If you are studying or planning to study in a language school as part of a group this is for you.
There is one vital decision you will make as soon as you enter the classroom and take off your coat. But what is it?
First let me tell you about the disastrous first days of one of the favorite classes I ever taught. I was living in Prague and it was my very first job there. I was hired by a school to teach a group of nine 18 year old beginner students. My mission was to teach them enough Spanish to be fluent speakers in only 9 months. The Government sponsored most of the tuition and expected results or their money back. My school needed me to do a great job to secure future contracts with the Czech Government.
Problems arouse right away. The students were supposed to be all complete beginners but in reality I had a nasty mix of levels. Some students could barely say ‘hola’. Some had some basic broken conversation in Spanish. Some were clearly intermediate. Those who knew nothing sat together. Those who had some background sat together too. The class was divided in more than one way. No matter what I tried to teach half of the class felt like they were wasting their time. Students resented the school for lying to them. Students resented each other for jeopardizing their progress. During those first days everybody was angry and mostly quiet. It was going to be a long year.
I begged the school to divide the group but the school said they didn’t have the money for a second teacher. They just told me to fix the situation. I knew I had to do something.
I decided to make some changes. The next day I told the students we were going to fix the problem and we were going to fix it together. “If you trust me and you do what I tell you to do, you will leave this school as fluent speakers. I give you my word. But I need your trust”. I asked one by one: “Do you trust me? Please say yes or no” They had just met me 4 or 5 days ago but they all said yes. Mostly because I sounded convincing I guess…
From that day on they were not free to choose their seat. I made sure that the strongest students sat with the weakest under my constant supervision. I also made sure students sat down with a different partner at the beginning of each week to create bonds of friendship and companionship throughout the group. Czech would be 100% forbidden, even during break time. Lastly I decided to raise the level of the class to match the level of the strongest students. They were the winners. The price to pay would be to support the beginners and hold their hand until they were able to catch up. Those who knew nothing struggled for a couple of weeks. But I gave them all kinds of extra materials to work with and support after class. They did not feel alone. They were working with the students who had refused to sit near them during those first ugly days of the course.
In just two or three weeks all the students were more or less in the same level and had strong bonds. Students continued to progress until they became completely fluent. I have never seen a group more motivated, hard working and connected. Those young kids became best friends. They would get together every weekend to go out and get some drinks. And they always, always, ALWAYS spoke in Spanish to each other. Speaking Czech between them felt weird. They didn’t want to cheat. Today some of those young students are in their early thirties. Some of them moved to Spain. I believe they are still great friends.
So here you have it. This is the first crucial decision you have to make as soon as you enter the classroom and take off your coat. Who are you going to sit with? Your natural instinct will tell you to join your tribe whatever your tribe might be. Older students tend to sit with older students. Women tend to sit next to other women. Etc. Etc. And as soon as they can figure it out, students will tend to sit with those who know as much or as little as they do.
Yes. Schools use placement tests and interviews to put you in the right class. But the truth is that you will always, ALWAYS have to work with a bunch of students who are not exactly where you are or have a different level of skill when it comes to learning a second language. Please understand that it is of your utmost interest that the whole classroom functions as a whole for your own success. If the gap between strongest and weakest grows nobody will be happy and nobody will get what they paid for.
But be aware. The gap between the strongest and the weakest student in the group has to be handleable. Some schools will do everything in their power to “open” a group to be profitable. In some schools this will be rare. In some others this is obscenely common. I will cover all this when I talk to you about choosing the right school. But you have better chances with schools that have a higher number of students (even though some of these will have no problem screwing you too).
If you are placed in a class where the gap in the L.O.P. (Level of Performance) between students is too big to be fixable then complain to your teacher first and then to the head of studies. If things are not fixed get your money back and find the right school.
Please feel free to leave a comment to tell us about your own experience and to let us know if we can be of any help. We are here for you!
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