Students in the EFL Classroom: The Cocoon Metaphor

Sometime ago, my sister sent me a picture of something she found to be a little weird in her house. She had an idea of what it was but was not completely sure. When I saw the picture, I knew for sure it was a cocoon. She got excited because a baby butterfly was about to be born inside her house and said she was going to take good care of it.

A couple of days later, I found a new picture in my Whatsapp; this time, the emerald-green cocoon had turned into a black mass inside a transparent bubble. My sister was very frustrated and was wondering about the reason for

the butterfly to be dead. After doing some research on butterflies, I found out that some cocoons turn black right before the butterfly is ready to hatch; my sister got more excited than before.

Finally, the picture with the stunning butterfly hanging from the piece of wood letting her wings to dry got to me and it was a reason for joy in my whole family. That happiness did not last long because a couple of hours later, the butterfly was gone. What my sister felt then was satisfaction because the once upon a time caterpillar, had successfully metamorphosed into a butterfly and was flying free somewhere.

This experience got me thinking: isn't that similar to what happens to our students in the classroom?

Let me explain why I see it this way. When our students get to our classroom with none or little English, they are like that caterpillar, eager to begin the transformation to becoming great in English no matter how painful it might be at times. They are ready to risk it going to a cellular liquid (almost no language) and beginning again so that they become fluent at whatever language they decided to learn.

It is then when we teachers, just like my sister did, take the time and care about that cocoon and try our best to make it possible for them to accomplish their goal. However, at points we get frustrated because what was supposed to be great, suddenly turns black and at times when they do not participate, miss a class or two, or do not speak, we feel might not be doing anything else but dying in the learning process. We become anxious and want to do anything in our power to make them successfully learn the language.

To our surprise, at the right moment, the butterfly emerges and is ready to explore the world. Then, when our students leave the course we feel the satisfaction of having been part of the process that took them there.

My recommendation to us teachers is never get desperate when we think a student is failing because he is not participating or seems to be puzzled at times, it is absolutely normal and what is happening in their minds is an adaptation process and may be, they are not yet ready to fly. Eventually, they do and that is the most rewarding experience we teachers have: seeing our students going free to explore the language world outside the classroom absolutely independent from us.

#Inspirational #Stories