English and Teenagers: The Dread of Many Second Language Teachers

                                                        Sandra Milena Marín Ríos

Nowadays, teenagers seem  have become a pain in the neck, not only for their parents but also for their teachers. but, it is not a secret that at this age, they are neither children nor adults; they are just finding their middle point. In the teaching of second language teenagers are the dreads of many teachers  because in spite of all the teacher’s efforts, they seem not to want anything related to  learning, especially English for  it demands a lot of dedication and concentration from them.

In the past, teachers had the chance to deal with a different kind of teenagers;  more obedient, judicious and a little more responsible individuals. Currently, our teenagers are aggressive, irresponsible and they tend not like anything. They do not want to be in class and often their minds can be on other things, or they are just playing or listening to music with their cellphones, when teachers are giving an English lesson.

However, there are other reasons.  The number of English classes, in our country, 3 hours per week and the low possibilities in our schools to provide the adequate language environment. That is why as  teachers, we have to direct students to the different resources for learning outside the classroom and maybe this way, they could learn much more efficiently by themselves. According to Anderson (2008),  teachers should let students have more choices and begin to take responsibility for their own learning.  Harmer (2003) states; “Get them to write the questions, cut up texts (a bit too primary – like sometimes), write their own grammar exercises.  I mean somehow getting the ownership of the material over to them……put them in the center of the frame”. Harris (1991) suggests many ways on how to get students more “into the frame”. These include; giving them roles to help the teacher and the class, highlighting students in a positive fashion and using rewards.

Taking into account their age, teenagers usually want to get the control over the learning situation. Usually in a classroom, one of them becomes the “leader” and  could help the teacher with some discipline problems, not with aggression toward their partners, but also because that student is part of the group and talk their own language. As a teacher, I have had that experience, that allows that the student feels important, motivated and in the same way he or she involves the others.

For teenagers, on the other hand, to face a second language and the fact of speaking it in public  is so scary for them. So, maybe this could be a little demotivating frustrating and traumatic. Maybe that is the reason why they act toward this new learning like that. Besides teachers need to be more comprehensive and do not demand from the teenagers knowledge that they have not provided.

 Teachers need to ultimately  reflect upon the activities they address in the English class.   They could be more sensitive and try to create a warm atmosphere in the classroom, where the  teenage students   feel comfortable, self-confident and where their social learning  can be taken into account , and  at the same time the dread of teaching and learning  will end up for everyone.