the uncomfortable teacher
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Convincing a quiet class to communicate
How do you convince a class of 17-18 year-olds to speak when they prefer to stay quiet? Quite a challenge. A language class feeds on student participation and interaction. Welcome to the engine room of the good ship Teach English in a French secondary school. This is the story of a class of pleasant, intelligent students who are curiously quiet. Is it fear of making mistakes? Or that speaking requires something they can't give? It's up to the teacher to take the first step in trying to understand the situation. Wish me luck. I'll have to come up with something. But that's okay because I know that communication is constant…
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Smoke Signals in the classroom
Storytelling in the language classroom is a powerful tool. But what happens if nobody wants to listen? Or if, at least, that's how it feels? The problem is often not with the story. It's about the smoke signal you're sending out : people can't see the signal, all they can see is the smoke. Here are some ways to change that.
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Slow down, teacher, enjoy the journey
As a beginning teacher, I regularly had uncomfortable moments in class when I suddenly realised that everyone was listening to me. I could command people's attention in such moments, but was slightly overwhelmed by being the focus. I didn't exactly panic. However, I did feel myself reel a little as a rush of energy caused a slight dizziness to the head, coupled with a sense of a sudden stuffiness in the room. It was like being caught in a traffic jam of my own making. The flow was gone. All I could do was pull over to the side of the road for a moment and let the flow pick…
