One of the hardest classes I’ve ever had to teach was a community ESL class. Not only did I have students who hardly knew how to say “hello,” but I also had students who spoke nearly perfect English–and they were all there to learn. In order to make these 90 minute classes effective, I had to figure out how to structure the mixed-level class so they could all grow–not just the newcomers, but the advanced ELLs as well. Years later, I also taught mixed-level classes in K-12. Here are some of my favorite strategies for teaching English to a class with a range of proficiency levels:
- Have a warm-up routine. Regardless of proficiency level, students can all start class out in the same way. I suggest a regular warm-up activity or language learning activity. You could consider something like having all students answer the same “icebreaker” question or having students list as many words in English that start with a certain letter. What’s important here is that your warm-up includes all students and that it’s predictable. This predictability allows your more novice students to more easily mentally prepare for the start of class each day. (For secondary ESOL classes, here’s a video about one of my favorite daily warm-up activities!)
- Teach thematically. When you have mixed-level classes, teaching thematically can be a really easy way for you to stay sane. Instead of teaching each proficiency level a different topic, opt for teaching them the same topic, but at different levels. Think about if you’re teaching students about vacations. You could teach all students vacation vocabulary (which may only be a review for more advanced students, but that’s okay!), and then differentiate some of the activities based on proficiency. Think of ways that students can still work together across proficiency levels. While they may read different level passages independently, maybe they can work together in small groups to design a dream vacation. Save yourself time by teaching all students about the same topic/theme! (If you want a fun lesson plan that’s already differentiated for you for novice and intermediate ELLs, check this one out!)
- Scaffold, scaffold, scaffold. Speaking of differentiation, it’s important that what you’re teaching students is accessible. What may be possible for intermediate and advanced students, may not be possible for more novice students. Be sure your activities are scaffolded based on proficiency level and ability. This may mean that you have two or three versions of the same activity. The instructions for more novice learners may include pictures and bolded words while instructions for more proficient students may be in typical word form. Think about the supports each proficiency level will need, and then provide that! This may take some prep work up front, but it will pay off during class.
- Use sentence stems. My last tip for mixed-level classes is to use sentence stems. This is an easy way to make sure all students can participate. If you’re warming up with an icebreaker question, have the sentence stem on the board so students can fully answer the question! If students are doing speaking pair work, offer sentence stems so less proficient students can still be successful. If a student doesn’t need a sentence stem, they won’t use it, but even advanced students may have something to learn about grammar structures in sentence stems they see!
Teaching mixed-level proficiency classes is no cake walk, but hopefully these tips help you feel more confident in your classroom!