TEACHING MIXED ABILITY CLASSES NICOLE DENISSE GARCIA TIXCE

HETEROGENEOUS MIXED ABILITY CLASS

 Ability
 Level of english
 Culture
 Age
 Gender
 Religion
 Ethnicity
 Learning style
 Motivation
 Background
 Purpose
 Expectations
 Word view
 Experience
 Interests
 Social/ personality
SOME PROBLEMS SURGED WITH THE MIXED CLASS

Providing for learning for all

Pace: too fast/ too slow
Materials
Discipline problems
Assessment and test design
Boredom
Preparation time
SOME ADVANTAGES
EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS:
-Tolerance and respect for the “other”
-Cooperation
-Mutual help
-Richer personal resources
-Challenges, teacher development
-DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION:
-A lot of slogans
-Allow for different Reading speeds
-Offer choices
INTERACTIVE FEATURES
1. Teacher – dominated ping- pong only oral
2. Teacher – dominated ping-pong written questions as well as spoken
3. Individual preparation
4. Individual or pair preparation
NON-HETEROGENOUS TEACHING STRATEGIES HETEROGENEOUS TEACHING STRATEGIES

No-pre Reading Posibility of pre-Reading

Questions done in order decided by teacher Questions done in order chosen by students

Questions done at speed dictated by teacher Question done at students’ own place

Individual/ collaborative preparation imposed by Posibility of individual or collaboration

teacher
ACTIVITY DESIGN FOR HETEROGENEOUS CLASSES
SOME THINGS THAT CAN HELP
KEEPING THEM
MOTIVATED

REACHING THE PROVIDING FOR

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING AT
DIFFERENT LEVELS
A. KEEPING THEM MOTIVATED
VARIATION

KEEPING
THEM
MOTIVATED

INTEREST
B. REACHING THE INDIVIDUAL

INDIVIDUALIZATION

PERSONALIZATION COLLABORATION
C. PROVIDING FOR LEARNING AT DIFFERENT
LEVELS
OPEN ENDING

PROVIDING
FOR
LEARNING
AT DIFFERENT
LEVELS

COMPULSORY+
OPTIONAL
CONCLUSION
I Want to talk about of the participation of my parner: Veronica; She comment the points more important about the mixed
class as: the abilities, opportunities, necessities in the class.
The best solution to this is to have an open-class discussion about the classroom situation - to ensure the best for everyone it is
better to acknowledge the situation and for everyone to agree how to deal with it. It is probably best to stage and structure
the discussion.
Needs Analysis
Use a needs analysis to prompt the students to reflect upon their learning style, learning strategies, language needs, learning
enjoyment, motivation, language strengths and weaknesses. Questions that might be included are...
What kinds of class activities do you enjoy / benefit from?
Which language skill do you most wish to develop?
Do you prefer working individually or with a partner?
Would you rather sit and listen to the teacher all lesson or participate in group work?

Students compare their answers in pairs or small groups. You should collect the information and prepare a statistical
representation of the key questions and answers. This will help to develop the sense of shared community in the class.