Small Class Teaching: For or Against?

 I wonder how many Hong Kong students realize that our standards are falling especially in English now? From my point of view, the idea of holding small class teaching is essential.

Instead of talking about the advantages of small class teaching, let me talk about the problem of excessive number of students in one class. Firstly, I think the teachers cannot look after so many students at the same time. Take for an example, if there are forty students in one class, when many students ask questions at the same time, the teacher may not have enough time to answer all of them. And some of the students may miss the chance to ask. Thus, the standard of the students will fall. Besides, it’s possible that teachers cannot pay much attention to all of the students. They are not clear about the standards of different students. As a result, teachers will never understand what their students are weak in and cannot give special care to them.

Now, I’m sure you know the reason why Hong Kong students’ standard is falling. Hence, we must take actions to improve and surmount this problem. And the one which have been mentioned in the news is a great idea. After holding small class teaching, students can have more chance to ask questions as teachers have much more time when they just teach a small group of students. Besides, as there are fewer students than before, teachers can take care of each student easily. Therefore, when students get any difficulties, they can get immediate help in the lessons.

In fact, I have an experience in learning with so many students in a class. Last year when I was in secondary one, there were 38 students in one class. And I know there were some students who were weak in English and Mathematics. Although the teacher knew their standard, she couldn’t give immediate help to the poor students in the lessons as she didn’t have enough time to handle their problems. At last, they did not get any help. From my experience, it really shows that there are many problems when there is an excessive number of a student learning in one class!

All in all, we all don’t know that the result of small class teaching. Still, I think this policy can help raising students’ standard. Therefore, I strongly agree with it.