Thread: Changing seating layout in Govt Schools

My grade 1 EP students. 29 students in all. No space for another setting than rows.



Face blurred to protect the children's privacy.

Originally Posted by peelieorion

Or alternatively Purplesmoker you don't have your own class and therefore drapes around the school like a muppet. Who said anything about internet conections of aircon just give me my own bloody classroom. I wonder how many people have asked for one and not beeen given one. Your classroom with your own seating plan and English displays on the wall, not that hard really. If you don't ask for anything here, you don't get anything.

In my school and I imagine most large (4-5000) capacity school, this sounds nice but here even the Thai teachers are required to follow the muppet stance.
The logistics of 5000 students changing rooms every 50 minutes as opposed to 100 or so teachers would be a nightmare.

I like to walk around to try to keep attension on me (though focus on the lesson), %0 is too many for a horseshoe, but is also too many to be able to walk in rows of one desk. Sometimes i make a double horseshoe ( as it sounds) but do not let the students sit with their mates. Just get them to sit and the all swap 3 or 4 places back. This stops sitting with friends or even groiups of friends. You need the horseshoe to face at an angle towards the front for it to work properly or you can not partner up with your double partner and watch the teacher and the board. i say stuff the Thai treachers as you will need to rearrangle the desks anyway. The only thing I dont like is the noise of the students dragging the desks.

Nice idea

In my school and I imagine most large (4-5000) capacity school, this sounds nice but here even the Thai teachers are required to follow the muppet stance.
The logistics of 5000 students changing rooms every 50 minutes as opposed to 100 or so teachers would be a nightmare.

How many schools in the west keep students in the same room and make teachers walk around the school.
there is no logistics in 5000 students finding a classroom. I bet students misbehave far moe in the 10 minutes between lessons waiting for their next teacher.

Happy to move seats/desks around. They get shuffled about a lot at the school where I teach.

Sometimes it's fun just to get the students to turn them all round through 180 degrees so they face the back of the room. Then I can go and stand at the back when I teach - it really catches out the boys who like to sit on the back row and mess about.

It's heavily weighted in favour of the current system. I manage to leave 1 or 2 minutes early and get to the next class just as the teacher is leaving.
Our school has approx 5000 kids and about 100 classrooms - there are over 200 teachers - impossible to have a classroom each without doubling the school's size. Plus on average I teach about 4 lessons per day - I suppose I could share the classroom with another teacher but that would bring a host of new problems.

IMO the worst time to teach is the first period ( kids late after assembly/flag ceremony ) and after lunch (kids wandering in late) and after PE ( same same )...
This would be happening every lesson if they were required to change rooms every period.


No school in the West keeps kids in one class all day. Poor timekeeping happens not because kids have to change class but more because schools are lazy to enforce any rules. My school only has 700 kids but rarely is a students late because there are consequences. How can hope to teach English effectively when you can't put displays on the wall and can't arrange your seating to your liking. Its possible but its another barrier in your way. If you have 200 teachers and 100 classrooms what are half the teachers doing at any one time?

Originally Posted by peelieorion

If you have 200 teachers and 100 classrooms what are half the teachers doing at any one time?

They are between lessons - I teach 22 lessons a week - out of a possible 45 ( we have 9 periods per day ).
Do you teach 8 periods a day?
I think the main difference here is the size of our respective schools - I have learnt to adapt to my current environment, I hope to be able to teach in a smaller school one day

Fair enough Phil. Some situations like yours would be problematic. I have 6 one hour lessons a day. Sounds tough doing 45 minute lessons.