Sarah has just been assigned her first class of adolescents. After several years of teaching adults, her school has recently expanded to include classes for high school and middle school students. It has been a long time since Sarah was in high school, and she's not sure she can relate to modern teenagers. She has heard horror stories of disrespectful students, frequent disruptions, and rampant behavioral problems. She tries to dismiss these as a few isolated cases and focus on the positive aspects of teaching adolescents, such as the bright futures ahead of them and their wonderful passion for their interests. However, despite her attempts to think optimistically about her upcoming class, she is nervous about being unable to relate, creating lessons that fall flat, and opening the door to bad behavior.

Question 81 Flag for review

While Sarah prepares to teach her new class, which of the following would be the leastsuitable approach for Sarah to take as she tries to relate to her students?

a. 

Sarah should look online and in magazines to see what fashion styles are popular with teenagers these days, and she should try to find out if there are any particular slang terms in the local language commonly used among her students. This will give her an overall sense of the trends and fashions that her students follow, and she can use this to relate to her students. By avoiding dressing "old fashioned" and using language that is out of date, Sarah will help her students to see her in a positive light and as someone they can trust.

b. 

Sarah should find out what movies, music, games, and TV shows are popular among students of this age in her host country. She can then incorporate examples from these various media into her lessons to make them more appealing.

c. 

Sarah should do some research on adolescent culture in her host country. She could ask fellow teachers or friends who teach adolescent students to fill her in on what topics, games, and activities are popular, and what ingredients make for a successful lesson with students of this age.

d. 

Given the stark cultural and linguistic differences between Sarah and the culture she is immersed in, she will have a very difficult time fully grasping the local adolescent culture. Instead, she should focus on creating engaging lessons that provide ample opportunity for her students to express their own thoughts, opinions, and interests.