Same but Different

Taught English to two Third grade classes on Wednesday. The first class just couldn't get the dialog.

Hi! Hello!
What's your name? I'm Beth, and you?
I'm Sam.

So we practiced rather pathetically for a bit and moved on to the alphabet. It was a review that required listening, memory skills and logic more than it did English. They got it. It was amazing. The class came alive and the teacher was even taking notes. It doesn't get much better than this.

On to the next Third grade class... They got the dialog. One of the kids even asked if she and her friend could do it in front of the class using their own names. Sure... So most of the 30 kids came up front and did it. Wow. On to the alphabet game. Could they do it? No, only 2 kids had any clue. So, I broke it down and made it less aural and more visual and they still struggled.

Same age group, same number of kids, same lesson, same methods....very different results....