Problems we face in large classes

I have had a class of 32 this semester (The most crowded one in my teaching life), and this is the first time I pray that not all of them come to class although I like them. With a class of 32, it's really difficult to deal with students'individual needs. As Eren mentioned before we have students with different levels of English. It's difficult to keep the balance between the weak and advanced students. I strongly agree with John's idea about flexible learning.I think not only the repeat students but also the weak ones who are taking the course for the first time can be encouraged to follow the on-line version of the programme in order to be able to develep their English. Another problem is about portfolios. Because there are plenty of portfolio tasks that the students should write, we keep collecting students' written work. However, I don't think collecting around 70 portfolio tasks every week and providing beneficial feedback for the students in return is possible for a teacher in crowded classes. I think with class of 20 both teaching and learning would be more beneficial and enjoyable for both teachers and students.

Large Language classes

When I was working at METU, the maximum class size was 25. I also worked in a language school at the weekends (Mustafa Parlar Vakfi), where the average class was composed of maximum 15 students. This year I've got 29 students in my Engl. 192 class and this is not good especially in terms of giving equal chances to each and every student. Sometimes I realise at the end of a lesson that I had to totally ignore some students (especially quiet ones). As languages cannot be taught through lecturing and as they are learned through use, there should not be more than 25 students in a language class. Let's forget about the difficulty for the teacher. It's also extremely unfair to the students.

By the way, I came accross with the following site which gives some clues about how to deal with large classes while I was surfing in the net. I hope you find it useful!!!

http://www.iub.edu/~teaching/faqlarge.shtml

30 THINGS WE KNOW FOR SURE ABOUT ADULT LEARNING

Here is some useful information about adult learning. To what extent do you think the given information apply to our own students?

Hello

Hi, at last we made a start, let's see how our blog will develop. Good luck!

Let's Start!

CLASS SIZE

Class size has been a permanent concern in my teaching experience. It's common knowledge that shouldn't exceed 10-15. However, I personally haven't had the luxury of teaching a small class size so far. What do you think about this issue?

In the mean time, I did a little bit search on the net. I'd like to share the links I've found with you. Please take your time to look at them.

WELCOME to our BLOG!

Hi all,

I would like to welcome all of you. I am sure it will be a great pleasure to meet here and share our ideas and experiences about the issues in our course. Please don't hesitate to share your experiences and problems that you face in class as well!!! I hope you enjoy and find it useful.