MIXED-ABILITY CLASS How to teach heterogeneous groups.
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Transcript of MIXED-ABILITY CLASS How to teach heterogeneous groups.
MIXED-ABILITY MIXED-ABILITY CLASSCLASS
How to teach How to teach heterogeneous heterogeneous groupsgroups
HETEROGENEOUS/MIXED-ABILITY CLASS:
It is a group in which children of varied abilities are taught together rather than being set apart in groups according to level.
ADAPTING MATERIALS FOR MIXED-ABILITY CLASSES CAN TAKE DIFFERENT FORMS:
Rewrite reading texts and grade the language accordingly for different levels.
However it is extremely time consuming and not many teachers can actually go to this lenght to adapt materials.
A danger that children will instantly realise that they have been labelled as a weak or strong student.
READINGStronger students: - rewrite a part of the
text in a different tense/person
- write their personal opinion/a summary of the text
- write question about the text
- write new vocabulary up on the board with definitions
Weaker students:- if there are gaps, give
students the answers in a jumbled order
- break the text into chunks and give the opinion of only reading some of the texts
- pre-teach difficult vocabulary and leave it written on the board for students to refer to
LISTENINGStronger:- focus on the accents or
of the speakers and get students to copy chunks
- if it´s a true/false activity, follow on by asking why/why not?
- give out the tape script and look up tricky words/expressions in a dictionary to then explain to the group
Weaker:- pre-teach vocabulary,
use visual if possible
- give them time to discuss answers before feeding back to the class
- give them the tape script on second listening
- if it´s a gap fill, supply the words with a few extras
WRITINGStronger:- give creative tasks that
students can do at their own level
- increase the word limit
- indicate where they could use more interesting ways of saying something
- indicate mistakes using correction code to give students a chance to self correct
Weaker:- reduce the word limit
- encourage use of dictionaries
- correct the draft together before students copy up it
- pair or group weaker students with stronger students
SPEAKINGStronger:- ask students to
justify/defend their opinions
- ban easy words like „nice“ to push their vocabulary to a higher level
- get students to record themselves and self-correct
- pair students of higher level together so they really go for it
Weaker:- give them time to
rehearse their ideas before a role play or discussion
- pair weak and strong together
- let them make notes before the speaking
- give them more listening and thinking time before calling on them to answer questions
TIPS FOR GOOD CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT WITH M-A GROUPS: GROUPING:
- depending on the task and the class dynamics
- there are usually opportunities for both types of grouping
- to experiment with mixing up the strong and weak students
GIVING INSTRUCTIONS:
- giving clear instructions- use hand gestures as well as words to explain the
tasks- use stronger students to check back the
instructions
ERROR CORRECTION:
- don´t over correct weak students- encourage students to correct one another
SETTING GOALS:
- it will help to focus the students- the goals can be different for each student and
depending on their level
SOME STRATEGIES: DISCUSSION AND NEEDS ANALYSIS:
- have an open class discussion about the classroom situation
- to ensure the best for everyone- to agree how to deal with it- it is the best to stage and structure the
discussion- to prompt the students to reflect upon their
learning style, learning strategies, language needs, enjoyment, motivation, language strenght and weaknesses
QUESTIONS: What kinds of class activities do you
enjoy/benefit from? Which language skills do you most wish to
develop? Do you prefer working individually or with a
partner? Would you rather sit and listen to the teacher
all lesson or participate in group work?
STUDENT SELF-AWARENESS:
- encourage students to develop an awareness of their own language abilities and learning needs
RANGE OF TASKS:
- this involves creating or providing tasks for different levels
EXTRA WORK/HOMEWORK:
- give different students different homework- for weaker students HW which really does
consolidate the class work- for stronger students work that will widen their
knowledge or put it to the test a little more – they need the feedback
- writing tasks are great for HW
ERROR CORRECTION:
- have different expectation of the language the different students produce
- it can push stronger students if you correct them heavily, although be sensitive about it!
- for weaker students, be more selective in your error correction
WORK GROUPINGS:
You may consider dividing your
class into groups by level for the whole lesson, enabling you to give a different level or number of tasks to each group
- PAIR WORK: strong with strong, weak with weak or strong with weak – variety in the pairings is the key
- GROUP WORK: groups could be of mixed levels or similar ones
- WHOLE CLASS-MINGLES: is a favoured strategy. Involves students talking/interacting with many different members of the class in a short period of time in order to achieve a task -> this supports the weaker students and provides opportunities for the stronger ones
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION