Dealing Large classes

Working with large classes is indeed a challenge that a teacher might face at any time. A teacher might feel overwhelmed by a very large class if he doesn’t know techniques to manage with this problem. Teachers have to have their senses alert due to the demand that teaching a large group of students involves and the unexpected behavior that students might present.

In some Salvadorian schools, teachers face the difficulty of large classes but they usually teach subjects different to English. I would say that large classes do exist in our educational system, but I would not say that their learning is a success because the teachers may be not properly prepared to work out this issue. I think that if teachers have the necessary knowledge and experience, and the physical conditions of the learning process, as the classroom space are comfortable, they can accomplish this challenge appropriately in our country.

Pedagogical planning:

Teachers must be smart enough to think of the outcome of the student’s behavior and the unusual events that might occur to plan their classes. The comfortable and supporting environment of the class is crucial for having a desired class and expected behavior. A diagnosing test would be appropriate to now students’ background from the very beginning, and then establish a set of activities and strategies that work well with each students or the group as a whole.

All teachers’ effort should be focused on making the students feel free and important in the class, so the teacher should not level students but view them equally.

Classroom learning systems:

The arrangement of the classroom must be the best due to the delicacy of the process; it must be large and free of noise. Students should be able to listen to what the teacher is saying. The classroom learning system must help the teacher to accomplish the goals, so is important that the teacher set the expectations and routines along with the students and agree with them that they are going to make an effort to carry them out.

Student behavior:

Students’ behavior has been a headache for the teachers in the learning process, but it may be controlled if we resort to a variety of techniques that are indispensable for dealing with students’ behavior. To begin, teachers have to treat the students fairly and respect them as important persons. Teachers must keep proactive all the time and they will see results of this behavior. The behavior expectations must be set and shown to the students for them to know and practice them. In some cases a reward might be useful to shape certain behavior. Knowing the factors that cause the bad behavior is important to cut the problem from its root.

As we have already taken didactics in Spanish, I remember that we had classes in which we studied about the problems that teachers face when teaching. We studied the different learning problems that students might have while learning and problems as large classes. During some English classes, some teachers have already mentioned those problems such as large classes, disruptive students and physical environment are indispensable problems.

We do know that when we teach children or adults, we always have problems, so we can apply the same techniques. We have to take into consideration the difference between teaching children and adults according to what we studied about age levels, and then adapt the techniques according to the age classes.

USING INTERNET TOOLS IN THE CLASSROOM

We all know that as the technology has evolved, and that along with it we have to change. We use technology almost for everything we do; teaching is one of the activities we develop by the usage of some technological devices. Internet is one of the sources that have come to be popular and useful while teaching.

Particularly, I consider that we count with a complete tool for teaching any subject when we talk about Internet tools. One of the advantages that we can find if we are teaching or studying EFL is a variety of information that may be useful. We can develop the four macro skills of the students since we can find web sites that offer divers activities and sources like videos, audios, tests, interview, etc. teaching a foreign language is indeed a challenge; to do so, we have to count with very effective tools, and Internet tools meet that demand.

The last time I used Internet tools was interesting as it used to be; I used them as a student, but I get stunned because I realize that in Internet we have so many sources to learn whatever we desire. I felt surprised when our teacher showed us some web sites where the learning process can be reinforced.

We can develop some intelligence through the different Internet sources we have access. For example, if we bring to the classroom a video or slices, we develop the visual intelligence, and if the video includes music, we work with musical intelligence.

Contextualized English:

As in the video is shown, contextualize English is the meaningful language use for real communicative purposes, or the act of adapting the learning process of English to real situations or the environment and students’ age. When we are teaching certain language, we tend to relate the features of our teaching to cultural aspects that are part of our reality. Particularly, I think the students likes are also part of this issue, since in some curriculums or teaching methods, classes are taught in a democratic way so that the context and the reality can be related with the learning process.

When we contextualize the teaching process, students feel familiarized with the contents because they work with real situation or topics that are popular at that moment. In addition to that, the class is enriched by a variety of activities that drag students into a meaningful and integral learning.

When teaching to children, we have a different context to when teaching adults; therefore, we have to adapt activities to their age and to what they know so far. After that we have to be on the look out of leading students toward the learning purpose of such a language. As an example we can say that the English learning aim can be business or education, so teacher have to be aware of that in order to adapt topics and contents to the prime aim.

While teaching English, there are contents that can be related with certain topics. For instance, when we teach THE TO BE BERB, we related it with occupations. That is how we get students involved with topics that we previously prepare for them to have a better understanding and a relationship with reality.

A positive classroom environment:

I think that a positive classroom environment depends on the teachers and students attitude. As teachers, we can start improving our personality and behavior, and then, we will lead the students into the environment we desire.

The respect toward each student is fundamental; we can have fun with them, but we also have to set some limits. Having a fun class doesn’t mean to disrespect the others.

Each student is important in the class; therefore we have to value them as persons and assist their needs.

There are teachers who try to intimidate their students to have a, let’s say, a peaceful class, but students don’t learn appropriately in those circumstances because the environment is tense. Teachers have to learn to manage with those disruptive students so that the rest of the class can be normal and the environment can be amazing.

Teachers have to drag students into a relaxed relationship, and they also have to work as a community; as members of the community, teachers have to be reliable and real friends.

This is what I consider can contribute to create a positive classroom environment.

Teaching across proficiency levels

Teaching a foreign language is always challenging, since we have to manage with a class that is pursuing an integral learning.

Role of the teacher:
Teaching at some levels has different degrees of difficulty, so teachers and student’s performance will vary.

As teaching beginning levels is considered the basis of the foreign language process, the role of the teacher must be very active.
As beginners are students that have few or no knowledge of the target language, the teacher is going to be the spring from which students will absorb the knowledge. Teachers have to be the model to follow, so they have to speak accurately and clearly so that students can understand the transmitted message. As the teacher is the center of attention, he has to be careful with the pronunciation of tricky words. Teachers have to manage students interacting activities in order to take advantage of peer support, given that we always have students who have a more advanced knowledge or better understanding than others.
When students are in a beginning level they act as if they are babies who learn to talk in their native language; therefore, the material presented in the classroom has to be as abstract and meaningful as possible.

Authentic y of language:
When teaching beginners, teachers have to be very conscious that they are working with students who may not have the expected expertise to understand simple language spoken in a high speed, so they have to make pauses and stop using technical language. As everything goes from the simple to the complex, teachers have to start with easy patterns as greetings and commands, lots of repetition and activities appropriate to this level. As the course advances, teachers should increase the difficulty of the spoken language.

Student’s creativity:
For being creative, we have to speak, draw or act, then, as students don’t have lots of vocabulary, their creativity is limited. But they can be creative in their context; for example, when students invent words in the target language, make assumptions of certain grammatical matter, or inquire in something related with the target language, they are being creative. Teachers have their students write and speak freely to let them be creative and discover hindrances as they perform and then correct their mistakes. We are very intelligent and what we need is an appropriate guidance and constant motivation.

Teaching English across age levels

Now that we have study some theory about teaching in different ages and with my experience as student, I can conclude that teaching children, teens and adults has its own differences and teachers might find it hard to teach one of these levels.
Particularly, I would teach teens rather than teaching children and adults because I find it mentally and physically tiring to control children behavior as they perform in the classroom. When we work with children, we have to treat them softly, and we have to have an array of techniques to lead them since we rarely negotiate with them and therefore, sanction their fault.
It is true that teaching children may seem easier according to content since we teach them Basic English, but we have to deal with the maintenance of their attention span and their motivation.
Working with adults is cool as they are more conscious about what they want to learn, and their attitude toward education is more responsible than the majority of teens and children. However, sometimes we find troublemaker students while teaching adults, and at some point it is difficult to work with them. I would like to work with teenagers because they face a crucial phase in which their identity is being shaped; therefore, what a teacher does to help them is always unforgettable. We can influence positively on teens identity by helping them to overcome their difficulties. As students need real friends and affection, the relationship that exists between students and teachers is special. You can negotiate with teens as you do with adults, and the best part is that you can have fun with them, but you have to set limits so that you can keep the due respect.

A comment about Didactics

The trade of education is something great, and the satisfaction of being a teacher I consider is amazing. However, becoming a good teacher requires constant practice and an appropriate guidance.

I felt unconfident to accept a job because someone told me that it was crucial that I took Didactics, which made me muse such as case. I don’t know the teachers goals toward us as student, and I wouldn’t like to be misunderstood, so I just want to provide my point of view about the presentations.

I really need a guidance to carry out an activity in the classroom if I will be evaluated as a teacher who must deal with students, materials and time, because I have never done it before, whereas other students may have experience at teaching. Yet, they also need it. I personally commented this to the teacher, and it worries me because my grades have been low. I understand that there are aspects that the teacher can’t change, for example our personality or style while teaching, but there must be basic tips that we must know, and then, after a bit of theory, we will be quite ready to perform upon them as beginners.

class activities

The last activities my classmates presented.

All of my classmates who acted as teachers last class, did it well, despite this was the first activity they carry out as teachers. They were very precise since they went to the point, even when the activities seemed quite simple but adequate. Enrique led his activities appropriately to a lower level, and that’s how children would learn in an active way. Through repetition is haw knowledge get to stick in our brain, so children and even adult, need of this so that they can acquire new information and the right way to pronounce, in the case of learning a language.

Luis did it very well, his expertise which he speaks English, helps him to have a nice and entertaining development of his class. That kind of funny material helps to keep students attention. I have seen Luis performance many times and I think he is a good teacher; he says right things.

Xavier did it great and was very precise; he used the time properly. His activities were very entertaining and meaningful. He knew how to adequate his activities according the characteristics of Content Based Approach, as everyone has done it.

HELLO PEOPLE!
We have already developed three more activities that belong to three different methods.
I was the first one, and as my method dwells on the usage of reading texts to work on the remaining skills, I chose that activities, which I noticed that were not as amusing as the other ones. As my method involves reading activities as a base to develop the rest of skills, the activities I presented were aimed for higher levels.

Rosa Elida is very talented when developing her activities, and as her method requires, she brought very dynamic activities to the classroom. Beginners or children would learn properly in that way because children love moving their bodies, and teachers must take advantage of that, in order to teach new contents or knowledge. I know two little children who like to sing and dance, and they have learned the month days through songs as they dance, so I say those activities would do the trick with children.

Ana and Lily were very creative because they brought colorful pictures to make the class motivating. As Rose, Ana presented an activity to teach in low levels, and showing pictures of what we want them to learn is a very effective way to teach content to children because they need to see things to hold the attention. Lily developed a nice activity, which is roll play, in which students improve the speaking skills. I pretty like those activities because are very funny.

Hello people!
I would like to comment about the first three activities that my classmates, Guadalupe, Claudia, Alexander and Vanessa presented. I liked them all; they were very creative when developing the activities.
Lupita is a very talented girl; she did it very nice. She managed well with the debated topic. We all like to talk about any topic when we are working in groups since we get to know how our classmates think, and also because just practice our speaking abilities.
Claudia’s activities aimed beginners, and I consider that her activities are effectives for learning a foreign language because that procedure keeps students attention, and it is a very meaningful way to teach low level students.
Alex presented activities that help students to know grammatical structures, which is important so that they can set the basis of the target language. From there forth, the learning process will rest on the basis they have acquired.
Jimenez developed very creative and dynamic activities with us. She tried to emphasize on our skills of memorizing, which is crucial when someone has to learn a language. She told me that I am good at guessing things because I guessed the letter she was going to work with, but in fact, I already knew it; then what I exercised was my memory because she told me that, three days ago.
Particularly, I consider that all of them have been cut for being teachers.

HI PEOPLE, WHAT IS GOING ON?
I would like to comment a little bit about the last methods that three of my classmates presented.
THE CONTENT BASED INSTRUCTION is one of the approaches they presented, which has very wonderful characteristics, and I consider as a very integral way to teach students to acquire a foreign language.
This approach focus stands on teaching a foreign language by teaching contents detached from the mere purpose of learning a new language. Somehow this fact leads the students through a multi-disciplinary learning; however it would result in a lack of care to the primary objective of learning a new language.
In this approach, students develop each skill as it is needed for learning a foreign language.
We all know how important motivations is so that the learning process can be effective, so this approach seems to take into account this important aspect because it regards about the kind of content the students are going to deal with. It also matters about the needs of each student, so that the students learning can be even.
As the theory mentions, all the skills are rehearsed in this method, and that makes it essential, but students could find some loopholes in here because as the activities are not just focused on learning a language, the students might disregard the main objective of the approach.

COMMUNITY LEARNIG LANGUAGE particularly floors me, due to the dynamism in which English seems to be taught. I have analyzed such as method, and I consider I would learn easily when applied this method because I have discovered that I learn comfortably in a communicative environment. I remember the way I learned vocabulary in Basic English was similar to the active way this method describes.
I remember when I asked my classmates for explanation of unknown words, and what I won’t forget how Luis (the one who jokes with teacher Aida) used to answer my doubts in a gentle way, so I thank him.
This method seems very democratic; by the way, we have talked just about democratic methods, which I think is essential at learning because students need a very comfortable environment to learn properly. As students can choose the topics to discus in the talking activities, everyone will show interest to speak as a community.
There are important characteristics this method has; the teacher is able to translate, and this is also important when studying in low levels.
If students are permitted to think about what issue they will talk when having talking activities, they might lose time while choosing the topic, or they might not find an appropriate one.

NATURAL APPROACH

Hi people!
You have already noticed that there are methods that share certain characteristics, and I have found three of them that are similar. The natural approach, the audio lingual method and the situational language teaching are the ones that share the principle that language is learned for communicative purposes. The words natural approach leads me to think about the natural way in which we all have learned a language (Spanish). We learn from our parents, friends and different people, without noticing it. The natural approach concerns about rehearsing listening skills which is fundamental because we learn by listening, we need to develop it so that we can communicate with the others.

One of the points I consider is a disadvantage is that the students are not forced to speak English from the beginning; however, I consider that it must be the contrary because students should get involved with the language since the very beginning.

THE SITUATIONAL LANGUAGE TEACHING

Hello friends, how is it going?
The situational language teaching has similarities with previous seen methods such as the audio lingual method; these methods hold that the learning is a habit formation; that is to say, that students will learn and will develop their abilities through the process. I consider this is an effective theory that would do the trick on beginners or scholar systems because when teaching an academic learning, students must be taught the integral knowledge by rehearsing their skills and not by waiting they learn the target language through a habit that might be belated or the student doesn’t acquire as it is expected.

It says students should avoid mistakes, which is important and drags students into an investigative learning in order to avoid errors. This approach makes emphasis on speaking abilities which is similar to audio lingual method, so it concerns about students who speak skillfully.

because Anita comented about my METHOD

WELL Anita, I understand your poit of view about whole language, but I consider that it is very helpful if you start reading since the biggining BECOUSE I think students get involved with the language while reading.
to read since the biginning means to learn new vocabulary and improve your fluency and your knowledge about THE TARGET LANGUAGE.
TO read since the biginning does not mean that it must be a 200 pages book, but a short and meanful reading. HOWEVER, I RESPECT YOUR POIT. THIS IS MY POINT.

SECOND PRESENTATIONS

· Hi people! How are you all?
We have studied three more methods of which I presented one. Now I will to express my opinion about them in a general way.
The certainly called smartest girl, Vanessa, talked about THE AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD, which remains me my brothers’ English learning.
They live in the US and they have had to learn to speak such as language because of the need of communicating with their co-workers.
This methods purpose is to teach its learners to communicate, so it doesn’t care too much about grammar rules. Even though Vane mentioned that one of the objectives is accurate pronunciation and grammar, I am sure that it refers to the grammatical order in which people talk without knowing that it is grammar. For example, people who have never gone to school indeed know how to speak in a grammatical structure but they are not able to explain such as structure.
This method has a principle that I like; it holds that a language is acquired through repetition, which is true. On the contrary, THE TOTAL PHISICAL RESPONSE suggests that students have to be firstly ready to be able to speak. I think that during the learning process, students have to practice since the beginning because as students they will never be ready without practice. To learn and teach a language is used analogy because teachers have to explain issues through analogy and students memorize or store the new language by associations and analogy; that is another principle that THE AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD holds, and I am in agreement with this.
TOTAL PHISICAL RESPONSE is a method that I would apply if had to teach to kids because they are willing to play any kind of games. It could be applied to young people but we have to omit some activities in order to adapt it to the age of the learners. Taking into account that there are students with different behaviors, a fun class would be not fun for another student that doesn’t like to play games with his classmates.
This method is similar to WHOLE LANGUAGE since it emphasizes in readings and as the center of the learning so that the remaining skills will be developed beginning from readings. This doesn’t mean that the system is going to disregard or that we will consider not important the remaining skills. What I have discovered is that as whole language says, we develop several skills through readings. People, who read a lot, are very silver-tongued and they view things differently. I am sure that reading edifies our personality.

· What’s going on people!
After the first three teaching methods we have studied in class, I would like to make some comments about them. I know that all the methods have been developed to make the teaching process easier, but as everything, they have their advantages and their disadvantages.

THE DIRECT METHOD:
This seems a very effective method because its characteristics show that it insists on the mere learning of the target language. It drags students into readings since the beginning of the process, and I really believe that students can develop different skills though reading. However, students have to develop the ability of thinking in the target language because it is not allowed to translate into the native language. This is crucial to learn a language, although I think we have to translate every word when we are beginners so that we can get involved with the language and get familiar with vocabulary, and then we will be able to carry out the task of not translating.
It says that grammar is taught inductively, so I think that the students will remain with some deficiencies at the end since grammar is crucial in foreign language learning.
I quite like this method because I agree with the statement of the principle that says that vocabulary is acquired more naturally if students use it in full sentences rather than memorizing word lists on account of that I think I have learned a considerable amount of vocabulary, but I can’t use it as I’m talking, as the Cream of the Crop (Vanessa) said.

THE SILENT WAY METHOD:
Teachers usually insist on the background or what the students already know to start the course, and that is what this method does. However is a very passive method in which student could not learn as it is hoped. Learning a new language implies to repeat to get accustom to the usage of the language, but a principle of this method says that a foreign language is not learned by repeating after a model, which could do the trick not in the process of learning a new language.
As I am a student, I consider that the silence of a teacher would not encourage me to cooperate; on the contrary, I would lose my will to be in the classroom. However, this method holds that students could be affected positively by this.

SUGGESTOPEDIA METHOD:
This is a very dynamic method; I had heard about this before when I read a book and it seemed very interesting to me.
Almost all pedagogues are in agreement that students have to be relaxed and comfortable so that their education can be effective. When the environment in which education is carried out, the attention and the students’ attitude improves. I like the principle of this method that says that students have to rely on the power of their brain because we rarely get to know how big our capacities can be, and that our brain is an amazing system.
I would rather study through this method than the previous two. I really like to learn through musical activities and like to sing. I like to play games, although I can adapt myself to learn in any system, but I am that one who like classical music and dynamic activities and democratic learning, so I really like this method because it works in that way.

Expectations

My Expectations

-I want to learn how to prepare classes and new learning techniques. Also, the ability to go to the front and coordinate a class, the group. It'd be interesting to know about theories of renowned educators and their respective educational strategies.