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Across the UK, learners have been shouting out the words ““six-seven” during instruction in the most recent viral trend to sweep across schools.

While some teachers have chosen to patiently overlook the craze, others have incorporated it. Five teachers explain how they’re coping.

‘I thought I had said something rude’

Earlier in September, I had been talking to my eleventh grade students about getting ready for their GCSE exams in June. I don’t recall precisely what it was in connection with, but I said words similar to “ … if you’re targeting grades six, seven …” and the whole class erupted in laughter. It took me completely by surprise.

My immediate assumption was that I’d made an reference to something rude, or that they detected a quality in my speech pattern that sounded funny. A bit annoyed – but genuinely curious and aware that they weren’t trying to be hurtful – I got them to explain. To be honest, the description they provided didn’t provide much difference – I still had little comprehension.

What possibly rendered it especially amusing was the evaluating movement I had made while speaking. I later learned that this frequently goes with “six-seven”: I had intended it to help convey the action of me thinking aloud.

In order to kill it off I attempt to reference it as often as I can. No approach deflates a trend like this more emphatically than an adult striving to get involved.

‘Feeding the trend creates a blaze’

Being aware of it helps so that you can avoid just unintentionally stating statements like “indeed, there were 6, 7 million people without work in Germany in 1933”. In cases where the digit pairing is inevitable, maintaining a strong student discipline system and standards on student conduct proves beneficial, as you can deal with it as you would any different interruption, but I haven’t actually had to do that. Policies are one thing, but if learners accept what the learning environment is doing, they will remain more focused by the online trends (at least in class periods).

Concerning 67, I haven’t sacrificed any instructional minutes, except for an infrequent quizzical look and saying ““indeed, those are numerals, excellent”. Should you offer attention to it, then it becomes a wildfire. I treat it in the equivalent fashion I would treat any different disruption.

There was the nine plus ten equals twenty-one phenomenon a few years ago, and undoubtedly there will emerge a different trend after this. It’s what kids do. When I was youth, it was performing comedy characters mimicry (honestly away from the learning space).

Children are unpredictable, and I think it’s an adult’s job to behave in a approach that guides them toward the direction that will help them toward their academic objectives, which, with luck, is completing their studies with academic achievements instead of a disciplinary record lengthy for the utilization of random numbers.

‘Students desire belonging to a community’

Young learners use it like a connecting expression in the schoolyard: a pupil shouts it and the others respond to demonstrate they belong to the equivalent circle. It’s similar to a verbal exchange or a football chant – an shared vocabulary they possess. I don’t think it has any distinct meaning to them; they simply understand it’s a trend to say. No matter what the newest phenomenon is, they seek to experience belonging to it.

It’s forbidden in my teaching space, however – it’s a warning if they exclaim it – identical to any other verbal interruption is. It’s especially challenging in maths lessons. But my class at primary level are pre-teens, so they’re fairly compliant with the rules, whereas I understand that at secondary [school] it could be a different matter.

I’ve been a instructor for a decade and a half, and such trends continue for three or four weeks. This phenomenon will fade away shortly – this consistently happens, particularly once their younger siblings commence repeating it and it stops being cool. Subsequently they will be engaged with the following phenomenon.

‘You just have to laugh with them’

I first detected it in August, while educating in English language at a language institute. It was primarily young men saying it. I educated teenagers and it was common among the less experienced learners. I had no idea what it was at the time, but I’m 24 years old and I recognized it was just a meme akin to when I attended classes.

These trends are always shifting. ““Toilet meme” was a popular meme at the time when I was at my training school, but it didn’t really appear as frequently in the educational setting. Unlike ““67”, ““the skibidi trend” was not inscribed on the board in lessons, so pupils were less able to adopt it.

I simply disregard it, or periodically I will smile with the students if I unintentionally utter it, attempting to understand them and appreciate that it’s merely youth culture. I think they just want to experience that feeling of community and camaraderie.

‘Playfully shouting it means I rarely hear it now’

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