Job Discussion Forums

[steviok85]

Since September, I have been trying to prepare some students for their Matura.

I had no idea about the format of the exams, nor how I should go about dividing the class because the group consists of 'advanced' (rozszerzona) and 'elementary' (podstawowa) candidates. It is mighty difficult to give the (often lazy and not so bright) elementary students work from the advanced book, and when I give the advanced students (who are committed and very good) work from the elementary book they are simply bored. Of course, there should be two groups, but I am not the Director of the school.

To be frank, I have muddled my way through it and tried my best. I have revised some of the units well and they seem to remember a lot of the new vocabulary.

Any thoughts?

[scottie1113]

Pardon the pun (and it wouldn't work in any other country), but advanced and elementary students are poles apart, and I can't believe your director put them in the same class. That's just asinine. How many students do you have, and how many are in each group?

[steviok85]

Well, the Polish translations for the two levels are, I think, advanced and elementary. In reality, the gap is pre-int to upper-int. Still a huge gap, though.

There is just one group. If they bother to turn up, there are four lower level and three higher level students. Lately, the higher level students have been turning up, and one girl from the lower group, who can cut it with the harder stuff to her credit. So I can just concentrate on the 'advanced' book when this happens.

[lundjstuart]

Try just teaching the class from the FCE book. If the attain the FCE, they don't have to take the MATURA exam.

[silesia]

That used to be the case, but the Education Minister felt this was unfair to less well-off students who could not afford private tuition.Now all students have to sit the Matura exam even if they have an A grade in Proficiency!!
I had three students who passed Proficiency while still at Gymnazium, but still had to waste time going to classes and taking the Matura!

[lundjstuart]

Sorry for giving the bad info, I was under the impression that it was still in effect.

Suggestion to steviok85, go on with teaching the upper leveled students and hope that the lower one will either study super hard to catch up or will just fall behind and drop out. I know it sounds bad but the other students will start to lose interest if they have to wait on the other student.

[spiral78]

I'm not sure what your exact situation is, but can't you simply put the students into two teams (or let them do it themselves, if you think they're well aware of the differences in their skill levels)? Then, each team could work at their own level, possibly on essentially the same tasks, but with the stronger group able to produce more complex and accurate oral/written texts?

I've been able to successfully work with students across B1 - B2+ in this way, but if the gap's even greater, am not sure if/how it would work.

[Richfilth]

Abandoning any student or putting them in a situation where they drop out is never a professional option, especially not when working for a state school, where the teacher's role is not just to present the information, but to motivate the student to learn. You don't just give up on them. And it's "effect," by the way.

Having said that, teaching teenagers is painful, especially when they don't care. However, the difference between "standard" and "advanced" is A2 versus B2, which is a lot in terms of vocab but not much in terms of grammar. If you're sick to death of doing grammar, dish out some reading comprehension and give a paired task to those that finish it first, while you give some one-to-one time to the slower students who might blossom if given a bit of undivided attention.

A Matura "pass" isn't that hard to achieve, and even for the elementary student. A good task is to have them create Facebook-equivalent profiles with full sentences; kids take to it a lot better than they did the "letter to a penfriend" style task of introducing themselves, even though it covers exactly the same language areas. Structured properly, that task will allow the advanced students to really open up and express themselves in creative ways, which is exactly what an Advanced exam is supposed to demonstrate.

You have my wholehearted sympathy for trying to teach the revolting urchins; you wouldn't get me anywhere near them, or any other Cambridge exam class.

[lundjstuart]

[steviok85]

Well, actually, Richfilth, most of the students are quite pleasant (some indeed motivated) so the 'revolting urchins' comment is a little misguided even if it was not targeted at one group. I actually enjoy Cambridge classes, too. But if you have your colourful bits if paper, and facebook profiles, no need to worry.
The gap is horrific. One boy struggles to answer 'where do you live?'. Another can speak quite fluently about many obscure topics.

[Richfilth]

What books have you been given for this class, and is it at a state or a private establishment? Last time I dealt with Matura students they were supposed to be using the Opportunities book, but their other teacher was pulling most of her lessons from the Fast Track To FCE/CAE books because the other material was so dry on one hand, and so limited on the other.

My Facebook comment was simply that if students are lazy, making the lesson more interesting from a teenager's perspective yields better results than simply turning up the pressure. From experience, the more kids feel like they're being forced to learn, the harder they'll try not to.

As for Mr lund's comment, I don't quite see how his example relates to the matters at hand, but it's nice to see he corrects his mistakes.