Dave, excellent post. I appreciate it. You teach middle school in China, and I used to teach at a high school in Thailand. What I encountered there was exactly what you are encountering now. In my classes back then, I saw students who could 'do it' as far as English LSRW goes, and I saw students who couldn't string two words together in speech or writing. And these students were in the same class. That's how it is at the government schools here. I teach at a college now, and most of the students seem to be on same level ability-wise. Most 'can do it', albeit a few need translations from their classmates (farang teachers here in the past have passed funtional illiterates so now they're my problem), especially with speech.

However, being as I teach HERE and not at the high school where the students' abilities were wildly variable, I'm finding that labeling my students gets me in trouble with both the slow learners and the 'stars'. I've also found that giving lots of homework will give me results if the homework is doable by the far majority of the class. I also make sure anyone who DOES the homework gets at least a 90% and feels successful. This is slowly building my students confidence, so much so I think I can now start springing more challenging material on them.

Our situations are totally different now, but I remember the days at the high school here. That experience and this new college experience has taught me that treating everyone as equals in a high school setting will go over like a lead balloon. Treating everyone as equals in a college will get you off the ground and flying. Check back later to find out how far you will fly, as I'm new at this.