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TEFL Teaching mixed ability classes
Students come from all walks of life, no person is the same whether it?s personality, ability or background. Some students are quick to learn, some slow, others can be confident, some are shy.
Schools all over the world have a very difficult time trying to stream students into similar capabilities or abilities, unfortunately this nearly impossible because of large class sizes due to the lack of funding and worst still poor management / organization in schools from the very top to the bottom , where lack of properly qualified teachers who are often over worked have far too much ?Red Tape? bureaucracy paperwork to actually have time to understand and identify individual student?s needs. Unfortunately large mixed ability classes will be around for a long time to come .
So how can a foreign language teacher , let alone a native teacher overcome these hurdles of teaching large mixed classes? It is important that we need to work out their own techniques and procedures to deal with these large classes (or even small mixed classes).Students will learn more if they have confidence, so tapping into each student is so important to understand their psychological needs .Of course this will take too long to pamper to every student in the time you have .
Here are some thoughts that I believe will help to overcome these problems to make teaching large mixed ability classes easier .
: Know your students interests ? try to relate them with teaching ideas/ syllabus
: Know your students strengths -- always give them praise, be enthusiastic with them.
: Know your students weaknesses -- always encourage them, never discourage.
: Some students can feel they are uninvolved or anonymous so they will be unmotivated and bored.--Try to get them to engage and express their views. It can make a difference if you know their individual needs .
: Try to use a variety of extra of extra materials? it helps to meet the interests and demands of various personalities.
: Always point out their talents-- it shows their making progress and builds confidence.
: Always be positive ?It can help change attitudes even in the smallest way .
: Create a sense of structure to the lesson?it will help motivate students
: Voice projection is important __ it helps change the tempo of the lesson and keeps students aware .
Let?s be honest there?s no single way to implement M .A. B. classes a teachers work is not easy. Why not if you have the time and the tools to share any successful ideas you have , it?s not difficult. Many minds are better than one . Problems can be solved if we share our positive ideas.You will find many good teachers are interested in and care about other?s problems, so listen and open up to new ideas .
You will always find solutions to your problems if you are passionate about teaching!
Author: Peter Randall
Date of post: 2006-10-10