In many parts of the world, ESOL teachers find themselves working with groups of 60 or more learners. The following suggestions should help you to cope with the practical demands of large classes. They also explore ways of adapting techniques typically associated with smaller groups.

1 Address learners by name whenever you can. This helps learners to feel that you are aware of them as individuals and that their presence and contribution in class are important. We do not underestimate the difficulty of learning so many names; but techniques such as name cards, seating plans, or games at the start of the course can make the task more manageable.

2 Don’t compete for the floor. If the level of background noise means that you cannot speak comfortably, stop speaking. Learners will almost always quieten down. This is a good way of demonstrating to them that they share the responsibility for creating a productive learning atmosphere.

3 Elicit learners’ practical help. Management tasks like recording attendance, distributing and collecting materials and sharing around resources can be time consuming in a large class. Younger learners especially can enjoy taking on some of these responsibilities.

4 Call on learners randomly, but equally. During whole class work, it is you who must invite learners to speak and not everyone will get a chance in one

lesson. Keep a simple record of who you have asked, so that others can be invited on future occasions. No learner should have to feel invisible!

5 Use pair and group work. Sometimes this feels chaotic in large classes, but it is the only way to give learners time to use the language for themselves. It is also an excellent opportunity for helping learners to start to develop independent learning skills, which will be particularly useful to them in a large class environment.

6 Agree some alternative group configurations at the start of the course. You may not want learners always to work with the same people, but a lot of time is saved when you ask them to form groups if they know who they are to go with. So having two or three pre-established group sets—according to the constraints of the particular classroom—is a good compromise.

7 Monitor group work selectively. During brief periods of group work you will not be able to monitor every group in detail. So give the bulk of your attention to just a small number of groups—and, again, make sure you rotate this fairly over a series of lessons.

8 Agree a signal for quiet. Noise levels during group work can seem high, and it may not be easy to get the class’s attention again. A pre-arranged signal, such as clapping hands or ringing a bell, can bring the group back together. If you don’t want to interrupt quite so brusquely, you could also try raising your arm as a request to ‘finish off’—groups who finish then also raise their arms, until everyone has stopped.

9 Take selective feedback on group activities. Some of the groups who you were not able to monitor could be invited to report to the class on what they did. Try to make sure different group members get the chance to act as reporters.

10 Invite the learners to write to you. This does not necessarily mean at length, nor all the time, but at appropriate intervals, to give you feedback on their experience of the course. You can respond to the feedback orally, with the whole class or with an individual, if it seems necessary. The existence of a written communication channel can be reassuring for learners who have to ‘share’ the teacher with so many others during class time.

11 Find out how colleagues cope with large classes. There may be some institutional ground rules in operation that you can easily tap in to. For example, if the learners are already used to a certain signal for quiet or a certain approach to getting feedback on group activities, it will probably be easiest for you to do the same thing.

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