Let’s talk about this, but let’s narrow the topic. I will talk about the age range of 7 to 9 years old, and about working in a weekend school with a group of Russian as a Foreign Language, or bilingual, students.
For those who don’t know — a weekend school is a place where immigrants gather to teach their children Russian. This is not a state school with programs, requirements and final exams. Classes are usually held on Saturday and Sunday, hence the name.
So, we have children ages 7 to 9. The whole group is about the same age. Of course, it is better to divide such classes by levels. Well, at least so that native speakers and RFL students do not sit together.
If you can’t divide, then there are several strategies. Since everyone’s level is different, it means that the students are bilingual — i.e., they are not learning the language from scratch, but already know something, and bilinguals are a spectrum. Let’s remember this. What to do? Start from the end. See what’s at the end, how you want to achieve it. Think through the stages, how to reach the goal.
The advantage of a weekend school is that at the end of the year there is no certification, no exam at the end. Therefore, you are free to do whatever you want.
What ideas do I have?
Proceed with small courses, small projects that are three to four months long.
Be sure to test all the children, especially at the beginning! You can give any test; the main thing is that it checks all types of speech activity. At least you know more deeply what is going on in the heads of your students. Such knowledge helps you get your bearings.
Maybe, for the course you have chosen, your students will have just enough knowledge. If, for example, your course is packed into a production of the Russian folk tale “Teremok,” then there is no need for special grammar. And you can speak in monosyllables.
When there is such a motley crowd, it is better to choose one reference point for yourself. This could be some specific student. Or it could be some kind of test at the end. You can focus on the average level of the group (you conducted the testing; you know the average temperature in the hospital for optimal comfort and efficiency). Another option is to focus on strong students; the weak ones will swim on their own (or drown).
But there should be only one benchmark — we work toward it. By the way, this benchmark can be changed if you no longer like it.
What other strategy can there be? If the teacher has additional exercises in store (reading, for example), then these exercises can be offered to the student. But when will he do them? You need to plan a separate time for him to do them. When? At what point in the lesson? Please remember that you will not be able to turn group work into individual work! And in my opinion, all of these “additional tasks” will lead to nothing; they will only cause stress.
Here is a story from my life. I was taking a training course, and we were given a group of high school children. We had a student named Danil. He spoke Russian very well. Everything was in order with cases and verb conjugation. But he could not read or write! He was in a group with his American peers, Russian as a Foreign Language students. They were good at reading and writing. What strategy would you choose?
This was in a public school, in a summer program in Russian; the teacher didn’t have much choice but to simply follow the chosen program — and not pay much attention if someone sagged somewhere. In general, in the States the strategy is to help the strong.
There are textbooks that are supposedly designed for working in mixed-level groups. See for yourself. Such textbooks seem to have special exercises for those who can’t keep up with the group, and there are exercises that are designed for very strong students, but — there is still some level that teachers focus on! And this is the level I’m talking about. In the description, I leave a link to a review of a textbook from Germany, which was created specifically for mixed-level groups. But it is still difficult to work with such groups. It is better to divide them by levels.
In the end, working in a group where students have different levels of language proficiency is pure hell, and it’s better to divide such groups by levels. But if you can’t divide your group … well, then I hope you don’t die prematurely from stress. All the best!
