12.08.2010 08:51

Teaching tip: Coping with mixed abilities

In this month’s teaching tip we are giving you some techniques for dealing with differences in level for both whole classes (i.e. especially for dealing with weaker classes) and for individuals/groups within a class. We’ve illustrated these techniques with specific exercises from Network Starter and Network 1, but you can easily adapt them to other similar exercises. The techniques are easy to include in your lesson and usually don’t need any extra planning.

If you are thinking about how to cope with mixed abilities, you should always remember that students who feel comfortable will be more confident. It’s up to us, the teachers, to provide a supportive, learner-friendly environment in the classroom, where every learner feels that he/she can ask for explanations any time and is allowed to make mistakes.

We hope that this month’s teaching tip will help you to put this central idea into action and to bring every learner of your class on board.

Try out our techniques by clicking on: