kirstyjay
New member
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2012
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- UK
- Current Location
- Tenerife
Hi there. New to the forum, although not new to forums in general.
I have started teaching a 4-month long course for teenagers / young adults where I live. I have 3 groups with between 10 and 15 students in each group. There's one group 1 in one locality, which is a mix of 13 through to 21 year-olds. They are all reasonably the same level though, so it works well.
The other 2 groups are in another locality, and due to the number of sign-ups, it's split into 2 groups... 12-14 inclusive and 15+. The 12 to 14 year-olds are fine, but the 15+ group is proving to be hard work.
The classes are supposed to be conversation based and I'm also supposed to be doing lots of interesting activities with them that will be interesting to their age group. the activities bit is not a problem, as I have started a rolling project, writing a newspaper which will then build to other media over the full course.
The actual English lessons with this group are like pulling teeth though. No matter what game or conversational activity I do with them, they just won't TALK to each other. I have tried 'find someone who...' games, and last week I did the one where they had famous people's names on their backs and they had to find out who they were by asking yes/no questions to each other... NONE of them would mingle!
They all seem to be shy and insular and I'm at my wits end trying to find conversational games to get them to open their mouths. They are also a monolingual group, so I have to really monitor them to make sure they don't slip into L1 when I'm not looking. All in all, it's becoming a little tiring with this group, as I feel I have to babysit them constantly.
Does anyone have any suggestions how I can handle them? Children and adults are by far easier to handle than teenagers!
Thanks in advance,
Kirsty
I have started teaching a 4-month long course for teenagers / young adults where I live. I have 3 groups with between 10 and 15 students in each group. There's one group 1 in one locality, which is a mix of 13 through to 21 year-olds. They are all reasonably the same level though, so it works well.
The other 2 groups are in another locality, and due to the number of sign-ups, it's split into 2 groups... 12-14 inclusive and 15+. The 12 to 14 year-olds are fine, but the 15+ group is proving to be hard work.
The classes are supposed to be conversation based and I'm also supposed to be doing lots of interesting activities with them that will be interesting to their age group. the activities bit is not a problem, as I have started a rolling project, writing a newspaper which will then build to other media over the full course.
The actual English lessons with this group are like pulling teeth though. No matter what game or conversational activity I do with them, they just won't TALK to each other. I have tried 'find someone who...' games, and last week I did the one where they had famous people's names on their backs and they had to find out who they were by asking yes/no questions to each other... NONE of them would mingle!
They all seem to be shy and insular and I'm at my wits end trying to find conversational games to get them to open their mouths. They are also a monolingual group, so I have to really monitor them to make sure they don't slip into L1 when I'm not looking. All in all, it's becoming a little tiring with this group, as I feel I have to babysit them constantly.
Does anyone have any suggestions how I can handle them? Children and adults are by far easier to handle than teenagers!
Thanks in advance,
Kirsty