Macro classroom management with shortage of books

A well-known and persistent problem with teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) is the lack of resources. Teaching without or with few books is an everyday reality for many language teachers around the world which leads to the limited access to the learning aids students need. Although the construction of own language centers with modern computer equipment, internet access and library is relieving this situation, in numerous institutions students and teachers lack even the most basic materials. Moreover, without course-books or textbooks students spend many of their class time listening to teacher talk or copying content from the board, which ruthlessly reduces time for efficient learning. An additional obstacle to effective language teaching is large class sizes.

So what should a language teacher do when s/he confronted with these problems? Fortunately, resourceful and experienced teachers who find themselves in similar situations continually reveal creative and effective ways to successfully teach English with few resources and large classes. A main consideration is to choose activities that rely on materials that can be shared and requiring little photocopying. Following is a description of some of these activities.

Activity 1: Chaining

Chaining is an activity that works well when practicing particular grammar or vocabulary matters – such as negative questions, phrasal verbs, and subject – verb agreement, or new words – which are incorporated into dialogues of at least four lines. Eight to ten students sit in a row, and the first student on one end is told to begin with the first line of dialogue. The next student listens and repeats the line, then turns and gives the third student the second line of dialogue. This process continues with each student until the end of the row is reached, but it can be continued for as long as desired with new dialogues, new vocabulary and different grammar constructions.

Activity 2: Opening and closing songs

Songs are naturally motivating, and this activity will have students practicing lyrics on their own. Students can become involved in this activity by researching and suggesting what songs to sing. For large classes, singing in rounds work well; that means that one group of students starts the song, and then, at a set interval, another group begins singing the song from the beginning. Different groups are assigned to sing verse one, verse two, and verse three, with everyone joining in for the chorus. For variety groups can be selected according to special characteristics, such as gender, month of birth, type of clothing, and so on. Using songs requires typing and copying the lyrics as a handout, so two students or small groups can easily share a handout, if necessary. Aside from practicing oral English, songs are great way to review social facts about the countries where the language is spoken.

Activity 3: Creative dictations

This activity provides a fun way to work on new vocabulary and listening skills. To begin, teacher demonstrates how to create a dictation on a specified topic and then asks students to work in pairs to create their own. For example, if the topic is “Body parts and health”, the first sentence could be “My back hurts today.” The first student says and writes this sentence, and the partner listens and also writes the sentence. The process continues with the partner saying and writing a related sentence, such as “I have a stomach ache.” The students do this back and forth until each student has heard and written five to six sentences. Both students then proofread their dictations to check punctuation, spelling and accuracy. Finally, they trade papers and score them before handing in the work to the teacher.

Activity 4: Call out words

This is a good activity to practice new words, but they should be presented beforehand. Teacher divides students into two or three groups and asks them to choose one member from each group. Chosen members should sit with their backsides to the teacher and chalkboard. Teacher writes a new word on the board and the rest group members should give definitions for that word without naming it. The students sitting near the board should call out that word. So it can be suggested as teams’ competition which will provide students with high motivation.

Course-books and textbooks are widely recognized as core for the new sustainable development goal on education. Yet, only few ideal classes may possess books for individual students. In some extent to cope with the global problem language instructors have to be very enthusiastic and imaginative in creating their own activities and tasks to conduct their lessons effectively. The activities presented in this thesis work well in EFL settings and are not dependent on resources in the form of textbooks. They require little in the form of handouts or materials from the teacher. Instead, students are encouraged to use English in a more flexible manner as they are not demanded to work following a stable syllabus.