ESL Multilevel Activities

">methods of teaching ensure that each student
Discover three fun, easy ESL multilevel activities. can work at their own level and progress at their
In particular multilevel teaching ideas are looked atown pace without feeling bored or pressured.
for buddy reading, peer editing and using an articleUsing an Article in a multilevel class
on three different levels.Articles can be used in many different ways
For ESL teachers with large, multilevel classrooms,within the multilevel classroom.
trying to make sure everyone's needs are metExample: Your classroom includes one group of
can be a challenge. Utilising multilevel ESL gameslow level intermediate students, one of
and activities can lighten the load, as can groupingintermediate students, and yet another of
students of different levels together or pairing upadvanced students. The material being read
more the proficient students with the beginners.consists of non-fiction articles, which in general
This method benefits everyone, as the advancedhave a fairly difficult academic vocabulary.
students can learn as much by helping to teach asStart with a whole group session, and read an
they can by simply completing assignments, andexample article to the entire class. Demonstrate
the teacher can concentrate on individual help forthe process used to preview the article. Begin by
those most in need.looking at the title, sub-titles, and illustrations, then
Buddy Readingask the class for predictions about the content of
ESL multilevel activities such as buddy readingthe text. Finally, go over the key vocabulary ( a
work particularly well in both small groups as wellgame can be used during this portion of the
as larger classrooms. Students pair up, with eachlesson).
pair consisting of one lower level and one higherNext, break the students into the three leveled
level student.groups. Give each group a level appropriate
Buddy reading consists of the beginner readingactivity to properly assess their understanding of
and the more experienced "buddy" listening andthe article. In this scenario, the advanced group
assisting in making sure the reader is pronouncingcan be asked to write about their opinions of the
words correctly. The buddy can also askcontent or debate different elements of the
questions after the reading, in order to make surearticle in discussion groups. The intermediate group
the reader comprehended what they just read.can be given a where they write ten simple
Then the advanced student takes a turn readingcontent based questions, which they then give to
aloud to their buddy, and again can check fortheir peers, who answer them. The teacher does
comprehension from listening.not have to do any preparation for that as the
Buddy reading can be model for the group first;class write their own questions.
adults generally pick up this multilevel classroomThe low intermediate group participate by creating
activity rapidly as it is not so different than havingand then working on a fill in the blank exercise,
a studying partner outside of class. The interestingwhich can be composed in advance from
thing about buddy reading is that commonsentences in the article using words they have
mistakes that may have become 'fossilized' orjust learned. The same article will thus be
ingrained in higher level students can often beappropriate for use by students at each level.
pointed out by lower level students. AdvancedEasy Preparation Tip
students can also read aloud to their beginnerThe teacher can increase class involvement by
buddies and check listening comprehension levelsutilising the members of the class to help with
with a predetermined list of questions.preparation. This involves reading the article one
Peer Editingday, then setting homework for all students to be
Peer editing is another multilevel ESL activity thatcompleted and brought to the next class. For
allows each student to monitor another student'sadvanced students, this homework consists of
work, helping to make corrections and offerpreparing a multiple choice questionnaire about the
comments at their own level. Set an assignment,article. Intermediates can be asked to prepare a
and let pre-writing and rough drafts be completedfill in the blanks, and simple vocabulary learning
independently. More proficient ESL students cansheets sent home with the beginners.
be assigned a longer word count and expected toIn the next lesson the multiple choice questions
write with a higher level of grammaticalare answered by the intermediate students while
complexity; beginners may be given shorterthe beginners complete the fill in the blanks. The
assignments with simple sentence structure.teacher can gather the advanced students and
Papers are passed to a buddy for peer editing,present several thought provoking questions to
then the comments and corrections are notedkindle discussion and essay writing.
and the final draft can be written. This activityAll of these ESL activities for multilevel classrooms
opens up a door for discussion regarding contentcan be used in conjunction with other ESL games
as well as the technical aspects of grammar andand activities. In addition, there is an appropriate
punctuation.game for nearly every pre-teaching session, and
Pre-teaching vocabulary and grammar (especiallyvariants of the activities listed here can be utilized
through the use of ESL games) can set the groupfor both large and small groups. Using multilevel
up to participate in ESL multilevel activities at theirESL teaching methods can keep order in the
own level, with confidence and a higher possibilityclassroom and allow students to participate freely
of success. Multilevel classrooms that use theseat all levels.