[etni] Re: Problems with class sizes
- From: laurie ornstein <laurenmadeline@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: davidzalman@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2010 08:00:54 +0200
Hi Everyone,
I'd like to relate top David's comments and questions regarding Native
Speakers and class size.
Till this year, my school has had Native Speaker groups. However, this year,
as we do not have enough pupils who fit into this category. I am teaching a
9th grade 5 point class which also includes some Native Speaker pupils. All
in all, about 26 kids. We also have 2 small groups at 3 and 4 point level.
Basically, I have at least half the grade in my class.
This is a challenge as are all "heterogeneous" groups. In this case, in
addition to keeping the Native Speakers challenged, I also must deal with
the inhibitions of the "regular" 5 pointers who are often leery about
speaking up in the presence of such fluent learners.
In the past, even with the Native Speaker group, the 5 point class has
always been the largest and included some pupils who really should have been
in 4 points but for various reasons, were pushed up in order to keep the
weak group/s small.
I wish I had a "secret solution" to the number issue but don't. I do think,
David, that your idea of giving the Native Speakers 3 hours + 1 hour of
individual work is a good idea. This should somewhat ease the pressure in
the large 5 point group.
Unfortunately, most of us are all up against the wall with class size
issues. The agreements reached with the MOE 3 years ago have not really made
an impact in the field. And I also see classes of 40 and more and often
heterogeneous, in some schools. Yes, English, too! The best I can suggest is
to try and work more in groups with less frontal teaching.
Laurie
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