‘Sometimes you’ve got to chuckle’: a quintet of UK educators on handling ‘six-seven’ in the classroom

Across the UK, students have been calling out the expression ““67” during classes in the most recent internet-inspired trend to sweep across classrooms.

Although some instructors have opted to patiently overlook the craze, different educators have embraced it. Five teachers share how they’re coping.

‘I believed I’d made an inappropriate comment’

Back in September, I had been speaking with my year 11 tutor group about studying for their secondary school examinations in June. I can’t remember exactly what it was in relation to, but I said words similar to “ … if you’re working to grades six, seven …” and the complete classroom erupted in laughter. It caught me totally off guard.

My immediate assumption was that I had created an reference to something rude, or that they perceived something in my pronunciation that seemed humorous. Somewhat frustrated – but truly interested and mindful that they weren’t malicious – I got them to clarify. Honestly, the explanation they provided failed to create significant clarification – I still had no idea.

What could have made it particularly humorous was the weighing-up motion I had made while speaking. I later learned that this frequently goes with ““sixseven”: My purpose was it to help convey the act of me speaking my mind.

To end the trend I aim to mention it as frequently as I can. Nothing diminishes a trend like this more effectively than an adult attempting to join in.

‘Providing attention fuels the fire’

Knowing about it aids so that you can avoid just blundering into comments like “for example, there existed 6, 7 million jobless individuals in Germany in 1933”. In cases where the digit pairing is inevitable, having a strong student discipline system and standards on student conduct proves beneficial, as you can deal with it as you would any different disruption, but I haven’t actually had to do that. Policies are important, but if pupils accept what the learning environment is implementing, they’ll be less distracted by the internet crazes (at least in instructional hours).

Concerning 67, I haven’t sacrificed any lesson time, except for an occasional quizzical look and saying ““indeed, those are numerals, excellent”. When you provide attention to it, it transforms into a blaze. I address it in the equivalent fashion I would handle any additional interruption.

Earlier occurred the 9 + 10 = 21 phenomenon a previous period, and certainly there will appear another craze subsequently. That’s children’s behavior. Back when I was youth, it was imitating Kevin and Perry mimicry (admittedly away from the classroom).

Children are spontaneous, and In my opinion it falls to the teacher to respond in a approach that steers them toward the course that will get them to their educational goals, which, fingers crossed, is completing their studies with academic achievements rather than a conduct report a mile long for the utilization of meaningless numerals.

‘Students desire belonging to a community’

Students utilize it like a connecting expression in the schoolyard: a pupil shouts it and the other children answer to indicate they’re part of the identical community. It’s like a call-and-response or a football chant – an shared vocabulary they use. I don’t think it has any distinct significance to them; they just know it’s a trend to say. No matter what the latest craze is, they want to feel part of it.

It’s prohibited in my learning environment, however – it results in a caution if they call it out – similar to any different verbal interruption is. It’s especially challenging in mathematics classes. But my students at year 5 are children aged nine to ten, so they’re relatively compliant with the guidelines, although I recognize that at high school it may be a different matter.

I’ve been a instructor for fifteen years, and such trends persist for three or four weeks. This trend will diminish soon – it invariably occurs, notably once their junior family members begin using it and it stops being cool. Then they’ll be focused on the following phenomenon.

‘Occasionally sharing the humor is essential’

I started noticing it in August, while educating in English language at a international school. It was mainly male students saying it. I instructed teenagers and it was common with the younger pupils. I was unaware its meaning at the time, but as a young adult and I realised it was merely a viral phenomenon similar to when I was a student.

Such phenomena are continuously evolving. “Skibidi toilet” was a popular meme at the time when I was at my teacher preparation program, but it didn’t really appear as frequently in the educational setting. In contrast to ““sixseven”, “skibidi toilet” was not inscribed on the whiteboard in instruction, so students were less prepared to embrace it.

I typically overlook it, or sometimes I will laugh with them if I unintentionally utter it, striving to empathise with them and appreciate that it is just contemporary trends. I believe they merely seek to feel that sense of togetherness and camaraderie.

‘Humorous repetition has reduced its frequency’

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