit Four

Text Four: "Dangerous Corner" by John B. Priestley......................... 101

Essential Vocabulary........................................................................................ 104

Exercises............................................................................................................... 107

Profession-oriented Questions and Activities...................................... 116

Conversation and Discussion:

The Theatre................................................................................................... 116

Insight into Profession.................................................................................... 127

Unit Five

Text Five: "Up the Down Staircase" by Bel Kaufman..................... 131

Commentary........................................................................................................ 133

Essential Vocabulary....................................................................................... 134

Exercises............................................................................................................... 136

Profession-oriented Questions and Activities...................................... 144

Conversation and Discussion:

New Challenges in Education............................................................... 145

Insight into Profession.................................................................................... 154

Unit Six

Text Six: "Anthony in Blue Alsatia" by Eleanor Farjeon............... 158

Essential Vocabulary...................................................................................... 161

Exercises............................................................................................................... 164

Profession-oriented Questions and Activities...................................... 174

Conversation and Discussion:

Travelling. Holiday-Making. Environmental

Protection....................................................................................................... 174

Insight into Profession.................................................................................... 188

Unit Seven

Text Seven: "The Angel Pavement"

by John B. Priestley......................................................................................... 192

Essential Vocabulary...................................................................................... 194

Exercises............................................................................................................... 197

Profession-oriented Exercises..................................................................... 205

Conversation and Discussion:

The Generation Gap. The Problems of the Young..................... 205

Insight into Profession.................................................................................... 213

APPENDIX

Situations for Problem-solving Activity................................................. 219

Учебное издание

Situations for problem-solving activity - student2.ru

Аракин Владимир Дмитриевич, Антрушина Галина Борисовна, Кириллова Елена Петровна, Левина Эмма Леонидовна, Петрушин Сергей Иванович, Самохина Татьяна Сергеевна

ПРАКТИЧЕСКИЙ КУРС АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

5 курс

Учебник для студентов высших учебных заведений 4-е издание, исправленное и дополненное

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