Job Discussion Forums

ttrtaft · Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 17

Hi,
I will be teaching at a private university. I will be teaching 80 to 100 freshmen university students. I will be teaching listening and conversational English. How do I go about teaching conversational English to 80 to 100 students? Thank-you for any advice.

Thanks

beck's · Joined: 06 Apr 2003 Posts: 426

You can't effectively teach conversational English to classes that are that large. Don't tell me you got sucked into a job at Yang En University?!

lily · Joined: 02 Aug 2004 Posts: 200

Group work. Show a bit of a movie - sound off. Have the students write the diaogue, then do it in front of the class, with the movie on in the back, sound still off.

Prepare a short story using simple English. I heard rumour of a list that has 1800 common words that students should know - anyone know where people could get hold of that list? Dictate it to students, then have them check each other's work for mistakes.

Good luck!

Babala · Joined: 28 Jan 2005 Posts: 1303 Location: Henan

How long are the classes? When I taught uni and the classes were 1 1/2 hours, I divided the class in half and gave them each a 45min lesson. I discussed it with the head of the university and reasoned that they would get more speaking practice in the 45min than they would get in 1 1/2 hours if I had so many of them. They approved my request.

anthyp · Joined: 16 Apr 2004 Posts: 1320 Location: Chicago, IL USA

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

I think dividing them into groups of 10 is a great idea. To motivate them, have them come up with a team name, a team coat-of-arms, a team slogan/motto, a team color combination, etc. Many of your activities can be in the form of competitions. Have the other 8 groups that aren't competing at the time do a "viewer survey" or a feedback, if you will to award points (do your own as well and your feedback is worth more).

On the TV show Survivor and The Apprentice, sometimes they regroup teams as one side may become much smaller as time goes by and as people are eliminated. Naturally, you don't want to eliminate anyone, but teams that consistently score lower points in activities/competitions may need a reshuffling. You could have some fun with that as groups have to "vote out" one or two members and they have to go to another. Or, so nobody gets hurt feelings, you could have elimination competitions (all English-based, naturally) within the groups. The one or two that scores the lowest, must move onto another group of your choosing.

Regardless of what you plan to do, Chinese students are very competitive in general and if you can come up with a bunch of games and such for them to win, then you may have a successful class. Don't forget to have some sort of simple prize (like candy bars for all) and also a trophy or plaque that can rotate amongst the winning group for that month.

Volodiya · Posted: Sat May 07, 2005 12:36 pm Post subject:

Oh, my. Taft, are you daft? For your first teaching job in China? You'll need a whip and chair, instead of a chalk, to control this mob.

Big classes are for experienced teachers, with a lot of practical skill dealing with the pandemonium and, even they will have a hard time delivering anything of value in this setting.

I'm under the impression that you don't have a degree, but can't you keep looking for something a little less demanding?- say, something about the size of the group (ten) you were working with back home?