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Denisa
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problems
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Hello again my dear friends!
I �m back with a new question (or problem):
recently I have accepted to teach English to a small group of people...all fine here, but here comes the problems: they are such a heterogenous group concerning the age and the level(of English), some of them have studied it before but others are simple starters...
Then, another issue is that they are all sports people(athletes) and I don �t think that they will be so much interested in grammar lesson, so I should focus on teaching them more real situations, communicative strategies....
What do you think? can you give me some advice? how should I structure the course and how could I manage to be more practical than theoretical?
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26 Mar 2010
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Lina Ladybird
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Dear Denisa, from my long teaching experience I know for sure that it is very, very difficult to keep every member of such a "mixed ability" course satisfied in the long term. That �s why I usually refuse to teach people whose levels are so extremely different in just one group...
I really hope that someone else can give you some good advice, because I can �t, sorry!! ;) |
26 Mar 2010
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Mariethe House
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Dear denisa,
First : Nice to see you!!
If it is not too big a group , I would first talk to them and see what their needs and motivation and interests are.. . If you can have one or two computers, at your disposal, you can have two or more different ability groups and work with each one alternately and therefore more specifically on each person �s needs � � grammar, pronunciation, conversation or whatever..)
As far as contents is concerned, you will find lots interesting material on PhilipR �s account... have a look in his "let �s talk about...." series.
Anyway I am sure you will manage! Thinking of you!
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26 Mar 2010
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anitarobi
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Hi, Denisa! Nice to see you here.
When I work with a mixed group, I tend to pair them up more often, but I always mix the pairs - and every pair consists of one beginner and one more advanced st. And I don �t let them always work with the same partner. When I want to give them appropriate level of work, I make a difference in the task or ws, and use a more difficult ws for more advanced sts. While they work in pairs, the roles have to be split and you have to make sure they all do their share. If you prepare handouts, make sure you mark what is obligatory for all and what is expansion. Adults are not easy to deal with, because they �re already ashamed of their difficulties with studying and learning new stuff, of their pronunciation and they �re rather rigid when dealing with grammar. On the other hand, some of them have too favourable an opinion of their abilities, and those are sometimes even more difficult to teach. If you �re doing speaking activities, it �s useful to give the interviewer role to the more advanced st, so they �d be active in asking questions, which is more demanding, whereas the less advanced ones would passively answer, maybe using some suggested phrases even. But you can occasionally play games with them all as you would with teenagers (I love playing 4-in-a-row and associations with adults). As for their sports inclination, don �t worry - you can always cheat them into doing grammar, just choose a sports topic and think of a grammar structure that will be used most often. E.g. if you �re dealing with sports as hobbies, you can teach Present Simple with like, dislike, train, practise, etc. and even Past Simple with used to (what they used to do while they were under 20 and how they keep fit now). Or if you �re dealing with Conditionals, you can have them imagine what they �d do if they were their favourite athlete (If I were Pete Sampras...). If you practise presenting oneself, you can also play with them - they imagine they are a famous sports � personality and talk about themselves, but don �t say their name. Others then guess. Or using active and passive. You provide sentences about the stuff they can do in the gym on every device or for muscle groups, and then turn the sentence into passive (Abbs are strengthened by doing... etc.) I bet they would also enjoy describing people (physically and character) if they were sports personalities.
OK, I �ve overdone this post now.... sorry!
Anita |
26 Mar 2010
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serene
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My dear Denisa, I �m so glad to see you!
You �ve been given such useful advice so far that I couldn �t really add a lot more.
When I have to deal with mixed ability classes, I first present a topic to the whole class but at the practice stage I give them graded material to work on. I mean I give simpler exercises to the beginners and more demanding to more advanced students. Or while I am teaching the beginners a topic that the other group is familiar with, I have the more advanced students engage in a conversation on the same topic. It is hard work but I hope you can find lots of material here to help you with it.
Wishing you good luck,
Hugs
serene
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26 Mar 2010
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misseleonora
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Hi Denisa, Look, I am just undergoing the same problem as you, but with a group of adults . . .What I am doing is to present a topic and go through it, as intensive revision for the upper levels, and as new for the lower. If they can catch up, they will be able to coexist but if they don�t I will have to make 2 diff courses. I just don�t want the upper ones to waste their time! they are ready for a challenge. And the lower ones feel they are failing when they are just learning. But I am concerned, and its hard work. . . Bye |
26 Mar 2010
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Jayho
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Hi Denisa
If you google teach multi mix level esl you will get a nice selectin of results. Maybe some of these links from the results page might be useful:
Cheers -- Jayho |
27 Mar 2010
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