Rapport and routines to welcome new language learners
Tips for Early Career Teachers
24 January 2022 I Fiona Wiebusch
Many language teachers I know are wonderful ‘welcomers’.
With each new class, they plan activities that make learners feel safe and motivated to communicate in the target language. These classroom routines help to establish rapport and create a positive and inclusive learning environment.
So, what do we mean by rapport in the language classroom? What are some helpful teaching routines to welcome new learners?
Let’s take a closer look at this important part of our teaching practice.
From Theory to Practice
In his seminal text, Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, H.D. Brown (2007), defined rapport this way:
"The relationship or connection you establish with your students, a relationship built on trust and respect that leads to students feeling capable, competent, and creative." (p 253)
He suggests that teachers play an important role in this, by:
showing interest in each student as a person
openly soliciting students' ideas and feelings
working with them as a team
giving feedback on each person's progress
valuing and respecting what students think and say
laughing with them and not at them
balancing praise and criticism (showing genuine 'pleasure' and 'concern')
generating energy (not 'flamboyance' but 'focus' from the teacher)
developing a genuine sense of vicarious joy when students learn something or succeed
It’s a helpful list to reflect on, isn’t it?
For me, rapport begins by demonstrating empathy for the learner experience.
Ways to Welcome New Learners
What does it look like in practice? One of the most important ways to welcome new learners is to learn their names. Sharing introductions, playing name games, creating a seating plan or ‘selfie’ photo board, are just a few routines that many language teachers keep in their "new class" toolkit.
Another way we welcome learners is to plan get-to-know-you (GTKY) activities. Two of my favourite GTKY activities for teen or adult learners are: Two Truths & a Lie and Find Someone Who. Both activities work well in the physical or virtual classroom and allow the teacher to share their stories too.
Find other ideas to suit your learners here:
Once learners are comfortable, it’s usually time to set some goals and expectations. This might involve student-led survey activities to understand class expectations of what ‘a good learner/teacher’ or ‘language class’ look like and goal-setting activities for teen or adult learners (McManus & Kotze, 2019) or young learners (Hasper, 2020).
Top Tip: Write names on a class photo or have students upload selfies to a digital noticeboard.
Extending the Welcome
Of course, establishing rapport doesn't end on Day 1. To ensure our warm welcome continues well into the course, consider these top tips:
1- Keep up the 'wonder warmers'
Learning a new language can be a nerve-wracking experience. To lower our learners’ affective filters, we often add short, warmer activities near the beginning of a lesson. These tend to be engaging activities that involve using language in a simple and enjoyable way.
I try to think of ways to warm up brains, bodies and voices. For longer language courses, I tend to have a routine for different warmers on different days (see image below). Over time, I’ve built up a bank of warmers to fit each category, for different learner groups. Such a timesaver! See some great examples of warmers from QI Consultant, Vicki Bos.
2- Check-in with learners regularly.
Planning short activities to support learner progress is also important when building relationships between teachers and students. Regular formative feedback helps us to adapt our pace and pitch and understand what our learners are learning. Edutopia shared this great list of 53 practical ways to check learner understanding, such as using Exit Tickets at the end of each class.
3 - Take your time.
Don’t be discouraged if your students aren’t ‘besties’ by the end of Day 1. Rapport takes time but your students will appreciate your sustained effort to learn their names, facilitate get-to-know-you and warmer activities, and to check-in on their progress.
Click HERE to download a larger image file.
“Teaching is half learning.”
As the Japanese proverb above suggests, exploring what works for you and your learners is something language teachers continue to reflect on and develop in their practice over time.
When you welcome new learners, try out different routines and seek learner feedback regularly. In doing so, you’ll be demonstrating empathy for the learner experience, building rapport, and helping your learners to feel calm, capable and communicative in the language classroom.
All the very best to you, wonderful welcomers!
Reference List and Further Learning
Bos, V. (2021). Creative language class warmers. Teaching in Harmony. [YouTube]
Hasper, A. (2021). Back to School: Motivating Learning Online for All Students. Macmillan Education. [Webinar]
McManus, C. & Kotze, H. (2019). Gamifying goals to launch student engagement beyond the classroom. English Australia. [Article]
Thornbury, S. (2012) R is for Rapport. A-Z of ELT. [Blog]
Wiebusch, F.. & James, R. (2019). What starts well, ends well. English Australia. [Webinar]
Woodward, T. (2001). Knowing your Students. Planning Lessons and Courses. Cambridge: CUP [Book Excerpt].
About the Author
Fiona Wiebusch
Fiona is the Co-Founder and Director of Teacher Development at The Queensland Institute Pty Ltd. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma of Education and Masters of Applied Linguistics (TESOL) from the University of Melbourne and commenced PhD studies at Macquarie University. She lives in Brisbane has more than 24 years’ experience in language education and training in more than 10 countries.
Fiona demonstrates warm up routines at our GenQI event for Japanese and Chilean language teachers (13 mins)
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