This leaves less than 2 minutes per student per day. In Hong Kong where I teach the English language at a secondary school, the school has 1200 students and 53 teachers. I see 132 uniformed students on a regular basis in three classes of 44 students each. It is very difficult to find the time to speak with every student, and on the other side, not every student wished to speak to their language teacher in person. In teaching the English language, my responsibilities include not only to prepare my students for their very competitive public exams, but to teach them how to communicate in English.
Communication can take many forms.
All of my students have my e-mail address and ICQ number. Out of my 132 students, I receive e-mails from about 15 of them on a regular basis. I also have received e-mail's from about 5 other students in the school. E-mail allows these students to communicate with their foreign teacher in English at their own pace and without pressure. Interestingly, after many e-mail or ICQ communications, these students tend to open up more in the classroom.