EnglishGateway :: ESL Teacher Blog :: ESL Teacher Blog: In the Middle

Teaching classes with mixed levels is very challenging.

In an ideal world mixed classes wouldn’t exist. But in reality, schools and other organizations offering ESL classes will sometimes have mixed classes because of budget constraints, time or day restrictions, or for other reasons that are never revealed to the teacher. Whatever the reason mixed classes do occur.

The time-honoured advice of teaching to the middle is useful when faced with a group of students of various levels. The logic behind teaching to the middle states that lower level students will feel challenged, intermediate level students will be satisfied, and higher level students will feel confident as they review and reinforce the material.

It’s easier said than done. It’s quite easy to lose control of the classroom in this situation. The higher-level students sometimes ask questions about grammar, pronunciation or vocabulary. In most situations teachers welcome questions, but in a mixed level class spending time explaining points to higher level students may mean losing the attention of the students who are in lower levels. Those students won’t understand the questions or the answers. They will feel neglected and lose motivation. The reverse situation is also true. Spending too much time explaining points to lower level students will cause higher level students to lose interest.

One technique I’ve used in the past to keep everyone interested in the class is by assigning higher level students to work with lower level students in pair work activities. The students work well together. The higher level students benefit from having to explain points, give instructions, and guide the lower level students. The lower level students benefit from having a mentor or leader to work with as their partner.