Teacher Discussion Forums

hi there,

i am currently working at a middle/high school in china, teaching oral english to junior and senior students. i have encountered many challenges in this position, and because this is my first esl position and i have little experience, i was wondering if someone could help me out

1. i have VERY large classes ie 60+ and keeping all the students involved is very tricky. also, the students' levels of english vary greatly within the class, so if i teach the smarter ones then the poorer ones will be bored and noisy, and vice versa.

2. student motivation is very low for the most part... this is a poor village and many of these kids are just putting in time until they can get a job. still, i would like to feel like i'm actually earning my money, and i would still like to challenge the students that actually do show some interest.

3. perhaps worst of all, the school cant provide me with many resources ie paper for handouts, videos, etc... i dont even have a text to work with, everything must come straight off the top of my head. ive got a few games i know and am trying to learn more, but i have a fear that those will get played out pretty quickly... the one thing that is tremendously in my favour is that i get along very well wth th students... they dont seem to know or dont seem to care that i'm a poor teacher (or maybe they like me because of that...)

anyway, i would appreciate any and all suggestions that come my way... come on people, share your wealth of knowledge!!!

thanx again
mike

1. For large groups, refer to books written by Penny Ur. The key is to reduce the number of active speakers without sacrificing enthusiasm, just so you can monitor a manageable number of people. Things like having students do surveys, or working on info gap activities help.

2. Motivation is key in many areas of teaching. If you give them something fun and interesting (to teens, anyway), you have a head start. Are you using a textbook now? Get something like Talk A Lot! or Gear Up.


3. Big problem. Can you work around this with an overhead projector or simply writing on the board? Is there no source of recycled paper to use for handouts?

I've also taught large groups of high school classes, so I emphasise with you, it is certainly a challenge!

Why not split the class into smaller groups, say, 6 groups of 10, hand each group a piece of paper with a topic written on it and they have to spend the next 5 minutes thinking up an answer. Each group can nominate a speaker and the groups can compete for points or candy, just use your imagination.

In terms of motivation, why not teach the students about your culture? My students are always curious about my homeland (get friends or family back home to send you a calender, if possible, if only for the great pictures). This makes for an interesting discussion. Topics such as music, sport, local food from your homeland and even the weather can be made fun, try www.rong-chang.com for some ideas.

Try to keep it simple at first, as students are drawn in and the weeks progress, slowly make the lesson more challenging.

You mentioned the class doesn't give a textbook, which is really quite bad but the students love you, which is a BIG plus. Get to know them outside of class and find out what they want to learn, I always give my students a little questionnaire at the start of every term to get to know them better, you could do this by writing questions on the board.

Is there a copy shop nearby? It shouldn't be too pricey and each week, due to the groups, you wouldn't be making nearly as many copies.

Good luck!