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Ask for help > Need your experties and suggestions
Need your experties and suggestions
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subzeroking
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Need your experties and suggestions
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We - "we", being my colleagues and I - have been dealing with
this problem in our institute for years. Actually they have had this problem
for years, for I�m a newbie! Anyway, I believe a lot of other teaching
institutes have faced this problem too.
It goes like this:
In our English Language Learning institute the levels are Starter, Elementary,
Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate. The problem is when our
students get to the end of Intermediate and especially in Upper-Intermediate
levels, their progress rate decreases dramatically. This matter is particularly
evident in our girls classes (our institute holds separate classes for adults -
girls and boys). When speaking, they make a lot of grammatical mistakes and though
they try so hard, they show very little or no progress. Now, I�m familiar with
the concept of "plateaus" in learning languages, but can we put this
problem down as a result of these plateaus. If yes, how come we don�t have the
same problem with our boy classes?
I had an "Upper-Intermediate 2" class with 9 adult students (all
girls) and it�s just finished. I don�t really know what to do with them. Should
I just fail all of them? Should I send them for placement interview (which I�m
sure will result in them ending up in Pre-Intermediate levels again)? Is it
even OK to do so, knowing some of them might give up learning English? Or
should I let them go up hoping they might get better? You see, they learned the
things they were taught this term, they made some progress, but the way they
are right now is nowhere near the level they are studying!
PS: I assume it was implied that we have already examined other factors
involved. The teachers are experienced and knowledgeable, the materials
used are up to date and fun, the quality of classes, as far as the teachers can
have a hand in it, is high enough, the students are satisfied and happy with
what they learn (at least they say so in anonymous surveys), etc.
I�m asking you, my dear colleagues, to share your experiences and expertise
with me. Are you facing the same problem where you work? Do you have any advice
for me?
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22 Sep 2011
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pinkblossom
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Dear Subzeroking
I had the same problems with one of my classes, they were all girls,uper-inter students, but three of them werent really at this level, they knew all the things that were taught at the said term but the problem was the grammar that should internalized previous terms,
They didn �t like to go back to previous terms that they had passed before,
What i did was, asking to do more tasks and do more reading & writing and i checked them whether they did what i assigned to them or not every session.
I saw some improvements, but it takes more time& energy on part of you.
How difficult our job it is  although they passed the term with minimum marks, I was satisfied anyway, and they were happy 
Good Luck 
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22 Sep 2011
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subzeroking
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Thank you so much for sharing your experience! It �s nice to know others go through same situations.
The thing is, it �s become a big problem in our institute and it happens in a lot of our Upper classes for girls. I mean, the majority of our girl classes, when they get to upper levels, they are not upper levels! Our "Intermediate" and "Upper Intermediate" courses have 5 levels each and every level is studied in a period of 20 sessions (1.5 hours per session). Up to I4 or I5 (Intermediate 4 and 5) the students can be considered suitable for their levels but afterward... Well, I really don �t know what happens! I have hold private counseling sessions with each and every student and they all tell me they do all these extra activities at home. Plus, during the term we go through extensive grammar exercises and many other stuff. It �s really frustrating!
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22 Sep 2011
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Yanki
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I �d just like to say that my experience at higher levels has been similar to yours. Boys seem to acquire language more naturally at higher levels whereas girls just continue to memorize word lists, and grammar rules.You are lucky that the girls and boys are in seperate classes. That way you can teach boys the same way you are now(as that seems to be working for them) and with the girls focus more on individual and pair work (I find they don �t do very well in group work.). Give them stuff to memorize... more managable tasks. Wish you all the best.
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23 Sep 2011
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BlancaNC
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I think you had better start teaching them about women �s rights!! In English!! This happens to girls in math around 10th grade in the U.S. Suddenly they are all failures. Luckily I am a woman in math, I survived! I �ll see if there are articles I can find but it may take me some time. Clearly it is not true that all the boys can learn and all the girls can �t. They have been brain washed by their immediate society!! Yours, Blanca |
23 Sep 2011
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subzeroking
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Hey Blanca,
Way to be subtle! Of course we don�t tell them they�re failures or compare them to boys in front of them! In some aspects they�re way better than and superior to boys. They do much more practice and deliver their homework on time. At upper levels it is almost impossible to make boys do something at home! In fact ,come to think of it, I encourage my girl students more than the boys, but we can�t ignore the fact that our Upper level girls have this problem. Our boys in Intermediate make you wanna shoot yourself and our girls in Upper Intermediate do the same.
I really appreciate your help and look forward to those articles.
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23 Sep 2011
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