What do you do when you’re just plain stumped?
Sound familiar? A student asks a seemingly innocuous question, and suddenly our faces start to go red, we start to stammer, and beads of perspiration form on our foreheads because we just can’t think of the answer. Contrary to what students might think or expect, teachers aren’t walking dictionaries or style guides. Even after years of experience, there are always some questions that you just don’t know the answers to. So when you face this situation, and you will face it often, what do you do? Here are some tips based on how I’ve dealt with this over the past ten years.
What you shouldn’t say:
1. Don’t lie and make up a reason. Remember that teachers get stumped all the time. It happens to everyone. Resist the impulse to try to fake your way out of it by lying…this only makes things worse. Even if you don’t go home and look it up, some students will, and they’ll confront you about your lie the next day.
2. Don’t say, “That’s just the way it is” or “Just because.” This is the easy way out and it’s very tempting, but it’s not going to help students. They asked the question because they are truly trying to figure out the mysterious, complex English language. It’s funny how teachers worry about losing face when unable to answer a question, yet students often have more respect for them if they admit they’re not sure of the answer and need to look it up. Most students will accept this without batting an eye.
3. Don’t tell students that it’s an exception. It may very well turn out to be an exception, but until you’ve looked it up and know this for a fact, avoid this easy-out answer. However, when I have looked something up and can’t find an answer, I have come back to students with “I’m sorry, I couldn’t find out anything about it. It’s probably an exception, and you’ll just have to try to remember it.”
What you should say:
1. Make students feel proud for stumping you. Try saying something like, “It’s not often I get stumped on a question, but you did it; good for you!” This reinforces that it’s not a common occurrence, and gives that student a bit of positive attention. After a few years of teaching, I found that I started to look forward to the times when I could be surprised by a question, and I enjoyed researching the answer and learning something new.
2. Empathize with your students. You can say something like, “Isn’t English difficult? I know the answer is X, but I’m not sure about the reason. Let me look it up tonight and get back to you tomorrow.” Remember that students are often relieved to find out that English is hard for everyone, sometimes even for teachers. (Also, before saying this, I would often throw up my hands or roll my eyes and say, “Crazy English!” This usually brought on fits of laughter from students and diffused the situation nicely.)
3. Enlist your coworkers. You can try saying, “Hmmm, that’s an interesting question. I’m going to ask the other teachers at lunch and get back to you.” Often it’s something simple that you’ve just forgotten, and a coworker will think of it right away or can help you figure it out. With this strategy, even if you come back without an answer, you can say, “None of the other teachers were sure about this, so I think it’s just an exception” and “If English teachers don’t know the answer, it’s not worth worrying about.” Don’t forget that students are often so worried about understanding every little detail that they lose sight of the big picture.
4. Come back to it later. If you’re feeling particularly embarrassed (on your first day or when you’re being evaluated, for example), you can always say, “That’s a great question, but I’ll explain it tomorrow since we don’t have time today.” That way, you buy yourself some time. You could also say, “We’re just going to move on now, so I’ll talk to you about it during the break.” It’s far less embarrassing to admit you’re unsure to just one student. I’ve even brought out a reference book during a break and looked something up together with the student(s); they enjoy being involved.
Where can you find answers?
1. Grammar Reference Books: Having a reference book is a must-have for teachers. Most schools will provide one or two in the teachers’ room, but I invested in one to have on my desk so it would be available at any time.
- Collins Cobuild – English Grammar
- Azar – Understanding and Using English Grammar – 4th Edition – my personal favorite. (Azar actually isn’t a reference book, but a students’ book. However, the explanations at the beginning of every chapter are clear and concise, and often help me frame my answers to students’ questions.)
2. Dictionaries: Any English–English dictionary will do, but here are some well-known ones.
- Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary – 11th Edition – US spelling.
- Oxford Canadian Dictionary of Current English – Canadian spelling.
- Oxford English Dictionary – UK spelling.
3. Style Guides: Styles guides are something I wasn't familiar with when I was teaching, but are essential to me now as an editor. I only wish I knew about this invaluable resource back when I was teaching, because answers about grammar and usage are often easier to find in these types of books (especially true for some of the stranger questions you’ll get).
- The Chicago Manual of Style – 16th Edition
- Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage
4. Websites: There are many websites and forums that provide answers to grammar-related questions, including chicagomanualofstyle.org, where you can sign up for a free 30-day trial. When I can’t find an answer in one of the above places, I type my question or key word(s) into a search engine, and click on the first couple of links. Just be careful to check more than one site, since you may have more than one opinion to sort through. I use options 1-3 before checking a website, but sometimes the student’s question is so unusual that I can only get the answer from the Web.
To Sum Up
Stay calm, don’t panic, and above all, don’t let your fear of embarrassment stop you from asking students if they have any questions. I strongly feel that teachers should encourage students to ask questions and help them better understand our fascinating language. All we can do is try our best to answer them. So what’s your strategy? I hope we can pool our resources in the comments section below; it’d be great if we could share our strategies and favorite reference materials with each other!
Here’s hoping you’re seldom stumped!
—Tanya
