In praise of a Large Class

Classes for many of us are getting larger.  I have a large freshman class of twenty-four at the end of the day.  Yes, I know—many teachers have classes of almost thirty, but twenty-four can seem pretty big when you’re trying to get students to talk to each other.   Smaller classes have many obvious benefits and I’m a firm believer that more can be taught in smaller classes.  This is not the reality for many of us, though, so I started to try to think of some benefits of a larger class.  Here are some thoughts:

·         Larger classes can change depending on the seating arrangement.  From a practical standpoint, there are a lot of different pair opportunities.  Students can be very different when paired with different partners.  On a very basic behavior management level, there are bound to be nice, quiet students that can be used as positive partners for less behaved kids.  There are sometimes not opportunities in a small class to “dilute” the effect of squirrely kids or the possibility of more motivated kids to infect other students with their enthusiasm.

·         Larger classes need different techniques and often different activities.  I have had activities that didn’t work because the class was too small—some activities work better in a particular sized class.  I am always looking out for ways to get as much student participation in as possible, while keeping the class orderly and manageable.  White boards, for example, allow all students to participate together.  Pair work works well, although I find that larger groups can be more challenging.  Because it’s hard to get around the classroom as easily, there tend to be slackers in the groups that check out and ride on the work of others.

·         The students in a class are “resources” for the second language teacher.  They bring personalities and experiences to the class that can be used in teaching.  I’ve had small classes that were so low-key that I had to spend a lot of energy keeping the class energetic and fun.

In a big class, there is rarely an aggregate lack of energy—when it’s harnessed in the service of learning, the class can be enormous fun.