TEACHING TEENAGERS

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

BISMILLAHIRAHMANIRAHIM

Dear Readers, 

i can swear, that teaching teenagers is a very hardest task ever as a teacher. i don't know about you or your opinion but thats what i feel right now. i salute to all teachers  out there who can go all out and make this teenagers to be the best among the best. they are not like kids whom we can scold them whenever they do wrong things and then laugh all day again after you say sorry, like nothing happens. its just not the same as teenagers student, this species really observe your action and everything whenever they started not to like you. all i can say is just be prepare teachers, they will know all your moves then hit you back hard. maybe by words, action or even just glance of looks.they are semi adult and some of them are even more bigger size and taller than us, so basically they can do anything that even us adult never think of doing it. but not all of it are in the negative side though, if you can handle them well and treat them with techniques that shows that we are as an adult are the one whose in-charged here, you can gain their respect and trust thus becoming the most best friend relation ever, as you both can freely express feelings and discuss about anything in this whole wide world. you can even be the mentor or even idol for them, they will praise you hard like a star,  who don't want it right! but please make sure that you are on the good side not the bad one.

as based on my experience as an english teacher, i want to share the things that i learned throughout this journey, getting their attention and interest is the most main things that teachers need to give attention too, because teenagers easily gets bored especially in study. if you told them just to do the black and white long worksheet, 1000 words essay or maybe boring questionnaire, i ensure you that they will sleep in class or maybe refused to come into your class. this is because their mind and soul are full with challenge and creative things. rebel are in their dictionary of life. you can see directly from their face expression that your activity is lame. they cannot just sit still and answer boring worksheet or listen to your lectures. you need to make everything more interesting for them. get their attention or you will lose their interest.

firstly, let them feel socialise with peoples around them like sparks conversation among the classmates or even both of you. make a warm environment. talks about something that interest them such as games, adventures, foods or etc. i don't care wether you are a timid teacher or an introvert person, you need to transform yourself to be a talkative person to attract teenagers. i can admit that i am a timid person before, but mixing with them and maybe the will to blend it with them change who i am now. tell them about your experience, your adventure, career path, or even families. sometimes to you its kinda like silly story but to them its a very motivational one. as long as you can see that they enjoyed the topics then just go with it and see how far it can go. it also can help  with improving their language skills and train their confidence in talking with people. even sometimes you need to pretend that you enjoyed the topics, just go with it and maybe to you its kinda annoying but to them you are their best listener. thank you teachers for lending me your ears.

 second, make everything as a game, for example, learning grammar is super boring to them even us as an english teacher, so make a game out of it is a very good idea. it will triggers their mind to finish the game and it will be more cooler if we can make it as a competition among them. trust me they will love it. you can see their proud face if they win the game and it motivates them to be the best among the best throughout their lives. any game would be fine, such as rearrange the words to make sentences using cut papers, extract as much past tense or present tense that they can find in newspaper and etc. be more creative please teachers. you can even google a lot of ideas to teach teenagers and maybe it will triggers us to play along with them. you also can compile all their exam result and paste it on the noticeboard or on the wall so they can see what are their achievement. to boost up motivation, you can paste their marks next to the other student who more or like get the same marks so they will started to compete for the next exam. believe me it works.

 third, be honest and direct to them. if you don't like the way they treated you, said it in their face. no need to tell the whole class or make them feel ashamed with their action. do a personal meeting. only you and the student in one room, tell them that no one will here this conversation, only both of you will be discuss about this. ask them what is the problem and the reason they acted that way. don't be shy to ask them wether have you done any wrong to them or maybe you have hurt their feelings. who knows? sometimes you will be surprised by their answer. if they said something just listen and accept it. no need to show your temper or not satisfied face to them as it will trigger more issue. remember you are an adult and a teacher so you can think more wisely. don't show your reaction or you will lose the game, my advice is just wear that bland facial expression, show them that you are not effected by their rebel. definitely they will said something that hurts your feeling or maybe worse case, they will cursing a lot. but you just need to be the water and finally it can puff out the fire. if they started to cry then its mean that you win the game. at that point they will started to be weak and now you can move your gun by slowly approach them, touch them and tell them that you are here for them and you love them. thats what they only wanted actually. i've been in this state and it works.

Lastly, be someone that they can trust and never ever brake your promises. teenagers are very fragile and confused so they need adults to guide them, they really hate it if someone is backstabbing them especially if that person is someone that they trust, they will stop open their heart to you ever again and its hard to tackle it back. so if they started to trust you and maybe started to share their personal life issue, teachers you need to take the role of consular definitely. be a very good listener and a superb secret keeper, as you know teenagers think everything is  a big issue so be careful with what you said. they will ask for your advice or guidance and sometimes they even cry in front of you so don't be surprised and they will respect you forever though.

all of this are based on my experience for this few months and i have learned a lot day by day. i started to be more appreciating people and understand how to control and blend it with children, teenagers and also adults which are their parents and my clique. i really love this job and it does open my eyes wider to see lower than i usually see. i really hope that more or less it can help you in handling teenagers student or maybe your teenagers children. i really wish that we can understand each other more to build that good relationship without age barrier. as an adult, please don't judge them too much because we are once like them before. everybody have been in that stage so yeah. good luck 

with love,

- FROMBLOOMTOMOON -