Top Tips For Teaching Large Classes In TEFL

Large classes in TEFL: What are they and how can we deal with them?

Picture this: you’re teaching a Polish university student Academic English. You’re both seated at a table in the library, sharing a book between the two of you. You talk quietly together and work at the pace set by the student. When he gets a bit distracted, you take a break for a coffee before getting back to work. 

Sounds idyllic, doesn’t it?

This is a scene from a 1-to-1 class. Classes like these certainly do happen and when they do they are a joy. 

Now imagine this: You, a whiteboard and 45 expectant 14-year old faces staring at you.

They’re sitting in nine rows of five desks while you stand at the front of the class at the interactive whiteboard. You have a microphone but you’re not convinced the students at the back can hear you. Most of the time they definitely act like they can’t. Some students in the middle are chatting happily away to each other while the students in the first few rows are listening to you intently. 

How are you feeling now? Scared? Excited? Ready to run for the hills?

This is a real situation for many TEFL teachers.

As TEFL teachers we’re expected to be able to think on our feet and take whatever is thrown our way. So we find ways to deal with even the most trying scenarios. 

Of course, there are a few obvious challenges with dealing with classes of more than, say, 20 students, such as:

How do I give everyone individual attention?

How can we do games or activities without everything descending into chaos?

Is discipline even possible?

What do you do if you find yourself teaching in a classroom like this? Give up and count down the minutes until the lesson ends?

Of course not! You’re stronger than that!

These are all legitimate concerns, and we like to help you out – because we’re nice like that – so let’s talk about dealing with large EFL classes.

What is considered a large class?

Let’s start with a definition: What is considered a large class in TEFL?

Large is a relative term. It can mean very different things to teachers in different places. In a UK language school, for example, where classes rarely exceed 12, a class of 24 students could be considered large. But in a primary school in Kenya, 24 students would be a dream and a large class could be a class of 50 students.

Challenges of large classes

There are many different problems teachers of large classes may have:

• Communication.  Having more than a handful of students makes it difficult to ensure that all your students are able to hear you, and you them. Naturally we end up teaching the students in the front row of the class because they are the ones closest to us and communication is easiest with them.
• Classroom management. Even something as simple as handing out worksheets takes time and organisation. When planning activities, a lot of thought has to go into how exactly the activity can work best. Physical space can be an issue, as can discipline.
• Assessment. Can you imagine the time it must take to mark 50+ tests?

Though there may be a number of problems associated with large classes, they are a reality. So we need to come up with appropriate and effective solutions to maximise learning and teaching effectiveness. 

Tips for dealing with large classes

Here are our top tips for teaching large classes in TEFL.

Be realistic

•  Don’t try activities that work better with smaller classes. Rather find activities which are suited for large classes. Remember that everything will take a lot longer in large classes so plan your lessons accordingly.

Be smart

• Make use of the classroom as is. If your classroom doesn’t lend itself to an open mingle, then don’t try it. Instead of trying to herd cats, rather tweak an activity so that it works for you. 
• Top tip: accept the fact that with large classes your students might be seated more than you would like. Use activities which involve pairwork and pair up students with the person sitting next to, behind or in front of them. 

Organise your classroom

• In classes with so many students, you’re bound to have students of different levels in the same class. Arrange the seating plan of the class wisely, choosing either to seat students of similar levels together or to group stronger students with weaker students. 
• Top tip: don’t be shy to move students around if the setup is not working for you. You might find some students are disruptive when sitting together while others work really well together. Mix and match until you find a seating plan that works for you.

Change your teaching style. 

• Though teaching lecture-style may seem most suitable for these situations, change it up so you are not always standing at the front of the class. Lecturing has the danger of being unexciting and unstimulating. This is when groupwork becomes useful.
• Top tip:  Mix up the activities. If there are a lot of students in the class, it’s easy for them to get distracted. By making sure that the activities done in class cover a range of learning methods and groupings, you’ll help your students stay focussed and interested. Using audio-visual materials is especially helpful as all your students can be focussed on the material at the same time.

Take advantage of the size

• Having more students in your class can seem like more of a challenge than an advantage, but there are certain activities which work better with more students. Team games, songs and drama can be much more effective and enjoyable when you have a lot of students to engage with.

Read more: TEFL Games For Large Classes

Be student-centred 

• Dealing with so many students can be physically draining. Handing out worksheets to 50+ students can be time-consuming and awkward, depending on the layout of the classroom. Utilise your students by allocating tasks to students from each row – for example, to hand out worksheets, collect homework or arrange groups.
• Top tip: Be specific when assigning tasks. Make sure the students in question know exactly what they need to do. Make sure you don’t always call on the same students to help out.

Give your students more responsibility

• Your students can be assets not only when it comes to classroom organization. Marking can be a real pain if you have more than thirty students, but if you can get your students involved it will save you a lot of time and many headaches. 
• Top tip: make good use of your interactive whiteboard to display answers to worksheets or exercises. Having the answers visible will save a lot of questions from the students. 

Learn their names

This may seem daunting but it can make such a big difference to your relationship with your students. Making an effort to learn all your students’ names will show them that you care about them individually even if there are lots of them in the class. It’ll also help with organizing classroom activities and discipline.

Top tip: when you first meet a big class, make a seating plan with their names. Students tend to sit in the same places and if you refer back to your plan during your first few lessons and use their names whenever possible, you will soon remember them.

 Establish a routine

Establishing a routine allows you to create order in what could be a chaotic situation. If there is a set routine that your students are aware of, there will be less need for giving out instructions as your students will already know what they need to do and where they need to be. Though this will be difficult to set up at the beginning of the term, it’ll be worth it once it is in place.

Having a big EFL classroom might not be the ideal situation but it doesn’t have to be disastrous. Bear these tips in mind and you’ll soon get the hang of dealing with so many expectant faces staring back at you.