One of the things that help teachers to teach effectively is having classes of 15 up to 25 students; this number of pupils really facilitates the process of teaching and learning. But what if we have no other choice except having more than 40 students in one small class? Will be there any chance of success? Will students in this type of classes be able to excel and achieve well like their counterparts in classes with fewer students?
I am one of those several teachers who are facing the problem of overcrowded classes.
Before delving into this topic, let me first describe to you the nature of the atmosphere inside these classes as I personally experienced it. When a class for example has one hour of English from 9:00 to 10:00 I usually start the warm up at 09:07, which means that five to seven minutes are always wasted waiting for the crowd to gather; moreover, it always takes me other minutes just to awaken their English and make them ready for the lesson. Besides this, during the course I have to shout from time to time with my utmost to beg for silence, as you know too much talk and noise are hard to put up with especially that set of steps and activities need to be done. Another occasion where crowded classes appear uncontrollable is when conducting a group work activity, many teachers complain that just organizing the groups is a hard task to do and always say that the available time is not sufficient.
The above mentioned aspects of crowded classes constitute a real challenge in front of the idea of time management, as a teacher I believe that there are solutions; once you experience an issue or a problem certainly you will find ways out. Teachers should be talented enough to know how to deal with such classes and use their time wisely and effectively and try hard to bring to class interesting activities that quickly raise the interest of students, because in a class of more than 40 students all the time we find each two or four students are engaged in talks and matters that they did or are going to do, here the teacher needs to talk about things that are more exciting than students’ own concerns so as to diverge their attention to the lesson. Another tip might be helpful to overcome the problem of time is by adding some extra hours to these students in order to support them to study and learn more; simultaneously, this will prove to them that you really care about them and be sure that they will show you more respect and gratitude in return.
On the other hand, crowded classes aren’t that big and frightening problem. There are some advantages of teaching crowded classes. For example; teachers can organize outside school activities in which lot of students are needed, like doing voluntary work in other institutions and public spaces or assigning students to do presentations for public speaking club.
To sum up, when there is a will there is a way.
Teaching overcrowded classes is a challenge but at the same time a rewarding task, as it helps teachers to acquire new skills on how to manage classes like this, as well as having the chance to support and teach lot of students which is in itself a bless.
