🇬🇧 NATIVE CLASSROOM LANGUAGE 🗣
Hello my, dear friends. Yet another list helping those teachers here who want to use non-textbook, non-Charles-Dickens modern native phrases in the classroom. Simple but effective. 💪🏻😎
✅ FANCY SOME... (ANYONE)?
= A nice informal way to say 'Would anyone like?' And you can use this in any context. As for the classroom, you can say, 'We've done loads and loads of work today. Fancy a game, anyone?' Or a bit more sarcastically, 'Oh that task was too easy for you. Fancy some grammar exercises?' Or, 'Oh Nikita says the last homework wasn't enough. Fancy some more then, anyone? No? Everyone is so silent all of a sudden.'
✅ OK, LET'S GET DOWN TO SOME WORK
= This phrase is used, depending on your tone (friendly or serious) to mean: It's time to do some work now, not play around or be relaxed. It's similar to the phrase: Let's get down to business (let's be serious now and talk business). If I had a long warm up or my students had not long arrived to class still active and I wanted to say that we need to start working, I'd use this.
✅ DO YOU MIND?
= If a student misbehaves, calls out, picks his nose, is a little to loud etc. you let your student know that you're not happy and want them to stop by saying rather firmly, 'Do you mind? (...not picking your nose/talking over me/playing around etc.) You don't need to give reasons as the situational context is enough. You could even say this to someone if they were rudely smoking too near you, for example.
✅ I'LL BE A TICK / JUST A TICK
= When you need to leave the classroom, maybe, to fetch some materials, you can say, 'Guys, Lena needs a pen. I'll be a tick.' Yes, it means: I'll be just a moment but is so much more native. Just a tick also means one moment. Vlad asks where the answers are to some task. So you reply, 'Just a tick. I'll try and find them.' So you look through the book quickly.
✅PLAYTIME'S OVER
= Instead of saying, 'Stop mucking/playing around because we need to do some work!' Instead say, 'Ok guys, yeah I know, playtime's over. Books and pens out.'
✅ EARS ON THE READY
= This phrase is used before you do a listening task. It means the students now have to be extra attentive. 'The recoding is about to start. Ears on the ready. Number 1...'
✅ EYES DOWN
= When you want your students to be silent whilst reading or maybe doing a writing task, then you can say, 'Nikita, stop chatting. Eyes down!' This might seem aggressive but it really isn't. Remember; you can change the register easily by adjusting your tone.
✅ LEAVE YOUR DESK/TABLE NEAT AND TIDY
= Great if you're teaching kids. So, the lesson finishes. As they're packing their bits and pieces back into their bags, you can say, 'Don't forget to pack everything. Leave your desks neat and tidy, please. I like my classroom spotless.'
✅ NICE ONE!
= You can't get more native than this. Instead of always saying 'Well done! Good job!' Use this: Nice one! You're walking around the classroom making sure your students are doing the exercises correctly. You see Yana's got everything right so far. So you say: Nice one, Yana! Keep it up.
✅YOU'LL HAVE TO SPEAK UP A BIT
= Nice set phrase to use when asking a student to speak louder. Maybe there is some lively loud debate going on in class, kids screaming doing a running dictation, or noise from outside. When Masha ask a question but you can't hear her over the noise, you can say, 'Masha, sorry, you'll have to speak up a bit. I can't hear you.'
😎 Add these expressions to your arsenal. Sound natural and native leaving competition sounding like textbooks from the middle-ages.
