TESOLutions
Solutions for NYS TESOL professionals

Lauren Tynan

TESOLution offered by
 Lauren Tynan, ESL Teacher

Create a Cohesive Community
Students want to be social.  Separating students and having them work on different topics and themes in an effort to accommodate their mixed levels only ends up discouraging the development of a cohesive classroom community. 

Use a Central Theme
So, to create a cohesive, collaborative learning environment that meets everyone’s needs, I first assess students to determine what skills they have mastered and what skills they still need to develop. Then, using that information, I try to provide them with activities organized around a central topic or theme. Though everyone follows the same theme, the students at higher proficiency levels are given more challenging tasks with less support. The students at lower proficiency levels work on activities that provide just the right amount of challenge but are given added support. All students may then need to present their individual work to the class or use it to contribute to a pair or group project.

Varying Levels in Groups
Further, groups are typically not fixed and there are opportunities where students of varying abilities work with each other on an activity. Simply sharing what they create as a group can help everyone feel valued in the classroom. This allows everyone to work within their language level, be social and learn from each other, and know that they are contributing to the class, regardless of their language proficiency.  While some classes are already leveled by proficiency, a wide range of abilities will still be found and I find this works well in both settings. 

Explain the Rationale
When working with high school and college level students, I have found that briefly explaining the rationale behind providing various activities in one class helps students to feel as though their individual needs are being met.  I explain that everyone is different and stress that this is what makes our class and life in general so interesting.  Students appreciate that I am honest and never really dwell on the fact that their classmates are working on different activities.  If anything, I have found that they work better as a group and ultimately work harder to help and learn from each other.

If you have a question or problem you would like addressed contact TESOLutions at: dialogue@nystesol.org.

Lauren has a BA in Biology and a Minor in Spanish from the University of Delaware, 1998. She received her MA in TESOL from Hunter College in 2008.  She is currently a high school ESL teacher in Manhattan for the NYC Department of Education. Prior to teaching, she worked for eight years as a Training and Recruitment Coordinator helping to create management and employee training and development programs, including English language programs.