Successful, accomplished adults can hide intimidated by school teachers, underpraised children. The teacher of foreign languages talks about his approach to classes with them and how important support and a kind word are at any age.
The first lesson is always easy: curiosity, joy, familiarity. Then — a «terrible» question: will you have the opportunity to do your homework? After all, my students work, many have families, which means there is not much time. I don’t ask, I just want to know. Moreover, sometimes they ask me: how long will it take you to teach me?
And it depends on how fast you learn. Two lessons a week — and in six months you will gain vocabulary, learn the present tense and two past ones: enough to read, speak and understand speech. But this is subject to the completion of tasks. If not (which, I emphasize, is normal), more lessons will be required. That’s why I’m asking.
And often my adult student confidently answers: “Yes, of course, give me assignments!” And then he comes and justifies himself why he didn’t do his “homework”: he wrote a quarterly report, the dog got sick … As if he was not a customer who pays for the lesson himself, but a schoolboy who has been fined and will be punished.
It’s okay, I say, we’ll do everything in the lesson. And you know what? It does not help. One owner of the company explained for a long time that the fountain had broken down in his dacha.
This makes me sad. Why are so many so scared? Maybe they scolded you at school. But why continue to live with a curse in your head? That’s why I always praise my students. Some are more embarrassed by this than reproaches would probably embarrass them.
One girl said her first French phrase in her life, I exclaimed: “Bravo!”, And she hid her face, covered it with both hands. What? “I have never been praised.”
I think this cannot be: a person who has never been praised at all will not become a highly paid specialist who, of his own free will, broadens his horizons, learns a new language. But there is no habit of praise, that’s for sure.
Sometimes they look incredulously: “We know your newfangled methods! They said that it is necessary to praise, so you praise!” “You really did the exercise!” “But not as good as they should.” — “Why should they, and even from the first time?” It seems that the idea came from somewhere that learning is easy, and whoever does not, is to blame.
But this is not true. Knowledge is not acquired, it is mastered. This is an active effort. And you also need to take into account that students come to classes before work or after or on their day off, and they have a lot of other worries. And they learn a new unusual language system and work with it. This is work worthy of a reward. And they refuse the reward. Paradox!
Sometimes I want to give everyone a homework: let yourself be proud of your determination, be glad that you succeed. After all, it works! But we agreed: there will be no assignments, we do everything in the lesson. Therefore, I will continue to celebrate the success of the students.
I (this is a secret!) have chocolate medals, which I award for special merits. Quite adult people: physicists, designers, economists… And there comes a moment when they stop being embarrassed and begin to believe that there is nothing to scold them for and there is something to praise for. Of course, there is a lot of play in this. But there are so many children in adults!