‘It’s impossible not to smile’: a quintet of UK educators on handling ‘‘sixseven’ in the school environment

Throughout the UK, school pupils have been shouting out the expression ““six-seven” during instruction in the latest internet-inspired craze to sweep across educational institutions.

Although some educators have opted to patiently overlook the trend, different educators have incorporated it. Five instructors explain how they’re coping.

‘I believed I’d made an inappropriate comment’

During September, I had been speaking with my year 11 tutor group about preparing for their qualification tests in June. It escapes me precisely what it was in connection with, but I said something like “ … if you’re aiming for marks six, seven …” and the entire group started chuckling. It caught me entirely unexpectedly.

My initial reaction was that I had created an hint at an offensive subject, or that they detected something in my pronunciation that sounded funny. Somewhat frustrated – but genuinely curious and aware that they had no intention of being hurtful – I asked them to clarify. To be honest, the description they then gave failed to create greater understanding – I continued to have minimal understanding.

What possibly caused it to be particularly humorous was the weighing-up gesture I had made while speaking. I have since found out that this typically pairs with ““sixseven”: I had intended it to assist in expressing the act of me verbalizing thoughts.

To kill it off I aim to bring it up as frequently as I can. No strategy diminishes a phenomenon like this more emphatically than an adult striving to participate.

‘If you give oxygen to it, then it becomes an inferno’

Being aware of it assists so that you can steer clear of just unintentionally stating comments like “well, there were 6, 7 thousand people without work in Germany in 1933”. In cases where the numerical sequence is unavoidable, maintaining a rock-solid school behaviour policy and expectations on pupil behavior proves beneficial, as you can sanction it as you would any other disturbance, but I haven’t actually been required to take that action. Policies are necessary, but if pupils embrace what the learning environment is implementing, they’ll be better concentrated by the viral phenomena (especially in class periods).

With sixseven, I haven’t sacrificed any teaching periods, except for an infrequent quizzical look and commenting ““indeed, those are numerals, excellent”. Should you offer focus on it, it transforms into a blaze. I address it in the equivalent fashion I would manage any different disruption.

Earlier occurred the nine plus ten equals twenty-one trend a while back, and certainly there will appear a new phenomenon after this. This is typical youth activity. Back when I was growing up, it was doing comedy characters impersonations (honestly outside the classroom).

Young people are unpredictable, and In my opinion it falls to the teacher to react in a way that guides them in the direction of the course that will help them to their educational goals, which, with luck, is graduating with academic achievements as opposed to a behaviour list lengthy for the use of random numbers.

‘Children seek inclusion in social circles’

Young learners use it like a connecting expression in the recreation area: a student calls it and the other children answer to demonstrate they belong to the identical community. It’s similar to a verbal exchange or a sports cheer – an shared vocabulary they share. I don’t think it has any distinct significance to them; they just know it’s a trend to say. Whatever the current trend is, they desire to experience belonging to it.

It’s prohibited in my learning environment, nevertheless – it’s a warning if they call it out – similar to any different calling out is. It’s notably challenging in numeracy instruction. But my class at fifth grade are pre-teens, so they’re relatively compliant with the regulations, although I understand that at secondary [school] it may be a different matter.

I have served as a teacher for 15 years, and these phenomena persist for three or four weeks. This phenomenon will fade away soon – it invariably occurs, especially once their little brothers and sisters begin using it and it’s no longer cool. Then they’ll be focused on the subsequent trend.

‘Sometimes joining the laughter is necessary’

I began observing it in August, while teaching English at a language institute. It was mostly young men saying it. I instructed teenagers and it was prevalent with the less experienced learners. I was unaware what it was at the time, but as a young adult and I understood it was just a meme comparable to when I was a student.

The crazes are constantly changing. ““Toilet meme” was a well-known trend back when I was at my training school, but it didn’t really appear as frequently in the learning environment. In contrast to “six-seven”, ““the skibidi trend” was never written on the board in instruction, so students were less able to pick up on it.

I simply disregard it, or occasionally I will smile with the students if I inadvertently mention it, trying to relate to them and appreciate that it is just youth culture. I believe they merely seek to enjoy that sensation of community and friendship.

‘Lighthearted usage has diminished its occurrence’

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Veronica Stevens
Veronica Stevens

Digital marketing specialist with over 8 years of experience, passionate about helping businesses grow through data-driven strategies.