In English, you have to put yourself out there in a unique way: you have to articulate what you think, a process interwoven with emotions, experiences, desires, and other such sticky business.

When younger kids struggle in English, our instinct might be to fix the skill problem visible in their work, meaning more homework, worksheets, or spelling tests. And sometimes that helps, but it doesn’t always shift the underlying issue — which is not just that they “can’t” do it, but that they don’t even think they “can” in the first place. This is especially true of younger kids, where confidence dictates their willingness to engage (unlike older kids who might have the looming shadow of the HSC or a termly exam to motivate them). So the thing that differentiates “strong” students is not always pure ability, and instead often their willingness to have a go (while the less confident one is still sitting there trying to get it perfect in their head before opening their mouth)

Something I’ve observed across my own experiences as both a student and a tutor: kids are constantly reading the room to gather environmental information, asking questions like: what happens if I get this wrong? Will this teacher laugh at me? Will it seem like a stupid mistake?

If the signal they get is “you should already know this” or “only good answers matter”, they WILL start protecting themselves emotionally, and it’s very hard to get them to re-engage.

On the flip side, when it’s clear that trying counts, that half-formed ideas are great news, and that mistakes aren’t a big deal, you see that shift almost immediately. That means we need to be careful about what we reward: if “good” can include things like taking a risk, explaining an idea, or even just attempting the task properly, this encourages more self-conscious students to give it a go.

So, for younger learners, confidence is key in many of the things we can teach them – meaning once it is there, they can learn just about anything.

Mica Krzyzanowski