How to teach weak students

Every person has some inherited in-born learning capacities. For some, the learning process, in general, goes rapidly and the memorizing process requires less effort and stress. Others may have less picking abilities and therefore the approach to each type of learner must vary accordingly.

In this article, you will find useful tips which come in handy in case you deal with weak students. Most of the tips have worked very effectively with my own students. 

Think/Reflect

The more the teacher thinks about a particular student’s flaws and strengths, the more he will be able to guide the students in the right way. Getting insight into the main problem will be key to success. The students may have psychological worries connected with his friends, family, society, food, physical health or any other personal condition. The teacher needs to find ways to be on the same wavelength with the weak student to be able to understand his/her problem. In many cases, a friendly talk with his friends or parents may be quite beneficial. From my own experience, I had a student who used to be very shy and absent-minded during the lessons. I talked with her classmates who were close with her and it turned out that she does a lot of housework and looks after her siblings. As a result, she used to get very tired and had less time to prepare lessons. I talked with her mom and in several weeks’ period, we had tangible progress.

Encouragement 

Scolding and harsh punishment may discourage a weak student. Therefore, find the vulnerable students’ strength and utter encouraging words for him/her. Confidence will make a great change. It will make him/her feel his worth and importance.

Achievable Goals 

Usually, students make mistakes when they don’t repeat the material. In such cases, teachers can help them in designing a learning timetable dividing the given time into various slots for completing each topic, revise and give exams. Doing the appropriate thing at the proper time can achieve the goal. In many cases, continuous revision of the material can help the student digest the material with more ease and use it. Simple mock tests or every day revisions games can play a great role to lead the learner to the final goal.

Individual Approach

Sometimes teachers concentrate more on strong children in the class. However, weak students need more care and attention from the tutor’s side. Pleasant and polite behaviour with an individual will surely boost the confidence and willpower to study better and make the caring teacher happy. In case teachers provide some extra 15-20 minutes to weak students to reinforce the learnt material and motivate the learner.

Classroom Arrangement

Teachers need to understand the appropriate classroom setting which will boost the learning not only with weak but also with strong students. In most of the cases, during controlled practice, low-level students achieve progress when they are given the chance to pair work with strong students. They may feel more secure when working with a stronger co-fellow rather than a teacher. However, the teacher must be sure that the strong student also enjoys working with the low one since some strong students get bored if they are paired with weak students. For freer practice and the tasks on speaking for fluency opt to pair the weak with weak as it will be of more benefit. 

Simple Tricks

• Help weak students to speak in the classroom i.e. initially one word to one sentence in different situations. 
• No matter what always involve them in classwork and never let them just sit while working with strong students. The most important thing is to keep consistency and engage them on a continuous basis. If you provide them with initially easy and achievable tasks they will develop a sense of accomplishment and success.
• Appreciate every effort that a weak student is making let it be academic or non-academic (supporting others, being practical and creative in a group activity, like designing the poster presentation).

These tips may help most of the weak students to show seeable progress and be happy with the learning process. What else makes a considerate teacher more pleased than seeing a happy learner.