Placement of Students

5 thoughts on “Placement of Students”

1. Lance P

   August 5, 2015 at 8:04 am

   I find myself thinking “gee, this kind of sounds like a statement about every language class I’ve taught, observed, and read about.”
   Students acquire at different rates, and there’s nothing we can do about that.
   I think the best solution is to design your classes (course levels?) to allow success given the full range of performance. The course names might as well be Spanish Year 2, Spanish Year 3, etc.
   I know some districts have organized courses based on proficiency levels, but that seems to exclude more than include. There are also many positive reports on mixing proficiency levels in the same classroom.
   The simplest solution, then, is to just put them into the next level (e.g. kids coming from Spanish II take Spanish III, etc.). Scaffold and grade accordingly (I have one possibility for grading, here: http://magisterp.com/2015/06/28/a-new-grading-system-the-last-one-youll-ever-need-once-youre-ready/).

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2. Laurie

   August 6, 2015 at 5:34 am

   Dear Joe,
   There is no ideal way. :o) If they are all new to TPRS, then it is a brand new world for everyone. A number of people (but Michele Whaley and Gerry Wass come to mind first) have successfully taught totally mixed groups. If I had to separate out anyone, it would be the complete beginners…those with no exposure to Spanish class at all and no one at home speaks Spanish. Everyone else will actually “level out” quite quickly. Because, as you said, every class is filled with all levels of interest and proficiency!
   How wonderful that you are allowed some input here! So many teachers are simply told: this is how it is.
   Enjoy the new school and let us know how it goes!!!!
   with love,
   Laurie

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3. Matthew DuBroy

   September 2, 2015 at 7:25 pm

   This seems as a good a place as any to ask this: I teach now 4th-8th graders. In my upper grades (6th-8th) I have a few new students now mixed in with my other students who had done CI for a year (meeting 2-3x/week). What can I do to help integrate them into the class (even if it isn’t as big of a deal this year since I have only done CI for 1 year [60-80 hours?] so far; next year the gap could be wider since each year we tend to a get a few new students)?
   My plan right now is to do nothing special but I’m worried I’ll have to stop more to make things comprehensible for the new student and that this might bore the rest of the class.

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   1. Eric Herman

      September 2, 2015 at 8:18 pm

      Matthew, we have a very similar situation. Every year I get new students (from different schools or that no longer need remediation in another academic subject) and sometimes this happens while the rest of the class has had 100+ hours of CI instruction.
      In the past, I’ve tried to teach to the returning barometers, while doing plenty of comprehension checks with the new student and generally expecting less, e.g. silent period. The newbies certainly get input overload. The input for the newbie is less targeted and less transparent than the input that student would receive if everyone were true beginners.
      Having a friendly, top student sit next to the newbie helps – that person serves as the “dictionary.” It helps if the newbie is motivated. But if you have a shy, unmotivated newbie mixed in with students who have had 100+ hours of CI, then I really don’t know what we are supposed to do.

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      1. Matthew DuBroy

         September 3, 2015 at 5:48 am

         Thanks Eric. That is helpful and comforting. How does the “dictionary” idea work? Might it be more distracting for the student to be leaning over asking about the meaning of words constantly? On the other hand I certainly can see the power of doing that for the student. If he can get the meaning without stopping the class too often it works better for everyone.

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