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When teaching a class, building and maintaining good rapport between the students and the teacher is extremely important. Rapport helps the students trust the instructor, which greatly affects their learning experience. If the teacher is aggressive and punitive, the students will be less open to the information out of fear of being reprimanded. They may just lose interest all together. Speaking from personal experience, I've taken courses that I was originally excited about taking, but my learning experience was ruined by the demeanor and approach of the teacher. Since learning a new language can be awkward (especially for adults), it's important to keep it lighthearted. Here are some different age groups of students and how to create rapport with them. First, we will discuss what I will refer to the group known as "kids" (ages 3-11). Interacting with this group is different than the others because of their level of energy, attention span, and lack of self consciousness. Since kids are usually more weary of strangers, it's good to smile, have lots of enthusiasm, and speak slowly (especially if English is not their first language). As they warm up to you, using classroom activities like singing, dancing, board games, and other interactive experiences will help to deal with any energy or attention span issues; This group is more willing to sing and dance, so utilizing those activities will enhance student learning. Always being optimistic and praising the students for classroom work will also make them better students later in life as they will not approach learning with negativity. By establishing good rapport with the teacher at a young age, it will show the students that not only is learning good to do, but is also fun! The second group would be teenagers (12-19). As this group is much more self conscious and potentially lethargic, activities such as singing and dancing will not work as well to establish rapport. Since social acceptance and "being cool" is a big part of a persons' life at the point, activities based more around pop culture or technology will be more effective. The teacher still must be optimistic and enthusiastic with this group. However, the students will feel more vulnerable at this age, and will be less willing to talk in front of the class and open themselves up to potential embarrassment. Using board games or having them re-write pop song verses for English practice shows that the instructor accepts them for who they are. and will establish the classroom as a safe space for learning. If the teacher can establish this, they will be an accepted authority figure and an effective instructor. The last group will be adults (20-and up). Much like the teenagers, adults are often self conscious and can feel awkward when trying to learn something new. Maintaining a positive vibe as the teacher throughout the class is still equally important. It shows that making mistakes when learning something new is inevitable and not the end of the world. If the adults in the classroom feel as if they have been accepted as people (as well as their proficiency with English), they will be much more open to learning the material. Another aspect of the adults is that usually they have less energy then the other two groups because of their life situations (i.e. jobs, kids of their own, etc). Acknowledging the challenges and complications of adult life, and creating lesson plans that are not as strenuous, will be appreciated in the long run. If the instructor is willing to meet the adult students where they are in life, good rapport will be established. In conclusion, it's very important to be aware of the different aspects of these ages groups when trying to create teacher/student rapport. What might work with one class, may not be the best approach with the next. However, the teacher must always maintain a positive, enthusiastic, and optimistic demeanor with any age group, as that creates a healthy learning environment. The best way to have good rapport with a class is to maintain a healthy learning environment and to be a kindhearted person.
