1

NON-FORMAL METHODS-
A MEANS OF TEACHING EXCELLENCE
AND ACHIEVEMENT IN
MULTILEVEL CLASSES

Coordonator Științific: conf.dr. Dana Bădulescu

Candidat: prof. Ștențel Micaela

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CONTENTS

Argument……………………………………………………………………………………...4

I. How second language acquisition happens

I.1. Popular ideas about language learning - a brief history of theories and

opinions…………………………………………………………………………....6

I.2. Second language acquisition - theories and givens………………………...15

I.3. What the stages of second language acquisition are - A short presentation

and ways to improve the skills…………………………………………….…….20

II. Issues in teaching English in large multilevel classes

II.1. Advantages and disadvantages of large multilevel classes …………….....24

II.2. General solutions for teaching multilevel classes………………………....29

II.3. Methods of meeting the varied student needs of a large multilevel class…34

III. Formal, informal and non-formal education - What is the perfect combination

of achieving progress in a multilevel class?.......................................................40

III.1. Formal education. Is it still efficient today?..................................................41

III.2. Informal education. How can teachers use it in the class?...........................45

III.3. Non-formal education. The importance of non-formal methods in the

teaching-learning process…………………………………………………………...49

III.4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….52
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IV. Non- formal methods - a solution for teaching English efficiently in multilevel

classes…………………………………………………………………………….58

V. Gamification - a non-formal method of engaging and motivating students….. 71

V.1. My approach to teaching English…………………………………………79

V.2. Developing skills and competences through games………………………81

VI. Works cited

VII. Appendix
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Argument

There might be nothing new in terms of teaching methods, but from my experience,

using non-formal methods, games mainly, is an efficient way to approach teaching English in

a multilevel class.

Unfortunately, in Romania, due to political and financial reasons, the educational

system is not designed to meet the changing needs of the students who study a foreign

language so, as a result, their level of acquisition does not form a criterion according to which

classes are formed when it comes to high school. As a consequence, the gap between the

students that meet the requirements of the curriculum and those that are under the required

level has become more and more visible in the last couple of years and this involves serious

implications such as: loss of motivation, failure and a big challenge for teachers who have to

find efficient ways of teaching that should result in progress for all students.

I have always been interested in how to motivate and help efficiently my students to

improve their learning acquisition, especially the high school teenagers, who seem to be at

disadvantage of coming from different learning backgrounds and of having different levels of

language acquisition, which, most of the time, are under the one required by the national

curriculum.

The idea for this paper came to me six years ago, while attending a training course as

a Fulbright alumni at the University of Reno, Nevada, where the approach of teaching

English as a second language was based on games and group work with tasks specifically

designed to suit each student’s level and to ensure progress and improvement of all skills in

multilevel classes. For four years, I used these methods, introducing and adapting popular

board games like: Cluedo, Dixit, Wuammy, Activity, the Story Cubs, etc. and designing new

ones, focusing on motivating and improving the skills of a multilevel class of 33 students
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(IX-XII B) at “Demostene Botez” High School, Trusesti. In all this time, I have noticed not

only a visible improvement of their learning process, if inner motivation existed, but also of

their team work skill, as all the activities were designed as group work or pair work, which

proved to be a valuable asset later on in life.

Although the focus of this paper is the efficiency of non-formal education, the

importance of formal education cannot be ignored, especially when it comes to teaching

grammar. That is why it is important to point out that the positive outcomes of this project

were a result of the combination of formal, informal and non-formal methods with the focus

on the non-formal ones.

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I. How second language acquisition happens

I.1. Popular ideas about language learning - a brief history of theories and opinions

How a language is acquired has always been the object of study for the great scholars

ever since Ancient Times, when Plato was already posing problems critical to modern

linguistic discourse. His belief that knowledge is innate was shared centuries later by

Decartes, who presented the idea that there are “universal principles behind every language

and that creativity is involved in everyday language.”

Rejecting the idea that there is an innate logic behind language, Locke’s philosophy

introduces the concept of “tabula rasa” or “the blank slate” according to which all knowledge

comes from outside ourselves through sensory experience rather than through innate

knowledge that we have at birth.

Even though these theories do not touch too much on the practical, everyday level of

language learning, they have important implications, though. Thus, in the middle of the 20 th

century B.F. Skinner, having as a starting point Locke’s idea of sensory input, develops the

theory of Behaviorism according to which “all behavior is no more than a response to

external stimuli [and there is] no innate programming within a human being to learn a

language at birth.” In connecting behaviorism with language learning, Skinner introduces the

concept of “operant conditioning,” meaning that language learning grows out of a process of

reinforcement whereby individuals are conditioned into saying the right thing.

One of the most influential theories in the field of linguistics is, perhaps, Noam

Chomsky’s one called “Universal Grammar” asserting exactly the opposite of what Skinner

presented in his theory. Unlike Skinner, who saw all learning coming from external stimuli,

Chomsky saw an “innate device for language acquisition. In other words, what Skinner
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believed to be conditioning according to particular events, Chomsky believed to be the result

of the “universal elements that structure all languages.”

Although important in the linguistic field when it comes to first language acquisition,

Chomsky’s theory offers little help when it comes to learning a second language.

Another theory that does not deal with the process of language learning as we

normally think of (how grammar or listening skills are acquired) but rather focuses on social

and psychological aspects that influence our success, is John Schumann’s “Acculturation

Model” that describes the process by which immigrants pick up a new language while being

completely immersed in that language. In other words, there are sociological factors at play

and the more we do to connect with the culture on the other end of our second language, the

faster and easier it will be for us to learn that language.

The most cited theory in second language acquisition that consists of several distinct

hypotheses is Stephen Krashen’s Monitor Model. The most important aspects of this theory

are that:

a) Language acquisition is conscious and driven by error correction (more

formal);

b) Grammar structures are acquired in a predictable order;

c) Language acquisition occurs with comprehensible input (e.g. hearing or

reading things that are slightly above our current language level);

d) A monitor is anything that corrects our language performance and pressures

one to “communicate correctly and not just convey meaning” (such as a teacher who corrects

the student when they make a grammatical mistake) ( www. fluentu.com/blog).

The most recent analysis of the most popular ideas about language learning has been

broadly presented by Patsy Lightbown and Nina Spada in their book: “How Languages are

Learned”, 3rd ed., 2006. In the following pages I will present these ideas in short.
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1. Languages are learned mainly through imitation.

According to the authors, it is difficult to find support for the argument that languages

are mainly learned through imitation because learners produce many novel sentences that

they could not have heard before if they were imitating native English speakers who know

correct grammar and sentence mechanics. However, it is common for younger children to

still imitate words and sounds as they acquire their first language which does not exclude

imitation as a role in the language learning process but there are cases when imitation can be

beneficial to second language learners such as improving pronunciation and intonation.

2. Parents usually correct young children when they make grammatical errors.

There is a considerable variation when it comes to parents correcting their children’s

speech, and this variation is based partly on the children’s age and partly on the parents;

social, linguistic and educational background. Thus, younger children (around the pre-school

age) are not usually corrected on grammar, but are mostly corrected on politeness and word

choice, whereas at the elementary school ages, parents will often correct verbal grammar in

speech. Observations have shown that parents usually tend to focus on meaning rather than

form as they correct speech, and thus, they may correct as incorrect word speech, incorrect

statement facts, or a rude remark, but they will neither notice nor react to errors regarding

successful communication.
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3. People with IQs are good language learners.

Indeed, high IQs are a good predictor for success in classrooms where the focus is on

learning about language rather than the language acquisition itself. The research has shown

that learners with a wide variety of intellectual abilities can be successful language learners.

The results can be backed by oral forms of assessment rather than metalinguistic knowledge

and this shows that in the language learning process a great variety of skills and abilities is

involved; so, that is why students should be given the opportunity to learn another language

even if they do not have the academic ability to succeed.

4. The most important factor in second language acquisition success is

motivation.

There is a general agreement on the fact that those who want to learn do not always

tend to do better than those who do not want to learn. Even highly motivated learners can

experience difficulty as they attempt to improve their language skills because second

language acquisition depends on the age of the learner, on how the instruction interacts with

individual learners’ styles and preferences for learning; that is why, the only way in which the

teachers can motivate the learners is to create a supportive environment where students are

stimulated and engaged in activities appropriate to their age, interests and cultural

backgrounds, and where they can experience success.

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5. The earlier a second language is introduced in school curriculum the

greater the likelihood of success in learning.

The decision about when to introduce a second language depends on the objectives of

the language program in the particular social context of the school.

For students to become native-like speakers of a language it is advisable to start

being exposed to the language as early as possible and thus the chances of fulfilling the

objective of reaching native speaker status is greater. Researches have shown that learners

with a good foundation of first language knowledge are a good base to build on when starting

the acquisition of a second language. These students will become more self-confident, will be

able to learn more effectively in earl school years and it will save them valuable time as they

will have better understanding of what’s going on in the same classroom. On the other hand,

there will be some disadvantages such as “substractive bilingualism”, meaning that when

students begin the study and acquisition of a second language, they delay or pause the

continuance of learning their first language, which may have lasting negative consequences,

or there will be a lack of opportunities for some students to have schooling in their first

language. These are usually either the members of small communities where it is not practical

for schools to offer an educational program in their primary language or those that live within

jurisdiction where legislation has mandated a single language of education for all students,

regardless of their background. In such cases, it is important for teachers to encourage second

language learners’ parents to maintain native language usage at home.

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6. Most of the mistakes that second language learners make are due to

interference from their language.

Learners that are already bilingual from a young age can recognize a syntax

difference between two languages. Oftentimes second language learners will allow the rules

of their primary language to get in the way when learning a secondary language properly.

7. The best way to learn new vocabulary is through reading.

Reading is the source for children to expand their vocabulary as they are in school.

Students who receive guidance from instructor and develop good strategies will benefit more

than those students who focus on the main ideas of the topic.

8. It is essential for learners to be able to pronounce all the individual sounds

in the second language.

Second language speakers will have the ability to reproduce phrases and stress

patterns but will depend on the students’ pronunciation versus the articulation of their sounds.

Students of second language will understand to produce a diversified language by interacting

within a conversation.

9. Once learners know roughly 1,000 words and the basic structure of a second

language, they can easily participate in conversation with native speakers.

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By comprehending pragmatic features of a new language, students will be able to

understand and will feel that others understand them when they are speaking.

10. Teachers should present grammatical rules one at a time, and learners

should practice examples of each one before moving on to another.

Once students learn stage “x” and if they attempt stage “y” they might make a

mistake but will produce the correct form again at the later stage “z”. This procedure involves

combining the patterns and language forms that are used for communication. Once a

language feature is introduced in books, it needs to be reinforced for language to be practiced

and developed.

11. Teachers should teach simple language structures before complex ones.

All language learners benefit from words that are taught to them in a more simplified

format, then they advance to a higher level of vocabulary. Second language learners’ benefits

from having someone speak their native language to help them interpret and understand what

is being taught. However, the dialect of some languages is rarely used unless the teacher

makes it a point to use the dialect the learner is accustomed to using.

12. Learners’ errors should be corrected as soon as they are made in order to

prevent the formation of bad habits.

Students will make mistakes when developing interlanguage by incorporating their

first language pattern into the second language. Teachers want students to succeed and they
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will succeed by receiving feedback from the teachers when the student makes a mistake.

Teachers will be using form focused instruction to help students improve their language. If

the student is making the same errors, it is necessary to inform the student and to correct the

issue. Sometimes the student may not use the correct form instantly but repeating the correct

form will be most helpful. It always has to be kept in mind the students’ feelings when

learning a new language because it is not easy.

13. Teachers should use materials that expose students only to language

structures that have already been taught.

If students are going to be prepared to use a second language outside of the classroom,

they should be exposed to a variety of forms and structures that they have not mastered.

14. When learners are allowed to interact freely (for example in group or pair

activities), they copy each other’s mistakes.

It has been proven that group work and pair work play an essential role in second

language development while well-designed activities and appropriately matched learners

provide an abundance of speaking and practice.

15. Students learn what they are taught.

As Lightbown and Spada point out “learners may be able to learn certain features

when they are developmentally ready.” (2006) Thus, all learners use their own learning

abilities to make sense of what they are explicitly or implicitly taught.

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16. Teachers should respond to students’ errors by correctly rephrasing what

they have said rather than by explicitly pointing out the error.

Recast is a way of indirectly and politely giving language learners the information

they need without interrupting their “flow if interaction”.

17. Students can learn both languages and academic content simultaneously in

classes where the subject matter is taught in their second language.

It has been confirmed that motivation increases when students are exposed to

materials that have inherent value for them and that students in “content-based and

immersion class develop comprehensive skills, vocabulary and general communicative

competence in the new language. [On the other hand,] the fact that students understand the

content and interact in the classroom does not mean that they will continue to improve their

accuracy on language features.” (Lightbown and Spada, 2006)

Language learners need to be given opportunities to experience language outside of

the classroom in a wide range of communicative contexts.

In conclusion, knowing more about second language acquisition will not tell the

teachers what to do in the class or what activities to design, but it will provide enough

information to help them find the right approach in teaching and understand better not only

their responsibilities but those of their students as second language learners as well.
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I.2. Second language acquisition - theories and givens

When talking about second language acquisition, we have to bear in mind that there

isn’t only one complex process that is involved but three distinct sets of processes that go on

at the same time as James F. Lee and Bill VanPatten show in their book “Making

Communicative Language Teaching Happen” (The McGraw second language professional

series, 2003). According to them, these processes are:

1. Input processing, meaning how learners understand the language they hear and

how they get “linguistic data” from it;

2. System change. This process involves two sub processes:

a) Accommodation, meaning how learners actually incorporate a grammatical form

or structure into the implicit system of the language they are creating;

b) Restructuring, meaning how the incorporation of a form or structure can cause a

ripple effect and make other things change without the learner ever knowing;

3. Output processing, meaning how learners acquire the ability to make use of the

implicit knowledge they are acquiring to produce utterances in real time, for example, during

conversational interactions or while making a presentation in the class.

It is important to point out that when learning a second language, learners construct an

implicit linguistic system, an unconscious one that lies outside of awareness, consisting of a

variety of components such as: a lexical system, a phonological system and a syntactic

system that interact in language use. However, second language learners may also have

“conscious or explicit rules: of knowledge about rules, especially if they have experienced

any classroom language leaning before, but this does not constitute the starting point for the

creation of the developing system, but the input. As VanPatten (2003) shows, the input is

“language imbedded in some kind of communicative interchange, no matter how trivial or

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how important” it may be, and the role of the learner is “to attend to the meaning in order to

respond to the content or perform a task”. The only way in which a learner can build up an

implicit linguistic system is by “getting lots of inputs” where there are embedded many subtle

clues about how the language works.

Another important element of the second language acquisition process that causes

acquisition, is the “comprehensible input” introduced by Krashen (1982) by his “Input

Hypothesis”. According to this, “acquisition occurs when one is exposed to language that is

comprehensible and that contains i+1, the “i” representing the level language already

acquired and “+1” being a metaphor for language (words, grammatical forms, aspects of

pronunciation) that is just a step beyond the level” (Spada, 2006). In Krashen’s opinion

acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules and does not

require tedious drill; acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language,

natural communication in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances

but with the messages they are conveying and understanding. In other words,

“comprehensible input” is the crucial and necessary ingredient for the acquisition of

language. Therefore, the best methods are those that supply “comprehensible input” in low

anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do

not force early production in the second language, but allow learners to produce when they

are ready, recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and

comprehensible input and not from forcing and correcting production. In the real world,

conversations with sympathetic native speakers, who are willing to help the acquirer

understand, are very helpful.

Although there are other theories that suggest that “language acquisition is a complex

process involving social, linguistic, cognitive and other factors”, the general belief s that

“comprehensible input” is a critical factor in language acquisition (Long (1990) and Glass
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(1997)), meaning that successful language acquisition cannot happen without it. Of course,

learners need more than that. As James F. Lee and Bill VanPatten point out, “learners also

need opportunities to use language in communicative interaction. Although input may be

responsible for the evolution of the language system in the learner’s mind, having to use the

language, pushes the learner to develop what we call communicative language ability.”

Another aspect of the second language acquisition process is that, although dynamic,

it happens slow and that learners pass through a number of stages of development meaning

the way in which the learner acquires in time, a particular feature of the language on a

particular structure. For example, when it comes to English, there have been identified four

stages of development for the acquisition of negation as shown in the classical example of

Ellis (1986, p. 59-60)

Stage 1: no + PHRASE

No drink.

No you playing here.

Stage 2: negator moves inside phrase; not and don’t added to list of negators, but

don’t is considered one word

I no can swim.

I don’t see nothing mop.

Stage 3: negator attached to modals but initially may be unanalyzed as is don’t in

Stage 2

I can’t play this one.

I won’t tell.

Stage 4: auxiliary system of English is developed, and learner acquires correct use of

not and contractions

He doesn’t know anything.

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I didn’t said it.

As the example shows, learners make different types of mistakes at different stages in

acquisition, which means that the learner restructure in their minds that particular structure,

meaning they “actively organize language independently of external influence”. (VanPatten,

2003) The fact that acquisition happens slowly is demonstrated by the fact that it may take a

number of years to learners to go through these stages and first language influence can cause

them to linger more in one stage than another. Furthermore, studies have shown that there is a

universal pattern of acquisition order according to which “some grammatical elements are

learned before others and progression can be observed and quantified in learners’ oral

production.” (VanPatten, 2003) When it comes to English, it has been proved that the

acquisition of morphemes tends to follow a certain order:

1- ing

2- regular past tense

3- irregular past tense

4- third person present tense -s/-es

However, some learners may fail to complete the acquisition process because they

cannot integrate the third person -s into their speech, but even those that succeed in becoming

fluent or accurate with grammar and other aspects of the language, second language learners

speak with an accent and never manage to acquire certain late stage aspects of development,

which means that most learners never become native-like in their acquisition of a second

language. This happens “either because their implicit system is nonnative - like or their

ability to use the implicit system is nonnative-like or both.” (VanPatten, 2003) Anyway, the

opinions are divided, while some scholars think that there is a critical period, a time around

puberty when learning another language is quite difficult, others believe that there is no such
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critical period at puberty, that the learning process is constantly attenuated, and that it has to

do with how much input learners get over time. (Bridsong, 1990, Harley and Wang, 1997)

When learning a second language, besides developing an implicit system, learners

must also acquire skills, a process which happens independently of the creation of the

linguistic system even though speaking must access the system in order for the learner to

express meaning. According to Pieneman’s Processability Theory (1998) “learners acquire

the procedures necessary for creating novel utterances [and that] the procedures are used to

put together linguistic elements in real time (while speaking) and exist in the mind of the

learners as mechanisms and not as knowledge (VanPatten, 2003).

In conclusion, when teaching English as a second language teachers should take into

consideration the fact that there are different processes happening and certain stages that must

be passed through by learners so they should give the students the opportunity to be exposed

to appropriate, authentic materials, to contrast communicative interactions, meaning to

interpret, express and negotiate meaning as they would do outside the classroom.
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I.3. What the stages of second language acquisition are - A short presentation

and ways to improve the skills

As teachers teaching English as a second language, we have to be able to adapt and

improve our teaching methods in order to meet the needs of our students, especially of those

in multilevel classes, who impose a greater challenge. In order to be able to design the

activities in order not only to respond to the requirements of the national curriculum but also,

most importantly, to the different needs of our students, we have to understand how second

language acquisition happens. This chapter focuses on the stages of second language

acquisition and on the ways in which teachers should approach teaching.

According to Ann E. Oliveri, an ESL teacher with more than 30 year of experience in

the field, the process of second language acquisition is a continuum one, because the person

learning a new language “progresses from no knowledge of the new language to a level of

competency closely resembling that of a native speaker.”Together with Judy Haynes, another

ESL teacher with 28 years of experience, Oliveri identifies five distinct stages of second

language acquisition, originally espoused by linguist Stephen Krashen. These stages are:

1. Silent / Receptive stage

This stage is considered to be controversial among language educators. Some believe

that at this stage, which lasts for about six weeks or longer, depending on the individual

learner, learners do not speak, they just listen to second language and observe what is going

on around them. Ana Lomba, on the other hand, thinks that “speech is fundamental in

language acquisition” and learners excel in language acquisition when they apply what they

learn as they learn it. In other words, at this stage, learners learn vocabulary and practice
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pronouncing new words. They may also get engaged in self-talks but they don’t normally

speak the language with any fluency or real understanding.

At this stage, the teacher should expose the learners to different authentic materials,

to search for different words and expressions, use communicative activities that help them

use and share the new acquired words and phrases, or they can also use total physical

response methods of teaching, asking learners to respond physically to some pictures or

visuals.

2. Early production stage

This stage may last up to six months during which learners begin to speak using short

words, simple phrases of two words and questions. However, there will be errors in their

utterances, but this is considered to be an important stage as learners gain greater

comprehension and begin reading and writing in their second language. In order to assist

learners at this stage, the teacher should simplify the content materials and focus on

vocabulary. They should also give the learners the chance to participate in some whole class

activities, group work and pair work, provide different listening activities to improve the

ability to listen and to enrich the vocabulary.

3. Speech emergence stage

At this stage learners can communicate with simple phrases and sentences using

longer words and more complicated structures. However, they still rely heavily on context

clues and familiar topics, their errors begin to decrease, specifically in repeated contexts, and

they can also start simple conversations and can understand different topics and stories read
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in the class. As a result of more language acquired, teachers should encourage learners to

read texts in different topics, to write brief stories and topics and use different communicative

activities like story-telling activities. Moreover, learners should also be given the chance to

explain their own thoughts and ideas.

4. Intermediate fluency stage

At this stage learners have a vocabulary of as many as 6,000 words so they can start

to use more complex sentences in writing and speaking. They can also express opinions and

share their thoughts as they can speak fluently with minimal errors. On the other hand, new

contexts and academic language seem to be challenging for learners due to gaps in

vocabulary, idiomatic expressions and phrases. New fields seem to be difficult for second

language learners to talk or write about as they still lack the appropriate words. In order to

improve this, learners should ask questions or clarify what they are learning in class or by

consulting a dictionary or via internet. They could also gather new vocabulary and

expressions related to these fields by reading more about them. During this stage, learners

produce errors when writing in target language due to the complexity of the target language

grammar and structures, and due to the use of native language knowledge as learners,

frequently, transfer the structures of their native language to the second language. There are

several ways to improve this: firstly by checking structures of second language, reading more

in target language in order to see how language is written and how to form correct

grammatical structures and, also, writing more in target language. Secondly, learners should

stop thinking in their native language structures when writing and speaking.
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5. Advanced fluency stage

It takes from 4 to 10 years to achieve cognitive language proficiency in second

language and at this stage learners are close to native fluency and can interact well in a

variety of situations. They also show a high level of language, oral and written production,

communicating fluently in all contexts and having the ability to maneuver when exposed to

new information. Still, they may have some accent problems and may use some idioms

incorrectly. However, they are fluent and can communicate comfortably in second language.

What learners need at this stage is to read newspapers and magazines in target language,

watch different TV channels which keep them update with new expressions and idioms

related to current issues. They can also use the internet to read about different topics and to

listen to podcasts and videos in target language.

In a multilevel class there are students at all these five stages or at least at four of

language acquisition so when designing the classes, teachers should combine or adapt a

variety of activities suitable for all students’ needs in order to motivate, engage and insure

progress.
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II. Issues in teaching English in large multilevel classes.

II.1. Advantages and disadvantages of teaching large multilevel classes

Although according to Coleman (1989) “teachers share no universal concept of the

size of the ideal, large and small classes” (p.35), in Romania classes with more than 15

students are considered large, and teaching this kind of classes effectively has always been a

concern for most teachers. Another fact that concerns teachers even more is that these classes,

besides being large, are multilevel as well, students having a variety of levels of knowledge

and skills.

This chapter focuses on issues that occur when teaching large multilevel classes,

issues that should be regarded as challenges rather than setbacks that can affect negatively the

quality of the teaching-learning process.

As the requirements of the job market impose the knowledge of at least one foreign

language, especially English, schools, high schools and universities have introduced English

as a compulsory subject in the curriculum so all students start studying it from an early age.

Although most of them start as early as kindergarten, when they reach high school they do

not master the same level of knowledge or have the same fluency, and thus the differences

between those students who speak English fluently and those who may barely be able to

introduce themselves because either they have not studied before or they have not acquired

the necessary skills despite having studied for a similar number of years as the former, are

more and more visible. According to Ur (1996) these differences that occur between learners

are:

- language learning ability;

- cultural background;
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- learning style;

- attitude to the language;

- mother tongue;

- intelligence;

- world knowledge;

- learning experience;

- knowledge of other languages;

- age of maturity;

- gender;

- personality;

- confidence;

- motivation;

- interest;

- independence;

- self-discipline;

- educational level;
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Disadvantages

a) No curriculum or materials specifically designed

When it comes to facing the challenges of multilevel classes, teachers cannot rely on

the curriculum or the materials which have been designed for homogeneous classes to help

them find ways to address to all the students in each class. It is practically impossible to teach

at an upper intermediate level when most students in a class are beginners or intermediate. In

these cases the

elementary and beginner students and even the intermediate ones will feel intimidated by the

more advanced students and will try to avoid taking part in the class activities, and,

eventually, will get bored and find something else to do like playing games on the phone or

checking their social network accounts: Facebook, Tweeter, Instagram, etc. The same thing

will happen with the advanced students if they are outnumbered by the beginners; they will

tend to do the task in their place and, eventually, will get bored and feel unchallenged if the

tasks are too easy. In order to avoid that, teachers should look for or come up with

appropriate materials for every level in the class. However, besides all these, teachers have

another challenge to face when it comes to large multilevel classes: too much material to

cover and not enough time to evaluate each student, or for students to properly acquire new

knowledge and develop the four skills.

b) Keeping all students focused

When we talk about large classes, the main question that comes first in the mind of

the teachers is: how do we keep all students focused for 50 minutes? But, when we talk about
 27

large multilevel classes, another question occurs: how do we engage all students in the class

activities for 50 minutes no matter the level of knowledge and/or skills? Keeping all students

active and involved throughout the class is a difficult task in itself during any class but it

becomes more difficult when it comes to teaching English because the teacher stands the risk

of losing the interest of either students who are advanced if the activities are designed to meet

the needs of the students with lower level of knowledge, or of the students who are at more

beginner level, if the activities are adapted to the needs of the more advanced students. Either

way, one group of students will lose focus and thus will start looking for alternate ways of

keeping their minds busy.

c) Classroom management

Another issues that teachers face when it comes to large multilevel classes, is the

classroom management. This can be a big challenge for teachers when they have to find an

effective way to control the class and to organize activities so that all students should be

engaged. This will mean more work for the teacher as oftentimes, planning and preparation

for lessons can be time-consuming, and classroom management can become exhausting and

discouraging. Moreover, it becomes difficult for the teacher to monitor classroom activities

and conduct class progress tests because he/she cannot reach all the students in order to

monitor, and they cannot have enough time for individual feedback, thus whole class

feedback might not be very effective.

However, in spite of all these issues, teaching multilevel classes has more

advantages that can help teachers, on the one hand to make classes more appealing and more

efficient, and, on the other hand, to become more efficient, strategic and more competent in

their profession.
 28

Advantages

Firstly, teaching large multilevel classes challenges teachers to improve their

teaching skills all the time and students to be more cooperative. In other words, teachers will

have to find appropriate teaching resources and materials suitable for all students’ levels in

the class and this will appeal to teachers’ imagination and capacity of understanding and

responding to all students’ needs.

Secondly, students will learn to work in groups which leads to close relationship

development with their peers who can become partners in learning, and, eventually,

independent. Moreover, students will develop their socializing skills because they will be

dealing and interacting with their classmates.

Another advantage is that students will be able to learn at their own pace so they will

be no longer in competition with one another and, besides that, they will not only learn to be

responsible for their own learning strategy and learning behaviors, but the atmosphere will

also be relaxed and students will not feel stressed and burdened.

Considering all these advantages, teachers should not feel intimidated and

discouraged anymore by large multilevel classes but they should feel challenged to find ways

and methods which will eventually help them improve themselves as professionals.
 29

II.2. General solutions for teaching large multilevel classes

As shown before, when teaching large multilevel classes, teachers face different

problems such as: insufficient student involvement or learning, inability to use a student-

centered approach, limited opportunity for learners to express themselves in English or the

difficulty in ensuring everybody’s participation in activities and, no matter how hard they

may try, they cannot avoid them but there are always solutions that can help teachers face

them and make a change for the better. Here are some suggestions about how these issues can

be approached that were classified as: 1) Materials and resources; 2) Tasks; 3) Motivation

and involvement; and 4) Classroom management.

1) Materials and resources

As most language textbooks are designed for an ideal homogeneous class and

students ‘ reaction to them differ due to their individual differences and preferred learning

styles, teachers might have difficulties finding appropriate teaching materials and resources

that fit the needs, learning styles, individual language level and interests of all students. The

possible solutions would be either to adapt some of the materials (e.g. make language

simple), design their own teaching materials or support the teaching materials with visual

stimuli (e.g. photos, pictures, videos). Teachers can also ask students to bring an item from

home to use as a talking or writing point for the class. Another suggestion is using what the

students say themselves as the input. This can be done by having students change direct

speech into indirect speech, having a student ask a question and another report orally or in

writing what first student said, or students can make statements on topics provided by the

teacher and the rest of the class write it down as student-centered dictation.
 30

2. Tasks

While planning the lessons it is very important to consider learners’ various ability

levels, age and language level and to adapt the activities to appropriate levels of difficulty.

Often the best way to approach this is to use the same basic material as a source and adapt the

related activities to several levels so that each student is doing an assignment appropriate to

his or her level. This practice is often known as “differentiated instruction” (Saldana, 2005).

“Teachers can use a variety of techniques and grouping strategies and a selection of self-

access materials to help all learners be successful, comfortable and productive for at least a

portion of each class time.” (Shank & Terrill, 1995)

The situations that can occur when these suggestions are not taken into consideration

are: either the weaker students will find the tasks too difficult and will avoid or refuse to

solve them and eventually will get bored and find something else to do or will disturb the

class, or the more advanced students will get bored and will feel unchallenged if the task is to

easy.

When it comes to speaking, students in multilevel classes, especially the beginners,

are afraid to speak up for fear they might say something stupid in front of an uncaring crowd,

or that what they say is not correct or important, or that they really have nothing useful to

contribute to. On the other hand, there are others, more advanced, that can be pushy and

willing to express their thoughts and ideas in the target language. As a result some students

will participate actively while others will not. In these cases recycling and reinforcement

would be essential in multilevel classes where some students are racing ahead while others

are in great need of meaningful review. In other words teachers should provide the kinds of

activities that will offer the much needed review of those who need it, while keeping the

more advanced learners involved and interested. Moreover, the teacher should not only try to
 31

stimulate the thinking of those who are less interested, while stretching the thinking of those

already involved, but they should also assign writing tasks as writing tasks reinforces spoken

language and through sentence writing students reinforce grammatical structures, as well as

vocabulary.

Other suggestions that would address these challenges would be to vary the level of

tasks, include open-ended tasks which help learners work at their own pace and encourage

learner collaboration meaning that students work alone and then in pars or groups and share

and complete what they couldn’t do.

3. Motivation and involvement

Every student has individual interests and needs which form their attitude to the

subject matter and/or the teacher. The problem that occurs is that some students might find

the lesson boring because the topic is not familiar to their own life or interests, while others

are challenged and interested. In this case the teacher should try to get to know the learners,

their language level and interests making surveys and questionnaires. In order to make sure

that every student participates in some way in the lesson, teachers should organize more pair

work and group work activities which involve more students at the same time, find out the

preferred learning style of everyone and plan activities that suit different “intelligences”. Pace

is another important consideration when addressing student motivation and involvement. It is

important to ensure tasks for students who finish early and create activities for students who

require extra time. Also, it is important to consider individualization, which allows

personalization, choice, and open tasks that can inspire motivation and lead to activation. Ur

(1996) describes individualization as a situation in which learners are given the freedom to

choose what they learn and adopt or select tasks and materials which suit them as individuals,
 32

(p. 233) meaning that there should be created opportunities for students to work on projects

of interest to them as well as chances to exercise language at their own level of competence.

However, Hess (2001) points out that there are a few important things to remember: it is not

necessary to hear everything said or read everything written, students should talk about issues

of importance to them and there should be activities with many choices of expression. Some

suggested topics and themes that might be of interest to students include: People I admire,

Places / Dreams I have, How I feel now, Friendship, Favorite things, Shopping, Travel,

Eating out, Careers, Movies, etc.

4. Classroom management

In large multilevel classes students work with different pace and those who are

more advanced cope quickly with the tasks or get impatient when the teacher has to repeat an

explanation while those that have a lower level of knowledge and skills complete tasks more

slowly. In order to cope with these issues teachers should help students learn to respect

diversity in terms of skills and abilities, to prepare additional activities for quick students who

finish earlier, or delegate some remedial work to fast learners by asking them to repeat an

explanation, write the new words on the board, share their personal opinion on the task, etc.

When it comes to efficiently organizing the class in order to avoid those cases when students

might get bored and become impatient and even disturb the class, to ensure progress and

involvement for all students, organizing students in small groups of four or five is the answer

as group work enables them to learn from one another. When working in small groups,

students have the chance to practice oral fluency, they are also less intimidated and once they

become familiar with the procedure, they usually enjoy sharing ideas and practicing new

language structures in this format. Moreover, it is important to set up and follow rules of
 33

conduct, policies, routines and procedure in a fairly predictable way. This gives the students a

sense of stability and security. Once such solutions are functioning properly instructions need

not to be repeated as often, student responsibility increases and the entire process of teaching

and learning works more smoothly.

 34

II.3. Methods for meeting the varied student needs of a multilevel class

As I argued before, one of the biggest challenges of an ESL teacher is teaching

multilevel classes as two of the main concerns are how to hold everyone’s interest and how to

meet everyone’s needs, no matter the level. In order to cope with these two issues, there are

some suggestions that can help teachers in their teaching process.

a) Needs of assessment

First of all, when meeting the students for the first time, teachers should try to find out

what students want to learn and are interested in. If most in a class are career-oriented, for

example, the focus should be on vocabulary needed for career success. For example,

academic English vocabulary is full of Latin root words such as “obese” that are different

from the more Anglo-Saxon roots of conversational English, such as “fat”. It is this

vocabulary that students need to acquire in order to succeed in college classes for later

professional success. However, needs assessment with English language learners is important

as it examines the following aspects from the perspective of the learner:

- English language proficiency;

- native language literacy;

- literacy contexts in which the learner lives;

- learner need for native language translation;

- learner wants and needs for functioning in specific contexts;

- learner expectations from the instructional program.

 35

It is also important to mention that the needs assessment process focuses and builds

on learners’ accomplishments and abilities rather than deficits, allowing learners to articulate

and display what they already know (Holt & Van Duzer, 2000). It can influence material

selection, on the one hand, and on the other hand it can be used to determine course content,

to make program changes and to plan future directions for the learners and the program.

(Marshall, 2002)

Needs assessment may take many forms and may be carried out at different times

during the instructional process. Whatever the format and focus, the basic purpose is to

determine what learners want and need to learn. When learners know that the teachers

understand and want to address their needs and interests, they are motivated to continue and

to learn.

b) Skills assessment

English is such an important skill in the global world, and needed in so many different

contexts, that someone without a good ability in all four skills will greatly reduce the

opportunities open to them in education and professional life. That is why, in addition to

needs assessment, a skills assessment should be done by an informal interview, asking

students about their background, which will help teachers find out what students’ levels are.

When designing tests for assessing the four skills, teachers should take into consideration the

fact that learners’ development of the four skills can be unbalanced, for example, a learner

could be strong in reading but be weak in listening or writing or speaking. Research has

suggested that the ability to speak is distinct from the ability to read/listen/write (Powers

2010, Sawaki, 2009). Therefore, a proficient reader/writer/listener may not necessarily be a

proficient speaker. The results of this assessment can help in grouping students. Sometimes it

makes sense to group students of similar ability levels, such as when doing a listening
 36

comprehension task; other times, however, such as when engaged in discussion, students can

be grouped across levels.

c) Themes

When it comes to multilevel classes using a core textbook can become complicated

and multilevel textbooks are difficult to come by so another option is to use a theme based

approach. Keeping all students working on activities and lessons based on the same theme is

a great way of maintaining a class-like atmosphere in a multilevel classroom. In other words,

the class should be build around the themes that are of interest for the students, with easier

materials for the lower levels and harder for the higher levels. This will not only help students

feel like they all belong in the group, but it will also save preparation time and make the

teacher feel more organized. Follow up activities, such as games and discussions can then be

based on the theme chosen.

d) Planning carefully

It is crucial to have enough activities for each of the levels, or flexible activities, with

different material for students at different levels of English acquisition. So, while a beginning

student could be working on vocabulary related to college life, for example, a more advanced

student could be writing a paragraph or essay on the same topic.

e) Proper approach

In larger classes, students may be grouped by level or in heterogeneous groups.

Teachers may find that cross-ability pair work is best for certain types of activities, while

like-ability small group work is better for others. If possible, a wide variety of groupings
 37

should be used for keeping things interesting for the class. Activities may be started by

discussing them in general with the class as a whole: the topic of “family”, for example then

the students should be allowed to offer comments as they wish at the beginning then break

into leveled groups for learning vocabulary words related to family, for example, for lower

levels; higher levels can do a more advanced reading on the topic.

f) Variety of strategies and activities

When it comes to teaching English to multilevel classes, teachers should include in

the teaching process a variety of modalities and strategies such as: visuals, stories and

movies. These are amazing tools in a multi-level class because a variety of students at

different levels will relate to and gain something from them. Showing a movie, for example,

provides opportunity for a variety of activities. If the movie can be shown with closed

caption, in English, this helps students’ reading skills. Higher level students can write reviews

and engage in discussions about the movies; lower level students can focus more on short

oral and written summaries.

A variety of activities for different language skills should be included within a class.

This is a way to meet the needs of all students, from the student who needs work on basic

literacy to the student who wants to work on more advanced pronunciation.

Referring back to the themes list, the class may start out with an activity such as a

visual that all students will benefit from: a provocative picture from a recent news magazine,

for example, or a picture of an abstract painting. Students should first discuss the visual as a

whole class, and then the higher level students may write their interpretation of the visual

while the instructor can help the lower level students with vocabulary and grammar.

Language experience, in which students dictate a story related to the theme, and the

teacher or another student writes it on the board, is also a useful approach involving a variety
 38

of skills and levels. Again, move from a broader topic and break it down by pronunciation,

grammar, and vocabulary. This also presents an opportunity for teachers to mix up groupings,

from heterogeneous to level based to skilled based.

g) Assign projects

Projects are a great way for all students to be able to participate at a level that is

comfortable yet also challenging for them. For example, in the project of setting up a class

website, the students with excellent literacy and computer skills may find themselves in a

leadership role that challenges them to use their speaking skills more, skills they are not so

sure of. The students who are just learning English may also participate by posting their

profiles to the site. Projects are a good way for everyone to participate, develop English

skills, and make friends.

h) Peer tutoring

A multilevel class provides a great opportunity for peer tutoring, where students

work in pairs, with one tutoring the other. Students with strong reading skills could be

matched with students strong in speaking skills, and they could assist each other.

i) Drama

Finally, drama is an activity that all students in a multilevel classroom can benefit

from. In completing the class project of a short play, the upper level students can write the

scripts, and the lower-level students can participate in minor roles while students with

stronger speaking skills can take the major roles.

No matter what the challenges may be, teachers have to be flexible, to accommodate

not only to different levels of English learning but also to different language skills and
 39

instructional methods. With flexibility, however, teaching the multilevel class can be very

rewarding.
 40

III. Formal, informal and non-formal education - What is the perfect combination

of achieving progress in a multilevel class?

For many years formal learning has been viewed as valid and only learning that took

place in accredited institutions and verified by grades and transcripts was considered credible.

Non formal and informal education systems were discounted or assumed to be merely an

addition to a “proper” education and the fact that an informal or non-formal learning

experience might give the learner an opportunity to experience authentic language in a real

context that may enrich his or her learning experience in a way that cannot be achieved by

using a textbook, has traditionally not been given much regard.

The situation has changed in the 21st century when more and more non-formal and

informal types of learning have been acknowledged and valued. According to the report

released by Alberta Education in December 20th, 2007, learning of all types helps to create

“vibrant communities” putting an emphasis on the value of lifelong learning, community-

based learning.

The focus of this chapter is to outline the importance of all three types of education

and their approaches in the process of teaching-learning, especially when it comes to large

multilevel classes.
 41

III.1. Formal education. Is it still efficient today?

Although considered to be limited by teachers and learners, formal education cannot

be excluded from the teaching-learning process as formal education plays a vital role in

shaping a person’s behavior and personality.

Before focusing on the benefits of formal education and the efficiency of formal

methods, a definition of the term is required.

According to the definition given by I. Jinga, formal (or official) education is

“institutionalized education, hierarchically structured, chronologically graded, led by the

center” (Jinga, 2000). As common characteristics, apart from its institutional character,

formal education is performed through the educational process, which involves a set plan, a

national syllabus, textbooks, schedules, evaluations and the presence and action of

specialized teaching staff. Formal education is consciously organized, systematic,

institutionalized, regulated, coordinated and planned, the expression of an education policy

with common goals. Formal education is well organized and structured, implies explicit

didactic projection, defined objectives and resource allocation, it takes place in an

institutional framework it has a determined duration.

In spite of the fact that in the last century the importance of formal education has

diminished to the detriment of non-formal and informal education, formal education still has

some benefits that should be outlined. Besides enabling decision-making skills, it also instills

a sense of right and wrong among students so that when they reach a certain age they are well

prepared to take on the stiff challenges that life and other factors present.

Formal education is not only about studying but also about following a particular

routine on a daily basis which enables the students to complete their academic activities

within the specified deadlines. It creates a disciplined mindset among students as to follow
 42

the activities following a particular patter. Besides that, a healthy competition is allowed

among students as the desire to get ahead and do the best in terms of various academic

activities among individual students enable them to compete in a healthy way.

Another important aspect is that, on the one hand, formal education teaches students

to set individual goals to achieve and, on the other hand, it broadens their horizon and enables

them to think and create opportunities where they can succeed. Moreover, formal education

provides a structured life to individual students, preparing them for the future.

When it comes to formal methods, a study carried out by the National Institute of

Economic and Social Research in London concluded that students learn information-heavy

subjects such as mathematics best when taught with formal methods, but when it comes to

foreign languages, informal and non-formal approaches are better suited. However, when

teaching grammar rules and vocabulary, teachers usually use a teacher-centered approach, the

teacher being the main authority figure that passes knowledge and information while the

students are viewed as “empty vessels” who passively receive information (via lectures and

direct instructions) with an end goal of testing and assessment. This approach is more

efficient in meeting the needs of beginner students who need to acquire basic vocabulary,

grammar and skills but not only them. One of the most useful methods, if used appropriately,

is “drills” which can be: repetition drills, substitution drills or question and answer drills. All

these are used when introducing new language items (repetition drills), when practicing

different structures (substitution drills) or when practicing common adjacency pairs such as

“What’s the matter?” “I’ve got a headache.” or “Can I have a pen, please?” “Yes, here you

are.” Although in all drills learners have no or very little choice over what is said, drills being

a form of very controlled practice and the focus being on accuracy, they can be very useful

for both learners and teachers.

For learners “drill” can:

 43

- provide a focus on accuracy when is needed at certain stages of the lesson or

during certain task types;

- provide learners with intense practice in hearing and saying particular words

and phrases. They can help learners get their language around difficult sounds or help them

imitate intonation that may be rather different form that of their first language;

- provide a safe environment for learners to experiment with producing the

language. This may help build confidence, particularly among learners who are not risk

takers;

- help students notice the correct form of pronunciation of a word or phrase;

- provide an opportunity for learners to get immediate feedback on their

accuracy in terms of teacher or peer correction. Many learners want to be corrected.

- help memorization and atomization of common language patterns and

language chunks which may be true for aural learners;

- meet students’ expectations.

For the teacher “drill” can:

- help in terms of classroom management, enabling them to vary the pace of the

lesson or to get all learners involved;

- help teachers recognize if new language is causing problems in terms of form

or pronunciation.

As drills are nothing but monotonous chanting of decontextualized language, in order

to make them meaningful, teachers should pay attention to certain aspects when they use

them. Firstly, learners need to understand what they are being asked to say so they should

work on the meaning of the language before drilling. Secondly, drilling should follow a

language focus stage if spoken language is dealt with or after a fluency task as a correction

strategy. However this method should not be used too much because it can lead to boredom
 44

and it is likely to become useless. In my practice I use this method as a part of a game called

“Battle Ships” which will be fully described alongside with it applications in the final chapter

of this paper, when the focus is on teaching grammar structures and on accuracy.

When talking about formal education we cannot ignore the drawbacks which make so

many scholars and educators prefer the informal and non-formal education systems. Firstly, it

focuses on performance and it has a predisposition to subjectivity in evaluation, and its

methods are teacher-centered and all these create a stressful, competitive environment where

mistakes are not allowed. Secondly, formal education is insufficient as it cannot take over all

the educational functions of our society. Taking into consideration the principle of lifelong

learning, formal education is complementary to the other forms of education: non-formal and

informal as formal education by itself cannot cope with the needs of the students.

Postmodernist theories highlight the expansion of non-formal and informal education which

takes over some tasks of formal education, diversifying activities and stimulating the

motivation of the participants to a greater extent.

 45

III.2. Informal education. How can teachers use it in the class?

We live in a continuingly changing world and the education and the way people learn

and are taught are changing, too, trying to keep pace with the demands and needs of the

society we live in.

As Coffield (2000) observes, most people tend to learn on informal basis although

learning is often associated with formal learning institutions. He claims that informal learning

is as important as formal learning and that it is “fundamental, necessary and valuable in its

own right.” (p.8)

By definition, informal learning is “that learning which goes on outside a formal

learning environment such as a school, a college or a university. Informal education can be

seen as “learning that goes on in daily life and/or learning projects that we undertake for

ourselves.” (Smith, 2009) In other words, it is the spontaneous process of obtaining

knowledge about the things we are surrounded with and people obtain this kind of education

through exploration, experiences and conversations.

Just like formal education, the informal one has some benefits for both learners and

teachers. One of the biggest advantages is the freedom to explore. With this freedom the

student is encouraged to maintain the in born curiosity which people tend to lose as they get

older and which motivates learners to learn more making thus the teaching-learning process

easier. With informal education the students are inspired to learn for the sake of learning

unlike the formal education where students learn for the sake of good grades. When students

are taught to gain and show their knowledge in a more relaxed environment, the test anxiety

is kept at bay, the educational process is more engaging and the learners are curious and

attentive.
 46

Another benefit of informal education is that both students and teachers are

expanding their horizons. Neither students nor teachers can afford to resist the technological

and cultural evolution so slowly, but surely, the educational system is giving up full control

over students knowledge and values the role of informal learning producing more creative

students who think for themselves and use the new technology not only as a source of

information but also as a means of sharing and spreading knowledge.

When it comes to teaching English, students should experience both formal and

informal learning. Although informal language learning, particularly with regard to second

and foreign language, has met skepticism from some scholars and educators who question the

value of a learning experience that does not involve grammar and written textbooks, informal

learning might give the learner the opportunity to experience authentic language in real life

context that may enrich the learner’s language learning in a way that cannot be achieved by

using a textbook. (Eaton, 2010, p.18) So, when it comes to organizing activities for the class,

the teacher should use articles from newspaper or magazines, videos or pictures. In my

practice I use my students’ passion for movies and ask them to write down, as part of the

portfolio, all the phrases, words or lines they liked from the movies or TV series they enjoy

watching. This helps them to improve their listening and reading skills (they have to watch

with English subtitle) and their vocabulary as well. When teaching in the class, I often use

videos and pictures as a starting point for conversations, debates or writing tasks. Besides

these, in order to discover my students' background and informal activities for language

learning, as well as their interest in studying English, I apply a questionnaire at the beginning

of the 9th grade.

 47

How often do you do the following activities?

Nr. Activity very often often never

1. Read newspapers and/or magazines

2. Read books in English

3. Read WebPages (e.g. blogs, reports, articles, etc.)

4. Watch TV programs in English

5. Watch movies and/or TV series on line with English

subtitle

6. Watch documentaries

7. Listen to English radio stations

8. Write to students and/or pen friends in English

9. Speak to English speaking people from other countries

10. Write on the web/play games

Informal education has some drawbacks though. Firstly, there is no one to offer

feedback so the learner cannot be sure he or she is developing in the right direction.

Secondly, there is no correction and in terms of assessment, the disadvantage is that using

the information from informal assessment in today’s classrooms has led to the

current struggle some teachers face in differentiating lessons and adjusting to

grouping students for specific instruction. Because of the need for additional

planning and assessment time, many educators are unable to use informal

assessments as they are intended to be used. In spite of these disadvantages ,

 48

informal education has a lot of benefits that can help learners make greater

progress so it should be an integrated part of the educational system.

 49

III.3. Non-formal education. The importance of non-formal education in the

teaching-learning process.

Non-formal education is seen by many tutors as the “ideal” form of education, far

better in all respects than formal education whereas others see it as a sub-system of education,

certainly not superior or as inferior as formal schooling. Either way it may be seen, non-

formal education is an addition, alternative and/or a complement to formal education within

the process of the lifelong learning of individuals or, as Tight (1996, p.68) points out, it is

about “acknowledging the importance of education, learning and training which takes place

outside recognized educational institution.”

Although it is hard to define it, a generally accepted definition would be that non-

formal education is an education apart from formal institutions which is organized (even if it

is only loosely organized) and may or may not be guided by a formal curriculum. This type of

education may be lead by a qualified teacher or by a leader with, more experience. Though it

does not result in a formal degree or diploma, non-formal education is highly enriching and

builds an individual’s skills and capacities. It is often considered more engaging as the

learner’s interest is a driving force behind their participation.

The main characteristics of this type of education are, as Fordham (1993) suggested:

1. relevance to the needs of disadvantaged groups;

2. concern with specific categories of persons;

3. a focus on clearly defined purposes;

4. flexibility in organization and methods.

More broadly characterized, non-formal education promotes the learning of essential

skills and competences, students gaining commitment, involvement, empathy, intercultural

awareness, self-esteem, pride, respect, motivation, tolerance, confidence and creativity.

 50

Intellectually, students learn and practice leadership, teamwork, cooperation and public

speaking. It is a rich system with flexibility and resources that engages students and supports

their interest and motivation outside of schools. When combined with the formal education it

can bring a lot of benefits for both teachers and students as it represents an effective method

of communication being a powerful instrument of social integration. Another benefit that has

to be mentioned is that students have the opportunity to practice and develop decision-

making skills on the one hand and on the other hand to develop interpersonal skills as they

learn how to interact with peers. Motivation will increase when lessons are more applied and

contextual, when they experience and understand the notability of learning contexts, when

they have authentic experiences while experimenting. When it comes to learning activities,

these are focused on concrete doing and not on learning theory; they are designed according

to the students’ needs as students are actively involved in identifying needs and finding

solutions. Learners represent a valuable resource, they are encouraged to access, practice and

reflect on their learning; on the other hand, they are partners in the learning process, they

cooperate with each other, they learn from each other and with each other. In the non-formal

education system the student is in the center of the learning process, the focus being on

communicative activities and the methods and objectives being adapted to the students’ needs

and interests.

In my practice I have noticed that students learn better when they communicate

meaningfully in a friendly, non-threatening environment because, as Illich (1972) underlines

in his book “Deschooling Society”, “learning is the human activity which least needs

manipulation by others. Most learning is not the result of instruction; it is the result of

unhampered participation in a meaningful setting.” Considering this, one of my top priorities

when organizing my classes is to ensure a relaxed and friendly atmosphere where all students

feel encouraged and free to communicate and where mistakes are seen as a means of learning.
 51

Concerning the activities, I always design them according to the students’ needs and interests

and I try to find topics they can react to and are more likely to natural reactions and lively

discussions. Although I use a variety of non-formal activities such as: picture stories, role

plays, brainstorming, etc. games are frequently integrated in almost all my lessons. A more

detailed presentation of the efficiency of games in the teaching-learning process will be

presented in the 4th chapter of this paper. However, non-formal education has two aspects that

could be perceived as disadvantages. Its too large flexibility (including the flexibility of the

methods used) can act as a double-edged knife; it leads to reaching short-term objectives that

are not sustainable in the long run. It is particularly because of this that it is so difficult to

implement a recognition system of the competencies acquired in this way.

Still, this should not be discouraging, but, on the contrary, it should stimulate

teachers to find solutions to make the best of its use in the class.
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III.4. Non-formal education - European and Romanian contexts

School is the basis of the educational system, this is the undeniable truth, but

education gains new meanings and it is not just school alone that is responsible for it. The

integration of the non-formal education into the educational system is one of the current

concerns of our society.

As shown before, non formal education is gaining more and more ground because of

the benefits and the efficiency of its methods. Unlike formal methods that are teacher-

centered, in the process of non-formal education the main actors are the learners/participants

and the experiential learning is the key element, since the learners are involved directly and

actively, and the competencies they already have represent an important ingredient with the

help of which they can learn from each other, peer to peer. In order for a process of non-

formal learning to be of high quality, as Peter Lauritzen, the coordinator of the Youth

Department in the Directorate for Youth and Sport from the Council of Europe, concluded, it

has to:

- have clear aims and objectives;

- have proper physical and material learning means;

- have trained personnel;

- be focused on the learner;

- be focused on identifying solutions;

- use a variety of methods;

- be a balance between individual and group learning;

- allocate a proper period of time for learning, relaxing, as well as individual

time;
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- create a space for socializing and reflection on the way it influences the

learning process;

- allow time for self-reflection;

- evaluate the progress and the difficulties that come up;

- be evaluated individually and at the group level.

Although non-formal learning does not seem to depend much on specific institutions

and legal arrangements, its social acceptance and professional recognition obviously depends

on them.

In the last decade, all over Europe many efforts have been made for recognition and

integration of the non-formal education system into the formal one. Several steps have been

undertaken with the aim of pointing out the complementarities between formal and non-

formal education, of creating validation and of allocating the necessary resources. This

attempt to create a common approach at European level is, nevertheless, based on quite

different national contexts.

If in France, extracurricular activities are extremely well developed by the State

itself, in Lithuania, non-formal education is seen as part of the state policy, as the element

that develops young people’s social competencies. The declared aim of non-formal education

is to educate intelligent individuals that are capable of producing creative and feasible

solutions and getting involved in public life. The complementarity between formal, non-

formal and informal education is regulated by the law of education. In the Netherlands they

have, in their turn, a long tradition of non-formal education, which is generally regarded as

young people’s leisure time. Many of the youth activities develop in partnership with schools

and lately the focus on young people’s participation in public life. Another European country

that has a national strategy on youth, whose major component is non-formal education, is

Poland. However, there are other countries where a recognition system has been implanted
 54

like Youth Award Scheme in UK that focuses on recognizing abilities and competences

gained, ProfilPass in Germany which, even though not part of the official, formal system,

records the competences gained in other educational contexts, or Denmark that has already

implemented an online system in which each citizen records competencies gained as a result

of different activities. In terms of promotion and recognition of non-formal education,

Romania begins to line up with small, but significant steps, with the general European

context. Non-formal education activities that focus on acquiring skills and

professional/personal abilities outside the formal education system have gained increasing

importance lately.

Similar to what happens at European level, the concept of “non-formal education” has

not yet a generally accepted and recognized definition in Romania. This generates difficulties

when it comes to integrating the concept of non-formal education into other forms of

education, especially formal education. The non-formal education is not regulated separately,

by means of specific legislation. This type of education falls under the stipulations that refer

to the education field in general.

On the strategic priorities mentioned in the national strategy for developing secondary

education refers to the necessity of creating a complementary relation between formal,

informal and non-formal education. Another priority direction in Romania, according to the

national strategy for sustainable development, is promoting the principle of lifelong learning.

One priority of integrated or separated strategies concerning education in Romania is

granting universal and continuous access to learning, in order to build and update

competencies necessary for a steady participation in the society development. Building these

competencies will be accomplished both by formal education projects, as well as by

supporting and validating competencies acquired in non-formal and informal contexts

designed for various age and social groups. Another stated priority refers to creating specific
 55

validation mechanisms for the competencies acquired in non-formal and informal learning

contexts.

Despite these guidelines, non-formal education is still perceived in a parallel, rather

than in a complementary relation to formal education. Research in this field is rarely

systematic. The accreditation and certification policy, through which the role of education

and training organisms is recognized, irrespective of the systems they belong to, is

incoherent. The only way non-formal content gains some space in the compulsory education

is through the so-called optional subjects that are generally decided upon by teachers, rather

than students.

Presently, the development level of non-formal education does not allow a systematic

planning of activities, since there is no mechanism to evaluate the needs of the participants.

In addition to that, no one keeps track of the activities of non-formal education or of their

beneficiaries. There is no database of the stakeholders that offer non-formal education

activities/services on topics of interest for various age groups.

At European level, the activities of non-formal education are realized by trainers,

facilitators, volunteers, peer educators that have gained competencies, abilities and

certificates in certain fields of study. Therefore, non-formal education is implemented by

qualified individuals.

In Romania, non-formal education activities are generally developed by

nongovernmental organizations - associations, foundations, federations, unions, alone or in

partnership with institutions of primary, secondary and tertiary education and with public

local bodies.

Likewise, non-formal education is an objective for other institutions/organizations

that develop educational activities on themes such as: personal development, participation,

education for a healthy lifestyle.

 56

The ministries, especially the Ministry of Education, Research and Innovation, the

Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Labor, are organisms that deal, up to a

certain point, with non-formal education, by giving regulations, elaborating strategies etc.

Within youth clubs and children’s palaces, the non-formal education process is

random and unstructured. The offer of non-formal activities is based on the material and

human resources available in these institutions.

Therefore, in order to develop in an integrated and smooth way, education needs

cooperation and partnership between several stakeholders: central and local authorities, the

educational sector, the private sector, mass-media, the national and international

nongovernmental sector, the local communities etc.

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III.4. Conclusions

Although some may be tempted to think that formal education is sufficient or that

informal and non-formal education systems are more efficient, only combining these three

types of education can we, as teachers, assure excellence and achievement for our students.

As shown in this chapter, educating students is not only the task of schools. The

successful conduct of life and social integration depend on what the students learn in all

environments. What they learn in a non-formal or informal environment may be different

from what they learn in a formal environment and vice-versa, but these forms of education

complete one another and work towards the students’ benefit. Non-formal and informal

activities are complementary to the formal education system, have a participative and learner-

centered approach, are carried out on a voluntary basis and therefore are connected to the

students’ needs, interests and aspirations. In non-formal education the process is a

communicative and cooperative activity where students, together with others acquire

knowledge. Communicative activities are what students need in order to gain self-trust and

become successful. Learning cannot be limited exclusively to formal processes taking place

in schools and universities, learning goes on in daily life and also comprises, besides the

formal one, informal and non-formal processes. Learning lasts a lifetime and is not tied only

to formal institutions so none of the forms of education can be neglected; all are contributing

to the formation and development of the students’ personality.

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IV. Non- formal methods - a solution for teaching English efficiently in

multilevel classes

As presented in the previous chapters, the learning process takes place in different

environments as there are different types of learning from which the most efficient one is the

non-formal type as not only does it happen in a stress free, non-competitive, friendly

environment, but it also focuses on the needs and interests of the learners, enhancing

motivation and efficiency.

The fact that non-formal education does not lead to accreditation and certification yet,

does not make it less efficient or preferred by educators and scholars, on the contrary, in the

last couple of years more and more teachers have become interested in being trained how to

use non-formal methods in their approach to teaching different subjects in schools in order to

motivate their students, to develop their skills and competencies in order to prepare them for

the demands and needs of the society, and to make the learning-teaching process more

appealing and efficient.

In terms of large multilevel classes where students have different learning

background, different levels of knowledge as well as a lot of gaps in their knowledge, the best

and most efficient way to approach these issues and to ensure involvement and progress for

all students is using non-formal methods. As shown in the previous chapter, the use of only

non-formal methods would not be possible in a formal education system but combined

appropriately with formal and informal methods benefits can occur for both students and

teachers.

One of the biggest advantages of these non-formal methods is that they are very

flexible and used creatively they can be adapted to address all levels, topics, students’ needs

and interests.
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The focus of this chapter is to present a few non-formal methods that can be used, as

they are or adapted, in teaching English in large multilevel classes.

Storytelling

Human knowledge is based on stories and the human brain consists of cognitive

machinery necessary to understand, remember and tell stories. Because storytelling requires

auditory and visual senses from listeners, one can learn to organize their mental

representation of a story, recognize structure of language and express his/her thought.

(McKeough A., 2008)

There are two ways of using storytelling in the class, either in the form of literature or

in the form of writing stories. In both cases there are two main dimensions in which stories

can add to learning in the whole school curriculum:

1. Stories can be used to reinforce conceptual development in students;

2. Stories are means of developing learning, reinforcing thinking strategies

(comparing, classifying, predicting, problem-solving, hypothesizing, planning, etc.),

developing strategies for learning English (guessing the meaning of new words, training the

memory, self-testing, and so on) and developing study skills (making and learning to use

dictionaries, organizing work, etc.)

However, there are a number of good reasons for using storytelling in language class

among which there is the potential to nurture emotional intelligence and caring

communication, and the fact that stories provide models for rich, natural language and a

variety of different registers. There are also important advantages of storytelling that can be

summarized as following:
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- Stories are motivating and fun and can help develop passive attitudes towards

the foreign language and language learning. They can create a desire to continue learning.

- Stories exercise the imagination. All students can become personally involved

in a story as they identify with the characters, and try to interpret the narrative and

illustrations. This imaginative experience helps develop their own creative powers.

- Listening to stories in a class is a shared social experience. Reading and

writing are other individual activities. Storytelling provokes a shared response of laughter,

sadness; excitement and anticipation which is not only enjoyable but can help build up

students’ confidence and encourage social and emotional development.

- Listening to stories also develops the student’s listening and concentrating

skills via either visual clues (pictures and illustrations), or their prior knowledge of how

language works, or their general knowledge.

- It allows the teacher to introduce or revise new vocabulary and sentence

structures by exposing the students to language in varied, memorable and familiar contexts

which will enrich their thinking and gradually enter their own speech.

When selecting a text that will be used in the class, unless the textbook provides it,

various factors should be taken into consideration such as the age and conceptual level of

learners, their needs and interests, their language level and previous language learning

experience, and the degree of difficulty of language and activities. There are many authentic

story books written for English speakers which are also suitable for those learning English.

These story books provide examples of “real” language and help to bring the real world into

the classroom. There is a large variety from which teachers can choose starting with those

that students are familiar with in their mother tongue, such as traditional stories, picture

stories with non text where the students build up the story together, rhyming stories,

cumulative stories with predictable endings, humorous stories, stories with infectious
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rhythms, everyday stories, fantasy stories, animal stories, etc. however, there are cases when

the teacher has to provide the story to the class and a story form a story book is too long to

cover it in one class so another alternative would be to use story articles (https://www.really-

learn-english.com/english-reading-practice-article-moral-stories-14-comic-book.html) that

can be adapted if the language is too complicated for the students level, or can look for

abridged versions of the story that the teacher wants to use. Either way, in order to make the

stories more accessible, the teacher should check the unfamiliar content of words, idioms,

clarity, tenses (if too many, they can be simplified), use of structure (the story may use

several structures but the teacher may wish to emphasize one or reduce the number of

structures), word order (in stories sometimes the word order differ from everyday use in order

to create more dramatic effect, for example “down came the rain”), sentence length and

complexity ( a long sentence may need shortening by splitting it into two sentences or it may

be needed for new words to be added or actions to be mimed to make the meaning more

explicit), time references (if the sequence of events is not clean, time makers should be added

such as: first, then, the next day, etc), the way ideas are linked and the way ideas are

explained (if there is a lot of narrative, more direct speech would make the story easier to

follow).

When using the method as a whole class activity, there are chances that most of the

students, especially the beginners or more advanced ones, to lose focus at one point and to

not be engaged anymore. In order to avoid this, the storytelling can be used as a group

activity with split tasks for all students.

In my practice I use this method by assigning tasks especially designed for all

students’ levels, in order to keep them engaged and motivated, as following: the text is split

in paragraphs and each group receives one alongside with a worksheet. Inside the group, each

student has a task according to their level of knowledge: the weaker students are in charge
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with checking and looking up new words and phrases in a dictionary and writing them down.

The more advanced students will have to write the summary and present it to the class. In

term of working on the worksheet, each student answers the questions appropriate for his/her

level, for example questions like: “Who is the main character?”, “Where does the action take

place?”, “When does the action take place?” for beginners, “What do you think it will happen

next?” for more advanced students.

As a small project, students can be asked to design a poster using drawings and their

own words to retell the story or a PPT. when the class level allows, debates can be conducted

in order to develop the students’ speaking skills. One of the texts that I use as a starting point

for debates, especially with the 12th graders, is an excerpt from Rebecca Skloot’s book “The

Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”. This excerpt covers a lot of themes that can be debated

on from ethics to religion and racism.

There are many other ways in which texts or stories can be used in teaching English,

mainly as a source of vocabulary and “real” language structures, but it depends on the

creativity of the teacher and on the students’ interests and needs. One of these ways of using

this method as a means of developing the students’ creativity and imagination, to practice

new vocabulary and/or new grammar structures, is to ask students to create their own story.

Designed as a group activity, story writing ensures all students’ participation keeping them

engaged and motivated if the task is according to their level of knowledge. Whenever I aim at

reinforcing the use of new vocabulary or the use of past tenses, or any other grammar

structures, I use the storytelling as fallowing: in groups, each student gets a different task

according to their level of knowledge and in the end they have to put all part together in order

to create their story. At the beginning, all students brainstorm for ideas concerning the

characters, the plot and settings. The beginners will write about characters, the setting,

whereas the more advanced ones will write about the plot. The beginners can also make a list
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of adjectives and liking words that the group needs for their story; in this way all students get

involved actively in the activity.

When the students are more advanced, this method can be used as following: each

group will have to write the beginning of a story that starts with “Once upon a time there

was…..” After they write about the characters and the setting, each group passes the story

around for the other groups to continue it up to the climax then the stories pass around again

for writing the finish. At the end of the activity students are asked if the ending they received

from their peers is any different from the ending they had in mind for their story. This is also

a means of practicing peer correction as the students have to correct the stories before they

continue them.

As a whole class activity used for practicing conditionals, for example, chain story is

a very effective way not only to engage all students but also to offer them the opportunity to

use new acquired knowledge with what they already know, developing their writing skills as

well. The story starts with a sentence written by the teacher: “If I win the lottery, I will buy a

car.” The students pass around the paper randomly, rewriting the second part of the previous

phrase as an “if” clause adding their own ideas (for example, “If I buy a car, I will go to the

seaside.”) and then folding the paper so that only their sentence be visible to the next student.

In the end, he teacher or one volunteer can read the sentences as a story. Another way of

using “chain story” is to assign each group to write their four or five sentence story using

certain adjective, words or grammar structures. The story starts with “once upon a time there

was…” and each student writes their own sentence about the main character, the setting, the

plot up to the climax and the ending. This can also serve as a plan for writing their own story,

adding characters, events and changing the ending as a homework assignment for advanced

students, and a poster with drawings or pictures, as a comic book, for less advanced students.
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There are, of course, other ways to use this method and this proves just how flexible

it can be and the variety of notions that can be taught or reinforced alongside with developing

the reading, writing or listening skills.

Photo Voice

Originally, this non-formal method was created to in order to be used as a mean of

expressing opinions, of pointing out different situations, of being able to report problems and

send others a message through photos one takes for himself/herself.

The objectives of this method are:

- to allow participants to photograph (literally and figuratively) the problems

and strengths of their community;

- to identify important aspects through group discussions and photography;

- to draw attention of decision makers and the community as well.

When brought to the class, this method is a valuable resource that can be used for

expressing opinions, likes, dislikes or creating stories. There are various techniques through

which these resources can be used when it comes to teaching English to large multilevel

classes. First of all, this method offers the opportunity to shy students, who do not master

well the language, to express themselves. Depending on the class level, this method can be

used as a framework for introducing the rules of writing a letter of protest or report for the

local community or school, being a means for students not only to practice their writing

skills, but also to become active in their community by identifying the needs and problems

and finding viable solutions.

In extracurricular activities like those that take place in clubs where the focus is to

raise awareness, this method can be very efficient and engaging as well. On the other hand, in
 65

classes where the advanced students are outnumbered by the beginner or intermediate

students, using pictures is a good way to help the weaker students express themselves. For

example, pictures can serve as a resource for teaching colors, actions, feelings, etc, or can be

used for writing stories based on pictures, students being asked to arrange the pictures in the

correct order of events and then to write their story, or they can be used as a starting or an

ending for a story.

Another way in which pictures can be used is as a group activity for practicing the use

of prepositions, vocabulary, etc. the class is split in two or three groups, depending on the

size of the class. Each group chooses a person that can draw and a person that will be the

picture/drawing holder. The other students will line up in two or three rows and each one will

pass by the picture holder who will whisper in his/her ear one detail at a time of the

picture/drawing that he/she holds. The student that gets the detail has to go and whisper it in

the person that draws without pointing out or giving any other details or making any

correction. In the end the two pictures will be compared and the group that has the drawing

more similar to the original one wins.

Another alternative to this method is the use of videos in the class.

For decades, teachers have used films in their class as an excellent teaching and

learning tool and there are a number of reasons why films and videos, in general, should be

used. Firstly, films and TV shows or series, make the language learning more entertaining

and enjoyable as well as motivating, they provide authentic and varied language used in

“real” situations outside the classroom, particularly interactive language, the language of real

life conversation. For the students who are not living in an English speaking environment,

only films and television can provide learners with the real-life language input. Secondly,

films offer visual context helping students to understand more by enabling them to listen to

language exchanges and see such visual supports as facial expressions and gestures
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simultaneously. These visual clues support the verbal message and provide a focus of

attention. Another strong reason why films should be a part of the teaching-learning process

is that they bring variety and flexibility to the language classroom by extending the range of

teaching techniques and resources, helping students to develop all four communicative skills.

Films can also act as a springboard for follow-up tasks such as discussions, debates on social

issues, role plays, reconstructing a dialogue or summarizing. It is also possible to bring

further variety to the language learning classroom by screening different types of films: short

sequences of films, short films and adverts. Since the time does not allow teachers to use a

full film in the class, they can either ask students to watch a film, a TV show or series in their

free time and then to write a review or fill in a film report worksheet, like the one presented at

page 67, and bring it to the class for later discussions during the semester
 67

Film/TV show/TV series Report

1. What is the title of the film/TV show/TV series?

2. List some of important characters and describe them by using one or two adjectives

for each.

3. Where does the action take place?

4. When does the action take place?

5. What type of film/TV show/TV series is it?

6. List some words and phrases that come to mind when you think of the film/TV

show/TV series?

7. List the words and phrases that you liked the most.

8. Is there anything you would like to change about it? If so, what is it?

9. Would you recommend this film/TV show/TV series to your friends?

10. On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate this film/TV show/TV series?
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Debates

When teaching English, debates can be very useful for developing communicative

skills, critical thinking and logical argumentation, but only with classes of advanced students

who have fluency. With multilevel classes this method can be simplified to suit the level of

all students in the form of expressing opinions and giving arguments to support them by

fulfilling a worksheet and then discussing it with the whole class. This technique has some

advantages as it helps students to improve their fluency and vocabulary but the ones that

benefit the most from these debates are usually the 12th graders or the proficient students. In

my practice I rarely use this method and when I do I usually use it with the 12 th graders who

have achieved a certain level of proficiency in English to allow them to express themselves

and support their opinions. For topics, I usually use the textbooks as they seem to address my

students’ interests: technology, ethical issues, gender issues, education, health, etc.

Diary

Having been used mainly for medical case studies by researchers since the early 20 th

century for gathering information, this method can be also used in teaching English as a

means of developing writing skills. Being a written record of personal experiences, thoughts

and feelings, the diary represents a mean for all students to express their opinion freely,

without fear of being judged or criticized by their peers or the teacher concerning certain

topics, feeling or events. The purpose of keeping a diary is to help students enhance their

writing skills, their vocabulary, their critical thinking, to reflect upon the class activities and

to express likes, dislike or even give suggestions, to evaluate the teacher and themselves. In

my practice I use this method with all my students, leaving them five minutes at the end of
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each class to write in their diaries. I encourage them to write sincerely about their opinions

concerning the lesson, about their feelings and moods. For beginners, who do not master a

rich vocabulary or a vast grammar, I encourage them to use drawings or to write in their

mother tongue when they don’t know the English translation, and then to translate it at home

using a dictionary. From time to time I check their diaries for correcting grammar and

spelling and for writing encouragements. This method has some benefits for teachers, too. It

is a means of being sincerely evaluated, of getting feedback about the lessons, of finding out

what needs to be changed or improved in their teaching approach in order to meet their

students’ needs, interests and expectations.

Jigsaw method

Elliot Aronson, a social psychologist, first outlined the Jigsaw technique in 1971. It

was originally designed to break down stereotypes and prejudice among classmates. The

Jigsaw strategy was developed for students to study learning material in groups to achieve

specific objectives overtime. The objective of this strategy is to enhance the listening

engagement and empathy skills of all students. It also organizes the classroom activities to

assist students in supporting and creating interdependence on each other so as to succeed in

their assigned tasks. Moreover, it divides classes into groups and breaks down assignments

into manageable chunks that the group reassembles in order to complete the assignment

successfully. The educational value of this strategy is to reduce racial conflict among school

learners. It further promotes better learning in individual and group setups. It improves

learners’ motivation to study the content and increases the enjoyment of the learning

experience. (Aronson, 2005) In other words, this collaborative learning approach allows each

student to have a unique component that they have to teach/how to the others and it also
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provides a sense of autonomy and responsibility in students and a face-to-face interaction as

students work together to solve the task. On the part of the teacher, it is required special

preparations as the teacher needs to consider the lesson content and its compatibility with the

Jigsaw model and he/she also needs to forecast the time students will need to work through

different stages of the model.

In my practice I use this approach all the time as I try to adapt as much as possible all

the activities in order to fit this model as it is the only way to get all my students involved and

motivated. For example, when reading a text, depending on its length, I split it in short

paragraphs so that each group receives one. Inside each group there is a student (A) who is in

charge with looking up the new words and phrases, another one (B) with answering the

questions related to the text, another one (C) with writing the summary or the main idea of

the text and the most advanced one (D), also the leader of the group, with correcting,

clarifying the content or helping the others understand better the tasks and delivering the

main idea of the paragraph to the class. By using this strategy, the students not only get to be

assessed individually but also as a group. Another situation when I use this strategy is when

the aim is to develop writing skills. The assignment is split in four or five parts, depending on

the type of writing that they have to do, and each student gets a part to write; if a letter, the

beginning, the content and the ending, if a story, the beginning, the 2nd and the 3rd paragraph

where the climax occurs, and the ending. When all students fulfill their tasks, they put the

paragraphs together, make the necessary corrections or adjustments and have the whole

writing to present it to the class. Before that, they pass the compositions around for peer

correction and each student in each group has to check for certain aspects: grammar, structure

and content, spelling, overall impression or suggestions. In this way, students benefit from

immediate feedback and have the chance to correct their mistakes and even learn from them.
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V. Gamification - a non-formal method of engaging and motivating students

Games have existed for a very long time and are considered an activity, normally

voluntarily, performed within a timeframe and space according to established rules, with an

end or a goal in itself which provide a bit of tension and jog. (Flora Alves, 2014)

Concerning this paper and the connection to the efficiency of teaching English in a

multilevel class, it is the concept of applying game mechanics and game design techniques

that can help teachers engage and motivate students to achieve their goals. In other words,

when applied in the class, the aim is to get students involved and to help them learn better

without paying too much attention to language, as the main focus is the game itself. Some

research has shown the fact that the brain acquires more information when using more than

one capacity, meaning when performing more than one action or activity is involved so,

games, as a means of education, have come to be supported by all pedagogical systems.

It is obvious that not all the class activities can be transformed in games, but several

of them could as games are activities in which participants feel free and unconstrained.

Moreover, it is through these activities that participants explore and use skills they are or are

not aware of having, and, as a matter of fact, their entire being.

Regardless of the category, social educational games, society games, experiential

games, games aim at:

- developing ambition;

- developing attention, insight and intelligence;

- stimulating senses;

- stimulating logic;

- stimulating the capacity of understanding others;

- developing solidarity and team work;

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- developing behavioral abilities and skills;

- developing creativity and imagination;

- developing physical abilities;

- stimulating memory;

- increasing general knowledge;

- increasing reaction speed and dexterity;

- challenging and creating a friendly competition;

- getting and/or providing feedback.

When applied in the class, games make the activities more accessible and more

appealing to the students. This process is called “gamification” and, according to Oxford

Dictionary, it means the “application of typical elements of game playing to other areas of

activity.” In other words, gamification is the concept of applying game design thinking to non

game applications, or the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non game contexts to

engage participants in solving problems.

Due to the wide range of concepts and structures that can be taught or reinforced, or

skills and competences that can be developed or acquired, using games is a widely used

method in my practice. Along the years, I have noticed that games create a stress free

environment in the class and promote more engagement regardless of age or level of

knowledge, and it is also a means or reaching out to all my students, helping them, if inner

motivation exists, to cover the knowledge gaps they come with, in the 9th grade, and even

achieve some progress, up to the required level.

This chapter focuses of presenting some of the games I used for four years teaching a

class of 33 students and their progress from the 9th grade to the 12th grade as a result of this

method.
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I must mention that at first, and this is a general behavior for all 9th graders, students

were reluctant and reserved in engaging in games as they were scared of making mistakes,

not having certain fluency, of being judged. Later on, as the environment became more

friendly and relaxed and the rules were set, students began to enjoy taking part in the

activities which not only challenged them to use what they already knew but also created a

sort of friendly competition among groups and an opportunity for all students to develop their

skills and competences.

Before using this method alongside with others mentioned in the previous chapter, the

results of the diagnostic assessment showed an average of 5.75 per class which meant that

most students were below the required level of fluency, the class being characterized as a

multilevel class. In four years the progress line vacillated from progress to stagnation

according to the motivation level that was influenced by various factors (lack of interest due

to the lack of future opportunity of using English, repeated avoidance of doing homework,

lack of interest showed by the family or the community, health problems, etc). The fact that

no students’ grades were under five at the end of each semester, proves that a progress has

been made as at the end of 12th grade, all students, even the weaker ones, were able to express

themselves in terms of opinions, likes, dislikes, to master a basic vocabulary related to all

topics of main interest today (education, technology, entertainment, family, leisure, hobbies,

etc.) and to write an informal letter, an e-mail and, the more advanced ones, an opinion and

for and against essays. The number of students that mastered all the above mentioned skills

and competences at the required level of proficiency was bigger comparing to that before the

diagnostic test as the formative, summative and interim assessments showed. All these forms

of assessments can be subjective so they do not reflect the true progress of each student being

influenced by a lot of factors, some of them having been outlined already. The results at the
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National Exam (Bacalaureat) where all students passed with minimum A1 grade, proves that

a progress occurred after four years.

Before analyzing and presenting in detail how I used these games and how they have

proved efficient in my teaching practice, I will highlight the challenges I faced when the first

assessment was conducted. The main issues that came out as a result of the diagnostic

assessment were:

- students know the basic vocabulary related to topics like: family, leisure,

school, etc;

- they are not able to write full sentences;

- they make a lot of spelling mistakes;

- they do not know the use of tenses and how they are formed;

- they do not know the degrees of comparison in adjectives;

- they do not know all the form of irregular verbs;

- they do not know the use of “s” or “es” in the 3rd person singular;

- they cannot read properly not being familiar with a lot of words and phrases;

- they have difficulty in understanding the read texts;

- they are unable to express themselves in terms of likes, dislikes or familiar

topics such as family, home, hobbies.

In terms of speaking, only 10% of the students were able to understand what they

were asked and express themselves using simple sentences. Another 80% were able to

understand partly what they were asked and were able to give mostly “yes” and “no” answers

or half sentence answers. The rest of 10 % were barely able to understand the spoken

message and were unable to answer or express themselves in any way.

In terms of writing only 10 % were able to fulfill the task of writing a description of

themselves as requested in the diagnostic assessment, with the mistakes I have outlined
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above. In conclusion, only 10 % of the students in the class were close to the level of

knowledge, having the skills and competences required by the curriculum.

As the situation presented itself, there were a number of challenges that had to be

dealt with after this assessment, meaning:

- cover the curriculum;

- help students fill in their knowledge gaps related to vocabulary, grammar,

writing and speaking;

- find methods and strategies that can engage, motivate and meet all the

students’ needs and interests in the class regardless of the level they had;

- develop/improve skills and competences;

- ensure progress.

In order to cope with these challenges, the first step was to establish what the needs

and interests of my students were. For that I used the questionnaire presented in chapter III.

The results showed that only 10% of the students, the ones that scored the highest in the

diagnostic tests, were interested in learning English for using it later for finding a better paid

job or thought it is going to help them in the future, so they were the ones that watched TV

series or films without Romanian subtitle or with English subtitle, and/or played games and

even chatted with other English speaker from other countries. Another 80% of the students

enjoyed watching films and/or TV series but with Romanian subtitle, and 10% had never

done any of the activities listed in the questionnaires. As the results showed, the class could

be classified as a multilevel one where students were classified as following: the 10% who

scored the highest, above 7, were considered advanced, the 80% with scores between 5 and 7

were considered intermediate and the other 10% who scored below 5 were considered

beginners. As it presented itself, the class posed a lot of challenges in terms of teaching, one

of them being that related to class management. The most efficient way to deal with this
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challenge was to divide the class in groups of four or five, mix groups, where an advanced

student was assigned the leader. The leader’s duty was not to solve the tasks assigned to the

other members of the group but to help them understand better the instructions, to correct the

peers, if necessary, and to make sure that everyone in the group fulfills their tasks. As shown

before, students learn better in a relaxed, friendly environment so assuring a stress free

environment where students feel free to express themselves without the fear of being judged

or criticized was another challenge that had to be dealt with in order to ensure students’

involvement in the class activities.

Considering all the gaps that the diagnostic test revealed, the best way to approach

teaching was to focus on developing one skill more than other each year. So in the first year,

due to the fact that most students did not master the grammar rules and structures on which to

build the other skills and competences, I focused on revising grammar and building

vocabulary by trying to develop the reading and listening skills more that the speaking ones.

In the second year of study the focus was on improving the writing and reading skills, in the

third year the focus being on speaking, listening and writing and in the fourth year the focus

was mostly on speaking and writing as all the other skills had been developed in the previous

years.

In terms of assigning tasks, even though it took more time for planning and adapting,

students were assigned tasks according to their level of knowledge, for example: when

reading a text, the beginners were the ones in charge with looking up the new words and

phrases, the intermediate ones worked on the summary of the paragraph and answered the

questions related to reading comprehension, and the advanced ones helped the others with

instructions and correction and were the speakers who presented the general idea of the text

comparing it afterwards with those of the other groups.

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Concerning the activities, they were all designed as games, if the context allowed, or

adapted some board games to fit the content that I wanted to teach and the skills that I wanted

to develop in my students. A broader presentation of these games will be made in the fifth

chapter.

In terms of developing listening skills, audiovisual materials were used, mainly short

films, advertisements or pictures, and the follow up activities were spilt task assignments for

group work.

Although games were broadly used in my teaching practice, other methods were used,

too, the goal being to use a collaborative learning by doing approach that put all students,

regardless of their level, in control of their learning process, challenging them to take part in

the activities and keep their interest all the time. This approach gave students the feeling of

being an important part of a community where failure was not a drawback but an opportunity

to learn and experience, helped them discover skills and competences they did not know they

had and motivate to improve those they already had, it developed their critical thinking and

changed perspectives related to current issues like religion, politics, gender and social ones, it

also taught them to give voice to their opinions and to work for the benefit of all individuals,

to become responsible and take responsibility for their actions.

After four years, the results showed that 80% of the students had made small progress

each year whereas 20% reached the intermediate level in the first three years and maintained

it all through the fourth year. There is a number of factors that had influenced this slow

progress of the 20% of the students:

- late start in studying English (some students came from schools where English

was not a subject of study in the curriculum, or there was not a qualified staff to ensure the

quality of the teaching process);

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- a big gap in their knowledge that had to be filled in and not enough time for

covering all the content needed;

- a lack of motivation due to the lack of interest showed by the family and the

community in general;

- lack of perspective of a future job that required English or traveling to an

English speaking country.

It has to be mentioned that these reasons stood also for explaining the number of low

grades scored in the diagnostic test at the beginning of 9th grade.

The only relevant results that are accredited and certified by the educational system

are those provided by the National Exam (the Baccalaureate) so, at the end of the 12 th grade,

45% of the students in the class qualified for the B2 level, 11% for B1 level, 9% for the A2

level and 35% for the A1 level with the mentioning of one student being absent. In

conclusion, all students have managed in all these four years, due to the collaborative

learning approach and the large use of non formal methods, games in particular, to not only

fill up most of the gaps they had at the beginning, but also develop the four skills and acquire

competences which translated in being able to communicate in English at an advanced or

intermediate level preparing them for the demands and the needs of our society. On the other

hand, this has proven that games are not only fun and interactive but if appropriately adapted

they can help teachers cope with the big challenges of teaching excellence and achievement

in multilevel classes.

To sum up, by using these approach based on games, the results have shown that this

is an efficient way to teach English to multilevel classes.

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V.1. My approach to teaching English

In my experience as an ESL teacher, I have always been challenged to find ways to

motivate and, at the same time, to help my students improve their skills and competences

together with covering the needs of the curriculum. In my quest for seeking solutions to these

challenges, I have taken part in different training courses where the focus was on using non-

formal methods as a means of teaching excellence and achievement in multilevel classes. All

the methods have proved to be valuable assets when adapted and combined appropriately

with informal and formal ones but my students’ motivation and engagement seemed to be

kept for a short time as only some of them kept their interest in the activities till the end. The

biggest issue was to make the weaker students get engaged and active in the process of

learning. Along the years, as any other teacher without much experience, I changed my

approach to teaching from teacher-centered activities to student-centered ones and so I

noticed that students became more active and started to make visible progress. And, yet, here

was one category of students or whom these methods seemed to fail in helping them improve

their skills. Taking part in the TEA Program has helped me not only find a solution to this

problem, but has made me change the purpose for which I was teaching English. If before the

aim was to just pass on information and to prepare my students for getting high grades in the

assessment test, now the goal is to teach them English as a key competence as a way of

solving real life problems which will help them become valuable assets for the communities

they will live in after graduation. In this direction, the first step was to have a democratic

classroom management with the purpose of creating a small community where everybody

feels safe to voice their opinions, to choose the path and the order of assignment completion,

have a say when limits occur and learn to take responsibility for their actions, with their

needs on the table and the ground rule being “respect”. In order to address the learners’
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diversity in the class, I adopted the Jigsaw model which not only helped me hold everyone’s

interest by getting all involved and meeting everyone’s needs no matter the level, but also

promoted interdependence among students and responsibility as the fulfillment of the group

task depends on the quality of work of each student.

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V.2. Developing skills and competences through games

Due to all the benefits that games can bring to the class for both students and teacher,

in my practice I use a lot of games in order to make the teaching-learning process more

appealing and more challenging for my students. The focus of this subchapter is to present a

few of the most popular games I use in class in order to motivate my students to improve

their grammar, develop their vocabulary and skills and acquire competences.

1. Story cubes/Story Chest

These games focus on developing the imagination and creativity of the players.

Adapted for in the class, these games cannot only help improve grammar and vocabulary, but

also develop the reading and writing skills as well. Designed as a group activity, the games

can be played as following: in groups of four or five (depending on the class size), each group

has to write a short story based on the first images that grab students’ attention on the dice or

the cards they randomly pick up from the bag. The first step of this activity starts with rolling

the dice for students to choose the images/ pick up randomly the cards with images that will

help them write about the characters, the setting and the plot. The second step would be to

brainstorm for ideas, split tasks according to each students’ level and start writing the story as

following: the beginners will write the beginning and the end of the story and the

intermediate and the advanced ones will work on the plot and the climax of the story. At the

end of the activity, all students put together the paragraphs and make all the corrections and

adjustments needed. The next step will consist in passing around the stories in groups for

them to be corrected. During this stage of activity each student is in charge with checking and

correcting a certain section: grammar, spelling, structure, overall impression and

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recommendations or suggestions. The final step would be the reading of each story to the

whole class and the offering of feedback on the part of the teacher. My experience has shown

the little correction needs to be done at this stage as the students have already done it

themselves.

The Story Cubes as well as the Story Chest could be used in various ways besides

using them for developing writing skills, one of them being for reinforcing grammar

structures such as: the adjectives (degrees of comparison), the use of tenses, prepositions, etc.

When rolling the dice or picking up a card from the bag, besides using the words that

describe the pictures or are related to the pictures, the students can also use certain adjectives,

certain grammar structures or certain words previously acquired. In order to bring diversity or

making the activity funnier, each group could be asked to write a certain type of story like,

tragic story, adventure story, detective story, funny story, etc.

Another fun and creative way in which these games can be used is to assign each

group to write only the beginning of the story on the first round of rolling the dice or picking

up the cards, then to pass it around randomly to another group for writing the climax after

rolling the dice again or picking up other cards from the bag. Next, after the second part has

been written, the stories are passed around again for the last round of rolling the dice/picking

up cards for the ending of the story. At the next stage, when the stories are given back to the

initial group who wrote the beginning. Up to this stage, when the stories are passed around,

each group has to make corrections and adjustments if necessary and then continue the story.

At the final stage of the activity, each group assigns a student to read the story to the class or

students in a group can take turns in reading the story. The teacher offers feedback and as a

fallow up activity they can be asked to make comparisons between the end of the story

offered by the peers and the one they had in mind when starting writing the story.
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These games not only challenge and engage all students but they also help them to

improve their vocabulary, to practice and reinforce certain structures, develop the writing and

the reading skills, work team spirit and collaborative learning. Another advantage is that it

teaches students to become responsible for their own learning process and to motivate them

to continue. To spice up the activity and create a motivating, friendly competition, rewards

can be given to the most correct or the most interesting, the funniest stories in the form of

stickers or points that students can use for upgrading their grades.

2. Dixit

This is another game that stimulates creativity and imagination and adapted in the

class, it can help students develop their vocabulary, writing and listening skills. At the first

stage, students form pairs and each student receives 5 cards with different images. The games

starts with a pair, at their choice, who will have to write sentences or short stories related to

the image that both students decide on after checking their cards without showing them to

each other or any other student in the class. After writing the sentences or short story with as

few hints as possible to the image they have chosen, they hand the card to the teacher. Next,

they read what they have written to the class, then each student checks their cards and

chooses one that is the most similar to the story read or sentences and compares it to their

partner’s in order to vote for only one that is handed to the teacher. The teacher shuffles the

cards and then puts them face up on a table where all students have access. Each pair will

vote for one card they think belongs to the pair that has written the sentences/short story. The

pair that identifies the correct card wins a point. The game continues with the next pair that

will choose a card and write the story/sentences and so on. The game ends when all pairs

have taken turns in being the story tellers.

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Another way in which this game can be used is as a group activity where students are

given the opportunity to pick up randomly a card that can serve as a framework for writing s

story where they must use certain grammar structures and/or vocabulary. It can also be used

for activities similar to those described in the previous presentation.

Unlike the Story Cubes or the Story Chest where all the students received tasks

according to their level, in Dixit the tasks are not split and that is why I usually use this game,

as presented in the first part, with the 12th graders because most of the students are able to use

the correct grammar structures, have a certain fluency and a rich vocabulary. When used as a

group activity, as presented in the second part and similar to Story Cubes/Story Chest, it can

be used with all classes regardless of their level.

3. Wummy!

The aim of this game is to develop the vocabulary but it is also a means of developing

the writing skills. Being a combination or Rummy and Scrabble, the game is a very

challenging way of helping students acquire new vocabulary and use they already know. At

the first stage, each group receives five consonant card and two vowel cards but one group

receives one extra vowel card or consonant card at their choice. Next, each group tries to

make up as many words as possible for which they get different points as following; 7 letter

word- 5 points; 4 letter word- 2 points; 3 letter word- 1 point, linking word- 1 point. The

words that they are not familiar with have to be looked up in a dictionary. The game starts

with the group that has received an extra card. They have to lay a card they do not need face

up on a table where all students have access. After making up as many words as possible each

group exchanges one card they do not need either with one already on the table or with a new

one from the packs of consonant cards or the vowel cards. After the first round students are
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asked to write sentences with the words they have made up, or a story, depending on the class

level. Each student has to write at least one sentence using a certain grammar structure or a

part of the story if this is the assignment. After this stage, each group changes all their cards

with new ones and another round, following the same rules, starts.

This game can be used in the first year of study when skills and competences are

developed, respectively acquired, being very helpful for beginners but especially for

multilevel classes.

4. Taboo

This is a well known game largely played all over the world being a family game but

when adapted to the class, it can be used for developing vocabulary, listening and speaking

skills. The advantage is that Taboo can be used in multilevel classes but the words need to be

adjusted to fit each level. For example, there can be three categories of words: basic

vocabulary for beginners, marked with a certain color (red), words for the intermediate level

marked with blue and words for the advanced level, marked with green. These words must be

sorted out in three packs from where the students will pick one at a time, according to his/her

level, and try to describe the word on the card without using certain words related to it to the

class. The students will be organized in groups of four students of different levels. The

nominated group to start the game will send each student at a time to take turn in describing

the words on the cards to the whole class. If the student that describes the word is a beginner

than the student that tries to guess the word should also be a beginner and so on. The student

has two minutes to describe as many words as possible. If more than three seconds pass and

there is no student that can guess the word, the point goes to the group whom the student

belongs to. Any student that guesses the word receives a point for his/her group. After the
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first round, the intermediate, then the advanced students will take turns in describing and

guessing the words. The group that gets the most points wins.

In order to make it easier for the students that lack a rich vocabulary, especially the

beginners, students are allowed to mime the words but not more than three times. When used

with a more advanced class, where there are not so many differences among levels, Taboo

can be also used as group and whole class activity without sorting out the cards according to

the level and the students who guess the words should belong to the same group as the one

that tries to describe the words. Every time someone in the group guesses the word, the group

gets a point. The group with the most points wins. The points can be used either for

upgrading the grades or for getting stickers as rewards. In my practice I have noticed that the

ones that most enjoy this game are the 11th and the 12th graders who have certain fluency and

a rich vocabulary.

5. Jeopardy

Somehow similar to the American game Jeopardy, this game is an adaptation that can

be used in the class when different grammar structures need to be checked or reinforced,

especially in the form of solving exercises. At the first stage it is required that certain content

be taught or revised then the students are given worksheets with exercises whose aim is to

check or reinforce that content. Each exercise is scored with a certain number of points

according to their difficulty. It is recommended that exercises vary from multiple choice

exercises to making up sentences. Each group receives a number by drawing lots then the

group number one has the right to choose the exercise on the worksheet. The teacher is the

one who decides which part of the chosen exercise or sentence students should solve in three

minutes. The time may vary, according to the difficulty of the exercise. After that they have
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to check their answers with the other students in the group and decide on the most correct one

to read. The group that has chosen the exercise is the one that gives the answer. If the answer

is correct, the group receives one point and the right to choose again another exercise; if the

answer is not correct than the other groups take turn in answering until the correct answer is

provided. The group that gives the correct answer wins a point and the right to choose but not

more than twice in a row after which the next group in number takes turn in choosing and

giving answers and so on.

This game offers the opportunity to both students and teacher to check if the

previously taught content was acquired properly and if students need more explanations or

more practice. It is also a fun and more appealing way of solving dull exercises, motivating

students to get more involved in the learning process.

6. Battle Ships

The advantage of this game is that it can be used not only as a means of testing new

acquired content, developing listening and writing skills, but also as an ice breaker when the

students are asked to write sentences with “I like…” and “I don’t like…”

At the first stage each group chooses a name that is written on the board they choose a

captain and a second in command. Next, they are asked to write, in two minutes, as many

sentences as possible using a certain grammar structure. When the time is up, the teacher

calls out the name of a group. Within three seconds, the captain of the assigned group starts

reading one sentence then the other students in the group take turns in reading their sentences,

the second in command being the last one to read his/her sentence and then he/she calls out

another group’s name. if the captain of the appointed group does not read his/her sentence

then the group that has called out their name gets the point. If any of the sentences read are
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not correct the, the group looses one point in the favor of the group that corrects it. The

students are not allowed to read more than one sentence at the time, when their turn comes,

and cannot read the same sentence twice. When students run out of sentences they can

improvise if not, the group cannot continue playing and so, a round ends. For the next round,

students can be asked to write sentences using a different grammar structure, for example: if

in the first round the assignment was to write sentences using the first type of conditional, in

the second round they can be asked to write sentences using the second type of conditional

and so on. At the end of the game, the group with the most points wins.

Due to the fact that it creates a friendly competitive environment and a lot of content

can be tested or reinforced, the Battle Ships can be used with beginners because it helps them

feel relaxed, it offers them immediate feedback and explanations if necessary, and also the

chance to practice new acquired content in the form of drills.

There are other ways in which this game can be used, especially with intermediate

and more advanced classes as it develops the speaking skills, too. For example, after the

names of the groups have been chosen, the students are asked to continue certain sentences

like: “If I were a millionaire, I would……”, “If I were a tree, I would……”, “If I were God

for a day, I would…..”, etc, without giving them time to write their answers down

encouraging them to say whatever comes to their mind and fits the situation. There are not

wrong answers but correction on the part of the peers may be needed sometimes. This game

not only does it stimulate imagination but it also improves students’ reaction time, it helps

students remember and use what they already know or have acquired or even reinforce new

content.
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7. Story World - Legends of the Sea

Pirate stories or adventure stories, in general, have always raised the reader’s interest

and when it comes to games, they not only unlock the imagination and stimulate creativity

but also help students develop their writing, speaking, reading and listening skills. There are

many ways in which this game can be used but the most efficient way that addresses all

levels in a multilevel class is as following: in groups, students receive five cards at their

choice; one, they will use for creating the beginning of the story, which starts with “Once

upon a time….”, in terms of characters and most importantly, the goal of their

quest/adventure. Two cards will be used as helpful cards meaning that every time another

group creates a challenge for the group that started the story, the group uses it in order to

solve the problem by creating and writing a continuation, trying to save their characters. The

other two cards, the challenging cards are used for creating difficult situation for the

characters of the stories of the other groups. Both sets of cards cannot be used more than

once.

At the first stage of the game, every group brainstorms and writes the beginning of

their story using the information at the back of the card they have chosen as the starting point

for the story. Then, by choice, a group reads their beginning. Another group, also by choice,

writes a continuation to the story by using one of their challenging cards. The initial group

tries to solve the problem by creating an escape episode with the help of one of their helpful

cards. The game continues with another group trying to create a challenging situation for the

initial story and the first round ends with the initial group writing their last escape episode

and the ending for their story using their last helpful card. The rule is that the characters can

face any dangers but they cannot be killed till the end when the decision belongs to the initial

group that started the story. If the initial group manages to escape every situation/ challenge
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and finish their story, they get a point, if they cannot continue the story the point goes to the

group that has challenged them. The game continues with another group reading their

beginning and other groups trying to challenge them and so on. At the end, the group with the

most points wins.

There are many other ways in which this game can be played aiming at developing

the same skills in students, but a more simple version would be to allow students pick up one

card, randomly or at their choice, then using the picture and the information on the back, ask

them to create group stories, either by starting their story and then passing it around for the

other groups to continue it using their cards or others, until the stories get back to their initial

groups for writing the ending after they have read and corrected what they other students

have written before, or by creating a whole group story and then pass it around for correction

and suggestions as in the way Story Cubes can be used.

This game offers the opportunity for students to reinforce grammar structures (tenses,

adjectives, linking words, etc.), develop their vocabulary and use the one they already know,

develop reading, writing and listening skills, or with more advanced classes for developing

the speaking skills by asking students to create a chain story on the spot using all the cards.

There are many other games that can be adapted and used in the class and can address

the needs of a multilevel class, but I have chosen to present only these six because they not

only stimulate creativity and imagination, motivating students to take part in them, but they

also help them to check and reinforce new acquired contend, enrich the vocabulary and

develop all four skills. They also help at creating a stress free, friendly environment where

language acquisition happens as a collaborative learning process and the mistakes are seen as

a means of improving skills and competences.

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Jersey, Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997. print;

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11. Harley, Birgit and Wendy Wang. The critical period hypothesis: Where are we

now? In A.M.B de Groot and J.F. Kroll (Eds.), Tutorials in Bilingualism: Psycholinguistic

Perspectives. New Jersey, Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997. print;

12. Harmer, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching. England: Pearson,

2013. print;

13. Hess, Natalie. Teaching large multilevel classes. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 2001. print;

14. Hold, D and Carol Van Duzer. Assessing success in family literacy and adult

ESL. 2000. webpage: http://calstore.cal.org/store;

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16. Jinga, I., Manual de Pedagogie. Bucuresti: All, 2008. print;

17. Krashen, Stephen D, and Tracy Terrell. The natural approach: Language

acquisition in the classroom. New York: Pergamon Press, 1983. print;

18. Krashen, Stephen D. Principles and practice in second language acquisition.

New York: Pergamon, 1982. print;

19. Krashen, Stephen D. Second language acquisition and second language

learning. Prentice- Hall International, 1988. print;

20. Lee F., James and Bill Van Patten. Making Communicative Language

Teaching Happen. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2003.print;

21. Lightbown, Patsy M. and Nina Spada. How languages are learned, 3rd Ed.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. print;

22. Long, Michael H. The least a second language acquisition theory needs to

explain. TESOL Quarterly, 24 (4), 649-665, 1990, print;

23. Marshall, B. A guide for teaching adult ESL learners. 2002. webpage:

http://calstore.cal.org/store;
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24. Pieneman, M. Language processing and language development:

Processability Theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1998, print;

25. Saldana, Catherine. Differentiating Instruction for a Multilevel Class.

webpage: http://www.ncsall.net/index.php@id=735.html;

26. Shank, Cathy C. and Lybda R. Terrill. Teaching Multilevel adult ESL Classes.

Washington DC. Eric Digests, 1995. Pdf : https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED383242.pdf;

27. Stowe, Cynthia M. Let’s write!- A ready-to-use activities program for

learners with special needs. New York: The Center for Applied Research in Education, 1997.

print;

28. Tight, M. Key Concepts in Adult education and Training. London: Routledge,

1996. print;

29. Ur, Penny. A course in language teaching: Practice and Theory. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1996. print;

30. Willis, J and Willis, D (eds). Challenge and Change in Language Teaching.

Heinemman, 1996, print.

LINKOGRAHPY

1. http://infed.org/mobi/what-is-non-formal-education/;

2. http://successinlearning.com.au/esl/second-language-aquisition/;

3. http://trawcoe.com/non-formal-education-vs-formal-and-informal-education/;

4. http://www.infed.org/archives/e-

texts/eaton_literacy_languages_and_types_of_learning.pdf;

5. https://busyteacher.org/;

6. https://edugorilla.com/unseen-advantages-informal-education/;
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7. https://elearningindustry.com/6-killer-examples-gamification-in-elearning;

8. www.drsaraheaton.wordpress.com;

9. www.englishclub.com;

10. www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/drilling-1.
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APPENDIX
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Story Cubes

Story Chest
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Dixit
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Wummy!
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Story World- Legends of the Sea

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LESSON PLAN

Teacher: Stentel Micaela

Date: 23rd of March 2015

School: “DEMOSTENE BOTEZ” High school, Trusesti

Class: IX B

No. of students: 30

Time of lesson: 50 min.

Textbook: “English My Love”,Ed. Didactica si Pedagogica, 2008

Lesson: Modal Verbs: the uses of “Must” and “Have to”

Type of lesson: teaching

Lesson aims: By the end of the lesson students will have been able to use “must” and “have

to” in appropriate contexts.

Materials notebooks, handouts, whiteboard, flashcards

Assumptions: Students will be able to understand the difference between “must” and “have

to”. Students will be able to remember the use of modal verbs from the previous year of

study.

Anticipated Problems: The use of mother tongue in workgroup, lack of imagination, some

difficulties in expressing orally.

ACTIVITY 1: Warm up

Aims: -to introduce students into the topic;

-to talk about duties and responsibilities

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PROCEDURE INTERACTION TIMING

 Each group is given a picture of a
person performing different jobs.
They are asked to identify the jobs Frontal, group work 7 min
and make up a list with the
responsibilities and duties required
by that job

ACTIVITY 2: Teaching

Aims: -to understand the difference between “must” and “have to”

- To use “must” and “have to” in appropriate contexts

PROCEDURE INTERACTION TIMING

 Pre-teaching: Students are asked to read Frontal, group work
their lists. The sentences that have “must”
and “have to” are written on the
whiteboard. They are asked to remember Whole class activity 30 min
in groups everything they know about
modal verbs from the previous years of
study.
 Teaching: the teacher discusses with Frontal
students the uses of the two modal verbs
pointing out the differences.
 Post-teaching: In groups, students are Group work
asked to sketch a drawing illustrating the
difference between the two modal verbs

ACTIVITY 3 Jeopardy Game

Aims: - students will have been able to make the difference and use the two modal verbs

in appropriate contexts

PROCEDURE INTERACTION TIMING

 1st stage: Each group gets a set of
worksheets with exercise with the two Frontal
modal verbs
 2nd stage: groups take turn in choosing an Group work 10 min
exercise from the worksheets. The whole
class is given 50 sec to fulfill the task but
only one group gives the answer. If correct
the group gets one point if not the next Frontal
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group gets to answer and chooses the next

exercise. If the group gets the correct
answer they can choose another exercise.
The group that scores the most points
wins.

Homework:

Aims: -to further practice on the use of the two modal verbs the students are given as

homework to solve the remaining exercises on the worksheets.

Timing: 3 min
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LESSON PLAN

Teacher: Stentel Micaela

Date: 23rd of March 2018

School: “DEMOSTENE BOTEZ” High school, Trusesti

Class: XII B

No. of students: 25

Time of lesson: 50 min.

Textbook: “Face to Face Upper Intermediate” Cambridge University Press

Unit: 10 Lesson: New Man

Type of lesson: Consolidation- listening, speaking and reading skills

Lesson aims: By the end of the lesson students will have improved their listening, speaking

and reading skills

Materials notebooks, laptop, worksheets

Assumptions: Students will be able to understand the audio and written messages. Students

must be motivated to express personal opinions and ask questions.

Anticipated Problems: The use of mother tongue in workgroup, lack of imagination, some

difficulties in expressing orally.

ACTIVITY 1: Warm up

Aims: -to introduce students into the topic;

-to talk about the role of men and women in modern society
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PROCEDURE INTERACTION TIMING

 The teacher resumes the discussion
from the previous lesson about the
way the role of woman and man Frontal 5 min
has changed in modern society

ACTIVITY 2: Watching a video

Aims: - to prepare the students for the audition

- To clarify some possible unknown words or phrases that may occur in the video
- To listen for specific information

PROCEDURE INTERACTION TIMING

 Pre-watching: Students are asked to make Frontal, individual,
a list of traits of the perfect woman, then whole class activity
they are asked to compare answers
27 min
 Reading: students watch a 3 minute Whole class activity
monologue about the perfect woman

 Post-reading: In pairs, students are asked

to answer the questions on the worksheet Pair work, whole class
and then to discuss, compare their answers activity
and draw conclusions related to the
question: “What are the qualities of the
perfect woman? “

ACTIVITY 3 Reading

Aims: - students will have been able to read for specific information

PROCEDURE INTERACTION TIMING

 Pre reading: teacher asks students to
comment on a picture in their textbooks Frontal
 Reading: students are asked in groups to
scan the text and answer the questions in Group work 10 min
their textbooks
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 Post-reading: teacher asks students to

compare their answer and draw conclusion Frontal, whole class
concerning how the role of man has activity
changed in modern society

ACTIVITY 4 Writing

Aims: -to encourage students to express their opinions about the lesson and evaluate the

teacher

- to make suggestions

PROCEDURE INTERACTION TIMING

 In the last 5 minutes, students will write in
their diaries opinions about the lesson, Individual work
give a grade to the teacher and make
suggestions 5 min

Homework:

Aims: -to further practice on writing an opinion essay, students are given as assignment to

write 200-250 word opinion essay on the way the role of men and women has changed in

Romanian society.

Timing: 3 min
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