When teaching
adults we can allow us teachers some sense of humor in the classroom.
Also with
kids, of course.
At the beginning of last school year I started to teach
grown-ups at another school.
I started firm, cordial though. I started in
English all the time of the lesson or closely, but I tried to be cordial
anyway. Anyway… I noted they were so tense, so much that I realized I must
break the ice.
Speaking all the time in English – the target language – may be
so tense and demanding for the students. So one day I told them in Spanish –
our mother tongue – that we were not going to pass public examinations – “oposiciones”
in Spanish – and they had a small laugh, also me...
Well then, it meant a
transition or turning point. Since then our relationships have been much closer
or cordial, and we both students and I make up a working team.
Sense of humor
is necessary, plus some smiling. Also with kids, but only when the class
routines and discipline are set up in the classroom, I would say. / Photo from:
paddle-and-trek Alaska Shore Tours. Breaking the ice...
