Advantages and challenges of teaching large classes

Teaching a small group of students is a whole lot easier than teaching a large group. But unfortunately due to budget and space constraints, many ESL schools only offer large classes that may consist of 50 or more students. No matter what the size of your class is, an ESL teacher has to come up with ideas and activities that will interest and engage his / her students. Fortunately, there are many coping skills and activities that will make your job easier.

Advantages of Teaching Large Classes

• Classes with many students will be quite noisy. But they also offer a high energy setting that is more fun and exciting.

• Classes will go by quickly when there are numerous students seeking your attention. In fact, while teaching a large class you will never find yourself looking at the clock. Lessons and activities will take longer to complete, so there will be no need for fillers.

Challenges of Teaching Large Classes

• You may never to get to know your students as well as you would like to. You may also feel anxious about being outnumbered by your students.
• Grading assignments and tests will take longer than you would like to them.

• That you are teaching a large class doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get fatter pay checks than those teaching smaller classes.

More distractions

• It is quite easy to get distracted in a large class. There will always be latecomers. You will also find plenty of students chatting while you are teaching and that can be pretty distressing.

Source: Englishpractice