Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Pretest
• Concept Mapping
• Reading Text & Presentation
  • 14.1 Education in ASEAN nations
  • 14.2 Classroom management in ASEAN
• Language Focus
• Activities
• Post test
• Bibliography

The other matter is the class-size of universities and schools in the ASEAN nations. They are quite large, about 30 to 50 students in each class, and the students in those classes also vary widely in their English ability: from complete beginner to intermediate. The teaching method is usually quite conservative or traditional, and is called teacher-centered as students are expected to just sit quietly and listen to the teacher. They have a few chances to participate or even make any English conversation in class.

Therefore, going through the ASEAN community, teachers must have new various approaches to manage the classroom. It could also lead to changes in the syllabus, hiring of trained teachers, or other variables to solve the aforementioned problems and issues, and it will hopefully help students improve their English ability, skills, and test scores. Teachers will find new ways of teaching to apply with their teaching style in order to promote a new academic atmosphere, where both teachers and students will gain and be happy in classes.

There are a few Guidelines for English Teachers in ASEAN as follows:

1. Teachers must change the environment surrounding the student to eliminate negative stimuli.
   The EFL teacher should ensure that appropriate behavior is more rewarding than inappropriate behavior, and give rewards or consequences to shape such behavior. Praise is very effective, if it is used appropriately. Give praise to all students, not just the ones who make the best grades. You have students who may be working up to their abilities, but not to the grade level of other students. They should get praise as well, but you should be careful as students will know if the praise is not sincere. The praise can be classroom compliments for the entire class as well. This will bring about a feeling of teamwork and unity. Those compliments are as follows:
   

I'm very proud of the way the class is working today. Everyone's working so hard.

I appreciate everyone's help.

Thank you for sitting down, being quiet, getting right to work and being punctual.

It's a pleasure to teach when the class works like this.

The teachers also can give a compliment to a specific student to show that he/she is paying attention to who is doing good work, and not just saying "good job" randomly. Using sentences, and sometimes placing the student’s name into it is more effective.

What an impressive project.

Congratulations! You only missed (state number) on this test.

I bet your family would be proud to see the job you did on this project.

That's an "A" report.

That looks like it's going to be a great report!

That's a very good observation!

That's an interesting point of view, Joe.

Wow, you've figured out the answer, Jonathan!

It looks like you put a lot of work into this project, Mike.

That's quite an improvement, Susan.

John, you really outdid yourself today.

I like the way you're working, Kim. It’s wonderful. 

Julie, this kind of work pleases me very much.

Tossing in a reference to what they did well will help to encourage them, as well as show that the teacher is paying attention and not uttering random or meaningless compliments. However, the examples below are verbal praises that the teachers can use besides "Good job!” and they are creative and meaningful.

Way to go!	That's really nice.
Keep it up!	That's great.
What good work!	Keep up the good work.
Top-notch!	Much better.
That's great!	What neat work.
Right on!	My goodness!
Great work!	How impressive!
I am so proud of you.	You're on the right track now.
Wonderful!	That's clever.
Fantastic!	That is certainly one way of looking at it.
Super-Duper!	That's a good point.
You make me proud!	Superior work!
How about that!	Exactly right!
Far out!	Now you've got the hang of it.
Super work!	That's an interesting way of looking at it.
Wow!	That's the right answer.
You've got it now.	High quality!
Star quality!	That's coming along nicely.
State-of-the-art!	Top-of-the-line!
Nice going!	Out-of-this-world!
Out of sight!	First class!

2. The teacher should set the atmosphere of peer learning. Students will learn the correct behavior by working with their peers to establish working social guidelines. It will change their behavior; for example, students will not only act in their own self-interest, but they will focus on their group's interest. Students can see how different perspectives, constructive deliberation, questioning, and critical analysis can result in better solutions and performance. The teacher sets the boundaries, and gives choices to the students to act upon, based on group needs.
   
   
3. The teachers should monitor their class at regular intervals, and they should talk to the entire class and let their eyes roam. This guideline will help teachers in ASEAN’s schools and universities due to their large class sizes issue.  However, before starting the class teachers should have a small talk to the class and then talk to specific students. However, teachers have to remember who he/she has been talking to in the last class so they can talk to different ones.
   Talking to each student is helping them to develop their small talk skills, while also addressing the issue of appropriate subjects. Difficulties in small talk skills can arise from a number of factors including hesitancy in grammar and comprehension skills, lack of topic specific vocabulary, and a general lack of confidence. These topics can also lead to more involved conversation lessons to get at the heart of the matter, so make sure to give students ample room to delve into the subjects, if they seem particularly interested. You can start the conversation with;
   

   "Hi, how are you? It's been awhile!"
   "Longtime no see! How's it going?"
   "How have you been?"
   "What did you do last weekend?"
   "Have you seen/read/watched anything interesting lately?" ("Please describe it.")
   "What do you do for fun?"
   "What are your hobbies?"
   

   Topics which are appropriate for small talk discussions should encourage the students to think and make it easier to talk. The following are small talk discussion topics the teachers can use:
   

• Latest films
• Football teams
• Cars
• A product you would like to sell to everyone
• Home town
• Last holiday
• Favorite movie-star
• The weather
• Songs
• Family

4. Let the students ask questions when they don’t understand. Teachers should give students the chance to ask questions about a certain topic; after you made sure they are activated and engaged in this very field of knowledge; at the end of the class; or immediately they don’t understand what you are teaching. But sometimes, they might be reluctant to ask questions because of their shyness, language problems, relevance, and the teacher’s and students’ roles. However, you can also encourage the students to ask the questions by telling them the importance of the content you have taught.

   This point will be in the test.
   

   I’m going to ask you questions in a minute.
   

   This is your last chance to ask me questions before the quiz.
   

   If you don’t have any questions for me, let me ask you some.
   

   Don’t worry, I’m sure everyone else has the same question.
   

   No questions? Does that mean it was too easy?
   

   Then the teachers should give a clear explanation of the content and check for initial student understanding. Following that, teachers should give some examples.
   

   Student: Sir, I am unable to understand this question. Please explain it to me again.
   

   Teacher: I think I have explained this chapter twice. Where were you that time?
   

   Student: I was absent that time.
   

   Teacher: Why were you absent? Do you not know this is a very important time of study?
   

   Student: Sir, there was something important.
   

   Teacher: These days nothing is more important than study. But I will explain it to you again.
   

5. Use signals, body language, and movement to get the student attention. Normally, nonverbal communication has been defined as communication without words. It includes apparent behaviors such as facial expressions, eye contact, touching, and tones of voice, as well as less obvious messages such as dress, posture, and spatial distance between two or more people. While using the voice is verbal communication, teachers can use a combination of both to gain attention depending on classes and cases.
   
   Body language, eye contact, signals, and maintaining close proximity to the students are key tools to deter misbehavior before it happens. For example, when the students start chatting, the teacher might stop teaching and say nothing, or put down the book, marker, or pen and just calmly wait until they are quiet. When they the students realize and start looking at the teacher, just say “Thank you.” and continue teaching. Besides keeping quiet, the teacher can use a few physical commands such as clapping their hands, stomping and even use voice techniques to get them to stop.
   Another way is to use a verbal signal to cue the student to get ready to receive your message. Try saying the student’s name or a preparatory utterance:

   • “Look.”
   • “Listen.”
   • “Watch.”
   • “Oh-oh!”
   • “OK”
   • “Ready?”
   

If it still doesn’t work, you can say “Everyone, hands on your head and eyes on me!” or you can give a little punishment like jogging in place (with high knees), push ups and  jumping jacks. 

6. The teachers themselves have to pay attention to their students, too, by using their body language and their verbal signs. Body language can also help in other cases such as when the student tells their story or answers questions: you should nod to show interest. Don’t stay behind the podium. Get up, move around, walk over to a student who raises a hand.  As you move, are you establishing direct eye contact with students? If you’re smiling and looking relaxed, that kind of eye contact is not threatening. A lot of students won’t look at you, but some will and you can encourage them to speak with your eyes and face. For verbal signs, when students tell things to class, as a teacher you should include responses and prompts such as;

   • "Really?"
   • "Wow!"
   • "That’s interesting."
   • "No kidding!"

7. Teachers should establish clear rules with students from the first day, and follow through with these rules. But a teacher has to keep in mind that if he/she does not follow through with consequences, the students will not respect the rules. Posting the rules is an effective reminder to the students as the rules and consequences remain visible year round. Consequences should match the students' misbehavior with a penalty when possible. The rule that the teacher should make in English class like, “You should be punished seriously if speaking Thai.”
   
   
8. Encourage turn-taking for the students to speak up. In this case teachers should avoid “yes or no” questions and ask, “What do you think?”, “Do you think that answer is reasonable?”, “Why?”, “What do you think of Peter's argument?”, “Why?” Teach the students that when it is their turn to talk they should say something, while the others are expected to listen.
   
   
9. Sometimes the students may give wrong answers, or give comments that are not quite right. You should say something encouraging. If you say something to offend them or to put them down or show disapproval of their answers, it will inhibit the student from speaking up again. You’d be better to say something positive about those aspects of the response, but on the other hand also point out that some aspects might be off base. You can suggest or recommend correction of their errors:
   “Good answer, but not quite right. Let’s think the other way around.”
   “Good. Now let’s take it a step further.”
   But again in some cases, with the “what questions” the teachers can probably use plain correct or incorrect responses without stimulating any distracting emotion:
   

   • "Yes, that's right."
   • "Okay."
   • "Yes, that's just what I wanted."
   • "Correct."
   • "Yes, thank you."
   • "No, the correct answer is _____________."
   • "You had the first part right, but the last part was incorrect."
   

Some appropriate plain correct responses:
• "Thank you for taking a risk to answer that even though it was the wrong answer."