Managing large classes

This being my last blog entry about didactics 1, i know it should be special but i think that it's special enough with the fact that i'm doing it a day after the last exam at 10:00 pm. Well whoever reads this here it is:

Managing large classes is a big chalenge. Big in number, in effort and in planning the class. The aspects that i found more interesting about this topic were the techniques to deal with these large number of students, and perhaps the most motivating one is rotating the students in every class because, like mentioned in the video, students cannot be discriminated or divided 'cause they will stop paying attention, and by rotating students the teacher is making them understand that every student is important in the development of the class. Also, a good use of the rooms is an amazing technique to lock the eyes of students into the class and basically on the teacher. Teachers in the classes i have been always take this things into account, well, in the university, and i like it since i'm one of those students that don't pay attention, but teachers almost never pull that card to make me pay attention, and that has make me see by myself that i can totally mess around and no one will say anything... jaja just kidding. I have seen good management in the 30 or 40 students classes, although some noise and lack of attention cannot be avoided sometimes. Regarding this techniques applying for adults, i guess it is very obious that they apply, since most of the things done in the video are the ones that i just mentioned that teachers have done in the classes i have been.


To whom it may concern:

If you are so lucky to have a large group of students someday, just be prepared and get your dukes up and go for it. It might be fun, or not.

Internet tools

Well, the use of internet tools is now a basic every-day use since is the easiest way to get information and the most interactive way to work either in groups or individually. I like to use the internet in most of my asignments when i understand what i'm doing, and that means that when i get frustrated or angry with the tools, i simply just don't work on them. For example; the use of the blog might not put me in that position, but i find it consuming a lot of my time, and since is not that interactive because we don't get feedback out of it, it can be a little boring for some of us that don't enjoy writting so much. Anyways, I still find it useful and practical for it doesn't waste any paper or effort in handwriting, like a journal would. Another good thing about internet tools is how practical it can be. In a research assignment, the students can look for any information they need just by going through a quick browse, and looking for information in English will give them a much more wide range of vocabulary too. As I mentioned before, regarding the ones that don't have the habit of writing, this tipe of asignments can also improve those skills, and that can be the greatest reward about the usage of these tools.

Contextualized Language

Well, starting with the fact that i basically learned this language by feeling atracted by the fact of using it someday to improve myself, i believe that using this method of teaching is really useful to get the students to participate in the activities. Teachers from the time when i was in school, and even in high school, never proposed this kind of activities, or tried to make the fact of learning a new language was with a good purpose. On the other hand, teachers at the university have used this technique very often which has helped me personally to get interested in the mayority of topics. So i guess that when the students decide what is interesting and what is not, there´s a better possibility for them to learn more, and this basically means that this can, and should be applied in all EFL classrooms, no matter what kind of level, or age we are teaching. It might take some effort to include this tipe of activities, but i can assure that this will work as a charm.