Celebrations!

Teenagers are fickle things, and the simple difference between class participation and a wall of glaring silence can be as simple as a chocolate.

Don’t underestimate the power of rewards. This is probably the single most important thing I learnt this week as I developed my own teaching strategies. For a couple of weeks, I have been trying to assess the different levels of English in my classes, and tried to encourage a lot of oral work. However, more often than not, this would result in blank expressions, and me talking for a lot of the hour.

In an effort to break this mould, I planned a lesson on films, which would both teach the most important phrases and vocabulary required to discuss movies with friends, and also have a guessing game that would require the children to talk.

Chocolate as a teaching tool.

Starting the lesson was, again, daunting at 8am. Having explained that we would be talking about films, I had expected a little flurry of excitement, but the children stared back quite vacantly. As I launched into my first riddle, without elaborating that this was a game, the children seemed a little lost, until about a minute later someone half mumbled, half yawned “Harry Potter”.

“Pardon?”

“Harry Potter”

“Perfect. Do you want a chocolate?”

On cue, the whole class seemingly sprung to life as I removed a packet of Celebrations from my bag and threw a sweet across the room. Suddenly, the whole class is actively participating, asking questions about the genre of film, who stars, who directs and so on.

We spent half an hour after the warm up reviewing different key vocabulary to talk about film, and to finish, the students made up their own riddles, which they had to first write down and then present for their peers to guess, meeting and surpassing the criteria given to me by the school teachers.

Surprisingly, the only encouragement these children needed to speak their English with a degree of control was a little reward at the end. It brought each one of them, even the most shy and reluctant learner, out of their shell, hoping to have an early morning sugar boost.

I am not advocating placating all moody teenagers with chocolate in every lesson, but as an effective learning tool, it allowed me to hear voices in the class for the first time, and meant I was able to wrap up by congratulating them on their English, further boosting their confidence for future lessons and trials that come their way.

Anything for a little celebration.

Teacher Life

I have survived my first lessons in France as a teacher and lived to tell the tale.

No, the classes have not been as dramatic as that (yet!), but I seemingly metamorphosed into a show and tell item at some point amidst the endless introduction classes I led this week.

I was introduced to no fewer than 12 different classes, of ranging abilities and ages, from 11 to 15 year olds. Nonetheless, the level of English in all groups appears to be strong on the whole and each and every class gave me a good grilling on the questions front.

Interrogations ranged from standard questions about where I am from, my hobbies and interests, my favourite cities, how I enjoyed Marseille etc, to the more bizarre (“Do I like platypus?” asked one student), to stereotypes regarding how often I saw the Queen, or drank tea, or if I had ever visited Hogwarts (which seems to be a young French child’s mock-up of a traditional English school).

Adolescents in Marseille, just as elsewhere, like to push the boundaries too: I had several people ask for my mobile phone number, and a couple of students ask if I had a girlfriend, or whether I preferred French women to English women.

Fortunately, it seems that the male student population are currently in awe of the fact I am a real born and bred Mancunian, as football is not so much a sport, as a cult in Marseille. If you are a teenager and you aren’t wearing a football tracksuit to declare support for your team (usually Olympique Marseille), you do receive an odd glance or two from classmates. This rule goes beyond the playground however and large swathes of grown men sport these tracksuits in the street on a daily basis. As such, questions of Manchester United versus Manchester City were fielded for a short time.

All of this has prepared me for what to expect in my regular lessons, particularly how to manage large numbers of teenagers all shouting for information, or complaining they don’t understand my accent. It also reflects on the amount of oral work to come as many of the teachers have emphasised a need to boost student confidence when speaking English. Managing these different expectations and controlling restless teenagers at 8am (yes classes at 8am), will certainly be the most challenging aspect of the job, but it will facilitate my desire to adapt my communication techniques and ensure that I am more adept at leading a group with poise and self-assurance.

Teenagers can sense fear after all.