Teaching Large and Small Classes

I was teaching a class of about 50 students. They were all nearly 7 years old. We were all engrossed in an activity and all of us were very happy. Suddenly I saw the Principal's head peeping in. He called me out and said in a stern voice, "Ma'm if this is the condition of the class when you are inside the class what will happen when you leave the class". I tried to explain to him that it is a language class and unless they are allowed to talk they will learn nothing and went on with what activity I was doing and why I was doing that. He understood nothing of it. He just said, "Ensure discipline in class. That is all I want".

I went back to the class and, believe me or not, told the seven-year-olds, this is the problem, the principal is unhappy with me because we are making too much noise and unless they are able to do the activities without making too much noise, I will have to resort to writing on the blackboard and asking them to copy sentences in their notebooks. There was silence for about 10 seconds and then they all said in chorus, in a very soft voice, "No Ma'm".

The next day we started the class with some activities and I wish I had video recorded it. The class was so well disciplined, they did all the activities murmuring to each other and we were able to do more than all the other days. One tiny tot kept a watch on the door and warned us if the Principal was passing by. After a few days I forgot the warning and started laughing loudly in the class for a wonderful presentation by a group of children. They all put their finger on the lips and said, "Shhhhh Ma'm not so loud".

I have worked at the primary, secondary, tertiary and post graduate levels and all of them have been large classes starting from 50 and going on up to 200. I have had a single student coming to my house to get ready to go to school after migrating from another country. I have worked under extreme pressures to complete the syllabus, to get the students ready to appear in board examinations. I have worked with children who did not have enough to eat and who had a torn shirt on their back, their only dress, which they have to wash and wait for it to dry before coming to class.

What is the fundamental learning for me as a teacher working in different contexts and participating in different interaction patterns?

If I care for the students they sense it intuitively and even if I have to get angry with them for some reason they know it is for their own good.

If I don't care for the students but pretend to care they get to know it almost immediately. Then even if I have a very broad smile on my face in the class they know it is not genuine.

If I keep my eyes and ears open, I can sense when students are getting bored. I can bring about a variation if I am aware of what is happening around me. If I am lost in delivering my lecture, I ignore others reactions and soon lose their attention.

If I put myself in the students' shoes and listen to my own voice delivering a non-stop lecture, I would pass and find ways of giving them a chance to interact with the materials I present to them. I will talk for about 10 minutes and then say, "Now you have two minutes time. Talk to your partner about what I said just now and ask me a question, if you don't understand what I said". At the end of the two minutes I call their attention using simple signs which we have agreed upon before class. It may be a simple tap on the board, two claps, a whistle, a musical note, a mobile ring tone, etc. Over a period of time students get to know when to talk and when to listen carefully. This is neccessary whether you have one student or one thousand.

If I know the interests of the students whatever I want to teach, I can link it to whatever they are interested in. If I am worried about completing the syllabus and rushing through the lesson it is similar to the saying, 'The operation is successful but the patient died'. If I teach them 'how to learn' even if I don't complete the syllabus they will do it for themselves.

There are a number of activities and tasks, including multilingual tasks in this site. Explore the site for a variety of activities and tasks.

Here are two good articles which discuss handling large and small classes:

http://www.schreyerinstitute.psu.edu/pdf/Teaching_Large_Classes_Well.pdf

http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Papers/Largeclasses.htm