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The challenges of teaching English as a foreign language in large classes

English is perhaps the world most spoken language and this makes English the easiest language to learn. However easy it is to learn English language, teaching English language can be very challenging, especially when teaching English as a foreign language. The challenge could be even more when teaching it to a large class.

The basic challenge faced is that not all students will be at same level. The large class of students will have different categories of English speakers. These categories can be classified into the below average, average and above average students. All these groups have to be considered in the teaching processes so that no one is left behind. The consequences of trying to carry all along is that you get is that you fall into a scenario where you are often stopped during the teaching processes. Lots of questions will be asked that have to be answered because their rates of understanding and assimilation differ. The frequency in the flow of communicating the learning materials and skills will be undermined especially when it gets to the level where the below average cannot cope. On the contrary, when you go lower in the level to accommodate the below average, the average with the above average tend not to give maximum concentration creating an atmosphere where the lesson might become boring.

An English language class is to be interesting in order to catch the attention of the learners. Especially when English is taught as a foreign language, it is suppose to convey the characteristics of English language as a very fun learning language which is why it has a large acceptability. Furthermore, English language is all about learning new vocabulary with its usage in the correct grammatical tenses. More often you spend a whole lot of time correcting grammatical errors observed as students speak English in the class. This can be very challenging especially because the size of the class will not permit for direct corrections. Sometimes these corrections are deliberately overlooked and this will adversely affect the knowledge of the students.

Other challenges that might be encountered in teaching English as a foreign language are:
Inability to translate English words into students local language for good understanding.
Insufficient knowledge of locals' interest, norms and lifestyles; since English language should be taught with interest, the knowledge of locals interest will help arouse their craving.
Inability to take full charge of the class especially in rowdy situations.
Inadequate translation materials for teaching aids.

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The challenges of teaching English as a foreign language in large classes

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