Editorial
This article was first published in Modern English Teacher, Vol 21/4, October 2012
Activities for Bored Invigilators
Simon Mumford, Turkey
Simon Mumford teaches EAP at Izmir University of Economics, Turkey. He has written on using stories, visuals, drilling, reading aloud, and is especially interested in the creative teaching of grammar. He is a regular conference and workshop presenter.
E-mail: simon.mumford@ieu.edu.tr
Menu
The best position
Watching time pass
Listening for sounds
Metaphors for invigilators
Practising body language
Planning ahead
Remembering jokes
Analysing the reason behind design
Names survey
Multi-tasking
Conclusion
Many teachers have to invigilate exams as part of their job. This can result in long periods of forced inactivity. This article gives some more suggestions for dealing with time that would otherwise be thought of as dead or wasted time, and ways in which these activities, directly or indirectly, can have applications for teaching.
I have found that experimenting can help you find the optimum position in the room for detecting cheating and acting as a deterrent. Views from the side have the advantage of giving you a view of the whole room, whereas sitting at the front in the middle may mean you have to continually turn your head to see the whole group. It may also be import to be able to have a clear view of the door, for example, to be able make eye contact with exam officials and monitors outside the class.
Teaching application
It may be worth experiementing with different positions for teaching, including the back and the side of the class. Standing at the back reverses the position of the class, ie those who sit at the back are now nearest to you, and this can have a positive effect on discipline, although it has a disadvantage in that you cannot see the students’ faces. Experimenting with the place you teach from, and varying this position during the lesson may be a useful exercise.
It is tempting to watch the clock, but there are other ways of measuring the passsing of time. You can notice, for example, the amount of water students have in their bottles (in summer exams), the amount of eraser debris on the desk, how much students have written, the number of students remaining in the room (if students are allowed to leave when they finish), the amount of noise coming from outside (students leaving early may gather outside and talk), the temperature, the position of the sun outside, and the amount of natural light in the room. Also you can monitor changes in your own feelings of alertness, thirst, hunger, boredom, and tranquility. Note how the atmosphere of the exam room changes, too, as anxiety gives way to concentration and then to relief (or despair), tiredness and eventually, freedom.
Teaching application
It is important to become aware of the effects of the passing of time in your lessons, and the changes in mood and atmosphere as the lesson progresses. You should be aware that students get increasingly uncomfortable, restless, tired and hungry as the working day progresses, and plan accordingly.
Although exams are supposed to be silent, there is no such thing as total absense of noise. There are many sounds, inside and outside the exam room, e.g. cars and lorries, paper rustling, people coughing and pens clicking, the sound of the wind and rain, birds singing, the hum of machinery such as air conditioning and heating, and the squeak of desks and chairs. Becoming aware of the range of different sounds is an interesting exercise in itself.
Teaching application
Ask students to describe activities happening around them using the sounds that they can hear, eg someone is driving a car, someone is shouting, builders are working, birds are singing, ie practising the present continuous tense.
Think of metaphors for invigilators, e.g. an army officer inspecting troops, a prison warder, or an abbot of a trappist monastry enforcing the rule of silence. Other possibilities include a doctor, zoo keeper, forest warden, conductor of an orchestra, company boss, usher, museum curator, and football referee. Think of which duties are relate to different metaphors, for example, as a football referee, you may have the right to show the yellow card to students who attempt to cheat; as a conductor, you use body language to send messages, eg Be quiet, I’ll be with you in a minute, 5 minutes left. etc; and as a prison warder, you carefully check the attendance list and student identity cards.
Teaching application
Metaphors for the teacher can give new insights into the role of teachers. A well-known teacher training exercise is to think about the implications of these different roles for your teaching.
The way you sit and stand say something about you, so experiment with different body language eg ways of sitting, walking, and even different facial expressions. This is a good opportunity to practise because students will be too busy working to notice you. As you should avoid disturbing the students, it is also a good chance to practise moving silently around the room.
Teaching application
This exercise can help you become aware of your body language and movement in the classroom. For example, how do you approach students to monitor their work while they are doing a piece of in-class writing? What is the best way to interrupt a student who is writing? Is your approach intimidating or reassuring? Interpreting students’ body language is also important, for example, how can you tell if a student needs help, or wants to be left alone to write?
You can use exam time to consider your future. Predict what you will be doing in 1 hour, 4 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, this time next week, month, year, in three years’ time. Think about how you will have changed in that time. You can also think back in time, to this time last week, month, or year.
Teaching application
The obvious application here is the practice of future tenses, as students compare plans and predictions, but it is also a good free speaking topic.
Recall jokes that you know and mentally rehearse them so you are ready to tell them when the opportunity arises.
Teaching application
Jokes can be used for general listening practise, but also they can illustrate language points. In the following joke, the difference between the definite and indefinite article is illustrated.
A man went to the doctor and said, ‘I feel like a pair of curtains’. The doctor told the man to pull himself together*.
*pull (yourself) together has an idiomatic meaning: calm down, behave rationally, as well as a literal one.
The first mention of man needs an indefinite article because we do not know the man mentioned. The second time he is referred to as the man, with a definite article, because it is now clear which man is being referred to. In contrast, the doctor is referred to as the doctor on both occasions because everyone knows that people go to doctors when they feel unwell.
Try to think of why things are the way they are in your immediate environment. Why is the room the color it is? Why are there two / three windows? Why is the door where it is? Why does the door open inwards / outwards? What is the reason for the number of desks in the room? Why aren’t there more or fewer? Why are the lights in the position they are? As well as interior design, there may be potential to explore other aspects of design: fashion design, looking at students’ clothes or, if your view from the window allows, architecture and town planning.
Teaching application
Such speculation is good for practising the language of cause and effect, (because, so, therefore, as a result, in consequence, thus).
If you have a register with a list of students, you can survey their names. In Turkey, many surnames have literal meanings and can be quite amusing, sometimes translating as rich, naked, happy, strange, angry, brave, and even moneyless. It is also interesting to see which first names are popular, if you have two or three the same in a class of 25 or so, that is a good indication of a fashionable name. Alliteration and rhyme in names is another area of interest.
Teaching application
An awareness of students’ names is important for all teachers. Mnemonics can be very useful helping teachers remembering names, and invigilations are ideal times to develop these. One technique is to connect names to English words, so that Ayşe (pronounced i-shay) becomes eye-shade for a Turkish female university student with make up, and A little boy becomes a nmemonic for a small Ali. Similarly, the Turkish names Beste, Elif, Hande and Asli can be connected with the words best, elf, handy and asleep.
Give yourself a challenging task, for example, standing on one leg while holding your breath for a minute as you mentally count backwards from one hundred to zero. If you try without practising, you probably will not succeed. However, if you practise each activity separately, it is quite easy. Practise standing on one leg first. Put your left foot discreetly on your right, and you will find that after several attempts you will be able to balance for a minute. Put both feet on the ground again, and practise holding your breath for progressively longer periods of time until you reach a minute. At this point, having gained the necessary control over your balance and breathing, you will be in a position to achieve the task, which you should be able to do without attracting attention.
Teaching application
You could use this to illustrate the process of learning to speak a foreign language. The different components of the skill of speaking (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, listening) need to be practised separately, and then they can be combined to enable effective communication.
The pressures of daily routine do not always allow us time to think about things like body language, the roles of teacher and student, or the effects of the passing of time. Invigilation duties break this routine by preventing us from doing our normal activities. Therefore, they can be seen as an opportunity to develop skills and knowledge which ordinarily may be ignored, leading to new insight into our profession.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
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