Teachers Ask: AI, Mixed-Ability Classes & Multilingual Learners | Grow: A podcast from Cambridge - Episode 33

Let's hear first from Rebecca in Brazil.

It is a challenge.

I think we have to acknowledge that the pandemic left our classes uneven and students with different levels.

So I think the first

tip is for you to diagnose your students.

You need to know which level are they in? What abilities do they have and what stage they are in that ability? So you can do a diagnostic test.

You can have activities where you observe the students and see where they are.

and then have that record of what is their starting point.

Another tip is you can group these students by the level that they're in.

So you're giving an activity and maybe you have some stations and you put the students who are a bit more advanced and a certain ability to do one activity and students that are a bit behind doing another activity.

So that's one way you can deal with mixed ability classes.

Another way is for you to put students together, to work together.

So you can mix these mixed ability students.

You can put them together.

So a student that's already in a more advanced level with a student that may have more difficulty or may be struggling, and this student can help this one.

Why is this important? The student that is more advanced can help.

They can feel useful and they can participate in the learning process of their peers.

This is very meaningful to them.

And the other student, sometimes they have difficulties understanding the way the teacher explains, but then when their peer helps them, they understand it better.

So those are some tips for you to work with students in mixed ability classes.

What are your thoughts, Cecilia? I think when we talk about large classes and mixed ability, one thing that I always like to reflect on is that classes have always been mixed ability because students have mixed abilities.

And teaching and learning shouldn't be about trying to get everyone to the same point at the same time.

People learn at different speeds and it depends on the topic sometimes or it depends on the time.

But people will have different speeds of learning.

And it's not about getting all of them to the same point at the same time, but rather making sure that everybody is moving away from the point they started at a constant pace.