TOEFL Speaking Task 4 Practice Test #32

Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in an education class.

Professor: So we’ve been talking about how teachers can make a classroom run smoothly. And of course it’s important to have rules in the classroom to make sure students behave well. But just making rules doesn’t guarantee that children are going to follow them. In order to make sure children will follow the rules, there are a couple of strategies that are helpful for teachers when they make rules. One strategy is to explain the purpose of the rule. Because if students understand why the rules exist, they’re more likely to follow them. Let me give you an example. I used to teach elementary school, young kids. And at the beginning of the year, I talked to my class about how I didn’t want them to have snacks, food, or drinks in the classroom. After I announced this rule, I explained why I didn’t want them eating in class. To keep the room clean. Because if a student spilled food, there’d be a mess or it might damage books and desks. Also, food or crumbs might attract insects. Once everyone understood the purpose of the rule, it made more sense and the children were more likely to follow it.

Another strategy is to have the students make a commitment to follow the rule, to promise to obey the rule. So when it came to my rule not to eat or drink in the classroom, what I did was I wrote the rule on a poster and then asked each child to sign it, saying they’d follow the rule. After everyone signed their name, I put the poster up in the front of the class. This reminded the students they’d made this promise, this commitment. Because they had made a commitment, they were more likely to follow the rule. It really worked.