Building rapport to reduce anxiety

Nadiah Ammar describes the importance of a good atmosphere in your classroom.

Every Monday morning, I would be sick to my stomach because I knew I had to face Mrs Ragaey my fourthgrade social studies teacher. I can still see her strutting into the classroom, not making eye contact with any of the students. This was very different from what I was used to in my elementary school in California. My teachers would greet students with a smile as they came into the room. They seemed energetic and cheerful, and gave the impression that they were happy to be there. This was not the impression I got from Mrs Ragaey and it made me feel very anxious especially since I was a second language learner. I had just moved to Egypt from the US and was in the process of learning Arabic. When she realised that I did not understand her, she completely ignored me. I was invisible to her, so I stopped trying. I just sat there and looked at maps in the textbook and checked my watch to see how many minutes till the bell rang, so I could breathe again.

Almost 20 years later, I became an ESL teacher and I have been teaching adults for the past 10 years. My past experience of second language learning, among other factors, has shaped the way I teach today. The most important thing I have learned is how to build relationships with my students which creates a low anxiety nvironment in my classroom. ‘Teachers play a significant role in either alleviating or increasing students’ anxieties. Teacher-student interactions are an important component of creating an nvironment where students feel safe’ (Gustafson, 2015: 34). According to Krashen (1982), liminating anxiety is crucial to language acquisition. Mrs Ragaey, probably unintentionally, created an unfriendly environment and I felt that I did not learn much from her. So how can we, as educators, build good rapport with our students? In order to develop positive relationships with my language learners, these are some of the practices I use in my classroom.

Get to know the students

Learn their names

Learn all the students’ names during the first week or two of class. Have students make name tents during the initial meeting. I also encourage them to write nicknames or preferred names on the name tent and I ask them for the correct pronunciation. At the end of class, I collect all name tents while saying the name and looking at the student, then review them when I get home. Next class, I test myself by giving out the name tents again, hopefully to the right person. One time I was substituting for one of my colleagues in a reading and writing class. It was only two hours long, but I did pick up a few names in the process. A few weeks later, I ran into one of those students in a social setting, and she came over to say hello. I answered, ‘Hi Sayma. How are you doing?’ Her response was a huge grin and she said, ‘Oooh you remembered my name’ not the expected ‘fine, thanks’. Do not underestimate the importance of being able to call students by their names. This is the foundation of building rapport.

“When a student has questions or needs help, you should provide assistance even if that means staying a few minutes after the lecture. Some students do not like to ask questions in front of other classmates and prefer a more private conversation.”

Learn their interests

How do you build relationships with coworkers, classmates, neighbours, friends or significant others? You learn about them, their family, jobs and interests. Gradually, learning these details about your students will give you insights into their character. Let your student be the guide to how much information is appropriate. When you learn something about them, make sure you let them know you remember. For example, one of my students was a working mother of two, taking my communication course in order to start a nursing programme. I learned this information in pieces over time, but I remembered all of it. Whenever she looked extra tired in class, I would ask her how her kids were and if she had had a hard day at work. Little things like that go a long way towards making your students feel appreciated and to know that you recognise their struggles.

Connect with the students

Find common ground

Connect with your students by finding things in common. I make a point of doing this with each and every student in my class. I am a mother, so I try to find out which of my students share this status and connect with them about schooling, what our kids are interested in these days and how they deal with challenges in child rearing. This semester, two of my students were mothers of young boys and shared my frustration about our sons’ addiction to the game Fortnite. Others, I connect with in ethnicity, country of origin or language. For example, whenever I have an Arab student in my class, we usually talk about ethnic food that we miss like stuffed grape leaves or shish kebab. Another student shared my hobby of mosaic colouring. We would discuss our preferences and which type of markers were best. Finding common ground has had a huge impact on my relationships with my language learners because it makes them feel they have a bond with me even if it is a small one.

Share relevant personal experiences

Sharing relevant personal experiences is another way to connect with your students. The key word here is elevant. Definitely, do not go on and on about events in your life that are not

pertinent to the topic of the lesson. A few years ago, I was teaching in Saudi Arabia, and one of my colleagues thought it was appropriate to tell her class that she grew up in a trailer park and struggled with poverty. She was almost in tears telling the story which, by the way, was hardly related to the content. This made her students feel uncomfortable because they were not able to relate and did not know how to react to this situation. Most of the students at the university were from very wealthy families and did not respond to this display of vulnerability in a positive way. Remember, sharing experiences does not mean you treat your class as a therapy session. Rather, use your experience to illustrate a new concept. For instance, I was teaching a lesson on wishes, hopes and desires. I started my lesson by asking students to share something they regretted doing in the past. To get the discussion started, I shared my own story about wishing I had not hung out with a certain group of friends during college because they encouraged me to skip classes and this affected my grades. My class listened intently because this story gave the students a glimpse into who I am and allowed them to see me in a more relatable manner instead of their distant teacher.

Be patient and helpful

When a student has questions or needs help, you should provide assistance even if that means staying a few minutes after the lecture. Some students do not like to ask questions in front of other classmates and prefer a more private conversation. In my class, 9 out of 15 students said that asking the teacher after class decreased their anxiety. When you decide to stay and help, make sure you give your full attention. In a student evaluation of instructors, students wrote comments like ‘I admire how patient the teacher is’, ‘the teacher encourages students and helps them every time’, ‘the teacher tries as much as she can to help us’. It was obvious that students valued the extra time I spent with them. This time was also another opportunity to connect.

Laugh with your students

Whether you are learning a second language or just using your native language, laughing has always been and always will be the best way to get through awkward situations. If you are the kind of person that makes funny and witty comments, that’s great. Use your talent to lighten up the atmosphere of your classroom. If you are like me and have to work at that skill, let your students help you out. There are always one or two adults in the room that have the knack for shooting out hilarious comments. Do not stifle them. Let them shine. Young (1990) recommends using humour to create a warm classroom environment. When I surveyed my class, 12 out of 15 participants said that when the teacher smiles and laughs with the class, they feel less anxious. This semester, one of my students from Ecuador said to me, ‘Are you like this with all your classes, or just us? You treat us like friends and let us joke around and be relaxed. Coming to this class is like an escape from the stress of my life’ Maria Craw (ELL). Maria made my day with that comment and reassured me that I was successful in creating a positive atmosphere for my ELLs.

Foreign language anxiety is very real and well documented in adult language learners (Hershner, 2015). Building good relationships with your students is the first step in reducing this anxiety and boosting acquisition. Stay that extra few minutes, laugh even when you have a million other things on your mind, reach out and connect with your students and you will have a much more fulfilling teaching experience because you will have created the optimal environment for your students to flourish.

References

Gustafson L (2015) A Teachers Handbook for Reducing Anxiety in Foreign and Second Language Classroom. Fredonia: State University of New York.

Hershner K (2015) Strategies to reduce foreign language anxiety in adult EFL students of the European Union. Master’s Projects and Capstones 483 [online]. Available at: https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/483.

Krashen SD (1982) Second language acquisition theory. In Principles and Practice In Second Language Acquisition. Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press.

Young DJ (1990) An investigation of students’ perspectives on anxiety and speaking. Foreign Language Annals 23 (6) 539–553.

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