Question: Is it necessary to waste time on warm up activities? I feel it takes away a lot of my teaching time.

Ms Amita Shah

Answer: A fun warm up activity helps students get interested in the lesson. They become less inhibited and are geared up for what follows. I enjoy having warm up activities in class as this facilitates easy teaching of the concepts in the lesson. I feel we should spend a few minutes of our teaching time on warm up activities. But no more than that. Perhaps 5 to 7 minutes at the most?
Anna D’ Souza — Primary teacher

Question: How do I handle a student who comes without doing his home work every day?

Ms Radhika, Senior teacher

Answer: A positive approach is important in dealing with such students. If it is a daily occurrence, look into the reasons. It is possible that they may not have understood the concept. You will need to spend extra time with such students. Appreciating those who make an attempt would itself encourage them to do better.
Mr Ramesh Rao — Principal

Question: How does one help students to learn new vocabulary?

Answer: I generally direct students to deduce the meaning of a word from the surrounding context. I never discourage them if they come up with a wrong answer; instead I provide hints to help them give the correct meaning of words.
Once they are familiar with the meaning, I ask students to frame sentences with the words.
Poonam Menon

Priya Kaushik, Varanasi

Question: Some of my students forget the concepts that they learned earlier. Is there any way I can prevent this from happening?

Answer: Students generally fail to sustain what they learnt if they have not understood the concept clearly or if there has been no follow up activity to reinforce the concept. Periodical refresher exercises not only help students remember the concept but also develop a better understanding of the same.
Shylaja Srinivasan

Question: How does one help students cope with exam stress?

Mrs Susan Alexander, Senior English teacher

Answer: Talk to students assuring them that their effort is more important than the results. Advise them not to give in to peer or parent pressure. While teaching, try not to cram up the portions; instead cover the portions systematically according to the set schedule. Advise them to keep away from distractions during exams, and not to stay up late at nights. I’m sure this will help.

Mr Bharath Kumar, St Josephs High School  

Question: Please provide some activity to help develop vocabulary in class I.

Answer: I generally make use of this activity in class. I divide the class into groups and ask each group to collect anything within the classroom that begins from the letter ‘A’ to the letter ‘Z’ within a time frame. The first group gets the maximum points.