Classroom environment

Good evening! 

What do you think of when someone asks you about your primary school? For me, it brings up some memories of ugly green walls, traditional blackboard, 45 minutes without moving and constant yells “DON’T RUN AT THE CORRIDOR”. 

Nowadays schools are changing. More and more attention is being paid to create a student-friendly environment for learning. And in my opinion, that’s a brilliant idea. An average student spends at least 5 hours in his classroom every day. The older the student the more time he spends at school and at some point it seems like a second home. The school that I do my practicum in is much more adjusted to the new standards.

Observing the classroom environment is my favorite part of each practicum, as I find it very interesting and crucial for the effectiveness of the learning process. It should consider the pupils’ needs, create a nice, low-stress atmosphere, and be practical to use by the teacher and students.

This week I’ve observed 4 lessons for grades: 0, 1 and 2. Each class has their own classroom which they use for both international education and English. 

In grades 1 and 2 sitting arrangement is in U-shape with carpet inside of the U or behind it. Teacher’s desk stands on the left side of the classroom, but till now I couldn’t see the teacher sitting on her desk, most of the time she is standing in the middle or walking around. This kind of arrangement is useful, as the teacher has access to each student, and students are having a feeling of being together because they all sit next to each other. It simplifies the pair-work too.

In grade zero all the desks are connected so students sit like in a big table, all together. In this age, it is important to break students’ egocentrism, so I believe it’s because with this arrangement they feel like a community, creating a sense of being together, working with others. 

In all of the classrooms changing the sitting arrangements would be doable, but the way it is now seems most suitable. Students can easily interact with each other and have equal access to the teacher. Most of the games and explaining happen on the carpet where they all sit together, but also when they are sitting on their desks it’s easy to communicate. 

In each classroom that I saw there are posters and pictures with English. Usually, it’s a weatherboard, classroom rules. Not much but maybe with time there will be more and more of them. 

Students use books from Macmillan publishing house, older classes “Footprints” and grade 0 “Captain Jack”. Except books pupils work on additional materials such as flashcards and games created by the teacher, worksheets. What surprised me was that each student has a big notebook. But really big, A4 format, 90 cards. Even grade 0! Maybe it has some sense, with at least one hour of English, 5 days per week they work a lot so small notebooks would be a waste. What is nice instead, is that each student has a space in the classroom to leave all the books and notebooks not to carry them every day. In state schools, parents usually complain that school bags are heavy and some students simply forget to pack all the needed materials. In this school, this is prevented as all the needed things are waiting for students in their classrooms. 

What I really like about those classrooms is that in each of them there is an interactive whiteboard which can be used for many purposes. It gives many possibilities to the teacher to create an interesting and fun lesson. 

To sum up, in this school you can feel that the administration and teachers pay attention to the classroom environment, and it pays off because students are provided with many facilities and are doing great during the classes, but I will tell you more about it some other time. :) 

See you next Sunday!