Practical classroom strategies
How to Teach Mixed-Level ESL Classes Without Planning Three Separate Lessons
One student answers before you finish the question. Another is still working out what the question means. You have one class, several English levels, and—unfortunately—only one of you.
Teaching mixed-level ESL classes doesn’t have to mean preparing a separate lesson for every student. My starting point is one useful language goal, with different amounts of support and challenge. The class can work on the same topic without everyone having to produce exactly the same answer.
Here’s a practical way to do that, using a places-and-people lesson as the starting point.
1. Choose one goal everyone can work toward
Keep the goal specific: “Students can ask and answer where someone goes.” That’s easier to plan around than “practice speaking,” which could mean almost anything, including a ten-minute discussion about somebody’s missing pencil.
Start with a quick check. Show a familiar place, model a question, and invite each student to respond. Notice who needs vocabulary help, who can use a sentence, and who is ready to ask a question independently.
A student who speaks confidently may still need reading support. Use what you see in this task rather than assigning a permanent “strong” or “weak” label.
2. Adapt one lesson in three ways
Our Level 2, Unit 1 sample lesson, Let’s Go! introduces language about people, places, and companions, including who, where, and go/goes. The activity below is an adaptation you can create around that language; these three versions aren’t separate worksheets included in the lesson.
One picture, three ways to respond
Use a picture or simple drawing of a child going to a park with a friend. Establish the meaning together, then ask: “Where does she go?”
Extra support: Offer two picture choices and the starter “She goes to the ___.” Let the student point first, rehearse with you, and then try the sentence.
Core task: Have partners ask and answer “Where does she go?” and “Who does she go with?” Keep a model available if they need it.
Extra challenge: Remove the model. Ask students to change the person or place and build a short conversation. If they already know the language, add a follow-up question such as “When does she go?”
Everyone is working with the same scene. You are changing the support and expected response, not juggling three unrelated lessons. A student can start with a sentence frame and try without it later.
3. Group students for the task, not forever
Mixed-level pairs can work well when both students have something to contribute. Give partners different pictures or information so they need to listen to each other. Swap who asks and who answers.
Sometimes students with similar support needs should work together while you model the language again. Other students can try an extension independently. Change the groups when the purpose changes.
A more confident student shouldn’t become your unpaid assistant for the entire lesson. They need their own thinking and speaking time, too.
4. Give early finishers a better next step
“Do five more of the same” isn’t always much of a challenge. Keep a small menu of extensions that deepen the original task:
- Create a new picture prompt and ask a partner about it.
- Change one detail and explain how the answer changes.
- Write two follow-up questions using language you already know.
Meanwhile, give students who need more time fewer items with useful support. Aim for a successful example they understand, then build from there.
5. Use a short lesson sequence
For a 30-minute speaking lesson, try this flexible outline. Adjust the timing for your students’ ages, attention, and familiarity with the language.
- 5 minutes: Check familiar vocabulary and model the goal.
- 5 minutes: Practice together with pictures and sentence starters.
- 12 minutes: Run the supported, core, and challenge versions. Move around and listen.
- 5 minutes: Swap partners or prompts and try again.
- 3 minutes: Give each student a quick individual check.
Online, use the same approach with a shared picture and turns. Use breakout rooms only when your platform supports them and students can manage the task safely and independently.
6. Check progress against each student’s starting point
Finish with a fresh picture and one question. Note whether the student answered with a model, independently, or with an added detail. That small note tells you more about next week’s support than simply marking everyone “finished.”
If some students can’t access the basic task even with modeling, or others have already mastered the whole goal, smaller adaptations may not be enough. Revisit the lesson level or plan a separate small-group focus.
Your quick planning checklist
- What is the shared language goal?
- What picture, word bank, or sentence starter will help?
- What will students do independently?
- What meaningful challenge comes next?
- How will I check each student’s progress?
For more ideas, read how to get ESL students speaking more and how to spend less time planning ESL lessons.
Try it with a lesson you can open now
Open Let’s Go! and choose one speaking activity. Add a sentence starter for support and one follow-up question for challenge. See how the approach fits your students before building your next lesson around it.
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Further reading: The British Council’s Teaching mixed-ability classes 2 discusses adapting tasks and expectations. The classroom example and planning checklist above are Super English ESL adaptations.