‘You just have to laugh’: several UK instructors on dealing with ‘six-seven’ in the classroom

Around the UK, school pupils have been exclaiming the words ““67” during lessons in the newest viral craze to take over educational institutions.

Whereas some teachers have opted to calmly disregard the trend, some have incorporated it. Several teachers describe how they’re dealing.

‘I believed I’d made an inappropriate comment’

Earlier in September, I had been speaking with my year 11 class about preparing for their GCSE exams in June. I don’t recall precisely what it was in connection with, but I said a phrase resembling “ … if you’re targeting marks six, seven …” and the entire group burst out laughing. It caught me entirely unexpectedly.

My first thought was that I’d made an reference to an inappropriate topic, or that they detected an element of my accent that appeared amusing. A bit frustrated – but genuinely curious and conscious that they weren’t trying to be malicious – I persuaded them to explain. Honestly, the description they provided didn’t make much difference – I still had little comprehension.

What possibly caused it to be particularly humorous was the evaluating motion I had executed while speaking. I have since discovered that this often accompanies “six-seven”: My purpose was it to assist in expressing the action of me speaking my mind.

With the aim of kill it off I attempt to bring it up as frequently as I can. Nothing diminishes a phenomenon like this more emphatically than an adult attempting to get involved.

‘Feeding the trend creates a blaze’

Understanding it aids so that you can steer clear of just accidentally making comments like “well, there were 6, 7 million unemployed people in Germany in 1933”. When the digit pairing is unavoidable, possessing a strong student discipline system and requirements on student conduct is advantageous, as you can address it as you would any other interruption, but I rarely had to do that. Guidelines are important, but if pupils buy into what the educational institution is practicing, they will remain less distracted by the internet crazes (particularly in instructional hours).

Regarding 67, I haven’t lost any teaching periods, other than for an periodic raised eyebrow and saying “yes, that’s a number, well done”. Should you offer oxygen to it, it transforms into a wildfire. I handle it in the equivalent fashion I would treat any different disruption.

There was the 9 + 10 = 21 phenomenon a while back, and certainly there will appear another craze after this. It’s what kids do. During my own childhood, it was doing television personalities impersonations (admittedly out of the classroom).

Young people are spontaneous, and I think it’s an adult’s job to react in a manner that steers them in the direction of the path that will enable them toward their academic objectives, which, hopefully, is graduating with certificates instead of a disciplinary record a mile long for the employment of arbitrary digits.

‘Students desire belonging to a community’

The children use it like a bonding chant in the playground: a pupil shouts it and the others respond to demonstrate they belong to the equivalent circle. It resembles a verbal exchange or a sports cheer – an shared vocabulary they use. I believe it has any specific significance to them; they simply understand it’s a trend to say. Whatever the newest phenomenon is, they desire to be included in it.

It’s forbidden in my learning environment, however – it triggers a reminder if they call it out – just like any different calling out is. It’s notably tricky in mathematics classes. But my class at year 5 are nine to 10-year-olds, so they’re fairly compliant with the regulations, whereas I appreciate that at high school it might be a distinct scenario.

I have worked as a instructor for fifteen years, and these crazes persist for a few weeks. This craze will diminish in the near future – this consistently happens, notably once their junior family members start saying it and it’s no longer fashionable. Subsequently they will be on to the following phenomenon.

‘Occasionally sharing the humor is essential’

I began observing it in August, while educating in English language at a language institute. It was primarily young men repeating it. I educated teenagers and it was common with the junior students. I was unaware its meaning at the time, but being twenty-four and I recognized it was just a meme comparable to when I was a student.

These trends are continuously evolving. ““Skibidi” was a popular meme at the time when I was at my teacher preparation program, but it failed to occur as often in the educational setting. Differing from “six-seven”, ““that particular meme” was not scribbled on the whiteboard in class, so pupils were less prepared to embrace it.

I simply disregard it, or sometimes I will smile with the students if I accidentally say it, striving to understand them and understand that it’s merely pop culture. I think they simply desire to experience that feeling of community and companionship.

‘Lighthearted usage has diminished its occurrence’

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William Gregory
William Gregory

A passionate theatre critic and performer with over a decade of experience in the Canadian arts scene.