The teacher and the terror

My lessons have been going well recently but I faced a problem this morning, one which I have faced before and have not found an adequate solution to.

At the heart of this problem is the huge difference in level between students in a class - some are semi-fluent, a handful of which you simply can’t shut up, and others can barely string a sentence together.

I like doing an exercise where I ask a question, and then have a strong student answer it. For example this morning I asked a student, I always start with a strong student, “Where are you going for Chuseok?” The question led to a simple dialogue. Once we completed the dialogue the student took my role and led another student, of their choice, through the dialogue.

I really enjoy the exercise since students enjoy the element of choice which increases their enthusiasm, gives the class a sense of ownership of the lesson and definitely increases general attentiveness.

Of course the bit that sucks is that I surrender control of who does the dialogue to the class. Once in while the students throw one of their classmates, and myself, a curve ball by picking a low student to model the conversation.

So what does one do? Dive in and pass the role onto another student? Sit back and watch the student struggle? Try and nudge them through the exercise to their intense embarrassment and shear terror?

Any advice? What would you do?