A few words on first impressions or how I use ground rules.

Starting up a new term has never been an easy task. Even if you’ve been working as a teacher for as long as I have it always feels like a new beginning. You never know what kind of students you’ll have and from my experience I believe you shouldn’t take for granted they’re going to love you from the start.

That doesn’t mean, however that they’re going to hate you! On the contrary, a first impression is crucial to maintain a good atmosphere all over the term. There are a number of fun activities to be taken on a first day, but let’s try to keep with a less “teaching” topic for the first class and let’s focus on what’s called “ground rules”, which I believe can make any fun activity even funnier, because through ground rules you’re able to achieve (or at least try to) the best from your students.

Students must feel comfortable with you. They need to feel you’re trustworthy. At this point they probably know about your background as a teacher, but they still haven’t had a proof that even though you’re “the best teacher on the block” you’re also caring, responsible, and attentive to their needs and why not, demanding.

Regardless the fun activities you may want to apply on the first day, a way to let them know how important they are for you is to let them expose their needs. I’ve been working with adults and young adults for the past years and I’ve been able to have a wonderful feedback from them when they actually express themselves. So what I do is to put them in small groups and let them talk about the things they like and the things they don’t like in the English class. They come up with all sorts of things from written exercises to homework.  After the small groups have talked, they gather with another group so as to find differences and similarities.

Your feedback for this activity is the most important part of it. Groups should describe their feelings as you agree or not. In case you don’t agree, this is your chance to let them understand the needs of writing texts or doing homework, for example, as much as you explain your teaching style, your demands and so on. They’ll feel safe, almost sheltered in your class.

Don’t be surprised if students simply admit they don’t even like English. Other things they (think) they don’t like is speaking in public, playing games, studying grammar…This put, you may come up with your ground rules. Students must be aware about the necessity of participating in those things they don’t actually “like”. Sometimes they believe they don’t because they don’t understand the purpose of the activities. The more crystal clear I’ve been the better feedback I’ve had in return, and once again, let them know you’re there to help them not to make them flunk.

Above all, the one rule they should never forget is the one about trusting the teacher. Once they feel they can trust you the may not turn into your best friends, but they’ll certainly do their bests to become your best students.

Click on the link to see my ground rules.