Teaching English to large classes with few resources

Forty, fifty, sixty children. One board, one teacher's book, maybe no textbooks for the class. This guide collects what teachers and researchers have found actually works, turned into routines you can start on Monday.

Five principles for big classes

1. Same routine every lesson. Children who know what comes next need fewer instructions, and fewer instructions means less noise.
2. Choral first, then pairs. The whole class repeats together, then every child says it again to a neighbour. Nobody sits silent for 60 minutes.
3. Everyone speaks every lesson. Count it: if only the front row answered, plan more pair work next time.
4. The board is the textbook. Plan one board layout per lesson: new words on the left, the sentence pattern in the middle, the task on the right.
5. Assess little and often. Check five children closely each lesson, rather than all 50 once a term.

The 60-minute lesson for 40 to 60 children

Our free Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 programmes plan every week in this same 60-minute shape.

Routines that save your voice

• A silent signal. Raise your hand; children who see it raise theirs and stop talking. Within seconds the room is quiet without shouting.
• Monitors. One child per row hands out and collects books, cards or slates.
• Fixed pairs and fours. Desk neighbours are pair A and B. Two pairs turn around to make a four. Nobody moves furniture.
• Name cards. A folded card on each desk helps you call on everyone, not only the children you already know.
• A class code. Agree three or four rules together and put them on the wall in English.

Speaking practice when you cannot hear everyone

• Choral drills with variety: loud, whisper, happy, sad, fast, slow.
• Chains. "I like rice." The next child: "She likes rice. I like fish." Runs down a row.
• Pair interviews with three questions written on the board.
• Whisper check. Children whisper the answer to a partner before you take one answer aloud. Everyone has said it.
• Repeat and rephrase. Ask a child to repeat what a classmate said in their own words. It keeps everyone listening.

Reading with one book

• Board stories. Write a five-sentence story on the board before class; it is your class reader for the lesson.
• Chart-paper big books. Copy a short story onto large sheets with simple drawings. Reuse it all year.
• Free storybooks. Download one story from StoryWeaver, read it from your phone or a single printout, and retell it on the board.

Writing and marking 50 books

• Mark a set each day. Ten books a day means every child gets feedback each week.
• Symbols, not comments. A circle for spelling, a line for a missing word, a star for something good.
• Peer checks against a model. Put a correct example on the board; partners swap books and tick what matches.
• One thing to fix. Each child corrects one marked mistake at the start of the next lesson.

Mixed ages and mixed levels in one room

Keep one shared topic and give three versions of the same task:

Pair a confident child with a less confident one for speaking, and change the pairs every few weeks.

Zero-cost materials

• Card flashcards drawn on cut-up boxes. Make them once with the class and reuse.
• Real objects from home: a cup, a shoe, fruit. Children remember what they can hold.
• Songs and chants, which cost nothing and work with any number of children.
• The children themselves. Clothes, faces, families and routines are ready-made topics.
• Free printables from British Council LearnEnglish Kids: print one set for the board, not one per child.

Using the home language wisely

A quick word in the children's home language to check understanding or explain a grammar point saves time. Keep routines, games and practice in English, so the class hears it all lesson. A short list of classroom English ("Open your books", "Work with your partner", "Put your hand up") taught in week one carries the whole year.

Tracking progress without paperwork

Draw a grid: names down the side, four or five "can do" statements across the top, such as "says their name and age" or "writes three sentences". Each lesson, check five children and colour the box: red not yet, yellow nearly, green yes. By the end of the term you can see the whole class on one page.

Frequently asked questions

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