[belcant2]

Hi I am new on this site so hello all round. I teach in Beijing. At one school on weekends can be quite tough. I have 3 classes on sat and 3 on sun. There is always one class that is terribly difficult. One class on sat is a real pain. I always feel lost and dont know what to do next and the amount of students always fluctuates from 2 students to ten. This I really dont like. I feel much more comfortable with a relatively big sized class so it goes quicker as the students have fun togeather. When the class is small I can finnish my material in 30min and the class is 1hr. The school is a very stall place, no colour or anything interesting for the kids.
Anyway my next class is on "how are you", "what's this, what's that" , "It's a/an" and various words. Any suggestions would be wonderfull.

[mesmark]

Try MES-English.com :: View topic - Season 3 - the MES English curriculum for young learners
There's a podcast there on teaching without a set curriculum or textbook. there should be some ideas in there for you.

You can also try ESL Teacher Talk there are a few posts there about teaching children and small groups.

[sobek]

Just out of interest, what school are you teaching at?

Find out what the students enjoy and find a way to teach them about their hobbies.
I once had a class of teenage boys and I never enjoyed the class. One day I just decided to teach them about basketball, Team names, which states they are from, players and what team they are from and vocabulary like slam dunk, lay up, double dribble and so forth followed by charades. They enjoyed it because it was something they were interested in.

You could also ask the students to find topics they want to learn, or teach songs.

I also used Tom and Jerry in the class. I made a questionnaire (about 10 questions, difficulty depending on ability) before and let the students watch twice after going through the questions. The first time, they just watched but the second time, they had to answer the questions and watch closely.

If the classrooms are boring, perhaps you could do activities in which the students make posters about something they learned or are learning.

Story reading can also go well. Or bring and tell.

[belcant2]

Thanks for the suggestions. However here in China one must abide to what the schools want not so much the teacher. The learning process here in China is mechanical. The children are are a little too young for your suggestions however I agree posters would be great and I had thought of thatI just have to pass past the school first. Their finacial resources are very limited. I think I may offer to buy the paper and such.
Thanks very much for your reply. The older students do love playing along with their hobbies as a theme.

[sobek]

How old are the students you are teaching?
Does the school require you to teach from a book and only from the book?

[leftshu]

I also teach in China, and this year I teach about 26 hours of classes each week. Grades K- Adult Learners.

I understand about having to teach what the school desires. However, I have found that when I sit down and talk to the headmaster/department head， and explain my theories on teaching. They are very open to me adding my own style of teaching. I use both Chinese and American methods in my classroom.

I do have one school that is a problem for me, they are high school students at an occupational school (they will all work in hotels, or as Kindergarten teachers (HA!))Only a couple of my classes want to be in my class. They don't understand even simple instructions. I find my self having to teach to the medium level so that I can keep even a little control. It is tough.. I suggest fun. Games that involve TPR are great!
I hope this helps. Keep it up!