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A class of mixed ability can have differentiated results in a classroom, particularly as it pertains to the teaching scope of the classroom and individual student needs. Students hail from different backgrounds and possess a different amount of English skills than their peers, and this may cause unbalanced language instruction within the classroom if not managed properly. Students coming from different backgrounds may also arrive from different language levels. This usually occurs due to the particular program, which is limited in space, or the intent of the administration, such as a business class which places all employees into a single program. In the case of children, some may have received private English instruction at home, or may have experience conversing with a family member in English, or has interacted with English pop culture. When they first enter the class they are possibly already at a different level than their peers. Therefore, it is necessary to take the proper precautions to ascertain the different levels and formulate a plan of instruction that can accommodate the differentiation of levels. The most common ways of identifying levels is by administering a skills test to help to teacher assess the current levels of the students and prepare future lessons to manage them. The most common is the diagnostic test and is given at the start of the course. If the class is relatively long (15+ hours), a portion of the first class may be devoted to this assessment. Alternatively, it may be up to the teacher to familiarize themselves with the students and build rapport, and by doing so, will enable the teacher to gauge the levels of the students and plan group activities without issuing a diagnostics test. Teaching students of mixed levels may be challenging. However, with a plan in place, it may be manageable. Pairing lower skill level students with higher levels often encourages peer-review, as the higher level peers instruct and encourage the lower ones. This allows the teacher to focus on the group rather than the individual and can rely on them to correct each other. It is to note that there is a chance that the higher level students may also offer all the answers, leaving the lower level students with no necessity to think about the answers. Therefore, it is best to change groups often. Teaching materials may also be differentiated to reflect the levels present in the class. Different handouts on a topic, graded for level, may be issued to different students so that they will address their language gaps. When working with children, it is often that their high energy levels also contribute to an interesting dynamic in class. This may be detrimental to the instruction time of the teacher. However, this may also be used to address level differences in the class. When identifying a student’s (through familiarizing yourself with the students) language level, the teacher can assign roles to students in order to make them feel important, and thereby teaches other students as well, such as assigning the spelling or grammar correction role in a group. Whatever method the teacher uses, it is always important to identify and account for the different levels in a classroom with the proper procedures.
