Job Discussion Forums

[lennon146]

As someone planning to come to China, I've heard it said that classes in public schools can sometimes be as large as 40+ students. Having only taught small groups at a private school in Italy I find this pretty daunting, not so much out of fear, but the sheer practical difficulty of teaching a lesson that will involve all of the students and be worthwhile. Surely even a trained high school teacher would find it quite a task.

I was wondering if anyone has any tips/experiences of how they adjusted to such a situation. Also, I browse this board a lot, and I detect a sense that somehow 'we' (ESL teachers in China) are not expected or even asked to be 'real' teachers, insofar as the attitude is we are native speakers who sort of 'lend a hand'. (I'm talking as far as the employer's expectations, not the ESL teacher's attitude). I was just wondering if someone could elaborate on that for someone who has never actually seen a Chinese classroom.

[Nauczyciel]

In 2003 I taught in a high school in Guangdong province. There were roughly 25 - 30 kids in each class, which can pose a problem sometimes. However, this size is manageable.

Once I read on this very forum that Huizhou University (GD) had classes of 100! The guy teaching there said he was only able to run the classes because he was an active and dynamic person. Still, it's hard for me to think of any ways of managing a class of this size!

[struelle]

It varies from school to school and the ages you teach. I was fortunate when I taught at a high school, that they split the classes in half and I got about 20-25 each time. The local teachers always had the full load, however, which was about 45-50. That's pretty standard for high schools, at least in Shanghai.

As for not being perceived as a real teacher by the FAOs, that is a reality to deal with, but the upside is that you get a lot of freedom in the classroom to work your own style in. Given time, you can get the students interested and on your side, then there's a lot you can do with the lessons.

Generally speaking, you get out of the classroom what you put in.

Steve

[Roger]

I am surprised to learn others had classes of 25 to 35. Everywhere I have been in China, classes tended to have above 40 students; 45, 50 seem to be the low minimum; 60 is apparently the average, and 100 is a distinct possibility!

Yes, a good question: how to cope with them?
I often try to have inbdividual speakers of small groups make presentations; first they have to air their ideas among themselves in their groups, then one of them gives the presentation; what's of uppermost importance, however, is for all of them to LISTEN to one of their peers. This is probably the most daunting challenge! You have to use old-fashioned reward-and-bonus enticements.

[ola_zajac]

Hi!
In my workplace, Huang Huai University Zhumadian , Henan we teach groups of 120 students each!
I teach Society and Culture course and I'm still trying to find my way through that!

[morningthunder]

Agree with others who are mentioning the higher numbers - I taught in a public middle school and the smallest class I taught had around 50 students, the biggest class 85. I had friends who taught classes of around 120 as well. This was in Shandong; I'm not sure how the situation varies, but I would not imagine you would get fewer than 40 in a class at a public school, unless it was specially organised by the school.

[dwhansen]

To lennon145...I'm another one who loves big classes, but it all depends on what YOU want to teach. Some of the other posters told you that your class style will be pretty much up to you. No one will give you much pressure to actually "teach" anything but the students and your conscience will motivate you to "teach" something. I refuse to lecture in china anymore. I feel like the pretty monkey hired to sing and dance on stage. Now, I'll only enter the classroom if there are only movable chairs so the students sit in small groups facing each other. I don't plan a lecture either. I DEMAND that they raise questions and only then do I give them my short lecture, answer the question, demonstrate something and set them free again to mull over what I just said. I give them great, detailed and complete answers also...this fulfillment is critically important. Keep in mind, I'm in a university, but I think this would work great with children also. It takes some highly disciplined technique to facilitate a classroom like this, but you can learn how, practice it, and ultimatelty you and your students will love it. I hope you get a chance to try it sometime.

[Corzani Rex]

I teach at a middle school in Xiangfan, Hubei. Each of my 16 classes has between 70-84 students. It makes for some interesting dynamics (and a nightmare during intake month; learning 1200+ student's names is a daunting task).

On a related issue: Does anyone have any ideas for fun ice breakers and warm ups that don't require any out-of-desk movement? The classes are packed to the walls with desks and there isn't any real room for the kids to move around. Any advice would be appreciated....

[go_ABs]

I was lucky - damn lucky by the sounds of things - to stumble across a school for my first job where the cap on the class size was 20 students. The school is a private school in Anhui Province. 25 students is good even by New Zealand standards, where primary and secondary schools average around 30 students per class.

To Corzani Rex - warm ups can depend on level. For younger students, maybe something as simple as "stand up, sit down, hands up, hands down", would involve them standing but not moving around. BTW I'm impressed you learnt all your students names

[Corzani Rex]

to go_ABs: I was a little misleading if I implied that I actually committed all 1200 names to mind. In fact, I have lists for each class that I refer to. The lists have only names, not faces, of course; so I suppose some memory work is required.

Sadly, I'm not Kreskin (does anyone remember him?!).

Cheers

and go Arsenal