Three Ideas for the First Day of Class With Teens

It’s the first day of class! New students, new opportunities, new mindset… (Maybe even a new school!) It can be quite scary. It’s on the first day that we get a glimpse of how our year is going to be. What is more, I dare say, it’s on the first day of class that we get the chance to set the tone for our classes. So here are three ideas for your first day of class with teenage groups.

1 ‘Getting to Know You’ Activities

These are really important because they can give us a lot of information about our students’ likes and dislikes, what they have been up to, and things you can bring to class to make lessons more engaging for them.

Some common ideas are:

• two truths and one lie – as the name suggests, students tell each other three statements, one of them has to be a lie and their peers have to guess which one is a lie.
• our top favorites – use mentimeter.com (or any other similar website) to create a poll so that students can share their favorite singers/bands, films/series, etc.
• talking about vacations – a good choice for students who have been studying together. They get to share about what they did, where they went, etc. Make sure you prepare some questions for them to discuss.

2 Setting Goals For the School Year

I feel like we don’t do this enough.It is high time we started making teenage students more aware and responsible for their learning. But we can do that in a nice and positive way.

Have a conversation with your students about how they see themselves at the end of the year. Ask them what they would like to accomplish with their language skills. Maybe they want to start watching their favorite series without subtitles. If that is the case, how can we help them pave the way to achieve those goals?

For example: a group of students want to start watching their favorite series with no subtitles. We can give them some tips on how to start doing that. First, ask them to start watching episodes they have already watched with English subtitles and they take notes of words they didn’t know. Then, they rewatch it with no subtitles paying close attention to the audio. 

It doesn’t matter what their goals are. What matters is whether they are doing their part or not. Students need to understand that only showing up to classes is not enough and teens can be held accountable for their own learning.

3 Talking About Dos and Don’ts

This is the moment to negotiate with them and set the rules for the school year. Talk about homework deadlines, projects, behavioral issues, what is acceptable and what is not. If you can, keep the rules visible in posters or notice boards and refer back to them whenever necessary. Remember teens want to be heard just as much as adults do, so ask them to come up with the rules as well. This will give them a sense of responsibility.

I hope these tips are useful and I wish you a wonderful school year!

Henrique Zamboni

Henrique Zamboni has been in ELT for more than 15 years, having worked for different schools and language institutes. He holds the C2 Proficiency Certificate and the CELTA, a degree in Letras and a degree in Marketing. He is the founder of Inglês Para Adolescentes, where he is a teacher of teenagers and teacher trainer.