‘It’s impossible not to smile’: five UK educators on handling ‘‘sixseven’ in the school environment

Around the UK, school pupils have been shouting out the phrase ““67” during classes in the latest viral trend to sweep across classrooms.

While some teachers have opted to stoically ignore the trend, some have incorporated it. Several instructors describe how they’re dealing.

‘I thought I had said something rude’

Back in September, I had been speaking with my eleventh grade tutor group about preparing for their secondary school examinations in June. I can’t remember precisely what it was in connection with, but I said something like “ … if you’re aiming for results six, seven …” and the complete classroom started chuckling. It caught me entirely unexpectedly.

My initial reaction was that I’d made an reference to an inappropriate topic, or that they perceived an element of my pronunciation that sounded funny. Somewhat exasperated – but honestly intrigued and aware that they had no intention of being hurtful – I asked them to clarify. Honestly, the description they offered didn’t make much difference – I still had no idea.

What might have caused it to be especially amusing was the considering movement I had performed during speaking. Subsequently I discovered that this frequently goes with ““67”: I had intended it to help convey the act of me thinking aloud.

To kill it off I aim to reference it as often as I can. No strategy reduces a craze like this more thoroughly than an adult striving to get involved.

‘Feeding the trend creates a blaze’

Understanding it helps so that you can steer clear of just blundering into remarks like “well, there were 6, 7 thousand people without work in Germany in 1933”. When the digit pairing is unpreventable, having a firm school behaviour policy and requirements on student conduct is advantageous, as you can sanction it as you would any different disturbance, but I haven’t actually been required to take that action. Guidelines are necessary, but if pupils embrace what the learning environment is practicing, they’ll be less distracted by the online trends (particularly in instructional hours).

Regarding sixseven, I haven’t lost any teaching periods, except for an occasional quizzical look and stating ““indeed, those are numerals, excellent”. Should you offer attention to it, it transforms into a blaze. I handle it in the equivalent fashion I would handle any additional disruption.

Earlier occurred the 9 + 10 = 21 craze a while back, and undoubtedly there will emerge another craze after this. This is typical youth activity. When I was youth, it was performing comedy characters impersonations (honestly away from the school environment).

Children are spontaneous, and I think it’s an adult’s job to behave in a way that guides them in the direction of the course that will enable them where they need to go, which, hopefully, is coming out with certificates instead of a behaviour list a mile long for the utilization of arbitrary digits.

‘They want to feel a part of a group’

The children utilize it like a unifying phrase in the recreation area: a student calls it and the others respond to show they are the identical community. It’s like a verbal exchange or a football chant – an common expression they possess. I don’t think it has any distinct significance to them; they just know it’s a thing to say. No matter what the newest phenomenon is, they seek to be included in it.

It’s prohibited in my teaching space, nevertheless – it results in a caution if they exclaim it – just like any other shouting out is. It’s especially challenging in maths lessons. But my class at fifth grade are nine to 10-year-olds, so they’re relatively compliant with the guidelines, while I understand that at teen education it could be a different matter.

I have worked as a instructor for a decade and a half, and these phenomena continue for three or four weeks. This trend will die out soon – they always do, especially once their younger siblings start saying it and it stops being trendy. Then they’ll be focused on the next thing.

‘Occasionally sharing the humor is essential’

I started noticing it in August, while educating in English language at a international school. It was mainly young men repeating it. I taught ages 12 to 18 and it was widespread among the younger pupils. I had no idea what it was at the time, but I’m 24 years old and I realised it was just a meme comparable to when I attended classes.

The crazes are always shifting. ““Skibidi” was a familiar phenomenon during the period when I was at my educational institute, but it didn’t particularly exist as much in the classroom. Unlike ““67”, “skibidi toilet” was never written on the whiteboard in instruction, so students were less prepared to adopt it.

I just ignore it, or periodically I will laugh with them if I inadvertently mention it, attempting to empathise with them and understand that it’s simply contemporary trends. I believe they simply desire to feel that sense of belonging and camaraderie.

‘Lighthearted usage has diminished its occurrence’

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