One day, a teaching assistant informed me that one of the strong three year olds in my class had told his parents that he didn’t want to go to English class anymore.
I was shocked.
Why?
It turns out he was afraid we were going to play ‘that‘ game again.
That game was ‘Angry Monkey’, a game frequently played in EFL classrooms around the world. I know that for many children, its one of their favourite EFL games.
For a few others, it absolutely terrifies them.
I later read another experienced language teaching author describing how some children have nightmares from the images they see used in Angry Monkey and similar games.
I’m a little embarrassed to say that when the teaching assistant told me of this child’s reaction to the game, I simply couldn’t comprehend how this could be so. It isn’t part of my current reality. However, when I reflected upon it, it was a part of my reality when I was younger.
Fortunately, I was able to have a (translated) conversation with the child, and it quickly became clear to me that he was terrified by the image of the angry monkey I’d chosen.
As powerful for me, was the insight that I would have been completely oblivious to the effect the game had on this child if I didn’t have a good relationship with my teaching assistant.
These days, I try to be very careful about the images, resources, and activities that I use in class, and think about the potential impact they could have on all of the children.
