Teens

Three weeks ago I finished my practice period with adolescents after one month and a half of hard work. Fortunately, I had an extraordinary group of 18 students aged between 14 and 16 who were eager to participate and enthusiastic about learning a new language. Some people say teenagers are hard to motivate and impossible to deal with. Let me tell you that is not my opinion.

Of course there must be some troublesome teens out there waiting the enemy to come in the battle field only to declare war: they are completely aware of the fact they have the tools to hurt anybody’s feelings deeply and threaten to boycott anybody’s lesson, no matter how carefully prepared it seems to be.

Most of teenagers go through periods of extreme discomfort, anger and rebellion, and that is by nature. So why not perceiving their behaviour as a sign of health and maturation? We all know that the transition from childhood to adulthood must be rocky, so helping our teen students in their process might mean dealing with a handful of unexpected ambivalent attitudes at times. Whether you like it or not.

However, working with these guys should not be ALWAYS a pain in the backside. Teaching teenagers with their fresh and unadulterated perspectives can be great fun and a self-rewarding experience as well. Adolescents have boundless creative energy, they are talented and they are passionate about the things they like. Maybe, we only need to bring their realities into THEIR classrooms, help them think critically and push ahead with this adventurous experience of “educating the beast”. And always give them the best you can, because teenagers are the most perceptive of all and they feel pleased and grateful for our efforts.

And continue learning from them. It’s a wonderful truth that of all relationships between teacher and student is truly symbiotic. On a daily basis, you learn as much from your students as you try to impart to them, and this is why, without a doubt, we continue to teach.

Teaching ONLY English?

Today I went to Normal I school, to the same classroom I've been going to for the last month, since I started my teaching practices there. When the bell rang, the kids entered their classroom, sat at their seats and stared at me waiting for instructions, as they usually do. Great group, by the way! After that, I gave my lesson and fortunately, everything went as planned. However, one student in particular caught my attention: he couldn't copy words from the blackboard correctly, he couldn't recognize any of the linguistic items they'd been working with for a month, and he couldn't understand any of the things I was saying in English. It was like Chinese for him. So I talked to his teacher and I learnt this kid is "particularly slow", and I hadn't realized that before. This kept me thinking. What can we do to help this kind of children learn?

There are quick brilliant learners in every classroom, but schools are full of those really "slow" and "not precisely bright" students, too. Let me tell you I really believe THESE are the ones in greater need of help. So what are we doing to help these little "creatures" learn? It might be possible that particularly weak students do not feel confident enough to participate in their English lessons, having fewer opportunities to use the language and to correct their mistakes, and having fewer opportinities to feel proud of their achievements in communicating their ideas in a foreign language. It seems they generally feel they are not capable of carrying out any task, and therefore, they don't do it. But we don't realize this can be working this way. So we just prefer reaching the conclusion that they are not good for English at all and that there is not room for improvement. And that's all.

But is their facility for the language or their level of English the heart of the problem? I firmly believe they are not. Maybe we should start thinking about how to work on their self-confidence first, rather than on their language, help them develop their self-esteem, make them feel secure enough to take risks, and make mistakes, and learn from them, give these students responsibilities in every lesson, make them feel important and useful in class. And stop pointing out their error all the time. Can they really improve if they are just penalized for every mistake they make? Probably they will just end up shutting their mouths and being afraid of opening them again.

Sometimes, I believe, our lesson plans are great, our lesson, perfectly organized and loaded with entertaining and meaningful activities which, we are almost convinced, will inevitably lead to acquisition. But we need to remember, from time to time, that acquisition is not the same in every individual. Different children, different levels of English, different capacities, different abilities, different interests and different needs coexist in our classrooms. Even our best lessons might not be enough for our so-called slow students.

So, I wonder whether teaching English aims only at having proficient English speakers by the end of the year. I believe there should be many other aims in teaching. What about first encouraging them to be proud of their achievements? What about first helping our learners feel they are capable of learning? Maybe, only then, if everything goes right, might these so-called "slow" students be able to try learning English. Or not. But at least they'll know you've made an effort to help them be better learners FOR LIFE.