Teaching children of different ages.

[northerngirl]

Hi, I'm hoping you can help me. I have a class of 7 year olds who have completed 2 years doing a pre junior course. They are about to start a Junior A course involving reading, writing and grammar. I also have a new student who is 10 years old. She has never had a private English lesson before and has only studied English for 1 year at her regular Greek school, which is not of the standard as a private school. I am going to give her a test taken from my Junior A grammar book. My question is if she doesn't pass the test can she be put in a class of children that are 3 years younger than her? Is this acceptable?

Thank you in advance.

[Lucy]

I wouldn't advise it. She will be at a different stage of cognitive development and have different interests to the 7 year olds. With children, I think it's best to group by age. If this ten-year old is a different age and a different level, I don't see it working. I hope you have some say in this!

Lucy

[northerngirl]

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. Thanks for the advice. I will put the older pupil in question in a seperate class. However is it ok that she studies at the same level as the younger children if she doesn't perform well in the test that I give her? Should she start a a higher level due to her being older?

[Lucy]

That may work. But it's much better to group children by age where possible. There can be a big difference in skills between children of these ages (e.g. ability to use scissors or to colour in). They also have different interests.