Halloween in a big class of 70+
It's simple and works both with a computer and just simply a chalk board. I have a ten minute period between each class to travel between rooms, clear up from the previous lesson and set up ready for the next one.
Crafts, forget it in a large class, writing a passage on the board- not enough time, Listen to a recording-no equipment/electricity or enough volume.
The Utopian training ideas that you practice so many times over again in micro lessons, comfortable colleges and training rooms just don't migrate to state schools with a population of over 4000 kids! You have got to adapt and so many times think dam fast! Here's a challenge try keeping 70+ kids engaged for a 40 minute period.
Before lunch they just want to get out early so they can get to the lunch queue and not be held up by the other 19 classes in their way walking down the four floors in front of them. After lunch they just want to sleep because they have recently eaten or have spent their 2 1/2 hour lunch break playing basketball instead of resting. Middle of the day and they have just had a maths/chemistry/physics lesson and still have their heads in their books with the stress of a pending test looming over them.
There is just no best time! I have accepted that my teaching methods here are quite different and know my grade one teaching observations from the UK offer little comfort and esteem here. Having said all that one must not get deterred from ones objectives and efforts and one must continue striding on-wards in light of adversity.
So here's my lesson structure for this week.
- Draw some Halloween monster on the board. Dracula, Frankenstein, a ghost, a witch, a devil and a mummy. (I am no artist either)
- Tell/write the objectives: 1) We will discuss what Halloween is. 2) I will name the monsters. 3) I will play a Halloween game.
- Start a short discussion conversation about what they know about Halloween and tell them some details they do not know.
- Ask them what the monster is called. They can describe it if they know it. Act out the monsters habits. (Great opportunity to tell spooky stories and keep them in suspense)
- Explain the game of Near/Far-Hot/Cold. Write the six words on the board on a continuum from freezing through to boiling. (freezing, cold, cool, warm, hot, boiling) write 'very far away' next to freezing and 'very close' next to boiling. Explain with a demonstration that they must give directional information to find an object by only using these six words.
- Select a volunteer and I always drill the command "Please rise and close your eyes." They must stand and not look at the object I am hiding in the classroom.
- All the remaining classmates will then shout out in unison the temperature words associated with their position in relation to the object until it is found.
Students learns and apply new words for temperature while also thinking about distances. This can be great fun especially when you start to use items like W.C. or myself, and start to walk around the room.
Many if not all students are kept engaged in this because I move the around the room discussing monsters and then they are moving around and shouting out the words in English. Great fun too.
So there it is for one week, my lesson plan for 40 minutes repeated 20 times. It can be challenging sometimes to think of ways to engage as many people as possible. Some days are better than others but this one is a personal favourite 'cos everyone loves a scary story!