4 key challenges in secondary education

Anna Roslaniec
Anna Roslaniec
A teacher standing over a desk where a student is sat, helping them. Students are also sat at desks in the background

Let’s examine four of the most common challenges secondary teachers have and look into some strategies to help solve them.

1. My students are afraid of making mistakes

You’re not alone! Many teachers say their teenage students are quiet and unwilling to answer questions in class. Sometimes, this might simply be because they don’t know the answers, but more often than not, they are nervous about making mistakes.

When children grow into teenagers, they tend to become more self-conscious and worried about what their peers think of them – and making mistakes in public is a big no-no for them. However, there are several ways to facilitate a safe learning environment where your students are happy and willing to talk. Sometimes, though, it takes a little experimentation. Here are some things you can try:

Celebrate mistakes

When students make mistakes, ensure that you praise them for taking a risk or making an effort. Correct their errors and be clear with the rest of the class that the only way to learn is to try new things.

Be firm

Don’t tolerate any bullying or laughing when someone gets an answer wrong. If your students fear that others will mock them for their efforts, they’ll stay quiet. So make sure you have clear rules and that your students understand that mistakes are normal and to be expected.

Have students discuss their answers in pairs or groups

If your students are painfully shy and afraid of making mistakes, avoid picking on individuals to answer questions in front of the class. Instead, when asking a question, tell your students to discuss it in pairs or small groups first. This will allow them to formulate their ideas and feel more confident. Afterwards, you can ask the pairs to share what they discussed – leading to a natural open-class discussion.

Listen to your students

Another, powerful way of engaging your students in discussion is to listen to a conversation they are having with their partners and then express how impressed you are with their ideas during a feedback session. E.g. “You said X, which I thought was very interesting. Could you explain this to the class? It was a great idea.” This gives them the confidence to share their thoughts.

2. My students are not engaged with the activities I choose

This is another very common problem for teachers of teenagers. You spend a lot of time thinking of fun, interesting activities – then, when you present them to the class, your students look away and say they’re bored. Soon enough, you’ll get frustrated and not know how to re-engage them. Here are some ideas to help:

Get to know your students

Without fail, the best way to engage your students is by getting to know them as individuals over the year. Find out about their hobbies and interests outside of school, and learn what makes them laugh and what worries them. Use your knowledge of your students to find interesting books to read, videos to watch, or relevant subjects to discuss. This way, you’ll deliver tailored lessons your students find truly interesting and useful.

Allow a degree of autonomy

Sometimes quietness is also a sign of disengagement with the learning materials. To get past this obstacle, you can get your students to brainstorm things that interest them in groups, list them on the board and have a class vote on the topic of their next class project. As a teacher, you always have the power to veto inappropriate ideas, but giving students a voice is a powerful way of making them feel valued and involved in their own education.

Make things (a little) competitive

Even teenagers love games! And play is an integral part of learning, as it allows our students to be themselves, have fun, and communicate freely at the same time. By allowing them to play language-focused games in class, they’ll soon forget their inhibitions and start talking.

3. My students just want to do grammar exercises

Language is all about communication, speaking, listening, reading and writing – yet all your students want to do is grammar exercises. Frustrating as this is, it’s probably a sign that our students are not confident in their speaking or listening abilities. Here’s what you can do:

Encourage free language practice

Grammar activities are very structured and there is often a clear answer. Day-to-day communications, however, are much freer, which can intimidate less confident students. This activity will help you combine the two aspects of language learning:

  • Put students in small groups and give them a set of cards with exciting topics printed on them—for example; music, sports, environment, school, vacations, friends, food.
  • Tell students that they should each choose a card and speak freely about their topic for 30 seconds – the short time will help them overcome their fear of speaking and can be gradually increased as they get used to this type of activity.
  • Have students record themselves when they are speaking and then, when they listen back, have them identify the grammatical structures they used.

They should write down and correct any mistakes under your guidance. Not only will this get students used to talking and encourage a lot of emergent language, but it will also help them feel they are practicing grammar.

If your students really enjoy learning grammar, you can ‘flip’ your grammar activities and make them more communicative. First, provide them with a series of sentences or listening clips which have a common grammatical structure (second conditional sentences, for example).

Then have students work together (in English) to identify how the language is structured, so they can discover the grammar point for themselves. This not only gets them talking, but they are doing something they feel confident at.

4. My students are bored of all the repetition

Repetition is an important part of language learning. By practicing things over and over again, your students will come to understand it better and will be able to produce the language more easily. However, repetition is often quite dull, especially for fast learners. Here’s how you can make things more interesting for your teenage students:

Use a greater variety of activities to engage your learners

If you’ve been teaching your students a particular set of vocabulary, a grammatical structure, or some pronunciation rules, think about how else they can practice them.

For example, instead of drilling pronunciation over and over again, ask students to think of all the words they can think of that have the same sound in them (e.g. book, look, cook, shook, etc.). This will help them ‘hear’ the sounds in their heads and improve their understanding of other words.

If you have been learning vocabulary through reading, have students write or tell stories that incorporate the words.

The idea is not to stop repeating the target language or skill, but to practice it in different ways. Apply this principle to other areas of language learning so your students won’t feel like they are repeating things.

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  • Children sat at desks in a classroom, with one in the middle smiling with her hand up

    Teaching young learners: all just fun and games?

    By Jill Leighton
    Reading time: 5 minutes

    We want lots of fun in our lessons, with a good balance of activities and games with strong educational value. But in my opinion, today’s young learners need more than just fun and games to stay motivated. Fun and games can quickly become meaningless and boring for some students.

    How do we create fun and engaging lessons for young learners aged 6-14?

    • Have a strong relationship with your students. Know about their natural talents, their weaker points and where they are in their development.
    • Encourage them to be active learners and engage them in learning that is meaningful to all of them. E.g. through project work.
    • Provide opportunities for students to use technology and develop success skills. E.g. collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity and self-learning.

    Most teachers agree that we have to assume the responsibility of preparing students for life as well as helping them to acquire a language – and this is what I aim to demonstrate in this blog. Using , I want to demonstrate how you can learn more about your students and care for individual needs in one classroom.

    The students will also learn about themselves and their classmates. They will acquire vocabulary and language (at their level) in a dynamic way and create a project to explore their interests and demonstrate their talents. They will use technology and develop their success skills. Assessment will be fun and engaging. I hope you will be able to adapt the ideas and put them into practice with children aged 6-14.

    Howard Gardner’s Model of Multiple Intelligences

    prompts us to ask: How is this child intelligent? He identified eight different types of intelligence which guide the way students learn:

    • Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart)
    • Logical-Mathematical Intelligence (Maths Smart)
    • Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart)
    • Musical Intelligence (Music Smart)
    • Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (Body Smart)
    • Naturalistic-Environmentalist Intelligence (Nature Smart)
    • Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart)
    • Intrapersonal Intelligence (Self-Smart)
    • (He later went on to identify Existential Intelligence – Life Smart, and Pedagogical Intelligence -Teacher Smart)

    Lesson 1: Outline the student’s learning goals

    Explain to the students that they are going to learn about Howard Gardner’s Model of Multiple Intelligences and that you want them to achieve learning goals on completion of the project. Write the goals on a poster and discuss them with your students. Take a digital photo of the poster to use during the assessment.

    Student learning goals – you will be able to:

    • Identify different intelligences and what they mean. Name eight different intelligences you have
    • Communicate ideas clearly through a project to demonstrate your talents and interests
    • Use your success skills more effectively.

    Tip: Video parts of lesson 1, especially discussion of the learning goals, to use as part-assessment and reflection on completion of the project.

    What do you know about the Multiple Intelligences? How are you smart?

    • Ask children what they know about multiple intelligences. Teach key language and vocabulary as necessary, depending on level.
    • Ask, “What does it mean be intelligent?” (They will probably say, good grades, be good at maths, English, reading, writing, computers...)
    • Tell them being intelligent or smart (get the younger children to repeat the word smart several times) isn’t only about getting good grades. Ask them to think of more ways to be smart.
    • Elicit the eight ways to be smart according to Gardner. (You may need to mime). E.g. mime playing the piano or clap a rhythm to elicit Music Smart.
    • Discuss what the different intelligences mean. (E.g. Word Smart (Linguistic Intelligence): you like reading, writing or speaking, you are probably good at languages…)
    • Teach career vocabulary associated with the different intelligences. (E.g. Word Smart: journalist, teacher, lawyer, editor, TV announcer, web editor.)

    Lesson 2: Find out your smarts quiz

    Tell students they are going to do a quiz to discover how they are smart. Model each stage of the activity and do the quiz with them to find out about your own strengths. Give each student a piece of paper.

    • Take your paper and show the students how to fold it into eight sections, then unfold it and draw lines along the folds to make a grid.
    • Write the different smarts in each section. (Use small handwriting to leave room to illustrate each smart with a picture).
    • Give a picture dictation to illustrate each smart. Here are some examples:

    Word Smart:?Draw a dictionary and children reading, writing and speaking.

    Logic/Number Smart: Draw sums on a computer, a scientist with test tube.

    Music Smart: Draw children singing and playing musical instruments.

    Body Smart: Draw children playing a sport, dancing or cooking.

    Nature Smart:?Draw trees, animals, insects, child watering a plant.

    Spatial/Picture Smart: Draw children drawing, painting or taking photos and a pilot in a plane.

    People Smart:?Draw a child helping or leading a group or a group of children holding hands.

    Self-Smart: Draw children keeping a journal, researching on a computer, or meditating.

    Encourage students to order their smarts from 1-8. For example, if you love music, write number 1 in the Music Smart section and continue to 8 in order of preference. (You may wish to model this first and order your smarts from 1-8 and then encourage the children to order their smarts.)

    After the quiz

    • Encourage students to compare and discuss their results. Collect the papers and make notes about each student’s results. This will help you reach all your students when planning activities.
    • Explain that we have all the intelligences in different degrees and that all of the intelligences are equal (no intelligence is better than another). Also point out that it is important to know our strengths in order to help in all subjects. (E.g. a music smart student who finds maths challenging may want to sing multiplication tables). Remind students that we usually use several intelligences to do something and we can explore and develop all our smarts.

    Tip: Video lesson 2 to use as part of assessment.

    Lesson 3: Beginning the project

    Encourage the students to create a project for enjoyment. Explain that you want them to collaborate in groups that share the same smarts and interests and using their creativity you want them come up with an interesting topic to explore. (Remind students to concentrate on developing their success skills when they are working with others and mention that you will also be monitoring this as part of the assessment).

    Organize the students into groups of no more than five students in each. Give students time to brainstorm in their groups and come up with the best topic for the project, using their critical thinking skills. (E.g. Picture Smart students may decide to create a project about a famous artist, such as Salvador Dali).

    You may wish to give each student a ?(Know, Want-to-know, and Learned) to complete during the project process, asking questions such as: What do you know? What do you want to know? What have you learned?

    Lesson 4: Planning the project

    Inform students about the timing of the project. Encourage each group to make a project mind map, which will encourage them to be more creative and organized.

    Remind all the groups to keep the following questions in mind:

    • What are you going to do/make? (Presentation, PowerPoint, website, video, posters.)
    • How will you research it? (Internet, tech tools, library.)
    • How will you delegate responsibilities?
    • How will you check that your audience has understood the message of your project? What questions will you ask?

    Decide on how many lessons are needed to prepare the project and how much will be done in school or at home, depending on the age groups and timing.

    Encourage the students to share their work with the rest of the class (or in assembly.)

    Tip: Video the different groups sharing their work.

    Can assessment also be fun and engaging?

    Yes, it can; here are some tips and suggestions.

    • Show the videos you have recorded and ask the students to compare and contrast their knowledge in Lesson 1 and how it developed over the lessons. Encourage them to observe and comment on their success skills.
    • Display the photo of the Student Learning Goals poster from Lesson 1. Get the students to self-assess and decide whether they have achieved the goals that were set in Lesson 1. (You may wish to give the students three small pieces of colored paper: red to represent I understand quite well, orange to represent I understand well and green to represent I understand very well). Ask: Can you identify the different intelligences and say what they mean? Encourage the students to hold up a colored piece of paper according to their understanding. (Make a mental note of all red pieces of paper to be ready to give extra help to those students). Check understanding by getting several students to answer the question.
    • Get the children to reflect on the learning experience. What have they learned about the different intelligences? How can they develop weaker points using their strengths to help them? Can they use all eight intelligences inside and outside school? Did they manage to get along well with their classmates? Did they communicate the message of their project so that the audience understood?
    • Give individual feedback to each student. E.g. congratulate them on their attitude and effort or identify areas for improvement: “You managed to use vocabulary and language effectively when you shared your project, we understood your message perfectly.” Or “You need to work on being more collaborative.” “You weren’t on task during the project.” “How do you think you can improve that?”
    • Ask students to give you feedback on the activities they enjoyed. Get them to draw happy and sad face cards. Go through all the activities and get the students to show a happy or sad face according to whether or not they liked the activity. E.g. say “Did you like the ‘Find out your smarts’ quiz?” and ask them to hold up the happy or sad face depending on whether they liked the activity or not.

    Create fun lessons to engage all your students keeping this model in mind: traditional activities such as short fun activities and games + Howard Gardner’s model of Multiple Intelligences + PBL (Project Based Learning) + success skills + meaningful assessment. Enjoy the results with your students.

    How the Global Scale of English can help

    The?Global Scale of English (GSE) Learning Objectives for provides ready-made learning objectives that can help with planning curriculums and lesson and benchmarking learners’ progress. They are great for young learners because they describe language functions in a granular way, enabling educators to give their learners credit for small achievements. They also clearly show the language functions to target next in order to take learners to the next level.

  • Expressing love around the world: Interesting facts and how to say "I love you" in different languages

    By Sam Colley
    Reading time: 5 minutes

    Love is a universal language that transcends borders, cultures and languages. For those learning another language, understanding how to express love in various tongues can be both fascinating and useful. Whether you're planning to travel, connect with friends from different backgrounds, or simply expand your linguistic repertoire, knowing how to say "I love you" in different languages as well as the cultural context, can be a beautiful way to show appreciation and affection. Let's take a look at some of the many ways to express this timeless sentiment and some interesting facts.

    1. Cultural nuances:

    In many cultures, the way you express love can carry different weights and meanings. For example, in Japanese, "愛してる" (aishiteru) is a very strong expression of love, often reserved for serious relationships, whereas "大好き" (daisuki) is more commonly used among friends and family.
    However, French, often called the language of love, uses "je t'aime" to express love as a romantic phrase that can be used for both partners and close family members.

    2. Gender differences:

    Some languages have gender-specific ways of saying "I love you." For instance, in Arabic, "????" (a?ibbuka) is used when a woman says "I love you" to a man, and "????" (a?ibbuki) is used when a man says it to a woman. Similarly, in Hindi, men say "??? ????? ????? ???? ???" (main tumse pyaar karta hoon) and women say "??? ????? ????? ???? ???" (main tumse pyaar karti hoon).

    3. Formal vs. informal:

    Some languages have formal and informal ways of expressing love. In Spanish, "te amo" is more formal and used for romantic love, while "te quiero" is more casual and can be used for friends and family.
    ?

  • A teacher sat at the front of the class holding a book reading it to a class of young children who are sat on the floor

    Romantic Readers and classroom ideas to celebrate Valentine’s day

    By Iram Ahmed
    Reading time: 3 minutes

    Love is in the air on February 14th, with hearts, red roses and boxes of chocolates everywhere. We’re all set for the big day, and to help you prepare as well, here are six of our favorite love stories for learners of all ages and levels. There are also plenty of fun ideas for your classroom.

    1.?Cinderella?(Level 1)

    Poor Cinderella lives with her stepmother and two horrible stepsisters. They treat her badly, making her cook and clean, while they relax and wear beautiful clothes. However, one night, Cinderella gets the chance to sneak away and attend a fabulous ball. She meets a handsome prince…but must run away before he discovers her true identity. With only a glass shoe to help him, will the prince ever find Cinderella?

    How to use this Reader in class:

    It’s no surprise that the story has a happy ending. After reading the story, have the learners draw a picture and write about Cinderella’s new life in the castle, with her loving new family.

    2.?Lady and the Tramp?(Level 3)

    This classic Disney story tells the tale of two young dogs who come from different backgrounds. Lady lives in a house while Tramp lives on the street. However, one day, Lady is forced to leave the house and the life she knows. Tramp teaches her about life on the streets and the two dogs fall in love… but with the dog-catcher always chasing them, will the story have a happy ending?

    How to use this reader in class:

    After reading the story, why not watch the animated version with your students? They can choose their favorite character from the movie and write a description of them.

    Looking for more romantic Readers for young learners? How about?The Little Mermaid?(Level 2) or?Aladdin?(Level 5)? There’s something for everyone?in our catalog.

    3.?Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl?(Level 2)

    If your teenagers are looking for more adventure than romance, this Reader has both. Follow crazy Jack Sparrow, handsome Will and brave Elizabeth as they fight pirates and uncover the curse of the Black Pearl. But will Elizabeth and Will survive the dangerous life on the seven seas?

    How to use this Reader in class:

    After reading the story, why not ask your students to write a review of it? It’s a great way for them to summarize the plot and share their opinion.

    4.?Pride and Prejudice?(Level 5)

    A timeless classic,?Pride and Prejudice?tells the story of young Elizabeth Bennett. As the oldest daughters in a family of five, she and her sister Jane are both expected to find good husbands and marry soon. But will Elizabeth find love, or will no man be good enough for her?

    How to use this Reader in class:

    While reading the story, learners can keep a diary, writing entries in the voice of Elizabeth Bennett. This helps them to demonstrate their understanding of the novel and encourages them to have a more empathetic reaction to the story’s heroine. They can either write the diary entries using typical language from Jane Austen’s day, or updating it to more modern language.

    Here’s an example:

    I had the ‘pleasure’ of meeting Mr Darcy today and found him rather rude and reserved. I imagine he feels this country life is inferior and that the locals are uncultured simpletons!

    or

    Met Mr Darcy today – what a stuck-up dork! He just stood there, looking down his nose at everyone… you can see he thinks he’s better than us locals.

    If you think your teenage learners would enjoy a different modern or classic tale of romance, check out our readers?. There are plenty to choose from, including?Romeo and Juliet?(Level 3),?Love Actually?(Level 4) and?Madame Bovary?(Level 6).

    5.?Tales from the Arabian Nights?(Level 2)?

    What would you do if you needed to fascinate a king to save your life? This is the problem Sheherezade faces when she marries a king who has killed all his previous wives. So she tells her new husband exciting, mesmerizing stories every night and always ends the tale with the king wanting to hear more. She tells him stories of adventure, love and mystery… and you can read her stories too in this Level 2 Reader.

    How to use this reader in class:

    After reading the book, have students vote on their favorite story from Sheherezade. They can then work in groups to present a short play of one of the stories, working together to write a short script.

    6.?Wuthering Heights?(Level 5)?

    Unfortunately, the path of true love isn’t always easy. Set in 19th Century Yorkshire, this tragic romance follows the story of Catherine and Heathcliff. The two childhood friends grow up together very closely. However, although she loves him deeply, Catherine can’t marry Heathcliff because of his lower social status. Instead, she marries another man, Edgar. How will Heathcliff react to this news? Will Catherine and Edgar be happy together?

    How to use this reader in class:

    At one point in?Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff runs away from home because he thinks Catherine is embarrassed by him and doesn’t love him. Have the learners write a letter from Catherine to Heathcliff at that point, expressing her regrets about why they can’t be together. It provides students with the opportunity to use phrases such as?If only…,?I wish…?and?I should have…?whilst demonstrating their understanding of the novel so far.

    If Yorkshire moors and Arabian nights aren’t quite what your students are looking for, there are more tales of romance on our site. Choose from modern-day love stories such as?Notting Hill?(Level 3) and?Lisa in London?(Level 1) or classics like?Anna Karenina?(Level 6) and?Persuasion?(Level 2).

    If you enjoyed this post here are some more practical posts to get your students engaged in reading, 'How to bring Shakespeare to life in the classroom'?and 'How to motivate reluctant readers'.