Little things matter!

The affective side of learning is also interesting and that is a topic that we are not used to talk about. The use of the words is as meaningful (or even more in some occasions) as the use of gestures or actions. When I think about this, what come to my head are images of a film: Les Choristes. In that film, children are used to be punished. I still remember the classic moment when the responsible of the school says that every action must have a reaction. We must understand that every child has an individual situation, background, family context, self-concept and self-esteem. Then the action and the way every kid behaves are a consequence of all those items.

 

As teachers, we can’t change their lives outside school but what we can do is that the time he/she is at school, he/she feels as good, comfortable and safe as we can. This is not an easy task because we will have lots of students (and if there’s only one English teacher for the whole school, then the number of pupils are multiplied). But we must make an effort and this effort starts from caring about how they feel and how they learn. A negative word from a teacher can hurt more than a low mark. And sticking the student favorite color sticker in his/her forehead so they can tell his/her parents he/she has done a good job it’s better than just writing a good comment in the agenda or in our block.

There are so many details that we must take into account so we make children feel encouraged to learn and to go to school.