279. So, any remedy left?





Here you have a comment I wrote and which was published on the website of BBC - The British Council. The topic is about remedial work. I've ever been especially concerned with this aspect of TEFL. Remember the matter of my research has been success in teaching/learning English as a foreign language.





Fernando M Díez

Nice to meet you, sureshr.

Submitted on 2 February, 2010 - 12:37


Nice to meet you, sureshr. Hello everyone,

I hope not to misspell your username.

In a school where a colleague of ours used to work the staff decided to split apart slow students and higher achievers, into two different classrooms.

I hope to help you out with what I'm going to say. The point is that this comment is based on real life.

So there were two class-groups. Obviously the staff wanted to boost learning English in this way, having two more homogeneous groups.

In few words. With the passing time, the staff realized that this conducting did not help the pupils.

Basically the slow students did not improve their English: the atmosphere of low effort at working plus cognitive and operational treats did not solve any problem; even more, the students of this group tended to lower the ambiance of work: there were no leaders or hard-working students who would push the group upwards.

Definitely all the staff agreed after, say, two or three academic years, there should be a high-level reference: hard-working students who would set an example, and help or monitor their classmates' process of learning. Mixed-ability groups again. The experience of this implementation was better.

Best wishes, and at your entire disposal

Fernando M Díez

Granada (Spain)



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