Interactive Speaking and Listening

Motivate, Stimulate, Educate

Describing young teenagers

Your life between 12 and 16 is in a state of flux, things change on a regular basis. So describing young teenagers is difficult.

These are generalisations but in general we can say young teenagers might be. …. (ideas taken from Teaching Young Language Learners Anamaria Pinter OUP page 2)

Self-aware – by this we mean that they are aware of themselves and their role as a learner and in the classroom.

Unpredictable – this age is characterise by moodiness, mood swings, cliques, fall outs, all sorts of things can affect how a class responds.

World-aware – they have a growing awareness of the world around them and are starting to show interest in real life issues.

Individual – They are beginning to build their personalities, each student is different and longs to be seen as such

Peer- aware – they have a growing awareness of the people around them and their viewpoints young learners tend to be more concerned with themselves.

Imaginative – Younger learners tend to be more imaginative and older teenagers less, this age group can still be tapped into for creativity and imagination.

Analytical – whereas younger learners lack the ability to break down language, this age group have the ability to think of language as an abstract system.

Impressionable – despite longing to be individuals there is still a bit of a sheep mentality with often the strong personalities in the class dictating the terms

Insecure – they might not be willing to take risks, they are beginning to get that ‘cool’ factor where they care what others think about them

Some of my own words.

Hormonal – this could mean moody, horny,

Self-conscious – similar to insecure

Rebellious – so might be noisy, troublesome etc

Language aware – this is like analytical, they appreciate the language, that is breaks down and has patterns

Self-centred (?) - young teens can be selfish

Competitive (?) – maybe with each other rather than in a classroom.

So how do we accentuate the positives and eliminate the negatives.

Give them a chance to express themselves
Allow room for personalisation
Give them a chance to learn about the world around them
Challenge them, make them think, make them analyse.
Encourage them to interact with pairs and in groups
Have variety in the lessons and back up plans if things go badly
Provide a safe environment for them

Good luck