Saturday, December 1, 2007

Average English Class Size: Does it matter?

English is taught around the world, but the conditions are often very different. In fact, class size might be different from school to school and from country to country. But tell us about your experience. On average, how many students are there in a typical high school English class? How does this affect learning? Please share your ideas.

Randall

4 comments:

  1. Most of the time, the amount of students in the English class depends on the kind of high school, the ones which the government being having highest amounts of them. Private schools tend to have an average of 15 students, but public schools can have even more than 30.
    Anyway, here in Chile English is not an optative subject, but a compulsory subject in high schools and also in primary schools, so it is difficult to know whom of the students are really interested.
    Personally I believe that the less the better, because it helps to create a place of confidence between classmates and also because it makes it easier for the whole class to participate.

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  2. Hi, I'm Concha, from Spain.
    I have a blog for my high school students and one of the links I offer is yours. Unfortunately the level you offer is quite high for my students, but anyway I let them have the opportunity to listen to the different activities you propose. I sincerely congratulate you for your work.
    I use my blog mainly for on-line tasks, such as listening to a podcast, watching a video, etc.
    I show their answers on the main page, adding my suggestions for correction. I will definitely keep on using the blog as a tool for teaching English, although sometimes I run out of ideas. I think it's important for them to have a particular place where they have to show and prove their level of English and communicate in the language they are learning. My classes are by average 25 to 30 students each, many of whom are not the least motivated to learn. Those who use the blog are those with the highest interest and the main problem here in the public education system is that the classes are mainly in Spanish. Any suggestions to change the pattern will be appreciated.
    Regards. Concha

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  3. Here in Québec, not in high schools, but in our university classes, the number of students is about 32 students, which is OK because students get in teams of four and can do the activities in their own little groups. It gives them the chance to talk a lot and learn from one another.

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  4. Classes tend to be huge in Brazil, especially in public schools. The number of students in a typical high school class may range from 40 to 50 students. It, of course, does affect learning because, just to name a few, it is impossible for the teacher to give some special individual attention to each and every student in class. Thus, the teacher will never be able to make an accurate assessment of his/her students.

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Thanks for posting a comment. I appreciate your interesting in sharing your ideas.

Best,

Randall

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