Dealing with Difficulties
Keeping (and regaining) students’ attention
Usually as a child develops, the longer they can concentrate for; therefore the younger the student is, the shorter their attention span. What impact does this have on teaching? Well, this means that as teachers of younger learners and especially very younger learner classes we have to plan lots of short activities. In our lesson plans (whether it be a list on paper, or in our heads), it is essential that we have lots of different activities and back-up activities. Having a variety of routines (that can be selected from) and also learner autonomous activities, as mentioned in the classroom management section, can really help with the daily problem of maintaining students’ attention.
- Transitions
A big problem that I and many teachers have with keeping a young child’s attention is that transition period between activities, or when you have to move from the group to change a song etc., it is very easy to lose the students’ attention (individually or as a group) and very difficult to regain it. As mentioned in the classroom management section, how we set up the classroom is important to help us limit problems, such as losing the children’s attention by having to move across the room. However the realities of our day to day work, such as using other people’s classrooms like in San Felipe Neri, or CD players being placed higher on a shelf, or plug sockets being away from boards, can mean that times when we have to move away from the children to change a song or get a board pen that the class helper can’t reach, etc. cannot be avoided. Keeping the students focussed on you as a group by all counting to ten or twenty can help not to lose their attention. We can often lose the children’s attention between the changing of actions, having transitions songs/chants that either keep the students on track and show them what they are doing next like “it’s time for the tables,” or chants to regain their attention “one, two, three – look at me” can really work. Also having short activities which intentionally regain the focus of the group as a whole is useful too. An activity that really works with VYLs is Yoga numbers, in which the teacher gets the students to close their eyes and hum in yoga style, and then suddenly says and claps a number e.g. 1, the students then copy. The teacher encourages humming again, then suddenly says and claps more numbers (1, 2) and so on until 10, or until the students are refocused. For more detailed activities and chants see the practical activities section.
- Using your voice as a tool
A big tool us teachers have to keep attention is our voice. If we think about it from the young child’s point of view, they often hear “blah, blah, blah.” Therefore varying the volume, tone, and even speed of what we say can really help the students to be encouraged to listen more, thus holding their attention better. Whispering, instead of shouting, is by far the better way to regain students’ attention, as they’re more eager to listen. By extension, encouraging the students to copy these different ways of saying things, e.g. whispering “it’s blue”, shouting “it’s yellow”, mimicking a cat “it´s a cat” can really make the language learning process more fun and thus engaging too.
Use of L1 (learners first language)
“Speak in English” or “in English” is something us EFL teachers may find that we say often. An ‘English only’ policy is something most language academies have, as the big reason students come (or parents send their children) to language academies is so that they are in an all-English-speaking environment, where the teachers speak only in English and the students are encouraged to do so too, and therefore use of the students L1 is limited. As we’ve already established, teaching younger learners is different from teaching older students, therefore should an English only policy be enforced with these age groups? For me, this has been a tricky question over the years, especially as I have received confusing messages/information, with some books with phrases such as ‘teacher explains in L1’, contradicting my EFL English-only training. It is one that I face on a daily basis too, as a teacher of lots of I2 – S2 classes. To approach the ue of L1 in the classroom the best way I can, I’m going to split it into subtitles: Teacher’s use of students’ L1, and Student’s use of L1.
Teacher’s use of students’ L1
Even though some resource books do say things like ‘teacher explains activity in L1′, when you look at the source of these VYLs books, many are written by teachers whose L1 is the same as the students, which can support that this L1 instruction process is natural for them. However for most EFL teachers this is not the case. As a person who is not confident with my Spanish, this automatically feels very uncomfortable for me, and I’ve found that over the years I do not need to use the students’ L1 for the majority of things, even when teaching 3-year-olds. The use of routines, strong visuals, body language, teacher patience and use of stronger students to explain in L1 (if really necessary) helps the students understand and means that I actually don’t need to speak in their first language of Spanish, and I feel that I’m still providing the all-English service the parents are paying for. There are other reasons why teacher use of L1 should be avoided as much as possible. One is that young learners are generally good at imitating sounds and words, so as much exposure to these sounds and words as possible is important. Especially in light of the fact that the muscles in the mouth are still developing in young children, and set around six years old, which will give the younger learners an advantage to use parts of the mouth to produce English sounds. Another reason is that a big part of younger students coming to English classes is to integrate them with English, making English something not to be scared of, something part of their world that can be understood without knowing all the words.
- Are there any appropriate times then for teacher use of L1?
Times that a teacher may feel the need to speak L1 (in our case here at Active Language, Spanish) are when a child is very upset and can’t stop crying, or when they are misbehaving really badly, or to settle S2 students the first time they do exams. In the moment when a child is really upset, a little initial ‘que te pasa’ or soothing ‘no pasa nada’ in Spanish with a hug may feel like the best and most appropriate thing to do. A big concern for us is the children’s welfare and that they feel happy and safe in the classroom, so if a little Spanish is needed to do this, then why not? However, if the child continues to cry and be upset, there are other methods we can use too. Firstly giving the class puppet to the upset child to sit with, to help soothe the student, really works and often stops the crying. This may be supported with the child sitting near the teacher, so the teacher can support them too. Also, if this doesn’t work then call the co-ordinator (if possible), to come in and sit with the child and they can speak L1 to the student instead of you having to do so. Asking the co-ordinator come in to speak Spanish to a child who is constantly misbehaving and not responding to the classroom rules, and management routines may be the best option. The first time the S2 students take the February exams, they are very nervous and do not understand the format. Some teachers who speak some Spanish have found it beneficial to give some of the instructions in Spanish, to help the students get settled quicker and understand what they need to do more. Other teachers may not feel comfortable doing this, and may ask the co-ordinator to come in to translate or have the stronger students translate. If a teacher feels that it is really necessary or beneficial to say something in Spanish a good idea to have is to ask the students first “Can I speak in Spanish please?” (and they can ask you this too). This still demonstrates that the agreed-on atmosphere is English, but giving the opportunity to overcome moments of difficulty if really needed. It can be quite interesting and humorous when you do ask your students this, as many will say “no” and some even repeat your follow up question to them “Is it important?”
Students’ use of L1
“Can I speak in Spanish please?” is something that S2s and S1s can produce, and shows that they can generally follow the rule of English only in the classroom. By the time the students are in primary they are aware of the differences between Spanish and English, and usually are aware of the reason that they are coming to class to learn English. They are therefore generally responsive to the atmosphere of trying to produce English, encouraged by games, songs and reward strategies the class have and they can use the question “Can I speak in Spanish please?” when they need to use L1. Often the students’ use is often more apparent in S1 classes than in S2 classes, but can also vary from class to class and student to student. The overuse of “Can I speak in Spanish?” can happen and a student may be persistent after the follow-up “Is it important?” question. Many times the students’ important information may not be important to what is happening in the class, but it may be very important to them, e.g. they went to the circus yesterday. A little acknowledgement from the teacher, such as “Wow great, what animals did you see? An Elephant? A Zebra?” gives the student the attention they need and sometimes produces language opportunities too. If a teacher feels that a particular student is overusing the question, and it’s becoming counterproductive rather than productive, other follow up sentences such as “try in English” can be used or asking the student to wait till after the instructions or activity has finished, then answering their question – often they have forgotten.
- Can VYLs I1 – I3 use “Can I speak in Spanish please?”
Some I3 classes or stronger students may be able to use the question and if so encourage them to do so. It can be used with VYLs for them to recognise and respond with “no” (in a fun way) for moments when there is too much L1 used by them, and we want to them to stop and encourage an English environment. However, on the whole I would say that L1 in the classroom does exist more with Infantil than Primary. Halfway through my teaching year (a few times), an infant student has said in Spanish, “Why are you speaking English?” or “You’re not speaking Spanish.” This is because an infant students’ awareness of the world and thus of language differences is still very much developing and their purpose for coming to the classes aren’t as apparent to them either. How can we encourage an English atmosphere? Encourage is the main word here – exposing them as much as possible to English and encouraging their participation through fun songs, games and varied activities to keep their attention and focus will limit the use of students’ L1 and keep a positive atmosphere. During ‘table time activities’ having the music on in the background and encouraging students to sing along will help reduce the use of L1 amongst the students although it won’t eliminate it.
Question and answer section
There are times when things may occur in a class that you haven’t actually known what to do and have maybe had to react by instinct and reflect on and talk about the incident later. Or you may have had an ongoing issue in your class that you haven’t known what to do, and needed to seek advice from a coordinator. We are going to use this section for these difficulties and offer some (hopefully) helpful advice. Please feel free to add …