Spending More Time Relationship Building

We are going to start off today’s blog with your weekly reflection question. How are you currently building relationships with your Language Learners? Take a moment to reflect on this question. Think about this question and answer to yourself honestly where you stand. 

Building relationships with your Language Learners requires a lot of planning. There are many educators out there who overlook this and start casually planning for relationship building. Relationship building should have just as much attention as planning for your Language Learners.

Last year my school switched to hybrid learning suddenly. In the beginning of the school year, I was trying to prepare for my students. I spent a lot of time planning lessons, setting up my online classes, and creating assignments. One of those things that I overlooked was intentionally spending time relationship building. I was so hyper focused on everything else that I neglected this social-emotional aspect that my students needed.

Throughout the year I really struggled with my students, and I simply could not figure out why.  In my mind I was trying everything that I could. Then it dawned on me what I was missing. After reflecting, I knew where I needed the improvement.  I started to take immediate action on how I can improve. 

When the school year started, I was very intentional in sharing things about my life. I started off simple with sharing my favorite foods and stories about my favorite things in middle school. 

I also started to include more relationship building activities in my lessons. I thought this would be a lot of fun for the students. It also allowed me to learn a lot about them in the process. One of the most popular ways I did this was including fun facts about me and the students in our daily message. 

The students also had the opportunity to build relationships with others through our student spotlight. The students loved encouraging and saying kind things about others in the classroom. 

This school year think about how you plan on building relationships with your Language Learners. Design a plan that is intentional and consistent for your students throughout the school year. 

Share important facts about yourself with the students. This will help form a bond with the students. While you are planning your lessons for the school year, keep in the front of your mind on how you would like to build relationships with your students. 

Now that you have some tips and strategies it is time for you to map out a plan. During your next lesson planning session, plan in time for you to build relationships with your students. 

How are you planning on building relationships with your students this school year? I would love to hear more about how you are planning to build relationships with your Language Learners. Take a moment to share your strategies in the comments below.

Download the transcript to this episode here.