Today, most EFL classes include different levels of students. Teaching these students requires the teacher to be aware of how students are different, the resulted difficulties with them and how to teach them.
How Students Are Different
Different students are different in one or some of the following:
- Amount of time of learning English
- Level of English in the class
- Motivation to study English
- Amount of support from parents
- Social background (city or countryside)
- Age
- Gender (boys and girls)
Possible Difficulties With Different Levels Of EFL Students
- Helping everyone to learn: how to help all levels to learn
- Keeping everyone’s attention
- Getting everyone to take part
- Lesson speed; may be too quick for some, too slow for others
- Activities may be too easy for some, too hard for others
- Materials: may be interesting for some, boring for others
- Assessment
How To Teach Them?
Here are 7 tips you should consider if you want to teach them more effectively:
1. Use open-ended activities
These can work well because students with different levels of language can do them.
2. Ask different-level questions
Ask easier questions to those with less English, and harder questions to those with more English.
3. Correct only serious mistakes
Be more tolerant of mistakes made by students with less English. Correct only their serious mistakes.
4. Give extra activities
Have extra activities ready for students who finish an activity quickly. These activities might include new vocabulary to learn, pictures to talk about, or simple language games to play.
5. Use pair and group work
Sometimes students of different levels can help each other to learn when they work in pairs or groups.
6. Set flexible targets
Give different targets to different students or groups for some activities. For example, you might ask one pair to write three sentences of more about their families, and a higher level pair to write five sentences or more.
7. Use a remember and tell strategy
After some activities, ask students to close their books and remember answers, questions, words or sentences from the activity, and tell each other in pairs or groups. Success depends less on language knowledge and more on cooperation.
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