Reflections and Methodology · 21. July 2017

Somehow I always seem to end up teaching an advanced class in the summer: usually highly educated European teenagers popping over to the UK for a few weeks’ refresher course. They bring their own range of challenges. Some are gluttons for work and demand a sophisticated, highly challenging syllabus, while others are all too happy to coast on what they have already achieved and have no interest in improving any further. Some are intelligent, articulate, and fascinating individuals, while...

Reflections and Methodology · 24. August 2016

In the first and second part of this article I wrote about teenagers' growing need to focus on peer relationships and to challenge authority, and discussed ways that this affects teaching. This final entry discusses the phenomenon of teenage awkwardness, and how to be sensitive to it in the language classroom, as well as presenting a few conclusions.

Reflections and Methodology · 12. August 2016

In my last entry I wrote about how teenagers naturally have a strong focus on peer relationships, and the effect this can have on class dynamics, and on my teaching. In this entry, I'd like to consider another teenage stereotype - the grumpy rebel - and reflect on the surprising benefits of this difficult aspect of adolescence, and suggest ways to keep your cool when faced with it.

Reflections and Methodology · 09. August 2016

This summer, I’ve had moments where a few of the teenagers I’ve been teaching have really got under my skin, and other moments where they've really inspired me. I’d forgotten how different it is to teach a whole group of 16-18-year-olds, compared to one 17-year-old in a class of 20-somethings. I’ve been reflecting on why these differences exist, and how to deal with them, in terms of what’s going on both in their heads and in mine.