Using the teaching approaches together will help you to involve all learners in learning.

Here are some ideas you could use.

Questioning: if you invite learners to put their hands up, the same ones usually answer. There are other ways to involve more learners in thinking about the answers and responding to questions. You can direct questions to specific learners or groups of learners. Tell the class, for example, that for this question you will ask learners in Row X or Table B to reply. Give learners ‘thinking time’ and invite contributions from specific people.

Group work and pair work: think carefully about how you divide your class into groups or how to make up pairs, taking account of the goal to include all and encourage learners to value each other. Ensure that all learners have the opportunity to learn from each other and build their confidence in what they know. Some learners will have the confidence to express their ideas and ask questions in a small group, but not in front of the whole class. For some topics it may be more appropriate to put girls and boys in separate groups.

Offering choice: setting different tasks for different groups will help learners start from where they are and move forward. Offering learners a choice of task helps them to feel ownership of their work and to take responsibility for their own learning. Taking account of individual learning needs is difficult, especially in a large class, but by using a variety of tasks and activities you can address the needs of more learners.

Moving around: if you always stand at the front of the class you will focus on the same learners. Try moving around the classroom and position yourself in different places where possible. This way you can see how more of your learners interact and engage.

Don’t get too involved: give your learners time to work out their own ideas. Too much involvement from teachers can limit learners’ creativity.