Head, Shoulders, Knees, and all that

How to talk to children

Here at Knock Knock English, I teach children from the ages of 2-12 years old.  It can be a challenge at times going from a class of 4 year-olds at 3:00pm to a class of 7 year-olds at 4:00pm, to a class of 10 year-olds at 5:00pm.   I have to be careful not to talk to the older kids as if they are 3 year-olds, and to remember that the 6 year-olds are only 6!  Sometimes after working with preschoolers, you can get unrealistic expectations of how mature the elementary school kids should behave. 

It helps me to, between every class, take two minutes to look at the class roster, picture the kids in my mind and recalibrate. 

For me personally, I find I have to put the most effort into communicating with 4th-6th grade students (9-12 years old).  They are still very much children, but they are really making that push to develop a more mature identity. 

This American Life is an outstanding weekly public radio program broadcast out of Chicago.   I try to catch the show on podcast every week.  A few weeks ago the theme of the show was How To Talk To Kids.  The entire hour-long show is very entertaining, but if you're short on time just have a listen to the first 5 minutes or so, in which the host, Ira Glass, talks to some 5th and 6th graders about adults who don't know how to talk to kids. 

Some insight...

... kids often feel like they are being talked down to.  A 10 year-old doesn't want to be spoken to like an adult, but he or she doesn't want to be spoken to like a 3 year-old either. 

..."um, 'How's school?' is like the, um, typical adult question, so you have to answer it like 6,000 times a year.  So, like, if they, um, say, 'How's school?' you kind of know they have nothing else to say or they don't know what to say."  "Like, adults should know by now that kids don't really like talking about school."

"If you want to talk to kids, kids say, talk about stuff that interest you and them, like you would with anybody.  Also, not so much teasing all the time.  Also, don't repeat the same things to them every time you see them. "

In my opinion, the most important conversational rule is the same with kids as it is with adults...listen.  They'll let you know what they want to talk about. 

Rule #2, be genuine.  Kids smell a phony quicker than adults.    

Rule #3, let comfort build.  It's hard to connect with someone who is trying too hard.  Everyone has their own pace.  Some of my more talkative students now took a while to feel comfortable speaking with me. 

I'd love to know if you have any rules to add to the list?

 

Remember the automatic flush toilets

Last month, Tanja and I attended a workshop of teachers sharing ideas for Halloween themed learning activities.  One of the activities mentioned was "pin the tail on the black cat" or "pin the nose on the pumpkin".  These games are variations of "pin the tail on the donkey".  There are ways to vary the game for different age groups, but the game is traditionally played with players taking turns being blindfolded, spun around a couple of times and then pointed in the general direction of  a big picture of a donkey (or cat, or pumpkin, etc.).  The player is holding a paper tail and attempts to pin the tail on the donkey.  Players take turns seeing who can get the tail closest to where it should go.  As a language activity, it works well if you play in teams  with team members giving the blindfolded player directions (up, down, left, right, etc.)

The game can be a lot of fun, but for young learners the blindfold can be quite scary and children under 6 often don't want to play.  We brought this up at the workshop and one of the teachers (I'm sorry I forget her name!) gave us a great tip that made me think a great deal about how I introduce all new activities for young learners.

She told us that when she plays this game with her students, for the blindfold she uses a soft, silk scarf that she is wearing around her neck.  The fact that the scarf is the teacher's, and that she was wearing it comfortably and it came from her neck is comforting to the students.  Instead of a new, scary blindfold produced out of nowhere, they get to wear something brings them closer to the teacher and they are much more likely to feel comfortable playing the game.

It was a powerful insight to me, and I thought about all of the "new" elements that can be introduced into class and how those elements may seem harmless but can be very intimidating for young learners.

In today's New York Times, there is an article which is another reminder of how intimidating the world can be for children.  Bugs are scary...sure.  So are strangers, and barking dogs, and the dark.   Heck, most of those things are scary to adults.

But how about this one?  Automatic flush toilets.

Automatic flush toilets have grown in number over the years and with the proliferation has come a fear that is surprisingly common among children.  Toilets are already very mysterious to children, but toilets that flush by themselves, seemingly at random?  That's creepy.  Some children are so freaked out by these toilets that they refuse to go anywhere near them.  A company that sells small plastic pieces designed to cover the infrared eye on the toilets has sold over 110,000 units. 

“One feature of things in the world that make kids anxious is unpredictability, and things that are new or novel,” said Philip Kendall, director of the Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorders Clinic at Temple University. “A novel experience for kids can be when that machine flushes automatically. They didn’t touch anything. It can be a bit shocking. Most people get over it, but kids are a little less prepared to do that.”

Novelty can be exciting and intriguing.  It's certainly healthy to encourage curiosity in the classroom by introducing new elements and activities.  But remember the automatic flush toilets when you plan on introducing something new.   It seems so harmless but it can be incredibly intimidating.   When I'm introducing something new in class (some rhythm sticks, puppets, bubbles, etc.), I put them someplace visible when class starts, and I'll draw attention to them long before we use them.  When I introduce a new activity, I'll let the students watch me do it first and try to gauge whether or not any of the kids find the activity intimidating.  When I introduce a new song, I'll let it play in the background from the beginning of class so the children become familiar with it before we sing it together.

Do you have any anxious children in your classes or at home?  Do you do any activities that haven't been as well received as you had hoped?  Take a minute to think this week about what may be causing anxiety in your classes, and what steps you can take to reduce that anxiety.   

Tokyo ETJ Expo

This weekend, the annual ETJ (English Teachers in Japan) Expo takes place in Tokyo.  I'll be there with Troy, Tanja, and the rest of the Knock Knock English crew to talk about Super Simple Songs and Kodomo to Eigo de Hanasou.

The Expo is a 2-day event with tons of great workshops and presentations on teaching, and a bookfair where you can check out all the latest materials.  If you happen to be in the Tokyo area, please stop by and say "hi" to us at the Super Simple Songs display.

A couple of weeks ago I traveled down to the Nagoya ETJ Expo and saw some awesome presentations.  I saw two great presentations from colleagues at the same kindergarten, Kim Horne and Aya Asano.  Kim shared  a lot of great ideas on using songs and chants in the young learners' classroom, and Aya spoke on putting together an English curriculum for young learners. 

During Kim's presentation, she shared a way to use Count and Move from Super Simple Songs 2 .  The song has a marching feel to it so I've always marched around the classroom to it, usually with instruments.  Kim showed us it was a lot of fun just to jump into different poses on each number.

I took the idea into class with me the next week and the kids went crazy for it and now I have an entirely new way to use the song in class.  It was hilarious.  Right now, Billy Blanks is insanely popular in Japan. It seems like every third person you meet has bought the Billy's Boot Camp DVDs.  He's everywhere.  So when we started jumping around in class and counting, one of my students shouted out "Billy!" and all the other kids knew exactly who he was talking about.  Mind you, these are 6 year-olds.  So he started leading the kids in a Billy's Boot Camp workout.

For the next class, I played up the Billy angle right away and they were so into it, we listened to the song 4 times, and did 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, and 20 squats.  Good exercise and great counting practice!  Thanks Kim!

Try a little aerobics with your kids!  Any counting song will do.  Do you have any counting song favorites?