18.2.1. Teaching room
The ideal teaching room is large enough to accommodate all the students desks (or tables and chairs) and allows sufficient extra space for such activities as dramatisation and role-play. It is not a square or rectangle in shape, but has instead a more irregular outline with alcoves to serve as quiet areas or group areas. This could provide for many different types of interaction in class, in which the teacher can talk to students, students to the teacher and students to each other. Various ways in which such interaction can take place is illustrated as follows: 1) T – Cl; Cl- T; 2) T – S; S - T
3) public pair-work (S-S); 4) simultaneous pair-work
5) group work
Pair work
It is tempting to discuss pair work as impracticable with such a large class, but remember that the additional noise is much more obvious to the teacher than to the pairs themselves. They will not be aware of any great increase in noise and will be able to continue with their exchanges in the usual way.
However, there are other considerations (such as the class next door perhaps) and it might be useful then to restrict pair work to half the class at any one time.
Class sections
Where possible, modify the class organisation rather than the teaching method. It is often very helpful to have two established sections in the classroom so that the teacher can direct his attention to just one of them from time to time. Chorus work might be restricted to a section activity. We are, of course, getting closer and closer to group work, which makes such heavy demands on the teacher’s organisational ability.
18.2.2. Group work
There is a tendency for the EFL teacher to be much more dominant in his teaching style than is the case with his counterpart who teachers English as a first language. For the latter, group work, as opposed to the class lesson, has been the order of the day for some years now, and we may have a great deal to learn from this more flexible approach. It should be noted that a great deal of group work is linked to the so-called discovery method of learning. Groups work on small projects using a variety of source materials, which lays a heavy burden on teacher preparation for the lesson. If thoroughly prepared and sequenced in the degree of difficulty, then the teacher’s role is largely that of provider and organiser of the material for group work in the lesson.
If groups are set up, they should look like groups. They should not be set up by simply isolating different rows. Students should be grouped around a table and should form the structure of a group with their own leader. The leaders should be the most competent in the class and should be able to form a demonstration group with the teacher whenever necessary. Bearing in mind that a large class is almost certain to contain a number of ability levels, the teacher has to decide under the circumstances whether to stream the groups accordingly, or to divide the class into the mixed-ability groups. Making his decisions, the teacher must foresee if the members of such mixed-ability groups necessarily have to work on the same material and at the same level.
We have already pointed out that group work makes heavy demands on the teacher as organiser, especially if material has to be prepared at different levels. It would be intolerable if a language teacher had a succession of such large classes to contend with. The teacher appreciates that weaker learners will require more of his time, that mixed-ability classes will require additional planning and that resources must often be less than adequate. At the same time he may feel with some justification that very large classes are an administrative inconvenience at the expense of the learners’ progress and his own professionalism. That is, there is the danger that strategies, such as group work, will not be effectively attempted because of an underlying belief that the situation ought not to exist.
H
A.
LSITENING COMPREHENSION USING
TAPE-RECORDER JUNCTION BOX IF AVAILABLE
B.
READING COMPREHENSION (LOWER LEVEL)
C.
READING COMPREHENSION (HIGHER LEVEL)
D.
WRITING ACTIVITY (HIGHER LEVEL)
E.
LANGUAGE GAME
F.
WRITING ACTIVITY (LOWER LEVEL)
G. ORAL
ACTIVITY DIALOGUE (in ‘quiet corner’/ alcove if available)
Group A is listening to a passage and performing an exercise based on it. The exercise may require the group to write down the main verbs in a list and then fill in blanks around them in order to produce meaningful sentences.
Group B is reading a passage and exercising a multiple-choice test for the teacher to assess general understanding of the passage.
Group C is using the same text as for group B but their task is to answer five open-ended comprehension questions.
Group D is performing a paragraph writing activity based on a communicative task.
Group E is playing a language board game based on the structure/ lexis under study.
Group F is performing a paragraph writing exercise based on a guided composition technique.
Group G are making up dialogues of their own in pairs based on a dialogue frame.
It should be noted that group-work is a fragmenting influence in the class. It causes a certain loss of the sense of community already referred to. There must be ample time for handling the class as a single unit and groups must be allowed to interact one with the other. There will be times when one group will perform for the whole class – Group G might well act out their dialogues for the whole class at some stage. It will be vitally important for the teacher to learn and use the students’ names, and this may necessitate the initial use of name cards.
Team teaching
If the problem causing large classes is lack of accommodation rather than lack of staff, working closely with the colleague may be a useful approach. Two teachers working together can demonstrate language functions very effectively and can then share the normal teaching responsibilities. Again, the size and shape of the teaching room is of considerable importance
One model for team teaching with a large class is for one teacher to present the new material to the whole class. Then both teachers work with a section each. The second teacher does a general conclusion for the whole class again.