Why teaching teenagers is important and fun!
One thing I know very well is how to teach teenagers English. Both teenagers and kids have something in common – they have low patience but are very creative. When you tell a teenager to have a presentation for the class, they don’t say no or reject. They say “YES!” and run in front of the class and start speaking.
At this point it is very handy to have activities prepared for these rascals:
1. Board game: Split the class in two. Write 1 topic as a header on the board then make draw a straight line in the middle of the blackboard. Now let the students write as many words related to this topic as possible. The team with the most relevant words wins!
There are many ESL-games for teenagers out there, and the main objective for these games are to make the students more active and talkative. Then the grammar and vocabulary will fall into place over time.
When it comes to teach kids, there are different strategies. One of them is to just do something fun, paint a picture together and say all the colors in English, or just play a game with the kids (charades, taboo, UNO etc.).
I personally bring a glove-puppet in the classes with kids. Kids are very reactive to puppets, it's like a new person in the room.
I have personally learned from both teaching English in Nepal in a high school for 4 months, and from currently teaching English in an Italian school in Madrid and by tutoring students in Chemistry in the University of Tromso, Norway. In all these places the students have taught me a lot. One needs to take control. Don’t let the students take advantage of you, always be prepared with some activity and don’t hesitate, otherwise the students will read you and be bored.
So stay in there and don’t give up on the monkey running around, one day you might make them structured monkeys and the game will change.
Hasta luego!