Each person is unique.Each person is part of a system.

These two statements are based on NLP presuppositions and they are excellent guides as we start a new school year.Let’s look at howaccepting them can help us with our work, so that both the students and we teachers get maximum benefit from our courses.

Each person is unique

We constantly mention the concept that by celebrating the difference in our classrooms, we can enjoy the richness of knowledge and learning that our variety of learners will bring (RT News 39, RT News 28, etc) Having different people with different needs and backgrounds is an opportunity to learn, which is basically what we are here to foster.

The first thing we can do for the new year is accept all our students willingly, welcoming them into our classrooms and suspending our judgement of them for the moment.Instead, we observe.Without jumping to conclusions, we can notice who seems more able at our subject than the others, who has a useful attitude to study, who seems to have resistance or a lack of interest in study.We can notice the preferred channels of communication.Who seems to be visual? Who likes to talk and/or listen?Who wants to do things?Who processes through feelings?We can also notice any other details such as their body language, their words, their tone of voice, their gestures that may help us to get into rapport with them.It is not necessary to react to what we observe now.Simply notice.

Having an open mind in this way can be extended to accepting that our students, however they may have behaved in previous years, have inevitably changed during the break. They have had new experiences.They may seem more or less mature, but what is important is that the way we communicate with them recognises them now and not just as a memory from the past. The group they are in, even if it is the same people as last year, will not be the same this time round.Let’s respect the differences, respect the individuality of our students and, in turn, expect them to respect us andtheir classmates too.

And as for the objectives of the year – it is always good to dream high, to aim for the top.If we imagine we are going to have a successful year, full of positive experiences and with students performing better than ever, it has a strong chance of happening.If we programme ourself to expect a difficult year with slow students and loads of failures, we’ll get it.The power of our faith in our students’ ability to learn can never be underestimated.

Each person is part of a system.

Our classroom is a system and this means that whatever one person does will affect the system in some way.Therefore, we want to create a cooperative, friendly world in there.This means establishing a certain model for working and behaving from the start.It is vital to tell your students what is expected of them and where the limits are.You cannot have respect if it is not clear how this is going to be put into practice.We can ask the students in our younger groups to suggest how respect can be shown (listening to the other, speaking in turn, allowing everyone to contribute, commenting on ideas not on the person, etc).With our older groups, we can demonstratethis behaviour as an acceptable form.It will depend on your class as to how you wish to work with them.If you would like to build cooperation, then start with activities designed to build that.Teach them how to notice when others want to contribute or have a problem so that each student takes responsibility for the well being of the whole group as well as you.

Use “I messages” in which everyone says what they think and does not phrase their ideas as if they were general truths.Encourage sharing by asking different students how they go about memorising vocabulary or learning structures.What strategies do they have for listening or reading?For dealing with unknown vocabulary?Offer your own ideas but as part of a selection of ways of studying.

Being aware of how our behaviourimpacts on the system that is our classroom is as important as that of any student.Sometimes, we take it for granted and are unaware of the model that our behaviour sets for our students.We, too, are part of this equation and our behaviourshould be congruent with what we expect from the students.

Recognising the systemic nature of our work can help us in schools to build bridges from class to class, teacher to teacher, grade to grade with the awareness that while we are all individuals, we are contributing to the creation of something much bigger and greater.

Ó Laura Szmuch and Jamie Duncan 2003