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lexicon
Joined: 28 Jul 2004
Posts: 8
Location: Ibaraki, Japan
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 Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2004 4:21 pm Post subject: Teaching Large Classes (+30) Tips and Ideas |
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Can anyone provide tips and/or ideas for teaching large classes of elementary students? I'll be doing ALT work at an elementary school and I'm told that my classes will probably each have 30 kids (1rst-6th graders).
The maximum number of students that I've taught in one class has been 20 and they were high school boys. Little children will be much different. I've taught little children, but only up to 12 in a class.
I appreciate any forum links, strategies, games, exercises, etc.
Honestly, Thank You |
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adomo
Joined: 19 Jul 2004
Posts: 23
Location: JAPAN
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| Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2004 5:12 pm Post subject: A helpful hint |
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Lexicon,
I've used this home link in the past and in turn I personally thought that it was very useful.[/url]http://www.longmanjapan.com/ |
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lexicon
Joined: 28 Jul 2004
Posts: 8
Location: Ibaraki, Japan
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| Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2004 2:39 pm Post subject: Thank You |
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| Thank you for the link. I've bookmarked it and will check it out. |
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easyasabc
Joined: 13 Jul 2003
Posts: 179
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2004 4:18 pm Post subject: Re: Teaching Large Classes (+30) Tips and Ideas |
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| lexicon wrote: |
| Can anyone provide tips and/or ideas for teaching large classes of elementary students? I'll be doing ALT work at an elementary school and I'm told that my classes will probably each have 30 kids (1rst-6th graders). |
Are you going to be teaching and planning the classes yourself or assisting a Japanese teacher of English?
I've been teaching big groups (up to 40) in elementary schools for a few years. It can be tricky but can also be great fun.
In the first lessons I teach them some classroom commands such as "stand up" "sit down" "pick up" "put down" "don't touch" (being able to do that stuff in English helps with control). My gorgeous grade one kids get a real kick out of that stuff believe it or not. I usually do a litte game thing to try and get them to realise that listening carefully is important. I teach them "stand up" and "sit down" pretty easily by having them follow those commands a few times as I kind of make a stand-up or sit down gesture and say the words. Then I'll do something like gesture sitting down but say "stand up". At first they'll all just follow what I've gestured without listening to what I've said and sit down but then when I make them listen again and they realise that I've played a trick on them they think it's a great joke and they really start to listen more carefully.
With the really little ones you need to do short activities because they just can't concentrate too long on anything and I think Japanese kids in particular seem to be worse at keeping on track than kids I had experience with in Australia.
Unless you are working with the upper grades once they've already had a bit of experience and can do partner speaking activities, with that size not every kid is going to get a chance to speak much. I have tended to do listening type activities alot. I might introduce some new vocabulary then get the kids to do a worksheet where they have to listen to what I'm saying to know what to do next. For example I have a worksheet which is a cute picture of a boy and girl that I use to practice words for clothes. They know the words boy and girl by the time I do this topic and I teach them the words "shirt/skirt/socks/shoes" etc then give them the worksheet and they have to listen to me to know how to colour it. I'll say something like "the boy is wearing a blue shirt" (emphasising the words "boy" "blue" and "shirt") and they have to pick up their blue crayon and colur the shirt. They loved doing that.
Oh and I don't let them say "dekita" when they have finished like they seem to love doing. In my class they have to say the English word "finished" and a lot of them get really excited about who is going to be first to do their colouring and say it.
Are you in Japan yet? I'm getting ready to leave Japan next month and I have loads of worksheets I've been using with elementary school level that I'm probably going to throw out and could post to you if you like.
Good luck with it - if you ignore any idiot teachers or school administration you can have a fantastic time with the kids. |
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JimDunlop2
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Posts: 2286
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 9:05 am Post subject: a tip |
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In one word: www.genkienglish.com From personal experience, their stuff WORKS!
Also, as a word of advice on usage, don't be afraid to try new stuff or adapt what you find online. Also, something that works REMARKABLY well.... don't be surprised if your Japanese-co-teachers will not speak a lick of Enligh (or quite limited English in some cases). Hence, when it comes to introducing new games/activities, unless you have a really special knack for explaining things using body language, it REALLY helps to have the Japanese teacher help explain things to the students. If the teacher can't understand what you want the kids to do, neither will they.
Fortunately, many of the games/activities on the Genki English website are bilingual. What I do, I PRINT out everything I'm going to use that day, then while I'm doing greetings or singing a song with the students, I hand the binder to the teacher and get them to read up on what we'll be doing in the next few minutes. (If I have access to the teacher before class, that's even better, but usually I don't). It helps the class run a lot more smoothly.
Good luck.. If you need any more tips, send me a PM, but not until September, as I'm currently on holiday in a different prefecture and don't have my materials with me...
JD |
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