I used to stand at the front of the classroom, waiting. Just…waiting. I’d asked a simple comprehension question about the text we’d just read. The answer was RIGHT THERE. Third paragraph, second sentence. I could see it from where I stood.
And every single student was re-reading the entire text from the beginning.
For E-VE-RY Single Question.
I wanted to scream, “IT’S IN PARAGRAPH THREE! JUST LOOK AT PARAGRAPH THREE!” RIGHT AT THE TOP OF PARAGRAPH THREE! But I didn’t. I did what any reasonable teacher would do. I developed a beautiful lesson on scanning.
My students hated it.
Here’s what I got wrong: I taught them HOW to scan without giving them a reason to care about WHY they should bother.
Tip #1: Teach the How AND the Why
Strategies are supposed to speed things up and make learning more effective. Who wouldn’t want that, right?
Except my students didn’t care that they’d find answers faster. That just meant I’d ask another question. Great. Thanks, teacher.
I kept tinkering with my scanning lessons, making them better, looking forward to teaching them to each new class. And every time, my students pushed back. They didn’t understand why I was forcing them to scan when they already had a strategy they’d been using for years and were perfectly comfortable with. You know, that good ole’ start from the beginning, read every word, find the answer, and repeat for the next question.
But Wait…Don’t Students Want to Learn Faster?
You’d think so. But here’s the thing: saying “this will help you find answers faster” meant nothing to them. It didn’t connect to anything they cared about.
So I changed my approach. I started connecting the strategy to what THEY DID care about.
Match the Why With Their Goals
“How many of you have taken the TOEFL or IELTS?”
Hands went up.
“Did you have enough time to finish the reading section?”
Not a single hand stayed up.
The room got quiet. A few students started talking about the stress of watching the clock tick down while they were still on question 12 of 40. The panic of not even finishing. Of leaving questions blank because time was up.
“What if I taught you some tricks to improve your speed AND your comprehension so you could actually answer all the questions within the time limit?”
Their eyes lit up. Johnny Nash is in the room singing “I Can See Clearly Now”. Suddenly, they wanted to learn the very same strategies they’d been resenting five minutes earlier.
They had THEIR why now. Not mine.
We assume students will learn because that’s why they’re in our classroom. But it’s not just “we teach, they learn.” They need to understand how what we’re teaching connects to their goals. BUT, not our goals for them. THEIR goals for themselves.
Match the strategy to what they’re trying to accomplish. Make it explicitly clear how this new approach will get them closer to passing that test, landing that job, understanding their doctor, or whatever brought them to your classroom in the first place.
Tip #2: Don’t Expect Them to Just Accept It
Adults are set in their ways. They’ve had years of traditional instruction – kindergarten through university, probably. The teacher talks. The students listen. The teacher hands out information. The students parrot it back on the test.
Break out something completely foreign to them like a linguistic investigation or a jigsaw reading activity and watch their faces slam shut.
They’ll Think You Don’t Know How to Teach
They’ll do it out of respect for you, sure. But they’re questioning whether you know what you’re doing. Some will eventually complain to your program director. Others will just stop showing up.
Your students don’t want a new shirt. They want the old comfy one, even if it has holes in it, unless you can convince them the new one is worth the temporary discomfort.
Adults Rely on What They Already Know…Even When It’s Not Getting the Job Done
This is yet another thing I had to learn the hard way. I’d introduce a strategy that research showed was effective, and my students would look at me like I’d suggested we all stand on our heads and recite the alphabet backward. They relied on what they’d always done, whether it was effective or not. They’d rather stick with the threadbare old shirt than try on something new.
Without understanding WHY a new strategy matters and HOW it will help them, adult students, especially ones over 30, aren’t likely to venture beyond what they already know. Even when what they know isn’t getting the job done.
They want the comfort of that old shirt.
Show Them the Research
So I started being explicit about it. With higher-level students, I’d share links to research articles. “This isn’t just me making stuff up. Here’s the study that shows why this approach helps you retain vocabulary better.” They’d check it out at home, maybe run it through a translation app, and suddenly, they trusted me more.
With lower-level students who couldn’t read academic research, I’d just pull up the website and show them. “See? This is from a university. Real researchers studied this.” Just seeing that official-looking site often reassured them enough to give the new strategy a real shot.
Being explicit rather than vague made all the difference. We’re all more willing to try something new when we can see the value and trust the source.
Put it into Practice
We can’t just hand students new strategies and expect them to embrace the change. They need to know the how and the why. More importantly, they need to see how it connects to THEIR goals, not ours.
So, do it. Tell them explicitly why you’re teaching what you’re teaching. Show them how it will meaningfully affect what they’re trying to accomplish. Connect those dots between your classroom activity and their real-world objectives.
The Bottom Line
When you show them the connected dots, you’ll see the difference. And you’ll be teaching them something that goes way beyond grammar and vocabulary – you’ll be teaching them how to learn, how to adapt, how NOT to be that fly repeatedly throwing itself against the same window.
That’s it from me. See you in the next post!
Read more about teaching adult ESL
Teaching Adult ESL: Real Talk for New Teachers
Stop Teaching English Like It’s Only For Exams
The Task Card Library: Your Secret Weapon for Success in Your Adult ESL Classroom
