Supporting mixed ability learners at Cambridge English...

Supporting mixed ability learners at

Cambridge English: Key for Schools (A2)

and Preliminary for Schools (B1) –

speaking/listening skills

Outline of the webinar

• To look at A2 and B1 descriptors and identify learners

with different levels in the same class

• To look at the challenges of teaching mixed ability

classes

• To offer guidance on managing mixed ability classes

• To provide teachers with practical speaking and listening

ideas for teaching mixed ability classes

• To help teachers to prepare learners for exams

What abilities do students have?

CEFR Can Dos: speaking

A2 or B1?

• I can give a prepared presentation and answer clear

questions.

• I can give or seek personal opinions in an informal

discussion with friends, agreeing and disagreeing

politely.

• I can talk in detail about my experiences, feelings and

reactions.

CEFR Can Dos: speaking

A2

• With time to prepare, I can give basic information about

something I know well, for example: my country or a

sports team.

• I can ask and answer simple questions about home and

country, work and free time, likes and dislikes.

• I can describe what I did at the weekend or on my last

holiday.

What abilities do students have?

CEFR Can Dos

Speaking

1. With time to prepare, I can give basic information about something I

know well, for example: my country or a sports team. A2

2. I can give a prepared presentation and answer clear questions. B1

3. I can give or seek personal opinions in an informal discussion with

friends, agreeing and disagreeing politely. B1

4. I can ask and answer simple questions about home and country,

work and free time, likes and dislikes. A2

5. I can describe what I did at the weekend or on my last holiday. A2

6. I can talk in detail about my experiences, feelings and reactions. B1

What abilities do students have?

CEFR Can Dos

Listening

A2 I can understand simple questions and instructions.

B1 I can understand straightforward instructions or public

announcements.

Interactive listening

A2 I can understand what people say to me in simple, everyday

conversation, if they speak clearly and slowly and give me help.

B1 I can understand what is said to me in everyday conversations, but

I sometimes need help in clarifying particular details.

What abilities do students have?

CEFR Can Dos

Listening

A2 I can understand simple questions and instructions.

B1 I can understand straightforward instructions or public

announcements.

Interactive listening

A2 I can understand what people say to me in simple, everyday

conversation, if they speak clearly and slowly and give me help.

B1 I can understand what is said to me in everyday conversations, but

I sometimes need help in clarifying particular details.

Working with different levels

Working with different levels

Mo

re s

up

po

rt n

ee

de

d

Less support needed

. .

Too hard for this learner

Easy for this learner

. .

. .

Participant task 1 (handout)

Which group does each learner belong to?

Group 1 = weaker learners who need easier tasks

Group 2 = stronger learners who need more

difficult tasks

Group 3 = learners who can do unchanged tasks

Identifying different levels

Identifying different levels

Mo

re s

up

po

rt n

ee

de

d

Less support needed

Which group does

each learner

belong to?

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 1: weaker

Jan and Ana

Group 2: stronger

Identifying different levels

Mo

re s

up

po

rt n

ee

de

d

Less support needed

Which group does

each learner

belong to?

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 1: weaker

Jan and Ana

Group 2: stronger

Lara and Peter

Identifying different levels

Mo

re s

up

po

rt n

ee

de

d

Less support needed

Which group does

each learner

belong to?

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 1: weaker

Jan and Ana

Group 2: stronger

Lara and Peter

Challenges

Which of these challenges do you face?

1. Some students don’t like to participate.

2. Some students do all the work or dominate group work.

3. Stronger students finish early and get bored or

disruptive.

4. Students get frustrated and give up and become

disruptive.

5. Materials are not flexible enough for different learning

styles and abilities.

6. All of the above

Differentiated instruction

Address different needs by:

• adapting the learning content or task

• setting different goals

• adapting classroom management

strategies

Grouping learners

1. Group work

2. Pair work

3. Individual work

Group work – participation

• Small groups mean that each student has to

contribute

• Accessible topics give each student the

opportunity to participate

Classroom activity 1 (handout)

Group work – participation

• Small groups mean that each student has to

contribute

• Accessible topics give each student the

opportunity to participate

Classroom activity 1 (handout)

• Example phrases can support weaker learners

and extend language of stronger ones

Group work – monitoring

When the teacher cannot reach every single

individual, he or she can have the learners

teach one another, taking advantage of the

diversity in the group.

(Penny Ur – Teaching mixed level classes)

Group work – encouraging use of L2

Use activities with a game element so that

students are rewarded for using English.

The students themselves will monitor that

their classmates are speaking in English.

Group quiz activity

1. Students create a quiz in groups and

write the questions together.

2. Students then pass their questions to

another group for them to answer as a

team.

Pair work

Change pairings regularly to give everyone

opportunities to work with students of

different abilities

Do this by, for example, finding a partner

using questions and answers or another

matching activity

Pair work

1. Pair work – pairing students with a similar

level.

2. Pair work – pairing a stronger student

with a weaker student.

Pair work

Pair a weaker student with a stronger

student for more controlled/structured

activities.

Classroom activity 2 (handout)

Pair work

Pair similar level students together for less

controlled activities.

1. Dialogue building

2. Role-play

3. Discussion on a general topic

4. All of the above

Pair work

Discussion of likes and dislikes

Talk to your partner about the activities below. Which do you like

doing? Which do you dislike doing?

• watching romantic films

• reading books

• dancing

• shopping

• playing computer games

• doing sport

Setting different goals

• Writing a different number of paragraphs

for a writing activity

• Memorising a different number of new

words

• Setting different targets e.g. achieving

different scores in end of unit quizzes

• Allowing the students to choose whether

they write or speak about a topic

Differentiation: adapting tasks

Give students a goal that is feasible for all,

but with options to stretch stronger students.

Adapting tasks

Creating a questionnaire on sport

Learners could create questions the following ways:

Adapting tasks

Creating a questionnaire on sport

Learners could create questions the following ways:

1. Create the questions by ordering the words given:

you/tennis/often/play/how/do

Adapting tasks

Creating a questionnaire on sport

Learners could create questions the following ways:

1. Create the questions by ordering the words given:

you/tennis/often/play/how/do

2. Choose correct forms:

How often do you (play/playing) tennis?

Adapting tasks

Creating a questionnaire on sport

Learners could create questions the following ways:

1. Create the questions by ordering the words given:

you/tennis/often/play/how/do

2. Choose correct forms:

How often do you (play/playing) tennis?

3. Complete the gaps:

How often … you play tennis?

Adapting tasks

Creating a questionnaire on sport

Learners could create questions the following ways:

1. Create the questions by ordering the words given:

you/tennis/often/play/how/do

2. Choose correct forms:

How often do you (play/playing) tennis?

3. Complete the gaps:

How often … you play tennis?

4. Create questions from prompts:

How often/tennis

Adapting tasks

Creating a questionnaire on sport

Learners could create questions the following ways:

1. Create the questions by ordering the words given:

you/tennis/often/play/how/do

2. Choose correct forms:

How often do you (play/playing) tennis?

3. Complete the gaps:

How often … you play tennis?

4. Create questions from prompts:

How often/tennis

5. Create questions with no help at all

Presentations

Guess the picture

• What can you see?

• Where do you think it is?

• Describe the people and what they are doing.

Extension question:

How do you think the people are feeling? Why?

Parallel activities

Practise recommendations: You should (read/see/try/go to/etc.)

Write one thing you would recommend in each of these categories:

All students complete the table. Pair strong students together. Each

student should choose two things to recommend to their partner. Early

finishers can talk about more.

Book

Film

City to visit

Hobby

Pop group

Restaurant

Waiter: tries to be polite and to do a good job. Child: very difficult and keeps changing his/her order. Mother: doesn’t like anything on the menu and asks for other things. Father: an easy customer, likes the food on the menu.

Today’s Menu

Soups

Vegetable Noodle Soup …………………………………………………………………….

£3.00

Chicken Soup ………………………………………………………………………………………..

£3.00

Mains

Fried fish + chips …………………………….................................................. £5.50

Spicy chicken + rice ……………………………............................................ £5.50

Vegetable fried rice ………………………………….…………………................. £4.50

Garlic prawns + chips or rice ……………………………….…………………... £5.50

Sides

Extra chips ……………………………............................................................. £2.00

Mixed salad ………………………………………………….……............................. £2.00

Green salad ……………………………………………….………............................. £1.50

Roll and butter ……………………………....................................................... £1.00

Desserts

Ice cream …………………………….................................................................. £2.00

Fruit salad + ice cream ………………………………………..……………........... £3.00

Chocolate mousse ………………………………………………..…….................. £3.00

Listening

Integrated practice

Listening

Integrated practice

Give students a reason to listen to each other:

• prepare a question to ask after a student

presentation

• provide a list of words and/or expressions

students listen for when listening to a role-play

Parallel activities – listening

Film-making competition

Maximum length of film: (14) ........................

Type of film: (15) ........................

Subject this year: The (16) .........................

Parallel activities – listening

Film-making competition

Maximum length of film: (14) 18 minutes/12

minutes

Type of film: (15) comedy/drama

Subject this year: The (16) weather/family

Participant task 2

Parallel activities – listening

Film-making competition

Prizes:

First prize: visit to a film school

Other prizes: books and modern (18)

........................

Where the best films will be shown (19)

........................

Parallel activities – listening

Film-making competition

Prizes:

• First prize: visit to a film school

• Other prizes: books and modern (18)

cameras/films

• Where the best films will be shown (19)

The cinema/The Market Square

Parallel activities – listening

How could you adapt this type of listening

question for lower level learners?

Why did Sally decide to write her first book?

A People said her stories were good

B Her family bought her a diary

C Her penfriend suggested it

Listening activities

Extending activities

Listening – classroom activity 3

Strategies for differentiation Stronger learners – List 1 Weaker learners – List 2

Add more questions/activities. Reduce the number of

questions/activities.

Replace the task with a different, more

difficult task on the same topic.

Replace the task with a different,

easier task on the same topic.

Give these learners less time to

complete the task.

Give these learners more time to

complete the task.

Encourage these learners to help

others in the class.

Pair them with a student who can help

them.

Give these learners a choice of self-

study activities to do when they have

completed the task.

Allow them different ways of showing

what they learned, using visuals,

graphic organisers, posters, etc.

Classroom management

Group work Same level

Pair work Mixed level

Classroom management

Group work Same level

Pair work Mixed level

Outline of the webinar

• To look at descriptors for A2 and B1 levels and identify

learners with different levels in the same class.

• To look at the challenges of teaching mixed ability

classes.

• To offer guidance on managing mixed ability classes.

• To provide teachers with practical speaking and listening

ideas for teaching mixed ability classes.

• To help teachers to prepare learners for exams.

Further information

University of Cambridge

Cambridge English Language Assessment

1 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB1 2EU, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1223 553997

Fax: +44 (0)1223 553621

Email: helpdesk@cambridgeenglish.org

Keep up to date with what’s new via the

Cambridge English Language Assessment website: www.cambridgeenglish.org

For information on Cambridge English webinars for teachers:

www.cambridgeenglish.org/webinars

Literacy in primary CLIL

14 and 16 December 2015