Teacher Discussion Forums

[chwego]

Hi there,

I'm in my first ESL job and i'm teaching in a university in China.
I'm teaching classes of about 60 students.
I have to prepare my classes myself and sometimes feel a little unsure what to do with such a large group of students.
I was planning on having the class do activities in small groups of 3-4 people but i'm finding it hard with such a large group.
I was wondering if anyone could share ideas on what to do/how to work with large groups of adult students.

[Sally Olsen]

Some ideas:

* Group Investigations are structured to emphasize higher-order thinking
skills such as analysis and evaluation. Students work to produce a
group project, which they may have a hand in selecting.

* STAD (Student Teams-Achievement Divisions).
Students with varying academic abilities are assigned to 4- or 5-member
teams in order to study what has been initially taught by the teacher
and to help each reach his or her highest level of achievement.
Students are then tested individually. Teams earn certificates or other
recognition based on the degree to which all team members have
progressed over their past records.

* Jigsaw II is used with narrative material. Each team
member is responsible for learning a specific part of a topic. After
meeting with members of other groups, who are "expert" in the same
part, the "experts" return to their own groups and present their
findings. Team members then are quizzed on all topics.