No two teenagers are the same. Within all of our classes there tends to be not only a range of English proficiency levels, but also general learning styles, maturity, motivation, and personalities. This diversity can bring some challenges, but also opportunities to vary your classroom activities and teaching methodology.
Here are some ways to help deal with mixed-ability classes and ensure all your students experience success in their language learning journeys.
The first class with your secondary students is an excellent opportunity to get to know them personally. The quicker you build rapport, the easier your job will be. Take the time to ask questions about their strengths, weaknesses, interests and objectives.
A simple questionnaire can provide all the information you need to understand their needs and serve as a fun pair work activity or icebreaker after the holiday break.
Here are some example questions to get you started:
Teenagers are social and curious creatures - make your needs analysis more interactive by having them interview each other and then write a short report outlining what they discovered about their new classmate. Not only will you find out their interests and they’ll get to know each other, but you’ll also get a writing sample.
By allowing the students to voice their ideas, you demonstrate that you are inclusive of different personalities and receptive to new teaching ideas. You’ll also know exactly what activities and themes your students will respond well to and keep them motivated and focused on personal development.
Note that if your student’s English level is low, this kind of questionnaire will be more effective in their native language.
Now you have more of an idea about your learners' strengths and weaknesses - vary your aims in each class to suit the needs of each individual. Start your lesson by explaining your main objective - for example, "learning holiday vocabulary”. Then ask your students to set their own objectives - for example: “How many new words do you want to learn today? Their answers will act as their personal language aims.
As a English teacher and a person who understands their students well, you can also act as a motivator. If you think they are aiming too low, you can give them a much-needed push; if they aim high, you can praise their enthusiasm. But don’t forget to reassure them that it’s OK to have different aims and objectives, as everyone is different.
At the end of the class, have a quiz or game to assess their progress. If they exceed their own objectives, praise them. If they fail, acknowledge their efforts and show them how to succeed next time.
Reducing the pressure imposed on them in this way should keep them motivated and enjoying learning the language.
Occasionally allowing L1 in monolingual classes are becoming more accepted in ELT nowadays, and this can be a great way to help mixed-ability students in the classroom.
Slower students in your class may benefit from access to dictionaries or online translators. This will help them complete certain activities and allow them to keep up with their faster classmates.
L1 also can be used to give weaker students the confidence to express any doubts they may have accurately, and can motivate the stronger ones to consolidate their understanding too.
Moreover, L1 can also be used more actively in class, in translation activities. For example:
Students can work together to write a tourist phrasebook for visitors to their town or city. In this activity, students must brainstorm around 15 phrases in their L1 that would be helpful for visitors and then translate them into English.
Bringing the L1 into activities can be fun and motivating, and will help save a lot of time in the planning and research stages. However, remember for many students you are their only source of English and the L1 should not be overused.
Every classroom will have a range of personalities and this is especially true when it comes to teenagers. Some students will be more confident, while others will be shyer. Unfortunately, quieter students are often labeled as being less able - which is often not the case.
Allowing your students to do frequent pair or group work can help them feel less nervous as they won’t be speaking in front of an entire class. It also allows learners to use more conversational English and be freer when speaking it, which is key to developing confidence in any new language.
Moreover, pair and group work allows students to take on roles and responsibilities, be more accountable for their actions, and experience success as a team. Teamwork can also help students develop different 21st-century skills - such as collaboration, negotiation and creativity.
Depending on the task, learners can be paired with others at a similar level to allow for fluent and comfortable exchanges, or in mixed-ability groups to encourage peer teaching.
Having some extra activities lined up for those who finish quickly is always a good idea. It will help keep them focused and allow the rest of the class time to finish the task.
Having engaging extension activities prepared which the students want to be able to move onto is important, so they don’t feel like they’re being punished with mundane exercises for finishing first. If the activities are really fun, it might even motivate those slower students to work a little faster.
Try things like:
It's incredible to know that there are thousands of languages spoken across the world, each with its unique set of challenges for learners. A question that often pops up is: "Which language is the hardest to learn?". Today we take a closer look at this question and consider different factors that make learning a language challenging.
Preparing students for the modern world of work can be challenging; it's constantly adapting and changing which can be hard to keep track of. Today's post is a Q&A on the teaching of employability skills and the essential skills and qualities students need to thrive in the 21st century. offers insights to answer common questions and help you improve your language teaching skills.
My advice is to push the issue back to the students by putting them in groups and asking each group to identify a different job/career that involves people working with others. Then ask "What would happen if this job was competitiveinstead of collaborative?" You may have to re-explain the concepts, but let students write a little story about a situation in which the workers suddenly all turn competitive.
For example, It was chaos in the women's soccer/football game. All the members of the blue team suddenly became competitive. Each one still wanted to win, but each decided that she would shoot a ball into the other team's net. This included the goalie, who ran up to the front of the field and purposely shoved and tripped members of her team ….
Or for more traditional jobs, In the middle of the operation the nurse pushed the doctor out of the way and picked up the instrument. The patient also wasn’t completely asleep, and he tried to do the operation himself, then …
It's all absurd, of course, but it can lead into other tasks asking students why collaboration is so important in each job. Then, turning it back to language, what kinds of language does each profession require to collaborate? For soccer/football players, this includes shouted requests and commands:Pass the ball to me! Shoot!as well as hand and body gestures. Similarly, doctors require professional jargon:Pass me the scalpel, please.Rather thanGive me the pointy knife thing!
One hundred years ago, in 1923, Thomas Edison predicted that motion pictures would replace teachers and books. Since then, similar predictions have been made for radio, TV and computers. It hasn't happened, and one of the reasons is that we crave the human touch in our teaching and learning. I recently read. "When it comes to getting knowledge to stick, there may be no substitute for human relationships. … I've been to former students' weddings and baby showers and funerals of their parents," says Millard, the high school English teacher in Michigan. "I've hugged my students. I've high-fived my students. I've cried with my students. A computer will never do that. Ever, ever.”(Waxman, 2023, para. 21-22)
But, that doesn’t mean teachers should stop learning about new technologies. We need to keep finding ways for them to help us and our language learners in the classroom. It can seem overwhelming, though, which is why I recommend shifting responsibility to students: “Do any of you know about ChatGPT? Yes? How do you think you could use it to help you learn?”
Although the world is in many ways competitive, there are countless examples of how students will do better by collaborating. Most of our students today won't be working in environments where they are competing against their co-workers. Instead, they'll be in teams and need critical thinking and negotiation skills to help them do so.
One way forward is to ensure that your classroom features more collaborative activities. Get students working in pairs and groups on all their assignments, but also create a buddy system so students always have someone else to ask for help. For example, if they're having to read a text and come across difficulties, it's often easier for them to text or call a friend than to wait until the next class. After a few collaborative activities, discuss collaboration versus competition with students and ask them which they prefer. Also, ask them for examples of what their friends and family members do regarding collaborating and competing.
As always, it's better to lead students to understand a new idea than to tell them.
If you want to learn more, make sure to check out Ken's webinar here. If you'd like to learn more about teaching future skills to students check out21st-century skills and the English language classroom.
Ehsan Gorji is an Iranian teacher, teacher trainer and teacher educator. He also designs strategic plans, devises study syllabuses, runs quality-check observations, and develops materials and tests for different language institutes and schools in the country. Ehsan has been a GSE Thought Leader and Expert Rater since 2016.
Reflective teaching, despite it sounding modern and sophisticated, has not yet become a common practice among English language teachers. However, the experientialproposed byoffers a practical approach for teachers. The cycle involves teaching a lesson, reflecting on "what we did" and "how we did them," and then using that reflection to improve future English classes. By using this approach, teachers can prepare for better teaching in the long term.
