Teacher Discussion Forums

I am currently in China..my classrooms are out of control..I am not the type of person that i thought this would ever happen too..but having 60 kids in a class is horrible it is making me CRAZY..does any one have some more ideas on games to play with the students..I have a few but I don't want them to get played out...I also have older high school kids 2 years away from university....does anyone have some fun ideas for these guys too. There are 50-60 students in those classes as well but they are behaved. THANKX GOODNESS....please let me know..

I think we covered this topic already down below. Search under "large classrooms." http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... classrooms
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It sure is challenge. I also tried turning out the lights and having the overhead projector of the day's topic or a short movie or advertisement on the video for the first ten minutes and that seemed to calm them down (of course, some of them went right to sleep but at least they are quiet). I think the best results I had though was dividing them into groups of ten and they worked on projects I assigned the team in brown envelopes. You have to flick the switch on the lights once in awhile to get them to quiet down. In one very unco-operative class, I did try moving the unco-operative ones to the back and just teaching to the front using a very soft and quiet voice so only the front ones would hear. There are some kids who really want to learn and the rest could sleep. They are just giving you a hard time because they can and you don't belong. The sooner you belong by doing things with them outside of your class time, the easier it will be. Getting to know names helps too. Getting to know their parents is a big plus. You can take pictures and have them sit in the same seats each time or wear name tags. It all seems overwhelming at first but you can win them over. Just keep telling them what you don't like in a calm and reasonable voice and then gradually switching over to what you do like. Don't worry about spending time settling up the rules for the class that they all agree on and then reinforcing those in whatever way they choose because all that time you will be speaking English and they will be listening. You can post the rules at the front of the class or write them on your shirt or skirt and point to them. In one class we made curtains with the rules written on them and put them over the windows and in one class we put them on the roof. My rules always boiled down to Be Nice and Work Hard. I would point to someone who wasn't doing those things and write what s/he was doing on the board. It is all English and if you do it with humour and have their best interests at heart, you will eventually bring them around. Don't worry if it takes a long time. If you manage it, you will have done more than some teachers ever do.

Hi, I am also teaching in China and have HUGE classes I found a few games that work really well and the students really get into them. (But I think the enthusiasm of the teacher has a lot to do with the success of a game or activity!)
HOMOPHONE GAME start with 2 teams (I always get them to pick a team name too, to get in the spirit of a competition) 1 person from each team comes to the chalk board, teacher says a word, the 1st student to write 2 words that sound like that word gets a point for the team (if neither student knows the answer, pick another homophone and let them try again) For example, teacher says one, the 1st std to write one and won wins a point (you can find lists of homophones online) For more difficult ones I will give examples of both words in a sentence.
STUMP THE TEACHER again start with 2 teams. First team picks a word they think the teacher will not guess and writes it on the board. Teacher can NOT look at the board. The OTHER team must get the teacher to guess the word by describing it, in English. If the teacher can NOT guess in the allotted time, the team that picked the word gets a point! In other words if the teacher is stumped the team that stumped you gets a pt. Good idea to stress the words HAVE to be English words--I've gotten chinese, spanish and japenese words--of course I'm stumped!! haha
Then the 2nd team picks a word and the 1st team makes you guess--No prep required!! You can also do "Stump the Student" for a change of pace.
I hope your students enjoy the games, Pam

you need a game that gets kids attention.
Check out www.phonicball.com
I had the same problem with unruly classes but they seem to respond to these games. I think its the motivational factor as well as the chance to throw something in class