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violasarah · Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 1 Location: Beijing, China

Dear forum,

I am teaching English to a Korean class in Beijing, China that spans ages of 15-20 years of age and what complicates this setup even further is that there are vastly differing individual levels of English within the one class. Can anyone offer any teaching stratagies for older students who are less enthusiastic to learn English Question

Many Thanks, Sarah
Shocked

sheeba · Joined: 17 Jun 2004 Posts: 1123

Sarah. The China forum might have answered this question. It may be worth a serach.

But anyway I have this problem(not the ages) but the level.

I am doing an extra lesson with my class this term for the really low level students. This will deal with just getting them up to scratch so they can at least understand instructions. Also so they can master some basic functions that we will cover in class. This lesson is in my own time and I know that maybe you can't do that.

I would make sure instructions are clear for all(even if the better students quite clearly understand what is going on)

I would pitch activities at a lower level to begin the class. I use situations and functions and present something, following with a practice. The practice sessions can include additional exercises for those at a higher level.

Production stage can have activities where higher level students can retrieve information from lower ones. Keep this information simple.

Of course there are tons of ways of dealing with this. I also use Prabhu's method from India which deals with Task Based Learning. If you get students to do homework and bring language to the classroom then they can create the lesson for you and can use language they have found. I'm working on this in China now. Those struggling can at least contribute to the lesson. Perhaps in some ways they should work harder.

It's a complicated area but you just have to learn how to deal with it. I'm sure loads of people have different methods and loads probably couldn't care and just blame the system!

I am reading 'Teaching the Spoken Language 'by Gillian Brown and George Yule. They talk about short turns and Interactional turns and their discussion is relevant to different levels dealing with one another.

Some say different levels in one class can actually be beneficial!

Good luck[/code]

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

Is there any possibility of separating the levels? Multilevel classes are one of the worst.

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

I'm so glad you posted this, I was also going to post about this. I don't understand why secondary schools, at least the ones in Peru, insist on grades instead of levels for EVERYTHING.

Which is just ridiculous, just because someone is in X grade, doesn't mean that they have X grade level for Math, Science, English, Social Studies, etc.

I don't konw if it's because they don't want to go through the scheduling of breaking up classes or just prefer to keep all grades together.

I think it's much better to break them up, it's easier and better for the teacher and the student. And the student gets to interact with people outside her grade.

TheLongWayHome · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 1016 Location: San Luis Piojosi

william wallace · Joined: 14 May 2003 Posts: 2869 Location: in between

In terms of IELTS scores ; it's not unusual to have a Band 4-6 range. It's primarily to have as much of a class filled with paying students/customers as possible.It's a real pity,but that is China, and I suspect elsewhere too.

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

You might consider investing in the following book:

Teaching Large Multilevel Classes
by Natalie Hess
Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers (Scott Thornbury, ed.)

TheLongWayHome · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 1016 Location: San Luis Piojosi

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

Here's a review of the book in case you don't have the Cambridge catalog.
http://www.tefl.net/reviews/teaching-large-multilevel-classes.htm

Here's another written for the Peace Corps.
http://www.peacecorps.gov/library/pdf/M0046_tefllarge.pdf

And another for ESL this time. (Description on the link, plus many other texts.)
Bell, Jill (2004) Teaching Multilevel Classes in ESL (2nd ed.). Toronto, Canada: Pippin Publishing.
http://myweb.students.wwu.edu/kramere/ESLresources.htm

And, another on the author's homepage.
Seaman, Alan. (2005). "Six Principles for Teaching Large Multilevel Classes." Teacher's Edition. Vol. 17:10-12, March 2005.
http://www.wheaton.edu/intr/faculty/seaman.html

An article with references.
http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/Promoting_Success_of_Multilevel_ESL_Classes.htm

And, more.
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=168