Job Discussion Forums

[yamahuh]

OK, it's not exactly a class but here's the deal; the language school we work for occasionally has us do demonstration classes for prospective new clients. The way these generally go down is as follows; we're told that we'll have a class of seniors and a class of juniors or primary..you get the idea; we show up and are told (due to the great Chinese ability to change EVERYTHING at the last minute) that we are now teaching one class but it is ALL the seniors, juniors etc.
At that point the original lesson plan goes out the window and you are left scrambling for things to do.
We did one yesterday and basically all we could come up with for a mixed audience of 300 junior middle school students, was reviewing some coloured sheets we had brought with us (they have a hard time with grey, brown, gold and silver) and 'What's this in English?" where we produce articles such as magazines, menus, flash cards of cars, trucks, pizza etc from our backpacks.

Does anybody have any experience or suggestions about how to entertain a crown of this size with an English lesson theme for up to an hour?? I'm having a really hard time coming up with anything more than what we did as I find the size of the audience really limits your options.

[amandabarrick]

Why would you agree to do a demo for an audience of 300? It's nearly impossible for them to learn anything with a group that size. Do you have any media resources such as audio/visual equipment? What about introducing yourself and showing pictures of your hometown, doing a Q & A with the audience for 15 minutes or so...
With an audience this size it seems your school just wants to use you as marketing and show others they have a FT. The possibility of them learning anything meaningful isn't very realistic.

AB

[yamahuh]

[anthyp]

We have heard of 50+ students per class, but 300? That's a new one!

How many of these "demonstration lessons" do you have to do, anyway? You're making it sound like there's one per week.

I'd forget about trying to get everyone involved. Ask for 20 - 30 volunteers for whatever activities / games you're supposed to be doing. The rest can watch as you lead these select few through their motions. Sucks for those left on the sidelines, but there's no way you can please everybody in such a situation! You can choose a new group of volunteers for each activity to involve as many as possible.

If it really bothers you (and you are not merely annoyed with the hassle), you should start looking for a new employer! There are plenty of folks out there who will actually respect you as a teacher, and not merely a marketing tool.

[tw]

Three hundred? That's just INSANE! I don't call that a demo class. I call that a monkey show. Get them to do what they can do best and that's repetitive reciting. Ideally, what the other posters would work except I can guarantee that it won't. Ask you question? You will get dead silence. Show them pictures? Too long of a wait for the pictures to be passed from one end of the hall to the other end. You can also give them a mini lecture on things like the 8 parts of speech and typical Chinese pronunciation errors like "usually", the "v" sound vs the "w" sound, etc.

[mmm... pancakes]

[Babala]

One thing I have done in the past when doing a presentation and they had requested an activity is to play Tri-Bond. You know, name 3 things things and they have to tell you what they have in common (eg. spring, summer, winter...all seasons). You can make some of them very easy for the lower levels and include some tough ones for the higher level students.

[yamahuh]

[kev7161]

Quite frankly, I wouldn't do it. If I knew about these demo "classes" before I took the job, then I wouldn't take it. If I found out AFTER (edit) accepting the job (edit), I'd either refuse to do them and see what happens or I'd look for another job.

I know that's not a suggestion on how to "teach" the "class", but it's the best I can do. I like the idea of tri-bond, though.

[yamahuh]

[hilary]

You could always play hangman. Start with E X P L O I T E D.

Do they pay you overtime?

[yamahuh]

[Don McChesney]

Can you 'visually' chop the group into four quarters, to work as a team, so you are managing only a quarter of the number at one time.
Then use the board to score points. Each quarter shouts a question to the next one. Correct, they get a point. Can't answer correctly, they lose a point. Asking team to give correct answer. This works the seniors of course, but it impresses the audience with the level of their English.
Then get the seniors to sit down, get the juniors to stand and ask and answer. Of course there will be prompting and cheating, but hey, they look smart!!
It is noisy but fun. Questions can be grouped. Colours, objects, animals etc, give a directive. ' Ask for an animal beginning with A or B or Q (quokka).
This way both sides have to think, one to know before asking, to check the answer.the other to score a point.. Good luck anyway.

[yamahuh]

That's a good idea; one I hadn't thought of for sure.

Thanks for the suggestion, if we find ourselves in a similar situation again I'll definitely give that a try and let you know how it works out.

[sigmoid]