The importance of accurately identifying the skill level of each student

At PLC, we work with students at every skill level possible. PLC has enrolled students who are professionals who frequently use English at work, as well as, young children who are just starting to learn the basics.

An important first step in teaching new students is to accurately assess the individual skill level of each student. This is a huge advantage of teaching at a small school.  The class sizes are small enough that I can spend time with each student individually to asses each student's abilities in terms of reading, writing, grammar, listening, and speaking. In Thailand, I have found that many students read and write at a higher level than they are able to speak and understand spoken English. This is why it is important to accurately understand a student's ability in each different skill set.  

For students that are looking for comprehensive English language learning, I have found that starting with Rosetta Stone language lab software is a great ice breaker. It starts them off at a basic level which helps them to feel comfortable and a little more confident. As the teacher, it gives me a chance to observe and get a sense of what tasks are easily done and which are more of a struggle. Additionally, the Rosetta Stone software gets the student to begin thinking in English. For a student who speaks Thai all the time outside of the classroom, it is a big help to have a smooth transition from speaking and listening to Thai to listening and speaking English.
 

Once I have been able to observe the student working with the Rosetta Stone software, I can determine how to begin the conversation portion of the lesson. At the most basic level, I begin by having the student read aloud from a book of simple stories. This takes pressure off of the student in terms of listening and needing to
construct sentences. The student can read out loud. I can correct pronunciation.  After a while, I can ask simple conversation questions related to the text. This is effective because after reading out loud for a bit, the student becomes more comfortable pronouncing the words and is also more comfortable and willing to make mistakes.

The process of getting new students to be comfortable speaking and to be comfortable making mistakes is an important bridge to cross in order to move forward with more fun but also challenging conversation lessons.

For more advanced students, accurately determining their skill level is equally important. Again, focusing on the conversation portion of a lesson, the topics the teacher decides to discuss must coincide with the skill level of the students. If the topic is too basic, the conversation will be boring for the student and it will not allow for skill development. Similarly, if the topic is too difficult, the students will be forced to resort to one word answers and it will become a listening session for the students rather than a conversation.

If I am uncertain about whether or not a topic will work, I introduce the relevant vocabulary first. By teaching the relevant (themed) vocabulary and then incorporating it into the conversation two benefits are realized. First, you increase the chances of an active and effective conversation session because the students will
have access to necessary vocabulary. Second, the students will acquire some new vocabulary words and the words will be reinforced during the conversation.

If you find that even with the vocabulary help that the conversation isn't working, I recommend that you quickly switch topics to something easier. The most important part of the conversation portion is that students are able to participate and practice using English. A topic that is too difficult should be abandoned so that the time allotted for conversation is used effectively.

At PLC school, all the teachers pay special attention to accurately identifying each students skill level so that they can be challenged with new material that is also conducive to use in the conversation portion of the class.