Kids with very different levels

[bibunxx]

Hello!

I recently just started to work for an English academy. Most of my groups are mixed, like, a LOT. For example, one of my groups has a 4-year-old and a 12-year-old, the rest is in between. Their levels are not balanced AT ALL.
This is my first time teaching kids for a whole school year, and I'm having trouble managing this level imbalance. Not only that, but some kids are really smart compared to the rest and I don't really know what to do. I'm totally lost. All the kids in my groups are different except for two, whom I see twice in two different groups. I have 1 hour for each group every week.

I'm a Spanish college student with a C1, I'm just 19, so I don't have further education. I'm studying Translation and Language Learning, but none of my subjects cover Language Learning yet.

If anyone could help me I would really appreciate it because I'm feeling very anxious about these classes.

 

[Tarheel]

Wow! Four to twelve? That's wild..At the least you should have an assistant. Or since you are just starting out you should probably BE the assistant.

There are some on this forum who have taught ESL. (I am not one of them.) Hopefully, they can give you some helpful advice.

 

[jutfrank]

I don't want to be discouraging but that sounds awful, and it's not right you've been put in that position.

What's your job exactly? Are you acting as a teacher or in another role? Do you have any training at all? If you do, tell us what you've got. If you don't, I can only guess why an English academy would a) employ someone with no experience or qualifications in teaching, b) give that person mixed-level and mixed-age classes, and then c) provide no professional support to that person.

 

[Skrej]

Wow, that's a very difficult and frustrating situation. That age gap is wild. Even in their native language, a four-year old doesn't have the control of grammar that a twelve-year old does.

I've never faced a situation like this, but what I'd do is try to pick out the more advanced students, and make them 'mentors' for some of the younger or less advanced students.

I'd approach it by complimenting them on their advanced skill, and ask them if they'd be willing to lead some of the others. Point out a great way to improve or understand it is by teaching others.

Maybe even make it fun and give them some sort of title ' Group leader', 'Team Mentor', etc. Make it clear there's the possibility of becoming one of these mentors/leaders with improved skills. This gives the lower level students a goal.

Possibly consider setting up teams or groups that compete in friendly competency-based competitions based on assignments or lesson goals. (Let the teams choose (appropriate) names, or even a mascot (after covering some animal vocabulary). Color and shape vocabulary to design a team flag. Have them give an oral presentation describing their name, mascot, flag, etc. Depending on language ability, they could do the entire thing in English or just parts in English.

Distribute the teams as evenly as possible based on ability and age so that the groups have roughly equal ability and challenges.

As an example of a team challenge - maybe a spelling contest based on weekly vocabulary, or quiz-show format where they give the past tenses of irregular verbs - whatever content you're striving for.

Team members could also earn individual points for the group's overall tally by successfully completing homework assignments, etc. (something like the 'house points' concept in the Harry Potter books).

Another approach is to divide by age groups, but competitions are only within age groups.

Just a few ideas. I haven't taught children, but I have used the divide into groups strategy with multi-level adult classes. I think it'd work well with young kids, as long as you adjust the content to age-appropriate content.

 

[Alex Case]

I have a lot of experience teaching kids, but I could not find any good way to teach a 4 year old and 12 year old in the same class, let alone with differences in level as well. The only solution is to quit that job, both because of this situation and because an employer who would cause such a situation is bound to cause lots of other problems as well.

 

[GJNavigator]

I totally get why you’re feeling overwhelmed — having a four-year-old and a twelve-year-old in the same group with very different English levels sounds extremely tough, especially with only an hour a week and little training behind you. When I’ve been in mixed-level classes before, what helped a bit was trying to pair or group students so that the stronger ones could help the others with simple tasks, while I focused on mini-goals for each subgroup. It’s not perfect, but it gives everyone something achievable to work on in the same session. Also, sometimes giving the older kids slightly more challenging, purposeful activities (like small leadership roles or helping explain vocab) made them feel involved without leaving the younger ones behind. You’re right to ask for advice — real progress in these situations is slow and messy, and it’s okay to feel lost at first.