Haiti Q & A: How much English do your students know?

Q. How much English do your students speak?
A. Honestly, it varies. I have some students in 7th grade, which is the first grade to study English, who speak pretty good English.On the flip side I have students in the 11th and 12th grades who barely understand me. For the most part the students in grades 7, 8, and 9 don't speak a lot of English. They know some basics (except 7th grade), but having a conversation with them is...difficult at best. The students in grades 10, 11, and 12 know more English, but some of them do not do so well at conversing.

It's sometimes frustrating to know what to do with the higher grades because the students are at such different levels. (Oh, and there are no books right now. The publisher isn't finished with them yet. That also complicates planning.) The lower grades on the other hand have been much easier to plan for. Since they know next to nothing, we covered basic colors and numbers in grades 7 and 8 on the first day. Next week we'll review those and move on to objects in the classroom.