Engaging a teenage audience

Getting started

It can be daunting to face a teenage audience for the first time. Here are some top tips from teachers for getting students’ attention at the start of a lesson:

• If you are delivering a presentation, make sure everything is prepared. You don't want to look disorganised. When they come in, you want it to look like you are completely ready to go and all you are doing is waiting for them to all arrive.
• Greet students as they come in. If a student greets you in a cheeky manner, reply in a cheerful but assertive tone.
• Also, look supremely confident as they come in, and look cheerful, even if you are really quite nervous.
• If the students don't know you, say very clearly and assertively (but without shouting or sounding annoyed) "can you stop talking now, I would like to begin". Then stand still, silently looking at them with a completely blank expression. Don't look apologetic and don't cross your arms (that just looks grumpy) but do look expectant. As the noise goes down, turn your expressionless and expectant gaze towards those who are still talking. The domino effect will stop them talking. When they do stop talking, smile broadly, say "thank you", and begin.
• Maintain the expectation that the students will listen and that what you have to say is worth listening to. Remember that every group will give you at least a couple of minutes ‘grace’ because you are a new face and they are curious. Stay positive and reward everything positive that happens, thanking students for any contribution. Expect them to be interested and ‘on your side.’

Establishing rapport

Once you have begun to work with students, you will soon find that they are less intimidating than you imagine. However, here are some teachers’ tips for establishing a good rapport:

• Do not try to be ‘cool’. This is the most commonly made mistake when adults try to communicate with teenagers in a formalised setting. It won’t work. Just be yourself.
• Let your materials and the programme you are promoting speak for themselves. You don’t need to go over the top with extra gimmicks, the Faraday 08 website will do the job for you.
• Give the students clear, no-nonsense information – facts and figures usually go down well with this age group.
• Teenagers are often very shy and don’t like to be ‘picked on’ during a question and answer session. Younger secondary aged students (Years 7 and 8) may respond well to closed question such as "Have you heard of the IET before?". But these types of questions tend to be less successful with older teenagers, who generally respond better in smaller groups to more open questions.
• Keep question and answer sessions short - no more than two or three questions at a time. Always accept the answer – even if it isn’t the one you were looking for - and thank the student for asking it.
• If you haven’t received the answer you were looking for after two or three responses, just give the answer in a friendly, accepting and non-judgemental way.
• Don't join in any barracking or teasing that may be directed at an individual. Having a sense of humour is great, but don't let it be at the student’s expense.
• If you can arrange it with the form tutors or subject teachers involved, try to stay around for 20 minutes or so after your presentation to give the students a chance to talk to you, have a closer look at the visual aids and ask any questions they may have been too shy to ask in a larger group.