Carol Read: The SECRET of working with children

Hi everyone!

Today I am going to do a short summary and a brief reflection on a very interesting video, published on the on the British Council’s site, called: The Secret of working with children. It is a recording of Carol Read's talk at the British Council in Warsaw

Her talk covers a range of primary issues and she give us a number of invaluable tips about teaching primary students. Here I leave the link to the video for those who want to watch it. Although it lasts an hour, I sincerely advise you to watch it because it is very useful and interesting.

Link: www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/carol-read-secret-working-children

In the first part of the video, during the first half hour, Carol Read talks about different types of activities that we can use with our students. In turn, she shows how each of them are carried out. They are very varied activities with songs, flashcards, TPR activities, to draw...  She talks about activities that integrate real content, what children already know, so that language and contents are in harmony. 

She also talks about how important it is for teachers to plan our lessons well. In other words, she says we should not use random activities. We have to choose carefully the sequence, taking into account the characteristics of the children. For that reason, she explains the four phases of the Accelerated Learning Cycle:

                                 

In the second half hour, Carol shows us what is the secret of working with children. To do this, she uses the letters of the word "SECRET".

• Sensory acuity: We have to use all the multisensorial information we get from the people who are with us, our students, (gestures, voice, eyes, movements...). So, we have to be aware and decipher what the signals mean. 
• Emotion: Here she refers to emotional intelligences. It means, it's the perception point, the way that we look at the world. She says that there are three positions or perception points, which are: Self-position (I), other people points of view (empathy) and distant position (observe). And she explains that to be good teachers it's best to adopt the third option. 

• Communication: On the one hand, Carol talks about how important is the body language and the influence that our gestures and our gazes have on the receivers. This is because the message is coming through our body language. She also explains that we have to talk slowly and give children time to respond.
  

  On the other hand, she says that we have to take into account how bad negative and positive rewards are. The important thing is to explain to children why it is good or bad and not just say "good " or "bad ". We must give them reasons, give them imput and show them what we value.
• Rapport / Relationship: It is very important that we have a good relationship with our students, but not as friends. In addition, we must do group rapport because we have many children to do it individually. We have to breathe, put ourselves in the third perceptive position (distant position) and act.

• Evaluation: This refers to our own evaluation as teachers, not only to the evaluation of our students. This reflection cycle must be carried out constantly. We can always get better.

• Tactical talk: It is very important to offer them the opportunity to choose whenever we can. We have to give them options and let them decide for themselves. For example, ask them if they want to draw or play. Things like that.

To finish her talk, Carol Read makes a brief summary of the most important of the session and ends by saying the following sentence:

THE SECRET LIES IN YOU!

I have to admit that although I was lazy to see this video because it was very long, I loved it. I think the second half of the talk is indispensable for any teacher. Although it is focused on primary, everything it says in the second half hour, the key to the secret of working with children, is good for any teacher. For this reason, I recommend you watch it. I think I have learned a lot thanks to this conference. I'm very grateful.