[sooy]

O.k...So the task is rather large..I'm the only Foreign teacher in the school(other did not turn up)until next semester. I have 17 - 45 min classes a week. Junior 2 - 30 students per class, Junior 3 - 60 students per class. The first few weeks have gone surprisingly well...I have played many games mentioned on this site and of my own making and the students (all but 1 or 2 classes) have participated well. I'm worried though about the noise that comes with the enthusiasm(especially in a class of 60 young teenagers) I don't want to disrupt all the other classes too much and it is extremely loud and competitive in class.
Has anyone got any ideas for quieter games for large groups of varied levels. I know this sounds rather silly being as my job is to get them talking !!I'm just really worried about it.
I played the minimal pairs game with the words on the board and two students taking turns to fly swat the words whilst the class called out the words I held up...OHHH of course when each word was heard incorrectly by the swatters...the class just started yelling and screaming the word in hysterics of laughter....great they are having fun, but 60 kids all at once yelling !!!WOW

[mesmark]

I wouldn't worry about it at all, unless you've been told to keep it down.

Just as the music class will be loud and you'll probably hear some noise and whistles from the PE class, I think people expect or are understanding about a noisy ESL class.

After all, like you said, they are supposed to be making noise and any group of 30+ people talk is going to be loud.

[esltiger]

In my previous school I have the same experience of really noisy classes and had a share of being questioned if I am teaching my classes English or just playing games. I reasoned out that it means my classes are enjoying their English class and that the students are not bored. Just make sure that it is not just a game for games sake. Also before doing any ESL games always remind your students not to be very noisy or you won't have games anymore.

[LSophie]

Hi, although this thread was posted in 2008, I wanted to share the same sentiment with the teacher. I also teach Junior High students in China in a class of 48-55 students. Since I wanted my classes to be interesting and more active, I let them play games to review vocabulary words and phrases. However, with the class size I cannot avoid students being noisy even though I kept reminding them in between the games not to shout to their group mates whenever they commit mistakes or when they wanted to help their group mates. Altough I was not told directly, I could see the facial expression of one English teacher at the next room when she peeped into my class. Students have so many books on their desks that it is hard for us to re-arrange the seats/desks during our class time. I hope some ESL teachers could share games & ideas they have especially for speaking classes that do not require rearranging seats and with less noise to make teaching-learning more interactive and interesting especially that they know a few English words and quite hard for them to understand the instructions. Some teachers/school leaders do not understand yet our purpose of conducting games to enhance language learning/usage and it adds to the difficulty faced by ESL teachers.

[yfor50]

Hi, I too am teaching middle school in China and find the space restraint an issue with most games, I have 50-70 students and no room to move. If someone could give me some activities that don't require a lot of movement in the classroom, I would be sooo happy.

[bread_baker]

What about bingo? There is a bingo generator on this site, and some members have made their bingo games available for download. You should make sure that every student has a different bingo board.
Also, look at Mark's site. He has a huge assortment of free resources.
Free Printables for Teachers - Free flashcards, printable games, free worksheets, printables, phonics, clipart, projects, ebooks and other resources

[bread_baker]

You could also divide the class into smaller groups (4-10, depending on the game) and have each group play the game independently at the same time.

[alawton]

That is a large class! I bet it is loud. When I have taught larger groups of kids and I did activities I usually split them into groups of fives. The activity would be one in which the groups need to keep their answers secret while they are working on them. Have each group describe five of the vocabulary words without actually giving the word away. The groups have to present the clues to the entire class for the other students to guess. While working on the clues each group will try to keep things quiet so other students won't know which words they have picked before it is time to present. If your kids are competitive they won't want to give away their answers. Good luck!

[yfor50]

Thanks for the helpful suggestions guys, I will have fun trying these.