Class contracts?

Why ?!

Estelle Hélouin-IH London

An informal but written document detailing what students can expect from the teacher, from each other and what the teacher can expect from students.

What are we talking about?

a/ Neverb/ Sometimesc/ Often

Have you made a contract with your class?

Do the quiz ! Do the quiz !

What do you think are :

a/ the advantagesb/ the disadvantages

of having a contract with your class

What do you think of contracts?

Post your thoughts in the chat box.Post your thoughts in the chat box.

What I thought…

More admin!

Is this necessary?

Are students that bad that they need rules?

How do I make them abide by the contract?

What I did at first…

CONTRACT

What the student can expect from the tutor: 

What the tutor can expect from the students:

 to be respectedto be in the class on timeto be professional and approachableto teach and cover the learning outcomes mentioned on the course outline (this may vary slightly depending on the pace of the group)to answer his/her questions (please remember that there are up to 20 students enrolled on the course so if you have specific / personal issues, address the tutor on a 1:1 basis)to speak the target language as much as possibleto receive regular feedback on his/her learning both in class and via corrected homework. 

 respect (towards him/herself and towards the other students)to be on timeto have their mobile phones switched off (except for emergencies)to take an active part in the class, particularly when working in pairs and/or in groupsto be approached on a 1:1 basis if there is any personal issue or questionto be responsible for their learning (e.g. doing regular studying and homework) 

Just read and tell me if there’s anything you want to change or add.

How did my students react?

More admin!

Surely, that’s not necessary?

Yeah, yeah, sure we agree.

That’s good.

Could we add…

Could we change… Pfffff…

•Good constructive classroom behaviour is not obvious for everyone.•Issues are best dealt with when solutions come from the students and they remember “rules” better.•For the process to be constructive, give a model to the students.•Students enjoy the opportunity of expressing how they feel about the class.•The teacher gets a lot of information from the students.•Prevention is always best.•Even irrelevant comments are useful.•You can take the opportunity to discuss something that’s important for you as a teacher.

What I learnt…

A few examples…

Well done for changing place, Pat !

(Big smile) It’s in the contract!

Are you having difficulties coming to class on time, Mary?

Oh, er, no, I’m really sorry I arrived late.

Shall we say that when you hear me stopping an activity you tell the others who haven’t?

We think it’s really annoying when Estelle stops an activity and people continue talking.

Can we keep 5 min at the end of the class for questions unrelated to the lesson?

Everyone happy with this?

A few more examples…

Could I add: you have to tell me if you have a problem with the class, otherwise I can’t do anything about it?

YES !!! ☺

How do you feel about your partner correcting you when you speak?

Actually, we quite like it if it’s not all the time.

Excellent ! ☺We’re happy everything is explained in French, we only want English if we really don’t understand.

You seemed to like discussing what you had read this week, shall we start every lesson discussing what you’ve read during the week?

Great! Let’s add it to the contract. It will force us to read in French.

Any questions or comments?

The end!

Post your questions or comments in the chat box.Post your questions or comments in the chat box.

Class contracts?

Why ?!Estelle Hélouin-IH London