A Glance at a Multiple-Grade Class
It is a big classroom, physically speaking, with a small group of students divided in two rows facing two different blackboards. This is a multiple grade class consisting of four 4th-graders, five 5th-graders and five 7th-graders in their last year of primary education. This is an English lesson split up in two main topics taking advantage of the two boards. One, for fourth and fifth grades with different levels of difficulty and the other for 7th grade. As a warming up, the teacher starts with a gaming activity engaging the two groups in a competition. While the younger ones seem very enthusiastic, the older group looked reluctant to participate. After this first stage of the lesson, the teacher gives the 7th graders some handouts to revise the vocabulary about countries and nationalities. Now, she focuses on the younger ones that look a bit impatient and seem more eager to work. The teacher begins with an expository mode presenting the topic, family members. She start...