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ncaraway · Joined: 15 Feb 2010 Posts: 68

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nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

Since these forums are more job focused, you might want to check out the Stuff for Teachers link: http://www.eslcafe.com/teachers/

ncaraway · Joined: 15 Feb 2010 Posts: 68

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Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Get a box and fill it with books and magazines, including coloring books and comics. Buy Scrabble and easy crossword puzzle books. Stuff like that. When someone finishes early (in earnest), they get to spend a little time with the "bonus box".

ncaraway · Joined: 15 Feb 2010 Posts: 68

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nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

HLJHLJ · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 1218 Location: Ecuador

If it's happening regularly, it's a lesson planning issue. If you know you have mixed abilities in a class you need to plan accordingly. Tasks should be scalable so they suit all the abilities in class.

That often means producing different variations of the test, worksheet, etc so the weaker students have additional guidance and help, and the stonger students have additional questions that challenge them.

If you always go for a one-size-fits-all approach you'll often find that the weaker students get panicked by the harder questions that are beyond them, and the stronger students get bored if the questions are too easy and aren't stretching them. Both are likely to lead to classroom management issues in the long run.

VietCanada · Joined: 30 Nov 2010 Posts: 590

I've tried a couple things at the elementary level with success.

Here's a few suggestions.

Ask the students who finish early to help their friends. Or tell them too. This a project as you probably need to coach them to explain in their own language rather than just tell them the answers.

Give the early finishers a project to work on or challenge them to do a project, related to the course of course.It could be an essay or labeled diagram or something. It could be something that takes longer than the a single class of extra time.

Print extra worksheets that are a bit more difficult to do and hand them out when needed.

Have them write the answers to whatever they are doing on the board.

Challenge them to make their own questions related to the topic and exchange them with their earlier finishing peers.

Have them exchange and mark each others work. They must decide who's correct when their answers differ.

Discern their common interests and teach them that while you wait for the others to finish their work. It could be anything- science, math, culture.

Have a conversation with them to challenge their learning to date.