One Room Schoolroom for the 21st Century

Multi-level TeachingBy Heather E. PerryOne Room Schoolroom for the 21st Century

One Room Schoolroom for the 21st CenturyMulti-level TeachingBy Heather E. Perry

SynopsisDo you feel like you are trapped in a one room school room while operating a three ring circus? This practical workshop is for those teachers (especially in rural settings) who have a variety of English skill levels exhibited by their students in one classroom. The workshop will present ideas of how to incorporate activities for this multi-level setting. Rather than planning several activities for a range of proficiency levels, this workshop aims to present how one activity can be used by all students, regardless of the extent of English competencies.Canada TESL Conference 2014Taught several multi-level classes in rural AlbertaLevels ranged from CLB 1-7Used video-conferencing technologyHave trained teachers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and ChinaCertified language assessor through the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks

Teaching Experience

Canada TESL Conference 2014Canada TESL Conference 2014

Students couldHave differing educational backgroundsHave differing comfort levels with the Roman alphabetHave differing motivations for learningHave differing learning styles and personal situationsWhat does a multi-level class look like?

Canada TESL Conference 2014Canada TESL Conference 2014 differing competency levels in the listening, speaking, reading and writing skillslevels, referring to the Canadian Language Benchmarks

For further information, investigatewww.language.ca

Differing Canadian Language Benchmark LevelsCanada TESL Conference 2014Language learning is a fairly chaotic activity, and language chaos can be very productive (Hess, 113)

The use of grouping strategies has been found to be an effective management tool in multi-level settings to provide efficient use of teacher and student time. (Roberts, Teaching in the Multilevel Classroom, 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc)Canada TESL Conference 2014Sometimes called like-abilityStudents have similar competency levels in the skill area being worked on.For example, if the activity is to practice a dialogue, then pair up two students who have similar abilities in the speaking skillMaking the most of time

Equal AbilityPair WorkCanada TESL Conference 2014Competency levels in the skill area are differentPlace the more demanding language learning upon the higher level studentsLower level students can still be in charge of activity

Mixed AbilityPair WorkCanada TESL Conference 2014True group work is designed to make the members of the group interact and communicate with each other(Bell, p. 96)Canada TESL Conference 2014Everyone in the group has the same taskEach group may have differing requirements of the same taskEmphasis of task is on accuracy

Equal AbilityGroup WorkCanada TESL Conference 2014Sometimes called cross-abilityMost suitable for fluency activitiesHigher level students are encouraged to explain; to expand their language abilitiesLower level students are exposed to richer language structures

Mixed AbilityGroup WorkCanada TESL Conference 2014Canada TESL Conference 2014Cloze exercise for higher level studentsThe Hockey Song Hello out there, we're on the air, it's __________________ night tonight Tension grows, the _______________blows, and the _____________ goes down the _______The _____________ jumps and the players bump and the _____________ all go insane Someone roars, "Bobby scores!", at the good ol hockey game Oh, the good ol __________ game, is the best ________ you can nameAnd the best game you can name, is the good ol __________ game .

Example activity of using the same sourcePick out pictures for lower level students

RedYellowGreenBlueA1234B5678C9101112D13141516Jill Bells matrix (p. 98)Canada TESL Conference 2014Students assemble by letter for groups of equal abilityStudents assemble by colour for cross-abilityGood for warm-up or wrap-up activities in the classConcrete focus (abstract is difficult for lower level students)Choose activities that act as levellers so that everyone is on the same playing fieldCommunicative activities (board games)VocabularyPronunciation

Whole ClassCanada TESL Conference 2014PronunciationCanada TESL Conference 2014

Another word for equal abilityLike-ability

Canada TESL Conference 2014Another word for mixed abilityCross-ability

Canada TESL Conference 2014Equal ability group work is focused onaccuracy

Canada TESL Conference 2014Cross-ability group work is focused onfluency

Canada TESL Conference 2014Multi-level teaching can be EXCITING!!

Canada TESL Conference 2014GREAT JOB!

The PowerPoint presentation can be accessed on the page marked Presentationshttp://heperry.wikispaces.com/Canada TESL Conference 2014Reading Comprehension: higher level student reads the story; lower level student responds to questions with higher level student writing down the answersWritten exercises: All have the same task; expectations and requirements will be different for pairs i.e. lower level students may only complete 10 out of the 20 questions; higher level students finish allExample activities of pair workCanada TESL Conference 2014Information gap: lower level students have questions written out; higher level students have nothing writtenDictation: lower level students dictate the words for the higher level students and then checks for spellingPhoto-story: lower level students tell the story using pictures; higher level students write out the storyExample activities of pair workCanada TESL Conference 2014Collaborative WritingEach group will have the same topic but lower level students will be copying/writing formulaic phrases; higher level students will be creating own sentencesReadingAll students will have the same topic, but the level of the reading will be different; different comprehension questionsConversationLower level students have questions written out; higher level students do not have script

Examples for Equal Ability GroupsCanada TESL Conference 2014Collaborative: one member becomes a scribe, the other the story teller, another the editorJournalsGrammar Exercises:lower level students can write one word answers; higher level students can write short answers

Examples for mixed ability group workCanada TESL Conference 2014Discussion: Allow lower level students to write out their agree/disagree statementsJigsaw reading:Every member is needed in order to answer the questions

Examples for mixed ability group workCanada TESL Conference 2014Canada TESL Conference 2014Class Structureoption #1Whole ClassWhole ClassWorking on shared projectWhole ClassApplication of learningGroup 1Group 2Group 1Group 2Teacher monitors whole groupTeacher teaches each group individuallyCanada TESL Conference 2014Class Structureoption #2Whole ClassWhole ClassApplication of learningGroup 2Teacher reviews group work and provides feedbackGroup 2Students work in groups on previously taught materialGroup 1Students work on activities related to new material presentedGroup 1Teacher presents new material

Groups rotate throughout the lesson or unit.Canada TESL Conference 2014BibliographyAnn Tigchelaar, webinar Teaching Multilevel classeshttp://www2.immigratemanitoba.com/browse/webinar/eal-multi1.htmlThis link is no longer available and might be included in the new website www.tutela.caMelinda Roberts, article Teaching in the Multilevel Classroomhttp://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/download/adulted/multilevel_monograph.pdf

Bell, Jill Sinclair. Teaching Multilevel Classes in ESL, Pippin Publishing Corporation, Toronto, Ontario, 2004.

Hess, Natalie. Teaching Large Multilevel Classes, Cambridge University Press, UK. 2001BibliographyCanada TESL Conference 2014Canada TESL Conference 2014BibliographyExcellent resource for multi-level listening:Lesson Plans using the Oxford Picture Dictionary, 2nd editionOxford University Press, 2009. ISBN978-0-19-474022-7

Excellent resource for multi-level reading and communicative activities : www.esljigsaws.com