Individual lessons are best. How best to learn English: in a group or individually

“What is the best way to learn English in a group or individually?” - this is a question asked by many people who decide to take English courses for adults. It is impossible to answer it unequivocally, since many factors must be taken into account. In this article you will learn about the features of each of these ways of learning English.

Individual English learning

So, let's start with individual lessons. This form of training is very suitable for busy people and has a more flexible class schedule. This form of training has its positive and negative sides.

Benefits of individual training

1. Individual training program

When drawing up a training program, the teacher will definitely take into account all your wishes and features. As a result, the training course will include the topics that interest you and the problems that you want to examine.

2. Flexible schedule

You choose the time and duration of classes. Schedule flexibility gives you the opportunity to manage your own time, which is an important factor for busy people.

3. Study at home or in the office

You can study wherever it is convenient for you. It is enough to agree with the teacher so that he comes to you.

In addition to the benefits, individual training includes: minuses.

Disadvantages of individual training

1. Difficulty in overcoming the language barrier

Having gotten used to communicating in English only with the teacher, in the future when communicating with strangers you may have difficulties due to the fear of communication. The language barrier can only be broken by communicating with more people.

2. Difficulty understanding English speech

Listening to one person, you get used to his pronunciation. Since the classes are held with a teacher, most likely his pronunciation is good, and he tries to speak words to you clearly. In real life, everyone's pronunciation is different. And no one will specifically pronounce words for you.

3. High cost of training

Individual lessons are not cheap. Your wishes, such as schedule flexibility and home-based classes, will undoubtedly be reflected in the cost of lessons.

Learning English in a group

Group classes, unlike individual ones, include much more conversational practice, which has a very positive effect on the development of skills: speech understanding, speaking skills, fluency.

Benefits of group classes

1. Low cost of classes

Group lessons are much cheaper than one-on-one lessons with a teacher. 1 hour of individual lessons is approximately 4-5 times more expensive than group lessons. Naturally, we are talking about professional teachers with work experience.

2. Easily overcome the language barrier

In a group you have the opportunity to communicate. After all, we need language precisely for this. And we want to communicate with the whole world, and not just with one person. Classes in a group are often much more dynamic and varied. On them you get a lot of speaking practice, as you communicate with different people. Therefore, in real life, when communicating with strangers, you will not have difficulties or fear of communication.

3. Improving the skill of understanding foreign speech

In a group you communicate with different people. During communication, you not only improve your speaking skills, but also learn to understand the pronunciation of different people. Thanks to this, when abroad you adapt much faster to the pronunciation of the people who live there. And the more you communicate and listen, the easier it will be for you to understand speech.

3. Competition within the group

This is an additional motivation to study and keep up with others. The tutor can make concessions and forgive the lack of time and unfinished homework (after all, you are the one paying him the money). But when studying in a group, you simply don’t want to feel inferior to others. You will complete all tasks, even if you are lazy or lack time. After all, the realization that you are behind other people will be unpleasant primarily for you.

4. Regularity of classes

You can call the tutor and cancel the lesson - very convenient. You can do this one, two, three times in a row, and then completely forget about what English is. This won’t happen in a group; a regular schedule will be an excellent incentive not to miss out.

5. Have a good time

Finally, a group is simply an opportunity to socialize, meet interesting people, and make friends.

Disadvantages of learning English in a group

1. Character traits

Some people are too shy, find it difficult to communicate with large numbers of strangers, and feel uncomfortable in group classes. But it is precisely these people who, by studying in a group, can catch two birds with one stone: learn English and overcome the fear of communication. After all, in any case, we learn a language precisely in order to communicate in it.

2. Lack of an individual program

When studying in a group, you will only go through what is provided in the program. On the one hand, this is good, since basically the most popular topics that are needed for life are covered. On the other hand, you will not have the opportunity to choose a topic that interests you.

3. Misunderstanding of the material

All people have different learning abilities. Some people only need to hear something once and they pick it up on the fly. Others need to understand and comprehend the information a little longer. When studying in a group, some people are afraid to ask the teachers something again if they did not understand or missed some point. Because of this, the material may be poorly absorbed.

Which option is better to choose?

If you are a very busy person and cannot go to a group on a specific schedule, then only individual training is suitable for you. But it will cost several times more.

In other cases, it is better to go to a group, since this is where English skills are best developed. Not only will you improve your speech understanding and speaking skills, but you will also be able to break down barriers quickly and easily. This method is especially suitable for those who have already learned English before (at school, for example), but do not remember anything or have forgotten.

Friends, which option do you prefer? How do you study: in a group or individually?

Options for tasks for pair and group work

Stage 1.

Teaching a group form of interaction begins from the first days of a child’s stay at school in the course “school studies” (Tsukerman G.A. Introduction to school life. - Tomsk: Peleng, 1990.). At this time, skills of mutual understanding and “clichés” for expressing one’s opinion, agreement or disagreement are laid. Children are preparing for the fact that they are going to get into an argument.

In 1st grade, only 10% of the total time can be devoted to frontal work. The goal of the first year of study is to create a children's team based on the emotional desire for joint activities. Children are optionally assigned to groups based on psychological compatibility. They learn to communicate with each other and work in pairs. Everyone completes an individual task and shares their success with a classmate. The first weeks focus on the development of fine motor skills, the ability to communicate, the desire to complete tasks together, and conscious motivation for learning activities.

Stage 2: pair work.

There are many types of pair work. They all boil down to four main ones:

1) Work “in unison”: students say the first word together, reach for the card together, say the second word together, together...

2) By operations: 1st student names the word,

The 2nd student puts down a card,

1st student agrees or protests.

3) Dividing the elements of the material: the 1st student names the first word and puts down the first card, the 2nd student names the second word and puts down the second card.

4) The 1st student takes on all the work, and the 2nd student only carries out control.

During work, the teacher helps the pairs and records successes and failures in the organization, bringing them up for general discussion.

First, the teacher himself tells the pairs. How should they work? Later, couples choose the option that is more convenient for them.

From the second quarter you can begin your first attempts at differentiation. Based on the diagnostic results, groups of reading children or children with good writing skills are identified,

accounts. At some stages of the lesson, these children perform tasks in such temporary groups, and in their permanent groups they act as consultants. That is, children learn to speak from different positions - they can be both leaders and consultants.

During the first six months, students’ existing knowledge is systematized. “The discovery” of something new for the majority of children occurs in the process of systematization or correction of ideas about a particular process. A small number of children who have no idea about this phenomenon form a group and, under the guidance of a teacher, carry out a joint “discovery”. In this case, the teacher uses the technology of the activity approach.

Stage 3: group work.

When introducing a new form, you must provide a sample of it. The teacher, together with 1-2 children at the blackboard, shows by example the entire course of work, paying attention to mistakes and successes. A sample of work is learned after analyzing 2-3 errors. It is not the content error (in the decision) that needs to be analyzed, but the course of interaction.

Reflection (for the cultivation of which children’s cooperation is built) arises and flares up in gaps in interaction. Therefore, in order to accumulate reflexive potential, the group must be led through breaks, conflicts. Constructive conflict unfolds around a contradiction, the resolution of which in a group discussion contributes to the discovery of optimal strategies for solving problems, and to treating the points of view of other children as worthy of respect and understanding, and to treating the teacher not as the bearer of the only correct point of view, but as an experienced colleague. general work. Thus, educational cooperation in groups should be built in such a way that provoke intellectual conflict, the meaningful resolution of which gives the group effect.

It is necessary to specifically teach children discussion and constructive conflict resolution.

During lessons, the teacher must demonstrate how positive patterns of interaction(encouraging groups that have worked well and demonstrating to less fortunate groups the possibilities of group interaction), and negative samples(task: expose. Sharpen the conflict side of interaction). Negative examples help the class not only intuit, but also deduce. Understand the norms and rules of interaction as a means to prevent grievances and other troubles, to transfer a personal, destructive conflict (quarrel) into an intellectual, constructive conflict (dispute). The teacher himself demonstrates negative patterns of interaction in the first stages of teaching (by acting out typical situations, almost never naming the names of the children in whose work they were observed).

Options for "negative" samples:

1) tasks asking the question: “Did the children manage to come to an agreement with each other? Come to a consensus?"

2) tasks with the question: “What is more important - to do everything correctly and quickly or to do everything honestly and amicably?”

3) tasks with the conclusion that one can never agree just like that, it is necessary to require evidence. You cannot impose your point of view.

4) trap tasks - are the most effective means of starting discussions.

Trap tasks are constructed in such a way as to inevitably divide and polarize the class into groups expressing such different points of view that this difference is obvious even to the most egocentric consciousness.

There are several types of trap tasks:

1) Trap tasks that distinguish between a child’s orientation toward a task and his orientation towards teacher's actions. The teacher asks a question, and, working together with the class, joins in with the child's incorrect answer or gives the incorrect answer himself. Children are given an open choice: either immediately repeat the teacher’s answer, or try to answer on their own.

2) Trap tasks that distinguish between conceptual and everyday logic. Here the teacher needs to know that conceptual thinking will not become truly meaningful, the conceptual point of view will not become the child’s own point of view until it is explicitly opposed to the poorly understood everyday point of view (example: worm - snake, cow - calf). If such tasks are immediately brought up for a whole-class discussion, then the effect of such work will be small. It is necessary to first organize micro-discussions.

3) Problems that have no solution. Such tasks foster a non-literal, non-executive attitude towards the teacher’s tasks.

4) Problems with missing data. A non-literal learning relationship with adults is also cultivated.

5) Situations of open ignorance. Such tasks are the center of the development of reflection - the ability to know about one’s ignorance.

In order for group work to produce the desired developmental effect, the teacher needs to monitor the redistribution of roles between children. Redistribution and exchange of roles is a mandatory principle of organizing group work, aimed at teaching children to distinguish and coordinate their point of view and the point of view of their partners, to coordinate different methods of action, and to take into account the plans of another person.

Formation of groups.

The number of group members depends on age and the task being solved. For primary school it is 4-5. How to organize children into groups?

At the first stage, the teacher distributes children into groups so that each group has a strong student. The teacher assigns roles in groups himself.

The teacher divides into groups, appointing an organizer. The organizer distributes roles and monitors the correctness of the discussion.

The teacher appoints a leader for each group from among the most capable students, and the leaders take turns selecting one participant at a time, thus evenly distributing the strong and weak among themselves.

Cut postcards or sheets of paper of different colors into pieces and invite the children to pull out any piece. We collected pieces of the same color or the same postcard - we got a group.

Puzzles. The teacher appoints group commanders - for example, those who quickly and correctly completed the previous task. Each commander receives a card with the text of the riddle (it is better if they are on the same topic). The rest of the children take pieces of paper from the table on which the answers are written. The commanders take turns reading the riddles, the children guess and form groups. The groups vary in strength, but each has a commander.

Write the proverbs on a narrow strip of paper and cut into several parts. Children take fragments of proverbs and assemble them into a single whole. Proverbs should be familiar to children and can touch on various topics: work - laziness, truth - lies, etc. At the beginning of teaching, the teacher selects proverbs himself, and later involves children in this.

Lotto. Children take lotto pictures and look for “their place” on a large thematic card: pets, animals of the north, etc.

When studying new material, it is better to pair “strong” and “weak” students, “average” and “strong” students.

When generalizing and consolidating the material, it is better for the children in the pair to be equal: strong - strong, average - average, weak - weak.

When carrying out creative work, you can allow children to unite in pairs at will.

If a child does not want to join any group, it cannot be forced. Let him work alone today, but next time ask him to work in a group again.

If the child is not invited to the group, you need to teach how to ask to be accepted.

For groups to work, you need at least 3-5 lessons. Therefore, students are often not transferred, but it is also not worth fixing the train for a quarter.

When assessing the work of a group, they emphasize not so much student qualities as human ones.

Role functions of group members

The following role functions are possible:

Elementary School:

1) Clerk – writes down the decision;

2) Speaker – defending the decision, responding on behalf of the group;

3) Organizer – distributes roles, monitors time and actions of all group members.

4) scheduler - examines the conditions of the problem and plans the work;

5) executor– makes attempts to solve;

6) critic-controller – checks compliance and evaluates, questions the group's opinions.

In the course of solving a problem, roles can smoothly transition from each other.

In addition, the work can be distributed as follows:

1) The group performs a common task, but each group member does part of the common work independently of each other. In this way, you can organize problem solving and making crafts during technology lessons.

2) The general task is performed sequentially by each group member. For example, when determining the main members of a sentence, everyone pronounces the line of reasoning.

3) The problem is solved through direct simultaneous interaction of each group member with all the others.

Tasks for groups:

1) All groups perform the same task;

2) The groups differ in the type of work, i.e.

1st group – designs,

2nd group – conducts research;

Group 3 – solves the problem.

This way you can complete practical tasks about the world around you.

3) On the topic of work. For example, compiling different types of problems into one scheme, studying the nature of various natural zones, etc.

4) According to the level of difficulty of the task. The child conducts a self-assessment of capabilities.

5) By interest.

Russian language.

Mathematics.

Appendix 3

How to organize the work of children in shift pairs

The “mediator” card, which consists of theoretical and practical parts, will help organize work in shift pairs. For example:

Card No. 1.

Front side:

On the back:

Card No. 2.

Front side:

On the back:

The algorithm for working with the card can be printed for each student, or it can be common to all children.

One of the operating algorithm options:

1. Received a card - put a cross on the accounting sheet (see table below).

2. Explain to your partner the task of the first part of your card, answer his questions, ask control questions.

3. Listen to your friend’s explanations for the first part of the task, ask him questions, answer the control questions.

4. Exchange cards and complete every second task on a new card.

5. Check with each other whether the second tasks are completed correctly, find and correct errors. Thank each other.

6. On the accounting sheet, circle the cross of the card on which you worked and which you gave to a friend. Mark with a cross the card you received.

7. Find a new partner, sit in the vacant seat, and start working from point 2.

Accounting sheet.

Parents often wonder: is it better to study individually or in a group? To answer this question, let's compare these two types of activities:

In order to compensate for the shortcomings of one or another type of activity, it is necessary to combine them. Then the question arises: How many and what kind of classes are needed?

Group lessons are standardized by the program, and individual lessons are regulated based on:

1. Age characteristics of the child.

For the age group from 4 to 6 years, individual lessons are better, no more than 30-40 minutes, 2-3 times a week. This is necessary because this category of children is not assiduous and quickly forgets the material. Regular practice is required for success.

— For the age group from 7 to 9 years, subject to attending all group lessons, individual lessons are required 1-2 times a week for no more than 60 minutes. If you cannot attend group classes (study, illness), then it is better to increase the number of individual lessons so that the child catches up with the material.

— In the age group from 10 to 12 years, subject to attending all group classes, individual lessons are required 2-3 times a week from 1 hour 30 minutes. and more.

— In the age group from 13 to 17 years, subject to attending all group classes, individual classes are required 2 times a week for 3 hours or more.

2.Level of the game. The higher the level of the game, the more material you need to learn. Sometimes children manage to complete three levels in one year of study, and the groups are re-staffed in the next school year. In order not to waste precious time, you can add knowledge to your child through individual lessons.

3.Individual characteristics of the child. Each child is individual and each needs a different amount of time to master this or that material.

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In a group or individually? What is more effective?

Advantage 1. Expanding your horizons

Group classes are a real source of information for those who want to gain new knowledge and expand their horizons. Thanks to visual material, interesting examples, questions, and discussion topics, you will learn to perceive faces in detail, and not as a general blur, as is customary in society. You will receive a lot of new information, information, and will be able to look at your body from a new point of view.

Advantage 2. Formation of a new “vision” of a person

Thanks to group training, you can learn to read faces like an open book, and first of all, your own. We will teach you to look at it without hackneyed cliches and stereotypes. This new vision will be formed by the correct practice of “seeing” a face, which the coach will teach you using the examples of your desk mates. Having mastered this universal “vision”, you will receive the key to the doors behind which your youth lies.

Benefit 3. Conscious execution of exercises

Thanks to questions, clarifications and real examples, you will be able to better grasp the subtleties of exercises that you simply would not pay attention to yourself due to the lack of minimal experience.

Classes are held in small groups (no more than 6 people) in a cozy classroom; the myologist trainer has the opportunity to pay individual attention to each student. While the coach is going through the technique with your “deskmate,” you have a great opportunity to observe the process from the side, test yourself again, “get better at it,” and practice the nuances of performing the exercise. But practice is the main component of our classes; motor memory here sometimes works better than visual or auditory memory.

Advantage 4. Communication with like-minded people

Very often, friendships and useful acquaintances are formed during classes, which then continue beyond the walls of the school. We never cease to be amazed at how interesting the groups are chosen - as if people are specially brought together who can help and develop each other in different areas of life - from health to creativity.

Reasons for failure

The failure of study groups is often due to either the unwillingness or inability of students to work together. Internal resistance, reluctance, and inability to establish interaction are overcome by methods of creating an atmosphere of trust, mutual support, and security. The combination of these techniques is usually called “group building techniques.”

The teacher’s natural reaction is to give the children the opportunity to choose their own partners. This is usually not the best option. In this case, they often unite in those mini-teams that have already been created for other tasks; they usually use groups of heterogeneous composition: excellent students and C students, strong and weak, boys and girls, children with different social and ethnic experiences. A diverse composition creates more opportunities for successful education and training, and mastering group work skills.

Of course, the guys are opposed to joining unusual companies. Here, different group building techniques come to the teacher’s aid. Carrying out various “getting to know each other” procedures, developing common symbols, and performing exercises (such as “guide” exercises) make it possible to overcome initial resistance. Here, schoolchildren develop a sense of team. They begin to identify themselves with the group and show a desire to be together. Group building techniques are a powerful pedagogical tool. Possessing them, a teacher can solve a variety of problems, including establishing cooperation between members of warring youth groups. Periodic use of appropriate techniques during daily group work helps support the team and strengthen the desire to work together.

Group work may fail even though all participants are willing to work together. A sincere desire is not enough if the ability to work together is lacking. If a strong, quick-thinking student with the best intentions begins to tell the rest of the group what they should do, resentment and resentment will immediately arise in the group, and the desire to work together will disappear. Sometimes one of the group members may go on strike. Group work is ruined by an excellent student’s attempt to suggest a ready answer to others. He doesn’t know the rule: “An unsolicited hint angers colleagues; demonstrating how to get the answer helps partners.” He lacks the ability to help. Often schoolchildren make noise and rudely confront each other. They rarely know how to listen to each other, accept and discuss other people's ideas. They don't know how to deal with difficult partners who try to dominate the group, are too shy, hostile, uncooperative, or just want to work on their own. This is not surprising, since neither within school nor outside of it are they taught the ability to work together. And when such skills are absent, the mood for joint action quickly breaks down.

Learning group work skills is not only required to improve classroom efficiency. This skill is becoming one of the main requirements for a modern worker. Russia is rapidly moving towards the information society. Now, teamwork is becoming the norm, not just on a space station or a submarine. It penetrates into all areas of our lives. The school is receiving an increasingly clear social order to change the content of education, to include group work skills as part of the mandatory results of general education.

The problems that arise can be avoided if you know the appropriate communication techniques. Schoolchildren, as a rule, are unfamiliar with them (they may have heard about them, but do not know them in practice), so they need to be studied. These are the skills required of students during group work. These skills can be used in different situations and for different purposes. However, in group educational work, each of them may have its own role, in which this skill is most clearly manifested.

Problems that arise during group work

Emerging problems

Group as a whole:

too noisy

distracted from the learning task

can't define his goals

creates conflicts

gets stuck in a task, can't move forward

Students often:

"running into" each other

suggest

speak at the same time

don't ask for help

don't offer to help

don't listen to each other

grab papers (materials)

don't thank each other

don't respect other people's opinions

Individual students:

do all the work in a group

they don't do much in the group

lack confidence in themselves and refuse to work together

trying to boss everyone around

show hostility

Missing skills

Control the problem solving process

Accept and modify the work plan

Resolve conflicts

Brainstorm and encourage

Approve

To help

Be able to listen to each other

To ask questions

Actively listen

Apply for permission

Thank

Summarize other people's statements

Equalize participation among group members

Encourage

Approve

Resolve conflicts

Thus, the task of learning to work in a group is divided into a series of tasks for mastering behavior in the corresponding roles.

Another approach to classifying group skills was formulated based on the results of research on group dynamics. The authors of this approach propose to distinguish between four skill packages.

1. Formation of a group. These skills help the group to form and not fall apart during the work. The package includes the following core skills:

calmly (habitually) gather in groups;

do not leave the group;

speak quietly and calmly;

maintain order;

consciously use postures and gestures;

use gaze;

address by name;

behave in a non-conflict manner (don’t get cocky).

2. Group functioning. These skills help to effectively perform the tasks facing the group and contribute to its productive work. The package includes the following core skills:

share your ideas and opinions;

ask questions (about facts, reasons, motives);

guide group work (“We should have...”, “Do we have enough time to go this way?”, “What if we tried this?”);

encourage the participation of other group members (“What do you think...?”);

seek clarification (“I’m not sure what you meant...”);

express (formally and informally) support and approval;

offer explanation or clarification;

paraphrase (“Did I understand correctly that...?”);

encourage the group (“It’s not a problem!”);

share your feelings.

3. Formulation. These skills help group members effectively exchange information, discuss the proposed material more seriously, understand it more deeply and assimilate it. The package includes the following core skills:

summarize out loud;

clarify (“I agree! Or rather, it would be more accurate to say...”);

ask to develop an idea (“What does this have to do with...?”);

maintain group memory (“So that this is not lost, it is necessary...”);

check understanding (“Please repeat what we agreed...”);

plan out loud (“I could put it like this...”).

4. Stimulation. These skills help the processes of rethinking the material, overcoming cognitive conflicts, and searching for additional information. They allow group members to discuss issues that arise in a substantive manner. The package includes the following core skills:

criticize ideas, not people (“Elena is great, but this idea looks strange...”);

compare the arguments of group members (“What are our differences?”);

combine ideas into a common package (“Your idea complements mine...”);

asking for judgments (“Why do you think this is true?”);

continue the colleague’s thought (“That’s right, and there’s one more point...”);

ask questions to deepen understanding (“How will this work if...?”);

offer alternatives (“There are two more possible solutions...”);

check the feasibility of the proposed work (time, resources).

We looked at two approaches to defining a list of group work skills. Obviously, they do not contradict each other and can be used as complementary ones. Depending on the specific situation, the teacher pays attention to working with individual skills of students or teaches them to master certain roles.

Skills and corresponding roles where these skills are well demonstrated

Ability to work in a group:

Encourage group members

Encourage group members

Celebrate group accomplishments

Ensure equal participation of members

Provide assistance

Ask for help

Convince understanding

Don't forget about the task

Write down ideas

Reflect on group work

Don't disturb others

Use materials efficiently

Corresponding Group Role

Promoter

The ringleader

Coordinator

Instructor

SOS Director

Secretary

Methodologist

Responsible for silence

Group work skills

Active participation in group work is the first necessary (although not sufficient) condition for success. The second is a conscious and organized process of improving oneself.

Like any other skill, communication skills are fluid. They are rebuilt depending on changes in the situation, improved as experience is gained (or, conversely, destroyed if they are not supported).

Pedagogical techniques have been created that are designed to help the teacher find his own set of means (techniques) of group work in a specific class. The teacher must be conscious of the accumulated experience of group work:

analyzes and evaluates it;

tries to correlate his personal experience with existing theoretical schemes and ideas (with which he specifically becomes acquainted);

strives to improve his work, plans the practical actions necessary for this;

tries to implement his plans and returns to them again when analyzing the results of his work.

Teaching group work skills can be represented as the following diagram:

Demonstration. Convincing students of the need to master the relevant skill. As a result, they must clearly understand what it is, what the corresponding behavior looks like in practice (how the person demonstrating this behavior acts, what he says), and be able to imitate the corresponding actions.

Mastering the skill. The skill is mastered during practical work, when the student:

performs the appropriate role (maybe not always correctly);

receives comments about how successful he is at it;

purposefully (taking into account the comments received) changes his behavior and again fulfills this role.

Formation. Mastering the role and the corresponding skill continues (possibly with interruptions) until an effective skill is developed.

Demonstration

Practicing a new skill, as a rule, begins with its demonstration. In a traditional classroom, the teacher models the appropriate situation and demonstrates the behavior in which the skill is demonstrated. For example, if the use of paraphrases needs to be taught, the teacher might begin by saying, “When talking to another person, you must show that you are listening and understanding. This is especially important if you disagree with him. One of the main techniques that will make the conversation constructive is the use of paraphrases, i.e. repeating what your interlocutor said. This technique not only helps establish reliable communication, but also demonstrates your respect for the interlocutor. It provides an opportunity to mitigate conflict during negotiations.”

Another traditional technique is to engage students in a discussion about the skill or role needed. The question used is “What if...?” For example, if you need to master the communication skills of the Ringleader, the question is asked: “Could fans at a football match support their team together if there were not a ringleader among them?” In lower grades, the “theater” technique works well, when two children are asked to demonstrate appropriate behavior to the whole class. More effective techniques can be used. Have them discuss what communication skills are important for Bodrila, for example. Each group prepares a list and arguments in defense of the identified skills, and then offers its solution to everyone for discussion. It is important to remember that to describe a skill is to describe what the person using it looks and says.

Another traditional technique is modeling. Often teachers, without thinking twice, ask students to demonstrate one of the skills (for example, cheering) in front of the class. This is not always effective. It is much better to show a video where the relevant skill is demonstrated in natural conditions. Your favorite actor (actress) can become a good example (model) to follow.

Each role in the course of group work is quite flexible. The guys can change roles. The choice of certain roles depends primarily on the quality of cooperation demonstrated by students, on the shortcomings noticed, on the nature of the subject material being discussed, and is almost entirely determined by the task facing the teacher.

One speaks - everyone listens

A group project provides good conditions for distributing roles and practicing group work skills. The coordinator helps create conditions for equal participation in the work of all members. During the implementation of the project, the Sage, the Secretary, the Ideologist can feel that they have made an irreplaceable contribution to the achievement of a common goal.

Role assignments are very helpful when conducting a group discussion. If the roles are not defined, it is possible that only one or two participants will perform solos. A good tool for the Coordinator could be, for example, a “speaker’s baton”. Only the one holding the “rod” in his hands can speak. By passing the “rod” to each other (as senators did in Ancient Rome), group members fulfill one of the conditions of the discussion: “one speaks, everyone listens.”

So, you should assign roles and practice the behavior associated with them only when you really cannot do without them, when this behavior is comprehended by the essence of the task facing students.

One of the teacher's responsibilities is to monitor how students use group work skills. This information is constantly used when discussing the results of the lesson.

You should pay attention to the wording of the task for group work. The teacher can formulate it with varying degrees of clarity. “Team members take turns interviewing one of their colleagues” is an example of unclear wording. An example of a clear formulation would look different: “The group members are interviewing their friend, who is number 2. Exactly 3 minutes are allotted for the interview. Everyone can ask several questions. However, the second question cannot be asked until all group members have asked their first question. The coordinator ensures that this rule is not violated.” In many cases, the task can be formulated so that the use of the appropriate role becomes mandatory.

Clear language helps include relevant skills, but does not allow students to develop their own ability to discern when and what roles to use. At first, it is recommended to clearly formulate the task, and then gradually move on to vague formulations. As a result, students will begin to perform appropriate roles without reminders. There will be an internalization of appropriate actions, indicating that learning of group work skills is progressing successfully. Students move from demonstrating the ability to cooperate to actually collaborating in learning.

As the children receive less and less clear formulations, the teacher should allocate more and more time for reflection. For example, if all group members are required to actively participate, students need time to evaluate how active everyone was and come up with a plan to increase the activity of individual group members.

Reflection procedure

The most effective means of correcting student behavior is self-esteem. If one of the students has a video camera and can film the work of his friends, the teacher has a unique opportunity to review the footage with the class, paying attention to positive examples and gently commenting on shortcomings. Two or three such exercises are enough to significantly improve students’ joint activity skills. If video recording is not possible, it is worth organizing self-assessment of group members using a special questionnaire form.

At the same time, invite the Coordinator to record the behavior of group members and draw up an observation protocol. This material can serve as a good basis for the reflection procedure, supplementing the self-assessment data of schoolchildren. If you appoint a student who has a poorly developed skill as a Coordinator, then, while fulfilling his role, he will see how others use this skill.

The reflection procedure using a special form of self-assessment can be organized in different ways. For example, each group member fills out their form individually. Using a Round Table structure, the group discusses individual ratings and comes up with an agreed upon group rating (completed summary form). During the discussion, group members focus on positive changes, develop recommendations for improving work, and approve the developed action plan. It will serve as material for the next reflection procedure. Sample survey questions: How did your group work today? What would you like your group to be like? Was everyone in the group actively involved in the work? Did you (and other team members) try to maintain a positive work environment? Did you (and other group members) try to give everyone in the group a chance to speak? Did you (and other group members) ask each other questions? The guys themselves can suggest other questions.

Practice shows that the best results can be achieved if the teacher chooses one skill, carefully practices it with students for a sufficiently long time, and then moves on to the next one, making sure that the previous one is constantly reinforced.

Andrey Uvarov