Job Discussion Forums

[Granada Girl]

First time teaching in China! What tips can you give me for the first day with 50+ students??

[jg]

How old are they? Maybe a simple song like Bingo, thats if they are kids of course. For older ones, maybe some group work, like a get to know you exercise where they interview each other with 5 questions, name, age, favorite color, and then you pick a few to come up and speak their results?

Good luck, thats daunting, I have never been in that situation... it might turn out to be fun!

[tw]

There are many web sites that provide useful first-day activities. Try www.eslcafe.com/ideas/sefer.cgi?Ice:Breakers You may find something suitable for the age and English level.

[nolefan]

check out the section about icebreakers on ESLcafe. Set the tone for the rest of the semester by getting them to talk a little bit

[virago]

RUN.

[Roger]

Trawl in our archives - we discussed this often.
There also are fora that deal with specific education topics - scroll down the relevant fora in the Teachers' selection.

Lastly, you failed to indicate what kind of students you are going to have. Your first tassk is to get to know them and their faulty English.
A game thatr works with virtually all levels is the rumour game - have people reproduce a phrase you whispered in someone's ear; it gets hilarious results.

Adults should be pushed onstage to talk to their peers in front - how about introducing themselves? Yes, it requires a little energy with the first few guys but it normally gets easier the more guys you pushed there.

This way you will soon discover their greatest problems - usually comprehension, poor grammar competency, pronunciation, but also the ability to speak about a topic off cuffs.

[Mideatoo]

[frigginhippie]

in my uni, it was a case of show them you're a real teacher on the 1st day, or you'll be a joke.
i prepared a small learning activity (read and explain/analyze), which took about 30mins. then assigned reading hw. they thought "serious teacher". the guy next door talked about his gf and ended class 40mins early. they thought "wasted tuition".
in general, do/say something to gain respect on the first day, regardless of student age, number, or level. makes for smooth sailing, and allows for constructive fun activites in the future. if not, you'll face an uphill battle all term. good luck and welcome to china!

-ee hippie

[virago]

[kev7161]

I agree with making sure they know you are their TEACHER and not their FRIEND/Dancing Monkey for the term. Don't have to be a hard-a$$ or anything, but establish a few rules, go over the textbook with them (if they have one), do an English-based activity where most or all can participate and make sure they understand they are in a class where they are expected to use ENGLISH (whether it be reading, writing, speaking, etc.). If you want to do something more personal, use the last ten-minutes or so for a question/answer session so they can get to know you a little better.

[bubblebubble]

getting to know you bingo with a enough prizes for 5% of the class. wear a big smile and be cheerful. you want to leave a great impression so the students will like you for the rest of the year.

[sheeba]

Classroom Rules - Maybe even a classroom contract that you can both sign (teachers and students) Absolutely no spitting in class!!!!!
Make sure you have control and the students realise that they will need to work to pass their exams. Also they can't cheat in exams. I ended up having to fail more than I would have liked last year because I did not explain this.

Present all this in a fun way - play some games too. I also found telling them stupid little stories about hygiene in a funny way prevented some of the stench from the first lessons.

Thanks - I've just planned my first lesson for next week

The next lesson you can move on to course objectives. I rate this very importantly. They need to have goals.

Be yourself.