Using students to peer-teach
 

Hi,

I have an adults beginners class. We have had two lessons together, and we learned the alphabet and covered phonics in the last lesson. However three out of five students were not present in the last lesson so I will have to cover a lot of the material again so that they can get to grips with the alphabet. I do not want this to be boring for the two students who have already done this so I am planning on using them to help teach the lesson i.e. using them as 'experts' and having them 'peer-teach' (is there a proper term for this? I have just made this one up).

Does this sound like a worthwhile thing to do? I have searched the forums for other threads about similar things but I do not know the actual term for using more advanced students to help others... Or indeed if there is actually a term for it...

Thanks for your help,

PJD

Re: Using students to peer-teach
 

I use high students to help new students... all the time!

Re: Using students to peer-teach
 

In California some educators call it the "buddy system" but I'd expect that's just Californian slang.
Some classes in adult schools are open entry (students are allowed to add the class at any time). This is very difficult for the teacher: every week you get one or more new students! My employer uses a modified form of open entry. After about the 9th week, no new students are allowed to add. But still, a lot of students came during the "add" period.
This is why, as your class grows, you need to find out who the newer high students are. You can use them to help the others. Needless to say, with open entry a teacher winds up doing a lot of review. Not just one time of review, but maybe 3, 4, 5...

Re: Using students to peer-teach
 

Thanks for your reply Baker.

The lesson worked quite well, although I can't feeling that there is still a large difference in the knowledge of my students but I suppose this will always be the case in ESL.

Re: Using students to peer-teach
 

Although my class is listed in the schedule as single-level Beginning High, I have in essence a multi-level class because of the differences in students' knowledge and skills. This has been the case for 3 years. Other teachers have told me their classes have the same quality.
The best you can do is try to keep a positive attitude, and plan your lessons so the high-end students are always busy, even when they finish ahead of the others.