Mary Slattery Discusses “Teaching with Bear”

Bear and Mary in the Classroom

Tara: Can you tell us a bit about your teaching history? How long have you been teaching with your teddy bear sidekick?

Mary: I started by teaching English and Spanish and then moved into ELT and into teacher training. I began using my first puppet Bear as my language assistant about 17 years ago. He was always a hit with the teachers on training courses and when I worked as a visiting teacher the children really loved him. I designed the present Bear to look like my original puppet – so when I visit schools today I tell children that Bear has many cousins!

Tara: Congratulations on your big win at the 2010 ELTons. What was it like to be at the British Council’s awards ceremony? Did you have Bear with you for support?

Mary: Thank you. It was very exciting! Bear was a bit nervous so I’m not sure if he was supporting me or the other way round!

Tara: With so much attention on apps and virtual worlds and wikis I have to ask the question that I’m sure many in our industry are wondering. How does a puppet manage to score a prestigious award in “innovation”? We might have
expected a talking avatar to win.

Mary: Bear is not high tech, just very versatile and teacher friendly! Apart from increasing the amount of English that teachers use in a lesson Bear can “assist” teachers to introduce and extend any topic that might be of interest to them or their classes. And all children seem to react to him in the same way – they just accept him as a little character and get completely involved in his life and adventures.

Tara: Do you think any teacher of young learners can teach with puppets, or does it require a special kind of talent?

Mary: No I think that any teacher can use a puppet. The most important thing is to believe in the character you create – children are happy to join with you and enter this make believe world. I should add that individual teachers can decide on gender and name! I’ve always referred to my Bear as “he”!

Tara: I mentioned to you that I had used a bear named Victor with my own kids. This bear had no voice and part of his appeal was that he had to communicate with only actions. Obviously voice is needed in the English classroom, though. Do teachers need to develop a special voice for their puppets?

Mary: No. Bear doesn’t speak. He listens, shows interest, understands and responds. The teacher is always speaking as herself or himself. There’s no need to change voices or sound different. The teacher is interpreting Bear’s feelings and thoughts and talking to him or to the children about what is happening. He can also whisper to the teacher to tell him or her what cannot be shown in any other way. And since Bear never responds unless he’s spoken to in English either by the children or by the teacher it creates a very motivating situation!

Tara: In your experience, does the fascination of puppets wear off, or do kids tend to develop more of a bond over time?

Mary: In my experience the fascination never wears off. Some teachers I’ve worked with in the past thought that the children would be interested up to 8 or 9 but that the 10 and 11 year olds would consider Bear a bit “childish”. They were amazed when the older children insisted on having Bear in their classes. The children had understood Bear’s function as a language assistant and watching their teacher encouraged them to make their own puppets – English speaking ones – because they wanted to show what they knew.

Tara: Can you give us an example of how Bear can be used to help shy children participate more in class?

Mary: Several of the teachers I’ve worked with have talked about Bear’s effect on children with different needs. Shy children may never be very outgoing but they feel more comfortable in a very supportive and friendly environment. Bear helps create this. I was always interested in the way the children accepted me when I arrived with Bear. It was as if Bear created a common area of interest which made communication very easy. Several teachers had children with special needs in their classes – children who had come from other countries or others who needed extra support in different areas. They all said that Bear’s presence seemed to offer more security to these children helping them to feel more at ease. I think a puppet also helps by taking the focus away from the child. Everyone really watches Bear!

Tara: I noticed in one of the DVDs (teaching aid that comes with handbook) that Bear plays the role of a learner sometimes. Do teachers have to decide whether a class puppet is going to act as a learner or teacher or should the puppet’s role vary for certain activities?

Mary: This can vary from lesson to lesson. Just like a child who is learning, Bear knows some things really well but needs help with others! When teachers are planning a particular lesson they can decide what role to assign to Bear on any given day. In the DVD extract you are talking about the five year olds were so involved with teaching Bear that they forgot all about the camera in the corner of the room. It was great!

Tara: Well, thank you Mary (and Bear) for inspiring us with your ideas for teaching young learners. Perhaps Victor will find himself a role teaching English online to YL at EnglishClub.com! Stay tuned for an upcoming interview with ELTon winner (and 2009 TEFL.net Site of the Year Winner), Russell Stannard.

• Teaching with Bear (available with or without puppet)
• Mary Slattery’s Website
• Dr. Simon Borg Discusses the ELTons
• More about the 2010 ELTons