By Essoung epse Nkoa Sandrine Laure
Sandrine is a highly experienced Ambassador based in Cameroon and frequently offers insights, suggestions and personal experiences to help and support other teachers in the profession. Here she shares one particular experience to settle a larger class.
I just wanted to share that during my lower secondary school years, I was in a class of 93 students. Additionally, during my teaching practice, I was responsible for 68 children in the classroom for 10 days. On top of that, during my National Cameroon teacher training program, we were 67 in our classroom. It’s been an interesting journey being part of and managing large groups for a short period, and I’ve learned a lot from each experience.
I always made it a point to bring one object into the classroom each day, related to the lesson I was teaching. I recall one morning when I had to teach an African traditional story as part of our curriculum in Les Didactic Nationale. For this lesson, I decided to dress up as an old African lady in her 60s, complete with a walking stick and full attire, to bring the story to life. I had coordinated this with the classroom teacher, and when I entered the room, carrying a bush lamp and a basket from my bag, the children who had been quite noisy instantly fell silent. The classroom became as quiet as a graveyard.
I carried on with the lesson in character, and the children remained quiet and attentive throughout. By the end of the session, learners had met the learning objectives. I incorporated various strategies to engage the students, including role play, group work, and the projection of short videos as lesson starters. I also used songs related to the lesson as warm-ups, gave stickers to students for active participation, and rewarded them with a special handshake to keep them motivated. These strategies helped create a calm, focused classroom environment where the students were always eager for something new each time they expected me.
Though my methods were playful and interactive, I ensured that each activity was directly aligned with my teaching objectives, making sure the games and tasks always reinforced the lesson’s aims. They copied notes and equally used handouts. This approach not only enhanced the learning experience but also made the students more engaged and excited to learn.
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