Classroom Design
Lingualearn services: CLASSROOM DESIGN
Guidelines for Designing a Dedicated Language Teaching Classroom
The following factors should be taken into account when designing classrooms dedicated to language teaching:
Walls
- curtains, wall hangings and blinds help to prevent echoes
- maps and posters showing foreign locations
- flashcards and large labelled diagrams to help learn vocabulary
- partitions, alcoves, movable panels and sliding doors can help to provide sound installation for students when working in groups and pairs
Floor
- preferably carpeted
- preferably enough space for formal study using desks and chairs, and an open space for simulations and role-plays
Ceiling
- preferably with acoustic tiles
- one or two whiteboards with pens
- a flip chart with pens
- a good quality CD player with high fidelity sound
- a DVD player
- an interactive whiteboard
- a large TV screen or monitor for showing images, films and Internet pages
- a listening centre
- a language laboratory
Furniture
- small, light and easily movable tables
- magazine racks with foreign language magazines
- a bookshelf with dictionaries, grammars and course books
Heating
- no loud fans, especially from air conditioning systems
Environment
- little or no background noise
- little or no distractions through the side windows
- all mobile phones turned off
- only urgent messages passed through to the teacher during language classes
Generally speaking, a language teaching classroom should be designed in a similar way to an office environment, with one or two main differences:
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it should be possible to hear the teacher speaking softly from anywhere in the classroom so the level of background noise, should be very low.
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it should be possible to see the teacher's lips from anywhere in the classroom so there should be enough room and the lighting should be good.
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it should be possible for all the students in the class to communicate at the same time during group and pair-work; this can produce a lot of noise!
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it should be possible for the students to work in groups or pairs without disturbing the rest of the class; this means there should be enough space in the classroom and that the furniture does not prevent this type of interaction.