Resources for teachers and teacher educators
This is a collection of links to practical advice and other resources for teachers of large classes. Further below, there is also a link to resources for teacher trainers.
For teachers
Here we aim to provide links to practical ideas for large class teaching / teaching in difficult circumstances that we have come across or derived from our research. The ideas may or may not be relevant to your own situation - this is for you to decide!
A Handbook for Exploratory Action Research: a freely downloadable 2018 book, based on projects with secondary school teachers in Chile, India, Peru and Nepal, to help teachers address issues even in in relatively difficult circumstances, via small-scale teacher-research
Teaching in Low-resource Classrooms: Voices of Experience: a freely downloadable 2017 book of stories of success and teacher-inquiry for teachers in low-resource contexts, edited by Richard Smith, Amol Padwad and Deborah Bullock.
What to consider when teaching English in large classes: a 2016 article by Jason Anderson for the British Council's online Voices magazine.
Low-resource classrooms: Video resources for teacher development produced from a 2013 Hornby Regional School in Kathmandu. Teachers from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan share success stories and collaboratively investigate issues they face in their low-resource classrooms. Overview here.
Student-centered teaching in large classes with limited resources: a 2007 article based on experience in Haiti by S.D. Renaud, E. Tannenbaum and P. Stantial, in English Teaching Forum, 45(3): 12-17. The challenges of managing the classroom, using pair and group work effectively, and working with limited resources are addressed. The authors suggest ways to take attendance quickly, to reduce written work to grade, to start and stop communicative activities, and to keep motivation high when students work at different speeds
Teaching Large Classes. This article on the British Council's TeachingEnglish website is based on contributions to a BBC World Service radio programme by Dr George Kankam (Ghana), Maria Asamwe Bothawe (Ghana), Joseph Garty Ampia (Ghana), Ponstance Jennifer (Ghana), Violet Debali (Zambia), Fathima Bismillah (SA), Jean Tylie (SA), Sue Lake (SA) and Rohini Michigan (India).
Large Class Teaching Challenges and Responses: a list of common challenges and possible responses compiled in 2012 on the basis of a literature review by Rajapriyah Anmpalagan, with Richard Smith, Mais Ajjan and Harry Kuchah Kuchah.
Beating learner passivity in large classes: a 2010 report of an action research project in Pakistan by Bushra Ahmed-Khurram, with some practical suggestions for other teachers towards the end.
Tips on how to manage a large class by Ada L. Pasigna. A 1997 document for the 'IEQ project', published by the Institute for International Research. We found this when trawling the internet, but don't know the context it was written in or for.
Videos from British Council projects in Tamil Nadu and Bihar, India
Training video for Indian primary classrooms by Ramanujam Meganathan,
A Handbook for Exploratory Action Research: a freely downloadable 2018 book, based on projects with secondary school teachers in Chile, India, Peru and Nepal, to help teachers address issues even in in relatively difficult circumstances, via small-scale teacher-research
Teaching in Low-resource Classrooms: Voices of Experience: a freely downloadable 2017 book of stories of success and teacher-inquiry for teachers in low-resource contexts, edited by Richard Smith, Amol Padwad and Deborah Bullock.
What to consider when teaching English in large classes: a 2016 article by Jason Anderson for the British Council's online Voices magazine.
Low-resource classrooms: Video resources for teacher development produced from a 2013 Hornby Regional School in Kathmandu. Teachers from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan share success stories and collaboratively investigate issues they face in their low-resource classrooms. Overview here.
Student-centered teaching in large classes with limited resources: a 2007 article based on experience in Haiti by S.D. Renaud, E. Tannenbaum and P. Stantial, in English Teaching Forum, 45(3): 12-17. The challenges of managing the classroom, using pair and group work effectively, and working with limited resources are addressed. The authors suggest ways to take attendance quickly, to reduce written work to grade, to start and stop communicative activities, and to keep motivation high when students work at different speeds
Teaching Large Classes. This article on the British Council's TeachingEnglish website is based on contributions to a BBC World Service radio programme by Dr George Kankam (Ghana), Maria Asamwe Bothawe (Ghana), Joseph Garty Ampia (Ghana), Ponstance Jennifer (Ghana), Violet Debali (Zambia), Fathima Bismillah (SA), Jean Tylie (SA), Sue Lake (SA) and Rohini Michigan (India).
Large Class Teaching Challenges and Responses: a list of common challenges and possible responses compiled in 2012 on the basis of a literature review by Rajapriyah Anmpalagan, with Richard Smith, Mais Ajjan and Harry Kuchah Kuchah.
Beating learner passivity in large classes: a 2010 report of an action research project in Pakistan by Bushra Ahmed-Khurram, with some practical suggestions for other teachers towards the end.
Tips on how to manage a large class by Ada L. Pasigna. A 1997 document for the 'IEQ project', published by the Institute for International Research. We found this when trawling the internet, but don't know the context it was written in or for.
Videos from British Council projects in Tamil Nadu and Bihar, India
Training video for Indian primary classrooms by Ramanujam Meganathan,
For teacher educators
There are teacher training resources freely available on the Warwick TELC site for use by other teacher educators: http://www.warwick.ac.uk/go/telc/training We encourage you to send in your own materials / resources for sharing, to benefit other teacher educators and teacher trainees.