Teaching English to Multi-Level Classes

What is a Multi-level ESL Class?

Multi-level classrooms are as varied as the students in them. Most often, they include students
who communicate in English at a variety of different levels. They may also be considered multi-
level because they include students with different types of learning backgrounds, such as those
who have learned orally and those who have learned mainly from a textbook. Students may also
have different levels of literacy in their own native language. A classroom that contains some
students who are familiar with the Roman alphabet and some students who are not may also be
considered multi-level. Finally, the term multi-level can be used to refer to a group of students
working together who range greatly in age.

Advantages and Challenges of Teaching Multi-level Classes

When faced with the challenge of a multi-level classroom many teachers do not know where to
start. They fear that the preparation will take much longer, and that the students will be more
demanding. Schools that have multi-level classes often have limited budgets, and teachers may
fear that they will not be paid for what they are worth. However, it is only by looking at the
advantages of the multi-level classroom and employing strategies to overcome the challenges,
that teachers can achieve success.

Advantages of Multi-level classrooms

 Students are able to learn at their own pace

 Students learn to work well in a group
 Students become independent learners
 Students develop strong relationships with their peers
 Students become partners in learning

Challenges of Multi-level classrooms

 Finding appropriate teaching resources and material

 Organizing appropriate groupings within the class
 Building an effective self-access centre in the classroom
 Determining the individual needs of each student
 Ensuring that all students are challenged and interested
 Enforcing English only policies when teacher is occupied and students are working in
small groups or pairs

Determining the Needs of Your Students

One of the first things you should do when assigned to a multi-level classroom is determine the
needs of the individual members. If possible, this should be done before the first class.
There are a variety of ways to conduct needs assessment, depending on the size of the class, and
your access to an office and a computer. Many schools use a standardized test for new students.
While this may help teachers determine the language level of the students in the multi-level
class, standardized tests cannot determine the personal needs of the individual students. For
small classes it is useful to invite students into the office for a quick chat to determine what your
students' objectives are (ex. improving writing skills, learning conversational English,
understanding of rules and grammar). Students may not know the answer to this, so it is a good
idea to create a list that they can pick from. You may give the option of picking a primary and a
secondary reason. Here are some examples that could be placed in a list for students to choose
from:

 To improve my speaking skills

 To get into college
 To use for travelling
 To become a future teacher
 To learn the rules of grammar
 To please my parents
 Other__________

You should also use this time to explain to your student that there will be other students with
different levels of English in the class and that you will be using partnering and grouping
exercises and activities in order to meet the needs of everyone. If you don't have access to an
office or classroom or you have a large class, you may want to e-mail the question to your
students, or have short telephone conversations with them. When none of these options are
possible, you can always set aside your first class as an intake day. If possible, stagger the start
times of your students by five minutes so that you can speak to each one individually.
Brainstorming in a group may also work if you have a small enough class. In a circle on the
board place the words, "I need English to/for..." and ask students to volunteer their answers.

Make sure to record the needs and level of each of your students in a simple way. Keep a chart
for yourself, and alter it as your students' needs change. Make a conscious effort to monitor the
needs of your individual students regularly. You may find that some students feel uncomfortable
acting as a peer tutor, while others feel that they are focusing too much on a skill that they will
never use in the real world.

All classes are mixed ability to one extent or another. Extreme cases, when you have near native
level speakers with beginners, can be very challenging for the teacher.
In these cases it’s important to remember that all students will get something out of the class, but
not necessarily the same things, and not necessarily what you aim to teach them! For example,
the beginners may begin to get a grasp of your classroom language whilst the stronger students
may begin to be able to put a new tense into use.

Adapting materials for mixed ability classes can take different forms.

 One way to adapt materials is to rewrite reading texts and grade the language accordingly
for different levels. In an ideal world where a teacher has all the time in the world to
prepare their classes this may be the perfect solution. However, the reality is that this sort
of adaptation is extremely time consuming and not many teachers can actually go to this
length to adapt materials for mixed level groups. Another problem that can arise with this
sort of adaptation is that it can be awkward to give out different texts to different
students. There’s a danger that they will instantly realise that they have been labelled as a
weak or strong student and, in the case of the weaker students, this will no doubt effect
their motivation.

I would like to offer some ideas of how you can support your weaker students and offer
extension activities for your stronger students whilst using the same materials as the starting
point for the class. This way the preparation time involved for the teacher isn’t drastically higher,
and the group can still work together for most of the class.

These ideas are taken from a workshop I attended last year on mixed ability classes. Thanks to
my colleagues at the Young Learners’ Centre in Barcelona and especially to Lucy Mardel who
led the workshop.

Extension activities for stronger students Support for weaker students

 Pre-teach difficult vocabulary and leave
it written on the board for students to
Ask early finishers to write new vocab up on refer to. Use visuals if possible.
the board with definitions.

If there are gaps, give students the

Rewrite a part of the text in a different tense / answers in a jumbled order, with a few
Reading person. extras.

Draw attention to the title, pictures etc

Write their personal opinion / a short and set the scene beforehand so their
summary of the text. Write questions about mind is on track for the topic.
the text.
Break the text into chunks and give the
option of only reading some of the text.

Pre-teach vocabulary, use visual

Give out the tape script and nominate a
prompts when appropriate.
‘vocabulary master’ to look up tricky words
or expressions in a dictionary to then explain
Give students time to discuss answers
to the group.
before feeding back to the class.
Listening
Focus on the accents or intonation of the
Give students the tape script on second
speakers and get students to copy chunks.
listening.
If it’s a true/false activity, follow on by
If it’s a gap fill, supply the words with
asking ‘why/why not?)
a few extras.

Give creative tasks that students can do at

their own level.
Correct the draft together before
Indicate mistakes using correction code to students copy up in neat.
give students a chance to self-correct. (Sp =
Writing spelling, Gr = grammar etc.) Reduce the word limit.

Increase the word limit. Encourage use of dictionaries / vocab

books.
Indicate where they could use more
interesting ways of saying something. Give and example piece of writing as a
 model before they begin writing.

Pair or group weaker students with

stronger students.

Give students time to rehearse and

gather their ideas before a role play or
discussion.

Pair weak and strong together.

Ask students to justify / defend their
opinions. Let students make notes before the
speaking activity begins. Allow for
Ban easy words like ‘nice’ to push their ‘thinking time’.
vocab to a higher level.
Speaking Grade students on the effort they make
Get students to record themselves and self- rather than their ability.
correct.
With a whole class mingle like a class
Pair students of higher level together so they survey or a ‘find somebody who...’
really go for it. practise the questions as a group
beforehand.

Give weaker students more listening

and thinking time before calling on
them to answer questions.

Tips for good classroom management with mixed ability groups

 Grouping
It may seem contradictory to suggest that you group stronger students together and also
suggest that you group weak with strong. However, depending on the task and the class
dynamics I think there are usually opportunities for both types of grouping. It’s a good
idea to experiment with mixing up the strong and weak students whilst also giving time
for stronger students to work together so they work to their full potential.

 Giving Instructions
Giving clear instructions is vital for weaker students to be able to follow the class. Use
hand gestures as well as words to explain the tasks and use stronger students to check
back the instructions and even explain the task in their own language if necessary.
  Error correction
Stronger students can probably stand more correction. Don’t over correct weak students
as it will affect their confidence. Encourage students to correct one another and demand a
higher level of accuracy from the stronger students.

 Setting goals
Setting goals for each class or for the whole term will help to focus the students. The
goals can be different for each student, depending on their level, but realising the goals
will give the same sense of achievement to all.

You may often be teaching a class which has students who are clearly of different levels. They
may have different starting levels of English or they may learn at very different speeds - for any
number of reasons.

These are several strategies that a teacher can use to deal with this situation. This is the first of
two articles on the topic.

The second article covers...

Range of tasks
Extra work / Homework
Student nomination
Supporting the weaker students
Error correction

This first article deals with the following strategies.

 Discussion and needs analysis

 Student self-awareness

 Work groupings

Discussion and needs analysis

It is easy for students to get frustrated in a class of mixed ability. Stronger students may feel held
back, weaker students may feel pressured. The teacher may feel stressed. The best solution to
this is to have an open-class discussion about the classroom situation - to ensure the best for
everyone it is better to acknowledge the situation and for everyone to agree how to deal with it. It
is probably best to stage and structure the discussion.

Needs Analysis
Use a needs analysis to prompt the students to reflect upon their learning style, learning
strategies, language needs, learning enjoyment, motivation, language strengths and weaknesses.
Questions that might be included are...

 What kinds of class activities do you enjoy / benefit from?

 Which language skill 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?

Students compare their answers in pairs or small groups. You should collect the information and
prepare a statistical representation of the key questions and answers. This will help to develop
the sense of shared community in the class.

Explain and discuss

Explain the mixed-level situation to the students and give a list of possible approaches to the
teaching and learning. In pairs, the students rank the approaches/ideas according to their
suitability for the situation.

Following feedback, you should highlight the strategies you plan to use.
A student contract
Developing with the students, or perhaps writing it yourself, a contract of behaviour for activities
is a useful device. 'I will help and support my activity partner.' 'I will participate in group work.'

Tell them what you are going to do

If you think your students are not mature enough to carry out this kind of reflection, explain the
situation to the class and tell them what strategies you will be using. If students know what to
expect, you can hope that they will cooperate.

All of the above work could be done in the mother tongue, although I feel it is best done
primarily in the target language (as it draws attention to the fact that this is a learning language
issue.)

Student self-awareness
Encourage students to develop an awareness of their own language abilities and learning needs.
What are their strengths and weaknesses, and how can they focus on these? How can they
measure their own progress

This may take the form of a learner's diary, regular self-assessment, keeping records of mistakes,
keeping a record of things learnt.

Work groupings
Varying the way students work in the class will help meet the variety of levels in the class.

Pair work
You can pair strong with strong, weak with weak, or strong with weak. Perhaps in a very
controlled activity, the strong with weak will work well. In a freer activity, perhaps strong with
strong will be of benefit. Variety in the pairings is the key here - and you should also be sensitive
to the general relationships between different students, and learn to note who works well with
whom.

Group work
These groups could be of mixed levels or similar ones. The hope is that in a smaller group, the
weaker student will feel more able to contribute. Also, if the group is working with a set of
information, divide the information between the students, forcing them to work together.

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. Discussion of this strategy with the class
should help prevent stigmatisation.

Whole class - mingles

This is a favoured strategy of mine. A mingle activity involves students talking or interacting
with many different members of the class in a short period of time in order to achieve a task.
This means that any one student will work with students at different levels - experiencing
stronger and weaker levels of communication. This supports the weaker students and provides
opportunities for the stronger ones.

A classic activity is a 'Find someone who...'

 In this activity the student has to survey the class to find people who…(for example)
…have got something - Do you have a CD player? Or…
…have done something - Have you eaten fish and chips? Or…
…like something - Do you like tennis?

If a student answers yes to a question, then the other student should ask for more
information. If a student answers no, then the other should find a new person to ask, and
may come back to the first student with another question later on.

The potential for this is endless. It is a great way to provide practice of a particular
language structure/area (10 questions all using the past simple) and provides controlled
practice as well as the opportunity for further freer discussion. It also creates a lively
classroom dynamic.

Mingles can take many forms - students may have to find the person who has a matching
word to theirs, or the second half of a split sentence. The students may all have the same
or different questions, or a mixture. The key is the general principle of an information
gap or communicative need.

Overall, variety in the types of working groups, and an open discussion of the class situation will
help to deal with some of the difficulties that are present in mixed ability classes. The aim of
these strategies is to create a positive working environment, which is all part of ensuring better
learning.

You may often be teaching a class which has students who are clearly of different levels. They
may have different starting levels of English or they may learn at very different speeds - for any
number of reasons.
There are several strategies that a teacher can use to deal with this situation. This is the second of
two articles on the topic.

The first article deals with...

Discussion and needs analysis

Student self awareness
Work groupings

This second article deals with the following strategies.

 Range of tasks

 Extra work / Homework

 Student nomination

 Error correction

 Conclusion

Range of tasks
This involves creating or providing different tasks for different levels.

For example, the number of comprehension questions for a text. You might have two sets of
questions, A and B. Perhaps all students have to complete set A, the stronger ones also have to
complete set B. Or, they even have an extra reading text.
This obviously increases the amount of lesson preparation. However, it is possible to think of
fairly simple extra tasks. For example, during a reading lesson, the stronger students have to do
detailed dictionary work on vocabulary in the text. It takes very little time to select words for the
students to research. With the stronger students spending 10 minutes working with dictionaries,
you have time to monitor and help the weaker ones with the text. Then you can go through the
shared comprehension tasks as a class, and perhaps the stronger students can make a presentation
about the words they have researched.

Extra work / homework

It is straightforward to give different students different homework - unless it is part of a
standardised assessment procedure. Give weaker students homework which really does
consolidate the class work, and give the stronger students work that will widen their knowledge
or put it to the test a little more. When teaching mixed ability classes, the weaker students will be
missing things during the lesson, or failing to understand. Use homework to address this. The
stronger students may feel held back during the class, so homework can now really push them (if
they are so inclined!)

Writing tasks are great for homework, as a productive skill that can be performed individually.
You can expect more from the stronger students, and use it as a way to identify their weaknesses,
which may not be so apparent during the class.

Student nomination
This is a simple classroom management technique that really helps in the mixed ability class.

When asking for answers to questions, ask particular students, rather than asking the class in a
open fashion e.g. 'What's the answer to number 9?' is an open question, whereas 'What's the
answer to number nine, Maria?' is a nominated question. If you ask open questions, the same old
strong students will provide the answers. This creates a poor dynamic to the class, for many
reasons.

When nominating...

 Ask the question before you give the name of the student. That way, everyone has to
listen

 Consider how easy it is for the student to answer. If a weak student will struggle, perhaps
ask a stronger student. If a weak student should be capable, then ask them.

 Avoid making students seem foolish, and yet also avoid patronising them by only asking
super simple questions

 Nominate with variety. Be careful to avoid nominating the same selection of students. In
a large class, I keep a note of the students I have asked over a lesson, just to make sure I
haven't developed a pattern.
Error correction
In a mixed level class you can have different expectations of the language the different students
produce. Sometimes, it can push stronger students if you correct them heavily - although you
should be sensitive about this. And for weaker students, be more selective in your error
correction.

To conclude
The key strategies for teaching mixed level classes are probably developing a positive and
collaborative working atmosphere and providing a variety of work suitable for different levels. It
probably doesn't work to stick your head in the sand and pretend the class is all of one
homogenous level, a situation which doesn't exist anywhere.