Classroom English for Teachers

Classroom English for Teachers
(This lecture note mainly derives from Professor Jin Ling's publication. Millions of thanks goes to him)

Classroom Language: The beginning of the lesson

1. Good morning

Good morning, everybody.
Good afternoon, everybody.
Hello, everyone.
Hello there, Professors.


2. How are you?

How are you today, xxx?.
How are you getting on?
How's life?
How are things with you, xxx?
Are you feeling better today, xxx?

3. Introductions

My name is Mr/Mrs/Ms Yang. I'm your new English teacher.
I'll be teaching you English this year.
I've got five lessons with you each week.


4. Time to begin

Let's begin our lesson now.
Is everybody ready to start?
I hope you are all ready for your English lesson.
I think we can start now.
Now we can get down to work.

5. Waiting to start

I'm waiting for you to be quiet.
We won't start until everyone is quiet.
Stop talking and be quiet.
Settle down now so we can start.
6. Put your things away
Close your books.
Put your books away.
Pack your things away.

7. Register

Who is absent today?.
Who isn't here today?
What's the matter with Lin Min today?
What's wrong with Jinjin today?
Why were you absent last Friday, Lao Lee?

8. Late

Where have you been?
We started ten minutes ago. What have you been doing?.
Did you miss your bus?
Did you oversleep?
Don't let it happen again.


Classroom Language: Simple instructions
Here are some common instructions which the class can easily understand:

Come in.
Go out.
Stand up.
Sit down.
Come to the front of the class.
Stand by your desks.
Put your hands up.
Put your hands down.
Hold your books/pens up.
Show me your pencil.

A number of instructions can be used at the beginning of a session, and as the semester continues:

Pay attention, everybody.
You need pencils/rulers.
We'll learn how to ...
Are you ready?
Open your books at page ...
Turn to page ...
Look at acitivity five.
Listen to this tape.
Repeat after me.
Again, please.
Everybody ...
you have five minutes to do this.
Who's next?
Like this, not like that.

A number of instructions can be used at the end of a session, and as the semester continues:

It's time to finish.
Have you finsihed?
Let's stop now.
Stop now.
Let's check the answers.
Any questions?
Collect your work please.
Pack up your books.
Are your desks tidy?
Don't forget to bring your ... tomorrow.

Instructions can also be sequenced:

First
Next
After that
Then
Finally

Comprehension language:

Are you ready?
Are you with me?
Are you OK?
OK so far?
Do you get it?
Do you understand?
Do you follow me?
What did you say?
One more time, please.
Say it again, please.
I don't understand.
I don't get it.
Like this?
Is this OK?


Classroom Language: The end of the lesson

1. Time to stop

It's almost time to stop.
I'm afraid it's time to finish now.
We'll have to stop here.
There's the bell. It's time to stop.
That's all for today. You can go now.

2. Not time to stop.

The bell hasn't gone yet.
There are still two minutes to go.
We still have a couple ofminutes left.
The lesson doesn't finish till five past.
Your watch must be fast.
We seem to have finished early.
We have an extra five minutes.
Sit quietly until the bell goes.

3. Wait a minute

Hang on a moment.
Just hold on a moment.
Stay where you are for a moment.
Just a moment, please.
One more thing before you go.
Back to your places.

4. Next time

We'll do the rest of this chapter next time.
We'll finish this exercise next lesson.
We've run out of time, so we'll continue next lesson.
We'll continue this chapter next Monday.

5. Homework

This is your homework for tonight.
Do exercise 10 on page 23 for your homework.
Prepare the next chapter for Monday.
There is no homework tonight.
Remember your homework.
Take a worksheet as you leave.


6. Goodbye

Goodbye, everyone.
See you again next Wednesday.
See you tomorrow afternoon.
See you in room 7 after the break.
Have a good holiday.
Enjoy your vacation..

7. Leaving the room

Get into a queue.
Form a queue and wait for the bell.
Everybody outside!
All of you, get outside now!
Hurry up and get out!
try not to make any noise as you leave.
Be quiet as you leave. Other classes are still working.


Classroom Language: The language of spontaneous situations
If we use English in spontaneous situations:

we relate the target language to the learner's immediate environment;
we take advantage of spontaneous situations to use the target language;
we exploit contexts which are not directly linked to the syllabus (language in use).


Here are some common situations in which spontaneous English can be used:

Happy birthday!.
Many returns (of the day).
..... Qinghai Universiy entered project 211 eventually!.

I hope you all have a good Teachers' Day.
Happy New Year!
All the best for the New Year.
Happy Mid Autumn Festival.
Best of luck.
Good luck.
I hope you pass.
Congratulations!
Well done!
Hard lines!
Never mind.
Better luck next time..
Who's not here today?
Who isn't here?
What's wrong with ... today?
Do you feel better today?
Are you better now?
Have you been ill?
What was the matter?
I'm sorry (about that).
Sorry, that was my fault.
I'm terribly sorry.
Excuse me for a moment.
I'll be back in a moment.
Carry on with the exercise while I'm away.
I've got to go next door for a moment.
Excuse me.
Could I get past please?
You're blocking the way.
I can't get past you.
Get out of the way, please.
I'm afraid I can't speak any louder.
I seem to be losing my voice.
I have a sore throat.
I have a headache.
I'm feeling under the weather.
Do you mind if I sit down?

Classroom Language
The language of classroom management
Here are some common situations in which spontaneous English can be used:

Make groups of four.
Move your desks into groups of four people.
Turn your desks around.
Make a horseshoe shape with your desks.
Make a circle with your desks.
Make a line of desks facing each other.
Make groups of four desks facing each other.
Sit back to back.
Work together with your friend
Find a partner
Work in pairs/threes/fours/fives.
Work in groups of two/three/four.
I want you to form groups.
Form groups of three
Here are some tasks for you to work on in groups of four.
There are too many in this group.
Can you join the other group?
Only three people in each group.
I asked for four people to a group.
Everybody work individually
Work by yourselves.
Work independently.
Ask your neighbor for help.
Work on the task together.
Ask other people in the group
Ask others in the class.
Interview someone else.
Ask everyone in the class.
Stand up and find another partner.
Have you finished?
Do the next activity.
Move on to the next activity.
Let's play music chair?


Classroom Language: Language of classroom management


Supervision
Look this way.
Stop talking.
Listen to what ... is saying.
Leave that alone now.
Be careful.



Affective attitudes

That's interesting!
That really is very kind of you.
That's very courteous of you.
Don't worry about it.
I was a bit disappointed with your efforts.

Social ritual

Good morning.
Have a nice weekend.
Thanks for your help
Happy Spring Festival!
Merry Christmas!


Here are some phrases that can be used when giving feedback to students:

Very good
That's very good
Well done
Very fine
That's nice
I like that
Marvellous
You did a great job.
Magnificent
Terrific
Wow!
Jolly good
Great stuff
Fantastic
Right
Yes
Fine
Quite right
That's right.
That's it.
That's correct
That's quite right.
Yes, you've got it.
You've got the idea.
It depends
It might be, I suppose
In a way, perhaps
Sort of , yes.
That's more like it
That's much better
That's a lot better
You've improved a lot
Not really
Unfortunately not
I'm afraid that's not quite right
You can't say that, I'm afraid
you can't use that word here
Good try, but not quite right
Have another try
Not quite right. Try again.
Not exactly
You were almost right.
That's almost it
You're halfway there
You've almost got it
You're on the right lines
There's no need to rush
There's no hurry
We have plenty of time
Go on. Have a try
Have a go
Have a guess

There's nothing wrong with your answer.
What you said was perfectly all right.
You didn't make a single mistake.
That's exactly the point.
That's just what I was looking for.
Don't worry about your pronunciation.
Don't worry about your spelling.
Don't worry, it'll improve
Maybe this will help you
Do you want a clue (hint)?
You have good pronunciation.
Your pronunciation is very good.
You are communicating well.
You speak very fluently.
You have made a lot of progress.
You still have some trouble with pronuncation.
You need more practice with these words.
You'll have to spend some time practising this.
You're getting better at it all the time.
You've improved no end.


Dear colleagues, if you have more Classroom English, please post it here.