Hello

I am in the process of completing my TEFL course. I'm on my very last module and have stupidly tripped up twice on the same question, I have one attempt left so need to get the right answer, so please help!

Here's the question:
Imagine you are teaching a class of 40 eight-year-olds. They really enjoy games and activities, but they become easily overexcited, and it is hard to bring them under control. What techniques could you use to finish an activity and get their attention?

My INCORRECT answers:
One way to get their attention is to remain silent, until they settle down and realise you haven't spoken once you have their attention you can continue with the lesson. Another idea would be to end the game and start a listening exercise, something that will get their attention like a game of Simon says. 'Simon says sit on the floor', 'Simon says put your hands on your head' etc. students will eventually start to listen and enjoy taking part in the game.

Good ways to finish an activity or game and get the students attention would be to ask the students to stop what they are doing then go around the class and gain feedback from the students. Ask them questions about their activities to see how the game went and what they learnt from each other. Perhaps award points or small prizes to winning teams/students with good answers, this clearly finalises the game/activity and also keeps the children happy about finishing the game and competing with each other.

Teachers comments:
You seem to have misunderstood this question. You are not being asked to describe activities, but in fact what techniques could you use to finish an activity and get their attention. The students are not being naughty or doing anything wrong so you don't need to describe how to get them to behave. They are taking part in the speaking activities in English as expected but of course this would be a little noisy. The question asks you how you would get their attention when it is time to stop the activity. Although these are great, you have still misunderstood. You have described what you would do after the activity has finished. We are asking you to show us how you would get their attention (in a probably quite noisy class) to signal to them that it is the end of the activity.

I'm not sure what was wrong with my first two techniques and apart from shouting loudly (which doesn't seem like the answer they are looking for) I'm kinda stumped. PLEASE HELP!

Interesting conundrum, as I have yet to study for my TEFL I will be keeping an eye on this!

remembering what happened when I was at school, the teacher would probably raise their voice slightly, dictate the activity is complete, settle down and listen up. or blow a whistle depending on the age group and level of noise.

does this sound right?

Yes i would agree with those techniques and I'm sure that's the right sort of answer the tutor is looking for. Thanks Dave and good luck with your course! Any other suggestions from people that have done this section would be great.