The bright and the not-so-bright

In the past, English classes at my school were divided into two smaller classes, for the brighter and not-so-bright students. This year, the classes are instead divided into two smaller mixed-ability classes. I'm generally in favour of mixing students of different ability levels, because a) students can learn from each other, and b) if you're put in the lower-level class, chances are you're stuck there for good, which isn't very motivating. However, the dictation tests I've been giving lately have made me reconsider. These tests are just a case of me saying three sentences, and the students writing down what I say. Every time we've done such a test so far, there have been seven or eight kids with perfect scores, and a few others who turn in their papers virtually blank. Now, these students are either so far ahead or so far behind that I have to wonder how much they're getting out of the classes, if, for example, they can't manage a sentence like "I am a baseball fan," whilst at the other extreme, some are coming up with work like "I usually sleep late on Sunday, and today was no exception" on their own.
Now, I am a big fan of foreign language education (obviously) but in a rural school like mine, a lot of the kids are likely to end up in blue-collar, unqualified work, where they're not likely to need the kind of grammar-based education they're getting. They should be focusing on international education and general communication strategies. The more academic students should get that as well as more complex grammar, composition and conversation study. In other words, in cases of such huge extremes as in my school, maybe ability streaming isn't such a bad thing after all.
Rant ends.

Meanwhile, at elementary school today, the office staff and I bonded with an impromptu English lesson over "Spot's Big Book of Words." I taught them "beanie" and "touque" for "woolly hat," so you Canucks should be happy.