We find that bright children are rarely held back by mixed-ability teaching. On the contrary, both their knowledge and experience are enriched. We feel that there are many disadvantages in streaming pupils. It does not take into account the fact that children develop at different rates. It can have a bad effect on both the bright and the not-so-bright child. After all, it can be quite discouraging to be at the bottom of the top grade!
Besides, it is rather unreal to grade people just according to their intellectual ability. This is only one aspect of their total personality. We are concerned to develop the abilities of all our pupils to the full, not just their academic ability. We also value personal qualities and social skills, and we find that mixed-ability teaching contributes to all these aspects of learning.
In our classroom, we work in various ways. The pupils often work in groups; this gives them the opportunity to learn to co-operate, to share, and to develop leadership skills. They also learn how to cope with the personal problems as well as learning how to think, to make decisions, to analyze and evaluate, to communicate effectively. The pupils learn from each other as well as from the teachers.
Sometimes the pupils work in pairs; sometimes the work on individual tasks and assignments, they can do this at their own speed. They also have some formal class teaching when this is appropriate. We encourage our pupils to use the library, and we teach them the skills they need in order to do this effectively. An advanced pupil can do advanced works; it does not matter what age the child is. We expect our pupils to do their best, not their least, and we give them every encouragement to attain this goal.
Question 1: The phrase “held back” in paragraph 1 means_________.
A. made to lag behind B. prevented from advancing
C. forced to study in lower classes D. made to remain in the same classes
Question 2: The author argues that a teacher’s chief concern should be the development of the pupils’
_________
A. intellectual abilities B. learning ability and communicative skills
C. personal and social skills D. total personality
Question 3: Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A. Pupils also learn how to participate in teaching activities
B. Group work gives pupils the opportunity to learn to work together with others
C. Pupils also learn to develop their reasoning ability
D. Group work provides the pupils with the opportunity to learn to be capable organizers
Question 4: The author’s purpose of writing this passage is to ______.
A. offer advice on the proper use of the school library
B. argue for teaching bright and not-so-bright pupils in the same class
C. recommend pair work and group work classroom activities
D. emphasize the importance of appropriate formal classroom teaching
Question 5: According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
A. There is no fixed method in teaching pupils to develop themselves to the full
B. Development of pupils as individuals is not the aim of group work
C. It’s not good for a bright child to find out that he performs worst in a mixed-ability class
D. Pupils cannot develop in the best way if they are streamed into classes of different intellectual abilities
Question 6: According to the passage, which of the following is an advantage of mixed-ability teaching?
A. A pupil can be at the bottom of a class
B. Pupils as individuals always have the opportunities to work on their own
C. Formal class teaching is the important way to give pupils essential skills such as those to be used in the library.
D. Pupils can be hindered from an all-round development
Question 7: According to the passage, “streaming pupils” ______
A. is the act of putting pupils into class according to their academic abilities
B. aims at enriching both their knowledge and experience
C. is quite discouraging
D. will help the pupils learn best
Question 8: According to the author, mixed-ability teaching is more preferable because _______
A. children can learn to work with each other to solve personal problems
B. it doesn’t have disadvantages as in streaming pupils
C. its aim at developing the children’s total personality
D. formal class teaching is appropriate
1 B
2 D
3 A
4 B
5 D
6 B
7 A
8 C