Mixed classes

At my buxiban I often have a wide gap between the English-speaking abilities of students in a single class. (Students with speaking confidence and a large vocabulary next to those who have a small vocabulary and are tentative about using that.) I think this school throws a group of kids together based on a first impression of their English levels, and then never moves them up or down.

I’m going to propose to my boss that we shuffle the kids around every now and then to get groups of students who are closer to the same level. I thought it wouldn’t hurt if I could tell her I heard other schools do it. Do they? Does yours? How does it work?

At the place I taught at we were always shuffling the students back and forth depending on their ability. I think a class goes better when students are all around the same level…it helps the slower ones feel less intimated and you usually don’t have one single student answering all the questions…