ESL Teaching and Learning Tips
I probably make it sound like it's a 'hell on earth' at my school. It's not all bad, understand. Many of my students participate in the learning process, which means they are listening, writing, speaking, and reading.
The kids who are acting up the most are, believe it or not, those with the most potential and 'know' the most. You see, here in Thailand students are segrated by age, as I said in a previous post.This puts me at an extreme disadvantage.In my M4 class (equivalent to 10th graders in the US), proficiency is all over the place. This means I have to perform a 'balancing act' if I'm going to actually teach the proficient, the not-so-proficient, and the plain 'unlearned'. This means most of the time there are at some students in this class who are bored. At any moment, I'm either covering material most already know (to catch up the slackers/cheaters), or I'm teaching over most of the students' heads (trying to move the proficient ones forward).
When I focus attention on my slackers/cheaters, I have the behavior problems. It's interesting, as when I'm trying to move the proficient ones ahead, I don't have trouble at all....probably because the slack students feel like they're moving ahead as well.
Anyway, I'm finding this isn't the way to divide up students at a high school. It'd be much better for me if my students were segregated according to ability. If they WERE segregated according to ability, my 'non-learned' students would be placed with students several years younger than themselves. Sure, they wouldn't like it at first. But I think when they realized that the only way to rejoin their friends at the original level was through their own hard work, they would motivate themselves and do it.
Thanks for your support. I like reading your posts.
E
Messages In This Thread
- DISCIPLINE -- Rosalind
- It's a sign of variable ability....probably caused by cheating in the past -- Elephant
- It's a sign of variable ability....probably caused by cheating in the past -- Rosalind
- Some other problems at my Thai school -- Elephant
- Some other problems at my Thai School -- Rosalind
- RE; Some other Problems at my Thai School -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies
- Some students HAVE responded -- Elephant
- It's a Plan -- Rosalind
- I tried that in one class...with mixed results -- Elephant
- Wait ... Wait ... -- Rosalind
- RLL -- Elephant
- Language Lab -- Rosalind
- Lack of Money--The Language Lab Torpedo -- RhenoThai
- Money, Money, Money -- Rosalind
- Lack of Money--The Language Lab Torpedo -- RhenoThai
- Language Lab -- Rosalind
- RLL -- Elephant
- Wait ... Wait ... -- Rosalind
- I tried that in one class...with mixed results -- Elephant
- It's a Plan -- Rosalind
- Some students HAVE responded -- Elephant
- RE; Some other Problems at my Thai School -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies
- Some other problems at my Thai School -- Rosalind
- Some other problems at my Thai school -- Elephant
- It's a sign of variable ability....probably caused by cheating in the past -- Rosalind
- It's a sign of variable ability....probably caused by cheating in the past -- Elephant