I found resonance with the "The unpromising students, you won't tick off" in the summary of the benign paper tiger head given by his favourite underling in https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2026/05/paper-tiger-01-china.html.
It is the principle I've adhered to in my teaching -- with evening class students, and now private students.
I'd give easier sentences to weaker students, partly so that it wouldn't show them up in public, partly to give them a sense of achievement (that they were actually able to translate a sentence).
This didn't always work to plan, though.
Some of the students were so weak that even those easier sentences were too difficult, resulting in an outburst that was totally the opposite effect of my original intention (to make them feel that they were not that bad after all).
One of them (a bloke in a beginner class, evening programme) felt shown up and swore at me ("You stupid woman!", which made some of the students gasp). (This is absolutely the wrong attitude to take with the teacher in the Chinese cultural context, so he was not only wrong for the language, he was wrong on a broader scale for the whole experience. One doesn't just learn the language, it's the whole cultural package that comes with it.)
Another (a full-time degree final year student) burst into tears when she couldn't translate the sentence I gave her, and stormed out of the classroom with, "You're always picking on me!" (I was a part-time teacher being given a translation slot for this final year class for that year only, so I'd played no part in their earlier years on the programme.)
The third one (an evening programme student) said the same thing ("You're always picking on me!") but at least didn't walk out.
(London, 1980s / 1990s)
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