IN THE CLASSROOM Challenge

Teenagers, in most educational contexts,

are aged 11 to 17: the age of secondary

Aspoon u
education. This is a big group. Are all
ages equally difficult? Where are the
hotspots? All ages present their own
challenges, but in terms of the private
language school experience, most people
tend to divide ages up by saying that the

of sugar ...
younger teenagers are more like children
and so less problematic, and the older
ones tend to have made positive choices
about going to an English class or are at
least more comfortable in it. The
problems have, therefore, tended to be
identified as being with the middle
Simon pearlman hen we think about

W
groups, the 13-15 year olds. However, is
teenagers, many - often this still the case? Nowadays youngsters
thinks some timely treatment conflicting - adjectives seem to be growing up quicker than
come to mind: noisy, ever before; with boys, the pressure to
with his teenagers helps the cheeky, creative, grumpy, lively, 'be a man' seems to begin younger and
uncommunicative, annoying, fun. The younger. I've had students as young as
medicine go down. list could go on and on, but one thing 12 talking confidentially about the peer
for certain is that teenagers make pressure to smoke, drink alcohol and
challenging students. take drugs. These are worrying
My assumption is that all teachers developments indeed, and mirroring this
of teenagers have some issues around seems to be a tendency for younger
discipline, and there are no easy people to be more difficl;llt.
answers. However, talking to teachers
has helped me begin to understand that
we ali have similar problems, which is,
in itself, a reassuring message.

Change
Teenagers are by their very nature a
challenging group. The single word that
characterises this age group is change.
There are the obvious physical changes:
things growing, dropping and emerging
alarmingly. Then there are emotional
changes, often viewed as a veil of
confidence easily dislodged. There are
also cognitive changes, as our students So is it society's fault, then? Or is it
grapple with philosophical questions ours? We try to create fun, creative and
and shape their world views. So some communicative classes for groups of
challenging behaviour from them is students for whom it may be totally
understandable, perhaps inevitable and inappropriate. Is the ELT profession
maybe even desirable. with its touchy-feely, communicative
Imagine a world where teenagers approaches incompatible with most
didn't challenge usoIt just wouldn't be teenage classes?
right. I firmly believe that encouraging
We've ali been teenagers ourselves, communicative competence is wholly
and we need to remember what it was appropriate and allowing people to
like. We need to empathise, too. enjoy their encounters with English is
However, we mustn't allow our essential, but it does create a number of
understanding to cloud our judgement. difficulties, too. Teenagers are rarely
Yes, we need to remember, and yes, we given this freer space within a
need to empathise, but we mustn't allow classroom, and we as language teachers
it to be an excuse; we mustn't forgive also tend to lean away from tight reins
poor behaviour based on hormones and and strong discipline. Nevertheless,
an understanding of change alone. these questions need to be asked.

34 . Issue 62 May 2009 • ENGLlSH TEACHING professional- www.etprofessional.com •

Treatment class today? How did it affect you? other could include playing YouTube clips at
students? the lesson? me? Why do you do the end of the class, songs, teaching
So, that's the background. What can we it?' etc. By doing this, I'm not telling magic tricks, a joke or maybe even the
do? How can we have classes that are them off, I'm guiding them towards teacher going for a full-on cultural
well-behaved as well as productive and more reasonable behaviour. Hopefully, British experience by taking in a flask
communicative? through this some issues will come out: of tea. Each teacher and each group of
Let's base our work around three 'It's too easy, I'm bored, it's too difficult, students will have their own approach.
medical sounding themes; prevention is I don't understand, I don't really want to
better than cure, a spoonful of sugar be here', And you may finish with 'So
helps the medicine go down and
Amputate
what's going to change?'
amputation is the only way. At the same time, try to find out Some situations do need stronger
In Issue 61 of ETp (It works in about them; ask them about their lives, tactics. It is essential that we are able to
practice) we looked at some preventive remember and ask about things they deal with serious problems when they
measures: mention the next week. These personal arise. And arise they almost certainly
• Get the 'work' done early. touches are important and help those will from time to time, irrespective of
• Signpost the activities. people feel special, valued and respected. the spoonfuls of sugar and the
• Scaffold the activities. This is a lengthy process; there's no preventive measures we put in place.
• Make lessons relevant and interesting. magic wand and it will take time, but we What are the options when it appears
• Be realistic. owe it to the student, the class and that ali else has failed?
ourselves to keep trying ... and trying. • Use the chain of command: We may
We as teachers need to take the lead,
interacting positively and building feel that asking our Director of Studies
rapport with our students. If students to step in is a sign of failure, but the
like you, you can discipline them much hierarchy is there to help usoUsed
more effectively. occasionally, a word from a 'higher
We need to take every opportunity authority' can have a remarkable effect.
to build rapport whenever possible, Hopefully, the place where you work
whether it be in the classroom, around has an effective, and maybe even
the school or even when we bump into affective, disciplinary system which
our students in the street. These people could potentially lead to the expulsion
are not our friends; we don't want to of a student who is really impossible
socialise with them, nor perhaps should to work with, if such a student exists.
we, but we should treat them with • Involve parents: A call to a student's
respect, politeness and friendliness, and parents is potentially a make-or-break
the use of their name, a friendly pat on moment. There is the danger that they
the back and a smile can go a long way. will react defensively, accusatorily or
Returning to the medical theme, Se reasonable
in any number of unhelpful ways.
doctors think about symptoms and the Our teenage students are probably being However, in my experience parents
underlying problem. OK, we may bombarded with exams and homework are usually supportive and often
perceive a class to be difficult as a at school and we're going to give them incredibly effective when it comes to
whole, but it's usually only one or two more. And so we should: the more disciplining their own children.
bacteria that spread an infection. The homework, the better. If we start from
real problem tends to be individual the position of homework every day, We need to be up to the challenge and
students. We need to identify the then we can relax it and be the good we need to be in charge of our
bacteria and treat them specifically. guys. We could do a deal: if the whole classrooms. Only if we can control the
class do the homework, then there is no classroom, can we do our job. If we are
homework the next day. Or if they work confident that we can manage the
Se tactful classroom, we can relax and maybe even
well through a long series of revision
There are students who need special exercises, then there won't be a test in enjoy ourselves. If we can feellike we're
attention. They need it for a number of the next class. This negotiation can help doing a good job and enjoy ourselves,
possible reasons; these can range from our students feel more in control and the then we can be pretty sure the students
the personal, the behavioural and, of effect of peer pressure can be incredible. are too. Everyone's a winner. <E>
course, the academic. If we can get these
students on side, then we're well on the Simon Pearlman is a

way to success. Build bridges, engage Se positive teacher, teacher trainer

and Director of Studies
with them on a personallevel, talk to We talk about discipline and, as is at Active Language,
Cádiz, Spain. He taught
them and get to know them a little. natural, we usually focus on the difficult in Turkey, the UK and
It could work like this: if a student students. Why don't we think about Costa Rica before
settling in Spain. He
has been particularly difficult, ask them rewarding rather than punishing? Cynics believes in an affective
to stay behind after the class and then might say this is tantamount to bribery, approach to teaching.
the dialogue can begin out of the glare but it can also be thought of as positive
of the peer spotlight. 'Why am I talking reinforcement. What kind of rewards are
simon@activelanguage.net
to you now? How was your behaviour in we talking about? Ideas for rewards

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLlSH TEACHING professional- Issue 62 May 2009 • 35