IN THE CLASSROOM

Building
confidence
in A1 learners

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ed
Sinéad McCabe focuses on lower-level classes.

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F
or many teachers, especially those who are just to work well here is to allow shyer, quieter learners to be the
starting in the profession, an A1-level class can be group secretary: they write down the ideas, so the pressure
a tough assignment. Students at this level, especially of speaking is taken off their shoulders. It may seem

an
teens and adults, can be very self-conscious, shy contradictory, but at this level, the secretary is actually forced
and lacking in confidence. For this reason, working to communicate – to ask the others to repeat words, ask the
towards a relaxed and open classroom atmosphere which meaning of something, check spelling, and sometimes mediate
builds confidence and reduces performance anxiety, particularly or facilitate compromise between the other group members,
ing
in speaking activities, is essential for the swift and effective and thus, while their performance anxiety is calmed by their
progress which students and teachers all want. This article ability to ‘hide’ behind their pen, they are naturally drawn into
will, I hope, give some clear and practical techniques, strategies, the activity and the conversation.
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resources and advice to advance to that happy goal.
Feedback
Routines
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At lower levels, getting the feedback right is crucial: an anxious

A good place to start is in setting up consistent routines for the student with low self-esteem can be crushed by a correction
class. It’s hard to follow lessons conducted in a language you at the wrong time, whilst some students seem deaf to any
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don’t yet know well, but the establishment of routines can correction at all. Most A1 and A2 learners want constant
reduce anxiety and instil a basic level of confidence. The correction on every tiny error; the teacher must make
students might not know what the present continuous is about, judgement calls as to how much to withhold, how much to
but they know that Friday is test day and Tuesday is the day
on

correct, and when and why.

that writing is done. Of course, if the schedule you favour is not
However, there are lots of elements of feedback which can
what the learners prefer, some compromise may be in order!
truly have an impact on a student’s confidence, progress and
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For students with special educational needs, the setting future learning. One of the most important is peer feedback, and
up of clear predictable routines is one of the most important even in an A0 classroom, when properly guided and monitored,
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things you can do to help them progress, but all learners at this can have beneficial results. Here are a few of the ways you
low levels, who have so much to deal with in their classes, can encourage your students to help each other out:
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will benefit from this.

If your institution practises continuous enrolment, or you 1 Student to board
often have new students starting during the course of a term, When the students are giving their answers to an activity
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get your learners to explain or demonstrate the class routines or game, nominating one of them to write the answers
to each other. I often find this happens with the gentlest of on the board removes the teacher from the equation and
nudges: the arrival of a new and confused learner usually compels the students to communicate directly with each
triggers an empathetic response from the others, and they other, without the teacher mediating between them. Students
are generally eager to help the new person to fit in. can have a lot of trouble getting used to each other’s accents
at this level and, if this is not addressed, it can lead to
Working in (closely-monitored) pairs and groups is a
an ugly atmosphere where they blame each other’s ‘bad’
well-known way for learners to help each other and work
pronunciation for failures of comprehension, thus
towards independence in all forms of learning, particularly
intensifying anxiety for some students and denting their
speaking. However, this can also have its issues: we’re all
confidence in their ability to communicate in the real world.
familiar with the group of three where one person does all the
work, one is texting on their phone under the table, and the Therefore, an activity which compels the students to
third is stricken mute with shyness. One technique which seems deliver all their answers to each other instead of to the

38 Issue 132 • January 2021 www.etprofessional.com

 IN THE CLASSROOM

teacher, so they have no choice but to make the

effort to understand each other’s speech, will lead
to very swift improvements in communication. The
students can then start to nominate each other to
go to the board, and once an anxious student can
see for themselves that everybody is doing it and
nobody has died of it, they too will stand up and
get involved.

2 Student nomination
Similarly, I always get low-level classes used to
nominating one another to call out their answers

ia
for feedback, even on their first day. This produces
an instant sense of participation, and it’s a great

ed
way to help them learn each other’s names!

3 Student teacher

dM
When my students are doing an exercise, I choose 1 Student to board
a different person each time, personally mark their
work, while explaining any errors, and then have
them play teacher and elicit the answers from the

an
others and correct their mistakes. This builds a
strong motivation for the new ‘teacher’ to
understand why any of their answers are wrong ing
– because they know that if another student has
made the same mistake, they will be called upon
to explain it. After a week of this, the shyest and
most anxious student becomes confident enough to
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argue their case (knowing that the teacher has their

back) and in doing so, continues to develop their
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language skills.

4 Written feedback
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Finally, there is one more element of feedback

from the teacher which can help build security
and independence in your learners, and that is
written feedback. 3 Student teacher
on

Frequent writing lessons and writing feedback future. (It’s important to make these corrections
are important to get the students feeling simple and achievable: a student trying to translate
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comfortable about the development of this skill, an idiom, for example, is unlikely to be able to
which can often make them stressed (the vast correct this themselves and will need your help.)
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majority of my teenage and adult learners study

English for work or higher education, and work Technical resources
Pa

emails or mini ‘essays’ are the most frequent writing

There are a lot of great technical resources out there
activity requests that I get). For a lot of students,
which can be utilised in the classroom for many
writing is more important than speaking, so it’s
reasons, confidence-building among them. Among
©

crucial to provide help and support in the form of

the online platforms I’ve used for this purpose are:
coded feedback (see below) to encourage self-
correction, followed by time with the teacher in the 1 Padlet: for conversation
classroom to check their attempts. This online sharing platform, which is free,
For simple mistakes, I use a colour-coding requires no login or exchange of numbers and can
system, which I post on the board every time be set up to hold group text conversations, can
I return written work. For example, green for be used for communicative activities which take
grammar, pink for spelling, blue for excellent the pressure off students who are shy or nervous
language. Using these colours, the students can about their pronunciation. It also allows younger
attempt to correct themselves. Working out their students who are much more comfortable
own mistakes will give them a sense of achievement, communicating with their thumbs a chance to
and it also builds independent study habits for the shine. Setting up a classic activity – like planning

www.etprofessional.com Issue 132 • January 2021 39

IN THE CLASSROOM

a night out together – by giving them a (fake) WhatsApp Planning and goals
screenshot with the target language introduces the idea The use of needs analysis and planners to get the students
that they will be conversing by message instead of speaking. involved in their class learning is a particular focus of mine,
Once all the students are on their phones and messaging each especially at low levels where they have urgent learning needs
other on the Padlet platform, you will be able to follow their to address. Having clear learning goals for the day or week,
conversations on the interactive whiteboard or on your own which they can use to assess their progress, is beneficial for
phone, and comment on their replies to each other. students and teachers alike.
The first time I tried this in an A1 classroom, a 16-year- I recently used this method to help my students with real-life
old student who had had extreme difficulty making his situations which cause particular performance anxiety (that is,
pronunciation understood suddenly became the star of the high emotional stress in situations where they have to speak or
class with his funny, smart messages: the other students saw write in English). My students live, and sometimes work, in an

ia
him in a new light, he became happy and relaxed, and the English-speaking environment, so for them, most situations relate
next activity, which involved groups reading out their to this environment. However, this technique could easily be

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messages to make a controlled conversation, saw all his adapted to international work environments, online situations,
team-mates helping him to improve his pronunciation until etc, for learners who are studying in their own countries.
he was intelligible to all of them. Stage 3 of the activity has

dM
Working with a questionnaire which uses emoji to suggest
the students use the Padlet conversation as a springboard
the emotions they might feel in a range of situations (from
to improvise a new, spoken conversation with the target
relaxed to extremely anxious), I suggested a variety of real-world
language. At this stage, the student was fully participating
situations which might cause anxiety (for example, visiting a
with his group. It was an extraordinary breakthrough for
doctor, writing a work email to a customer or complaining about

an
him, and the activity was so popular with the class that we
a problem in a hotel). I then collated the data to find which were
made it a weekly ‘Practical English’ section.
the top five most stressful situations for them, and created
2 Flipgrid: for presentations lessons which targeted useful language for those situations, using
ing
This free online platform takes a bit more setting-up from the listenings or readings to introduce it. I gave the students lots of
teacher, but once all the students are registered it allows them controlled and then freer, improvised practice with the target
to record presentations on their phones and upload them, so language, followed by a feedback session from them on their
relative situation-related anxiety levels after the lessons.
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that the other students can watch their recordings and record
comments or questions. It also allows the students to preview All but one of the students reported feeling more confident
their videos before uploading, so they can correct themselves and less anxious after the lessons (further work with the one,
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and improve their spoken performance, becoming more still-anxious learner followed, of course). I would highly
confident with the final result. The individual comment recommend this exercise, suitably adapted for your students,
videos are less overwhelming than a whole class staring as it really did seem to help.
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and commenting, too. Finally, for students whose progress is slower than they
3 Google Docs: for preparation or you would like, having a session where you build a set of
individual targets for them, with their own study sheet to work
This platform can be used to help students who need more time
on

to (for example: This week I will work with and memorise five
and space to process their learning. They can use it in or out of
irregular past verbs) can really boost their esteem when they
the classroom, to write in groups or alone. I often give my
reach their own goals. It also helps them to focus on their own
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students advance notice of the next day’s topic, and ask them,
needs and aims, instead of miserably comparing their slow
for homework, to add an idea (about their country’s culture,
progress with that of their classmates.
food, etc) to a shared document, for discussion the next day.
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This allows those students who benefit from more thinking

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time to participate in a brainstorming session, to see their t t t

classmates’ ideas in advance, and to prepare some vocabulary
for the ideas that they want to discuss. All of these techniques have helped me to enable my students
to boost their morale, reach their study goals, advance their
©

4 Quizlet Live: for teamwork level, and have a happier, more confident learning experience.
Quizlet Live gaming allows the teacher to recycle and test I hope some of them can help in your classroom too. n
vocabulary and to put the students in teams, so that they have
to work together to find the right answers and key them in, Sinéad McCabe is a Delta-qualified teacher
with 11 years’ teaching experience, mainly in
using their phones. An extra element to this platform is that
Italy and the UK. She is currently working at
one wrong answer will wipe out the team’s score, which makes St Giles Central, London. At the moment, she
the students extra careful to consult each other, and while is researching the most effective ways to help
they are focused on the game, emerging language for checking reduce anxiety in students.
and clarifying each other’s meaning can be a follow-up for [email protected]
the teacher to focus on. This kind of language benefits the
students’ conversation enormously, and can lead to great
strides in communicative skills.

40 Issue 132 • January 2021 www.etprofessional.com