Does anyone else having trouble filling a 3 hour class?

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zappa
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2005 3:34 am

Does anyone else having trouble filling a 3 hour class?

Post by zappa » Tue Dec 06, 2005 3:41 am

Hi there
As a relatively new teacher I thought I'd ask for anyone's opinions on here - -
I currently teacher each morning from 9am through 12:15pm (with a 15 min break in the middle). My problem is that, for whatever reason, I sometimes find it difficult to fill the 3 hours and still maintain that it is too longer time for both a teacher and student to "endure".

Does anyone else feel like this at all? Any suggestions as to how I could "fill" the time up!?

Thankyou
Bob

FangWB
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:18 am

Re: Does anyone else having trouble filling a 3 hour class?

Post by FangWB » Tue Dec 06, 2005 4:49 am

zappa wrote:Hi there
As a relatively new teacher I thought I'd ask for anyone's opinions on here - -
I currently teacher each morning from 9am through 12:15pm (with a 15 min break in the middle). My problem is that, for whatever reason, I sometimes find it difficult to fill the 3 hours and still maintain that it is too longer time for both a teacher and student to "endure".

Does anyone else feel like this at all? Any suggestions as to how I could "fill" the time up!?

Thankyou
Bob
I have been teaching a bilingual class for the same amount of time each day. Three hours do sound long if there is not very much to do in the class. I usually have some writing assignments on the desk before class starts. Studnets go to their desks and start to work on their writing immediately for 10 minutes (9:00 - 9:15am). Sometimes they may write or draw whatever they want and share with the class later on in the target language. Then, it comes group instruction. Students sit in a circle when I go over the new learning materials (9:15-9:40am, including questions and responses). Then they seem to be a little tired of sitting down. Thus playing an educational game is a good idea. However, the game must be related to the unit or topic that they are learning (9:40-10:00am). Next, students form groups for guided practice. They practice with each other by using the learning materials I prepared. I walk around to observe and offer assistance whenever needed (10:00-10:20am). Then it comes the happy time-recess (10:20-10:35am). I turn on the songs to sharpen their ears during recess. 10:35-11:00am is reading time. Everyone selects a book at his/her level or class-made book to read. I have my students made at least one book for each unit. When students finish reading, they may practice the sentences and words with their partners by using the materials I provide. During this reading time, I normally pull out students individually or in small groups (It depends on how many students I have)to assess and to provide individual instruction. 11:00-11:10 is time to get up and shake out their wiggles. I usually sing songs and dance with them. When learning about positions and opposites, we did Aerobics. The students love it. 11:10-11:35 is arts and crafts. Of course, the purpose is not to make beautiful arts and crafts. My goal is to integrate the content which I am teaching into arts and crafts. 11:35-11:55am is sharing time which means students share their works with the class. 11:55-12:10pm is story time. I normally read a sotry to them and followed by questions. 12:10-12:15pm is my traditional way to end the class (Play Simon says). I model it the first time and each student takes turn to be the leader.
I apologize for the lengthy response. Hope this helps.

jori
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 11:14 pm

Post by jori » Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:13 am

You might fill up your class time with the following routines:
1. Review of previous lessons
2. Introduction to the day's lessons to motivate students
3. Vocabulary - I give at most three related words, discuss their meaning, use, spelling, pronunciation, and relate them to our life.
4. Reading followed by conversation - They read an article, restate them, and discuss them. I listen more and encourage them to talk more.
5. Breaktime
6. Grammar lesson - I focus on one small specific important grammar lesson. I give them written and oral exercises.
7. Resume reading and conversation
8. Breaktime
10. Pronunciation lessons and exercises.
11. Writing. They write something about our discussions. Then they read their essays in class.
12. Summary
13. Test
14. Class meeting. Evaluation of the day's class, problems, suggestions,
plans.

yanggr
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 2:19 am

re:Does anyone else having trouble filling a 3 hour class?

Post by yanggr » Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:29 am

i am a new teacher too, but i always find that the class time is not enough for me to elaborate more. i am not sure if your students are beginner or at intermediate level or advanced level. If they are beginner, i think you might allot more time to students themselves, for example, you can direct them to do the role-play, short discussion, play some games, or do some writing in class and then take some samples to elaborate. As far as intermediate and advanced level students are concerned, you can let them have some group discussion about the unit topic or give some supplementary reading materials to read. In a word, you may need do more preparation before the class. :lol:

strider
Posts: 160
Joined: Fri Jan 17, 2003 7:52 am
Location: France

Post by strider » Tue Dec 13, 2005 8:50 am

This is a difficult problem. I used to teach 4 hour lessons with teenagers - it was very hard to sustain their attention (and mine) during that period.

I agree with the other contributors - it is important to have a lot of variety. So, grammar, listening, quizzes, discussion, video...

It is also good to get people to move around, even if it is only to stand up and sit down again. I used to put people in small groups and I tried to put together people from different parts of the classroom - simply to 'disorganize' the class for a few minutes while everyone changed places and settled down again.

Please tell us if things improve for you!

moonchild7903
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Dec 10, 2005 2:25 pm

Post by moonchild7903 » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:11 pm

I think the reason that ESL class hours are long is because they're meant to be oriented towards communicative language teaching. So basically, this means that we need to increase student talking time and decrease teacher talking time. As a matter of fact, a three hour class period should be perfect to accomodate three classroom contexts (Seedhouse, 2004), namely:

1. form and accuracy
2. meaning and fluency
3. task oriented

The form and accuracy context should deal with learning about the language. The second, should deal with communicating with the language and the third should get the students engaged in dealing with each other in the target language.

If you know your students well, it should be easy for you to find a topic that will get them all sharing their ideas and experiences then give them a project that will get them talking to each other. You'll see your 3 hours dissolve without even noticing and your students will even ask for more hours.

Bann_Me
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2005 7:18 am

Crazy

Post by Bann_Me » Fri Dec 16, 2005 8:09 am

Yeah, i have heard stories and stories about teachers having to teach long classes....

seems like mostly either the parents want to get rid of thier kids on the weekend and to be baby sat...........or the managment want to take the money and run.............

i mean the average movie doesn't even come close to that amount of time and it is hard enough to sit thorugh a hollywood movie for over an hour..................

why should you have to teach that long..........refuse...........that is anti-learning...........it is not about learing at all.................

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Lorikeet
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Post by Lorikeet » Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:17 pm

Bann_Me, did you bother to read the other posts above yours? There were some good suggestions about how to pace such a class, and the different kinds of activities you can use.

patch
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Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:46 pm

Post by patch » Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:27 am

My teacher during my highschool gives us spelling quiz everyday. The quiz is about 20 words we discussed for the past 5 days. she will pick randomly 20 words out of 100 words.

We were given 15 minutes review time. and 30 minutes quiz. we also check our own papers for 15 minutes. That would be one hour.

The quiz goes like this...

She will speak the word.
and then use it in a sentence
she will repeat the sentence.

For the rest of your 3 hours, of course, discuss anything you can. read a story if you want.

Superhal
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2005 10:59 pm

Post by Superhal » Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:01 am

My school does 2 hour classes. My strategy is to plan for 4 30 minute lessons, with a 5th in case time runs short. For you, that would be 6 activities with a 7th just in case.

Sometimes, a lesson will run for over 30 minutes, in which case I try to slow several of them down and save more lessons.

Brian
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Location: Bangkok, Thailand
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Post by Brian » Sun Jan 15, 2006 5:14 pm

I like Superhal's idea - breaking the lesson up into 6 slots means that every thirty minutes you can have a change of activity / pace.

Sections of your lesson could inlcude:

recap previous lesson / warmer activity
pronunciation
grammar focus
skills work - reading / writing / listening or conversation
something from the book
vocab / dictionary work
something fun to finish - a song or game?

Brian

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Grammar comics for EFL teachers and students! Find them at:

http://www.grammarmancomic.com

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