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Ep. 167 Mixed Groups? How to Prepare and Plan
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Welcome educators!
In today’s episode, we’re diving into one of the biggest challenges ESL teachers face: planning for mixed-level groupings. Whether you have newcomers just arriving in the U.S. or students on the verge of exiting your ESL program, finding ways to support every learner can feel overwhelming—but it is possible, and today’s episode will show you how.
🔑 In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why planning for mixed-level groups is essential for ESL success
How to build tiered activities for different language levels
Simple ways to scaffold support for all students
Tips for creating flexible assignments that work across levels
Practical summer planning steps to set yourself up for a successful school year
You’ll also hear about the strategies I wish I had known during my first years teaching—and how you can use them to ease your stress and boost student engagement from day one.
🛠️ Summer Action Steps You Can Start Now:✅ Create Tiered Materials: Choose a topic like “community helpers” or “weather” and create beginner, intermediate, and advanced versions of a reading activity.
✅ Design Flexible Assignment Templates: Think writing or speaking prompts that can be adapted with sentence starters, word banks, or paragraph expectations depending on level.
✅ Prepare a Scaffold Bank: Build a go-to folder with graphic organizers, visuals, sentence frames, and vocabulary cards for quick access all year long.
💡 Ready for more support in your planning? Check out The ESL Teacher Master Plan – a step-by-step, self-paced course that walks you through how to confidently plan, prepare, and organize for a smoother school year. 👉 Join the waitlist or visit myadventuresinesl.com/store to learn more.
🎧 Take a breath—you’re doing amazing work. Differentiating for a mixed group is not easy, but your effort matters. Every step you take this summer is planting seeds for a stronger, more intentional school year.
Let’s keep growing—together. 💛
Resources Mentioned:
The ESL Teacher Master Plan Waitlist: myadventuresinesl.com/store
📌 Stay connected: Follow along for more tips, strategies, and encouragement to support you in your ESL teaching journey.
Announcements:
If you are looking for a community of dedicated and motivated educators, who support Language Learners, join us here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/adventuresinesl
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