EnglishClub TEFL Forums (archived)

So I have been teaching online English students for about two months and I'm really struggling with large classes of low level students. My background is teaching colleges and being a New Yorker I naturally talk very quickly. This means I do very well with level 5 or above students as I can teach high level concepts and stuff alot of content in a short class.

Now with lower level students if I have one student I can spend special attention on them to understand their exact skill level and adjust my speaking speed and assignments to that.

Now with large classes of low level students I really struggle. I get told both that I talk too fast by some students and too slow by others. I do talk alot slower when I know I have a low level class. But here my trick and techniques are limited. I have them read the content, correct their pronunciation, and show pictures to help them understand new words. However besides that I don't know any other tricks. Please help

Hi
Teaching low level students is a little bit difficult especially if there are level differences. Yet , you should not feel frustrated . There is what is called I+1 ( Input + 1) , your English should neither be very simple nor very difficult for your students. It should be a little bit higher for them to make them use their schemata. Don't care about their coplaints ; all students complain about the difficulty for the exercises and tests .
Use texts and comprehension questions ( T/F , chart filling , yes/no , wh- , ..) to check their understanding. Reading is very important for the students' input later for oral activities. Besides , some listening from time to time and realia
I hope I enlightened the way a litlle bit.
Best wishes , Said from Morocco