Putting good students next to weak students, does it help each other improve?

'Learning from a teacher is not as good as learning from friends' is a method many teachers apply when placing good students with poor students so that both can improve. However, is this method effective in many cases?

"The student's job is to study, tutoring weak students is the teacher's job"?

As a good student assigned the responsibility of tutoring weaker students, L.D.Q, a 12th grader at a high school in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, frankly stated his opinion: "The student's job is to study, tutoring weaker students is the teacher's job." Q. said that his deskmate was a weak student but did not have a cooperative attitude, tutoring him caused his performance to decline.

“I have lectured and reminded you many times to do your homework, but you did not cooperate. When the teacher checked your homework, you copied my notes, and when it was time for the test in class, you begged me to let you look at your notes. This affected my studies, and my grades have dropped a lot compared to last year,” Q. confided.

A good student does not necessarily know how to explain to others to be as good as him.

ILLUSTRATION: NGOC LONG

Being quite weak in math and English, LHG, a 9th grade student at Quang Trung Secondary School (District 4, Ho Chi Minh City) was assigned by the teacher to sit with the deputy class monitor. “There were many lessons that I did not understand, so I asked my friend to explain them to me, because when I explained them to him, he could not copy the notes in time. Gradually, I felt self-conscious, pressured, and afraid to ask my friend for answers,” G. confided.

Similarly, TQT, an 11th grade student at Tan Phong High School (District 7, Ho Chi Minh City), said that his deskmate was good at studying but not good at communication, so sitting with him "didn't help at all". T. said: "He was just a student, not capable of teaching like a teacher, so when I asked him about the exercises I didn't know how to do, it was useless".

Mr. Nguyen Van Ba, Vice Principal of Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School (District 3, Ho Chi Minh City), said that arranging good students to teach weak students is a common practice among many teachers. “However, it is important to note that imparting knowledge is the teacher’s responsibility. A good student may not know how to explain to his or her good students. They do not have the pedagogical skills, teaching skills or understanding of psychology like teachers. Weak students also easily feel shy and self-conscious when sitting next to a very good student,” Mr. Ba commented.

“Teachers should regularly observe and monitor the class to arrange appropriate seating and have appropriate support plans for students. According to the new General Education Program, many teachers organize exercises and projects in groups. In that case, groups should be arranged based on level so that students can easily support each other. For groups of weak students, teachers can organize tutoring and supplement necessary knowledge for them,” the vice principal informed.

"Learning from a teacher is not as good as learning from a friend"

That was the case of Mai Phuong Di, a 9th grade student at Tang Bat Ho Secondary School (District 4, Ho Chi Minh City), when she was assigned to support a weaker student sitting next to her. Di shared that her friend was very progressive and hard-working, but she learned a bit slowly so her grades were not good. “I often taught my friend by asking open-ended questions, sometimes pretending to forget the lesson so that my friend could remind me. Gradually, the tutoring became a discussion of homework between the two of us,” the female student said.

Phuong Di commented that exchanging lessons with friends is an effective learning method. “When listening to teachers, I memorize the lesson once, then explain it to my friends to help me remember it again. Thanks to that, I understand the nature of the problem more deeply and apply it better when doing advanced exercises,” Di shared.

Supporting each other in studying, many students become friends and progress together.

ILLUSTRATION: NGOC LONG

Studying at the same school, Nguyen Le Khoi Viet encountered many difficulties in the learning process because he was an integrated student. “Because I could not keep up with the teachers' lectures, I often asked my deskmate questions in class and at home. My deskmate was always happy to explain and guide me. Thanks to that, I solved my exercises better and made a lot of progress,” Viet shared.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet, an English teacher at Tang Bat Ho Secondary School (District 4), said she often applies this seating arrangement so that students can support each other in their studies. “Sometimes it is difficult for students to share with their parents or teachers, but it is easier to talk to friends. When a good friend teaches a weak friend, sometimes the students learn faster because they are the same age, have the same mentality and interests,” the female teacher shared.

“There are exercises to make sentences with newly learned vocabulary, good students guide weak students with situations following the 'trends' of young people, making them interested and remember vocabulary better. These are things that only students in the same generation can easily grasp and understand, but teachers have difficulty keeping up with,” Ms. Tuyet gave an example.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/xep-hoc-sinh-gioi-ke-ban-yeu-co-giup-nhau-cung-tien-bo-185241106191013501.htm