The greatest reward for teachers is seeing a student smile when they succeed in a task. But this doesn’t always happen. It’s a given that relationships between teachers and students are of great importance in our classrooms. However, too often we make the mistake of expecting too much from our relationships with our students. We forget to enjoy them and to have fun with them! If you want your lessons to be memorable, fun, and even friendly, read on for some helpful tips on how to promote friendship in your English language classroom.
Ways to Promote Friendship in your English Classroom
The best relationships are those where both people feel recognized by each other – they look forward to receiving new impressions from one another over time! Schools offer us a wonderful opportunity to form lifelong friendships with a small group of students. It’s common for walls within our schools and classrooms to become so visually intimidating that we forget how social being in the same space can be! But if you want your lessons to be memorable, fun, and even friendly – read on for some helpful tips on how to promote friendship in your English language classroom.
1. Make friendship a central part of your lesson planning
When you teach English as a second language, it is important that each one of your students feels welcome to join in the most current and engaging activities. If possible, avoid having too many different games running at once! Try putting “goodies” on the desks or hanging up posters with funny images/puzzles for fun. Lead by demonstrating some basic conversations.
2. Make classroom rules flexible
An important thing to remember about our students is that they are all on different levels of English development. Just because you’ve been away from the classroom for a year and some have become truly fluent doesn’t mean everyone has had their time need to be fulfilled elsewhere, so chances are it will take them longer to catch up!
3. Make English easier for your friends to learn
When you are teaching a second language, it is important that the pupils have an engaging and fun experience. It’s impossible to meet high expectations if everyone does not understand what you’re asking them! What this means for many learners who come from poorer countries where their parents do not speak English fluently is that they can barely even tell their class apart let alone follow certain instructions during lessons.
4. Create opportunities for your students to practice English
Here is where it comes in handy to know a little something about dyslexia. Dyslexic students are those that are struggling on an initial level with reading and written work, but then clearly have the ability for excellence on speaking tests if you specifically create situations for them! A great way of doing this would be giving extra marking time after class or throughout lessons as options.
5. Make class fun
If your students feel as though the lessons are unenjoyable or too difficult, why not try having a “snacky snack”, playing games available on youtube which relate to English like ‘Word Search‘ or vocabulary, or completing these cool crosswords. If you don’t know how to perform these tasks simply ask somebody who does (like an English teacher) and they can take it from there!
FAQs
How can I get my students to become more friendly with each other?
For starters, try going through a recitation at the start of every lesson. This means that after you’ve begun your lesson with any audience questions on which project to do or how best to change subject matter over an hour later this is where they can begin! If nothing else it will be nice and kind for them all to meet and attempt things together while they’re working so make sure they know each other are familiar names or faces before making their introduction!
Can I use this method to get my students to be friends in the first place?
First of all, before you begin any lesson remember that getting your students familiar with each other first off, is unnecessary! However, if they appear later than the previous class then try and avoid sitting quite so close together or moving away from each other every few minutes. If this happens often amongst one another and forming small groups.
What are the ways that can help my students become more friendly during the school year?
- Talk to them on a personal level.
- Make eye contact and ask further questions.
- Write class notes with topics relevant to each other’s interests.
- Use games such as ‘Five Things’ for your students.
- Help your students realize things they have in common with others like hobbies, family values, etc…
- After these points reach out and invite them to do something together instead of relying on random meetings which may take place whenever two or more skip groups attend each other’s room for whatever reason!
How can I make friends with the people I am in class with?
Keep the conversation going with your group respecting everyone’s opinions and everyone’s empathy. Don’t try and talk to random classmates at all costs but if you can learn about their likes, hobbies, or backgrounds then it will help encourage them in class towards you as well! Try doing team-ups on projects during lesson plans where necessary.
How do you promote friends in the classroom?
Some people find this easier than others; however, I find that showing other students displays of friendship is a great way to bring about class-wide interest. If possible spend time with the person you are interested in most during breaks and after school as well! In order for this method to work it means keeping people’s attention evenly referring back to a specific topic on your desk so if someone has double homework or riddles they can help each other out but make sure everyone knows what the assignment is.
Another way asking a teacher to do joint work or bring in friends’ playdates so you can see how the other students act with each other! And they can know each other by storytelling about their lives. This can be difficult depending on whether one person wants more attention from another.
In summary, the best way for being a good friend in the classroom means to be kind, respectful, and understanding. It also means taking the time to learn about your classmates. Don’t be the person that expects someone else to act as your friend yet won’t take any time out of their own life. It all comes down to how you can get along with everyone and treat everyone fairly! Putting yourself and giving everyone a chance, will bring new friends into your life.