Teaching a Multilevel Class

Several years ago, I was assigned to a one-room ESL center that catered to new immigrants to Canada. I would have people from all walks of life, from teens to seniors, enter my classroom to join my multilevel class.

The students were assessed prior to attending the class, but they were still together, from zero level (someone who is not even literate in her native language) to advanced level (someone who is reviewing to write a test for a state exam for foreign-trained physicians).  Added to this multilevel and multicultural setting was the dynamic that students came and went as they desired.  As soon as they found jobs, they didn’t show up anymore. As expected, they would be promptly replaced by new immigrants again and again.

It was this experience that honed my skills as a teacher.  I had to be creative in using varied seating arrangements, interactive groups/pairs, mixed levels materials, etc.  But I have to admit, it was 80% classroom management and 20% teaching.  Without careful classroom planning, it would have driven me insane.  

In 2003, I wrote and self-published my book ESL Multilevel Madness (and how I survived it!) borne out of my daily challenges as a teacher. (I just found out my book was listed as resources for multilevel teaching in Saskatchewan, Canada! Yay!) I am planning to write a new, updated version of my book for the online platform.

I promise to write more about multilevel teaching soon. I will also post a pdf of my book (for free!) so you guys will have an idea how I did it. Keep coming back to my blogs! Thanks!

Question: Have you ever taught a multilevel class? Share your thoughts. 🙂

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Correcting adults

It may be a surprise to many, but based on my experience, adult ESL students prefer (even demand!) to be corrected every time they make a mistake.  Not correcting students promptly can even result to low teacher ratings, diminished motivation from students, or a stern reprimand from your boss.

In online teaching, not only do you correct verbally but you also are expected to board it — to type the correct form on the screen or whiteboard.  Some students would even pause from completing a sentence and ask “Teacher, are my words correct? Did I pronounce ______ right? Are you listening?”  

Some tips:

1. Usually, when it’s a roleplay, I remind students that my corrections would be discussed AFTER the roleplay is done. 
2. When a student reads aloud, I would do hot corrections right away, and discuss the same errors before I wrap up for the day.
3. Try not to spoonfeed corrections if you can. When a student makes an error in speaking, you can gently repeat or prompt him to self-correct. For example:

Student: I go to the mall yesterday.

Teacher: I go..?

Student: (Pauses) I goes to the mall yesterday?

Teacher: But you said yesterday. So I…?

Student: Oh, yes! I went to the mall yesterday!

Teacher: Very good.

4. Model using the wrong way. Yup. You read that right. Here’s an example:

Teacher: (Types the sentence “I drink too many milk.”) Can you tell me what’s wrong with this sentence?

Student: (Thinks for a few seconds) It should be milks?

Teacher: Are you sure? What kind of a noun is milk? (Underlines the word milk)

Student: Oh! Uncountable!

Teacher: So, what do you think we should change here?

Student: Too much! It should be too much!

Teacher: Good! But why?

Student: Because milk is uncountable, and you use much for uncountable nouns.

Teacher: Good job!

A student retains corrections much longer if she self-corrects. We teachers should welcome mistakes because they tell us what level the student is, which linguistic errors we should address, and how they come up with such mistakes (first language factor? fossilized errors?).

Hope this helps.

Question: How about you? How do you effectively correct student errors?

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My vocab pet peeve

I am always frustrated with canned lesson materials from online platforms that present new words by defining them, using more difficult words!

For example: 

schedule – a plan of procedure, usually written, for a proposed objective, especially with reference to the sequence of and time allotted for each item or operation necessary to its completion.

Your 8-year-old low level student stares at you incredulously.  You smile nervously. How are you going to explain the word schedule then?

I usually smile and just strike through the long definition.  I tell the student “Don’t worry about it. It’s soooo easy”. I then write:

8:00 – I wake up

9:00 – I eat 

10:00 – I go to school

Then, I circle around these words and I say “schedule”.  Usually, the student nods, smiles and gives you a thumbs up “Okay, teacher.”

So, when you are faced with a slide featuring vocabulary words with an Encyclopedia Brittanica definition, strike through the words, do TPR, or draw, or pull up an image, or just write a few simple words that describe the new vocab.

Hope this helps.

Question: How about you? What’s your pet peeve in ESL teaching?

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How to plan when there’s already a plan

In the last 10 years, the ESL industry has exploded online and has become a huge money-making business for many entrepreneurs.  Most online ESL platforms promote “no lesson planning” or “no preparation needed” slogans when they hire teachers.  And indeed, there is very little or no lesson planning expected from the online teacher today.

The slides are ready.  There is even a script for the teacher to use, prompting the teacher what to say or not say, what to do, what to circle, etc.  In some platforms, a teacher is bombarded with moving reminders like “smile!”, “do TPR!”, “ask the student to repeat” across the screen.  Everything is literally set up for the teacher that sometimes it feels robotic. It’s like you have ceased to be a teacher and instead, morphed into an actor, or worse, a clown.

So, if that’s the case, What else is there to plan? you might ask.  Here are my suggestions:

1. Plan for contingencies.  From my experience, especially if the student’s level is higher than what the material is presenting, you need to have additional activities to pull up on the screen just in case you finish the whole supposedly 45-minute lesson in five minutes.  I usually prepare pictures, games, conversation questions, etc ideally related to the official material.  I am currently creating “back-up stuff” for situations like that, so stay tuned!

2. Use what you have. As you teach, mentally take note of the portions your student had a struggle with.  Plan to go back to those slides and have a quick review, or open a whiteboard screen to teach more about it.

3. Have Plan B generic lesson plans and slides.  Not all official lesson materials work.  Your student might just stare at you blankly or throw a tantrum or simple tell you “I don’t understand”.  Smile and retrieve a generic teaching material which you have created (or taken from the Internet), and go from there.

Hope this helps!

Question: Any additional thoughts? Which company are you teaching for right now? How much planning do you actually do?

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Is grammar really important?

I used to treat grammar like math.  Avoiding it like a plague.  🙂

But through the years of teaching ESL in different countries and in multilevel settings, I realized how truly important grammar is.  This is especially true when it comes to teaching adults.  Most of my adult students would ask me “why” and “how” questions when we learn about sentence construction.  This is even more challenging with students whose first language does not have the same tense structures as English.  Based on my experience, the most difficult to explain are reported speech and the conditionals.  

In addition, I also had to polish my grammar knowledge when I signed up to teach test review classes like TOEFL, IELTS, etc.  The old TOEFL test was brutal.  Thank God it has switched to more speaking test questions in the recent years.  

Finally, we teachers need to have a good grasp of grammar if we wish to teach writing.  Paragraph writing, expository writing, essays,. short stories, etc — we need to be able to explain why this word is not appropriate or why this phrase needs to be there.  

As I continue to build this website, I will share lesson plans, worksheets, videos and more tools to help students, parents and teachers learn/teach grammar.

OK, if you find a grammatical error here, let  me know.  LOL

Question: Which grammar topic is the most difficult for you to teach? Why?

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