Chapter 20: Getting Youth on Your Side: Coping with Young Learners 295
✓ Good classroom management: There’s no point trying to get in with
the kids. You aren’t one of them! What they like to see is that you’re in
control of the class and that you’re a figure of authority without being
too uptight.✓ Showing them respect: Teenagers are moving towards adulthood and
they like you to acknowledge this by asking their opinion about various
topics and encouraging them to be independent in their learning when
this is appropriate.
✓ Fun activities they can actually learn from: You can play games at any
level and with any age group but with teenagers you need to make your
aims and objectives clear so they know why the activities you do are
relevant to them.✓ Challenging activities: Take the level up half a notch from time to time
so that students feel stretched. Easy activities can lead to boredom.
✓ An invitation to comment on the course or lesson: Hand out
questionnaires so that students can tell you what they want. You
can ask them to suggest topics they’d like to talk or write about.Have competitive team activities on a regular basis but be sure to mix up the
teams regularly.Intriguing students with international English...............................
If you’re teaching in a non-English-speaking country, set your students a
challenge. Ask them to find as many examples of English words and slogans
as possible over a week. Get them to cut out examples from magazines and
newspapers, or take pictures of advertising hoardings (lots of teens have
camera phones). This can become a short project resulting in a class poster.As a result of their findings, students discuss with you with the pros and cons
of adopting English words into their language. Discuss questions like:✓ Are English words used correctly when they’re borrowed?
✓ How are they pronounced?
✓ What about the grammar? For example, in many languages words have
to be designated masculine or feminine. Who should decide whether a
foreign word adopted into your language is masculine or feminine?
✓ Do older people use English words or just the younger people?
✓ What kind of image do companies who use English in their advertising
want to have?