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[OneJoelFifty]

My first grade seniors have 40 students per class. This week I've spent a little time practicing emotions, and for one of the activities they had to recite the days of the week with their partners while being happy, sad, angry and then sleepy. They really enjoyed it. Even the classes that usually struggle to listen for 30 seconds snapped to attention when I announced the next emotion to practice.

Does anyone have any similar speaking activities they can recommend? A lot of the activities I found very successful with junior high students involved moving around the classroom, but with so many students it's not an option.

[Glenski]

Why not？ I have done it with larger classes.

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[OneJoelFifty]

The attitude of the students aside, there's hardly room to move. The desks are packed close together, the seats at the back are almost touching the lockers, and the space between is cluttered with big sports bags. It's not practical.

[mitsui]

For junior high I wouldn`t bother. I used to have 42 in a class.
I made it teacher centered and focused on pronunciation and listening.
I did dictations and if you base activities around what they are doing in New Crown, New Horizon, etc that keeps the Japanese English teachers happy.

[Glenski]

If there really isn't enough physical space to move around, and taking them to a different place for such activities isn't practical, you can still do those things. All a student has to do is look on all sides including front and back to get 4-8 pair partners. If they are at tables, they can work with however many are there (2? 3? 4?). Are the students required to sit in the same seat all the time? Could get boring, but the above still works. If they can sit in different seats, then FORCE them to, whether by directive, by putting nameplates out, or by getting them to sign a participation card with partners' names every class.

You are in a tough time for J kids -- high school. They will not see a lot of your work as practical because they are beginning to focus on college entrance exams. Don't disparage, and keep their spirits up because they will finish HS and have even worse language skills than when they started JHS. Give them reasons to learn how to speak smoothly and relatively correctly, but keep in mind the simple point of being communicative (listener can merely understand is enough). Give them strategies to use (see Active Listener) so that they don't end up with 1-word replies or silence (and lack of info).

I have taught HS and now am in uni, and I see so many uni kids with horrendous speaking/listening skills. They don't get the proper training and practice, nor do they realize how important it is because when the hit college, most of their foreign teachers in English classes will not use Japanese, and there won't be a JTE in the room to help. Many come to my office or the resource center that I administer and can't say the simplest sentences. First words out of their mouths is Japanese, and it usually is followed or preceded by, "Nihongo de ii?" When I say no, they are stymied. They come to the resource center to borrow books and can't say "I want to borrow this one" or "I want to return this book", not even after 2-3 months! I am NOT exaggerating.

Don't pass along this poor English training to the uni.

[OneJoelFifty]

Thanks.

You're right about it being a difficult time, and their language skills regressing. I started out with classes aimed at what I thought would be the right level, having previously taught in a decent junior high. I quickly had to lower my expectations and simplify what I was expecting them to do in class.

[timteach]

You might want to try these teaching tools. http://www.goteachabroad.com/teach-abroad-blog/10-essential-esl-teaching-tools/905