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This session, "Effective Strategies for Teaching Large Classes," explores thought-provoking techniques for creating engaging and interactive lesson plans when working with large, multi-level classes.

This article introduces an interactive and engaging classroom activity entitled Story Theater. The goal of this activity is to provide students with a text to read aloud as they act out the storyline using props and special effects. The purpose of Story Theater is to aid fluency and memorization and to provide students with a chance to use the language and their imaginations. This activity can be used with all ages and all English proficiency levels. The author includes examples of effective Story Theater lessons.

The Children’s Response is based on Asher’s Total Physical Response (TPR) method.

Replacement performance role plays are a different type of role play. Rather than memorizing or writing a dialogue, this activity asks learners to listen and consider other possible responses. Students decide which character will be replaced and what they will do differently. Even shy learners or ones with lower proficiency levels can be involved because it is less overwhelming than writing a dialogue. The activity develops pragmatic competence and critical thinking skills. Popular TV shows can be used.

Develop a shared understanding of what it means to “think critically," and examine why teachers should devote time to helping students develop a critical thinking mindset.