Teaching Tip 18: Pacing
- Change the pace of the lesson by breaking things up a bit.
Instead of simply doing one activity straight after another, allow a little
time for something different (pronunciation work, for example - see
TT4 for further information).
- You can also change the pace during a lesson by allowing
time for a brainstorming session (see TT15
for further explanation).
- Another way to liven up the pace is to put a time limit on
some activities - "You have 2 minutes for this, so get going!" Or introducing
an element of competition - put the class into small groups and tell them that
these are teams and the first team to finish this activity is the winner.
(Prize = no homework, or something like that.) Maybe the activities which
involve matching words with pictures would be a good one for this).
- Use other material during the lesson - your coursebook etc.
- Wake people up by giving them a 2 minute test on last week's
- Allow silence at appropriate times during the lesson - while
students are reading the questions or during speaking activities when students
are formulating a response (thinking of something to say). Silence in the
classroom can be a bit unnerving at first but it doesn't mean you're not doing
your job - students need time to absorb information and time to think. We all
- The lesson will become rather monotonous if it's just a case
of "Do Activity 1, then do Activity 2, then [lo and behold] do Activity 3." (!)
- The lesson will become even more monotonous if the students
spend all lesson with the same partner - change the partners over, make small
groups instead, or (especially in a brainstorming session) have the group
brainstorming directly to you.
Exercises may be numbered 1, 2, 3 etc but that doesn't mean you
have to do them in that order or feedback (see TT8) in that order. In the discussion activities
I often tell students to read all the questions, select the 3 that interest
them most and talk about them. When feeding back from another exercise I may
ask for the answer to number 5 then number 2 then number 4 - keeps the students
on their toes!
© Liz Regan 2003