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Throughout the UK, learners have been shouting out the phrase ““six-seven” during lessons in the newest meme-based craze to spread through schools.

While some teachers have opted to stoically ignore the trend, others have incorporated it. Several teachers explain how they’re coping.

‘I believed I’d made an inappropriate comment’

Earlier in September, I had been addressing my secondary school students about preparing for their GCSE exams in June. It escapes me specifically what it was in connection with, but I said words similar to “ … if you’re targeting results six, seven …” and the entire group erupted in laughter. It caught me entirely unexpectedly.

My immediate assumption was that I had created an allusion to an inappropriate topic, or that they detected something in my pronunciation that appeared amusing. A bit annoyed – but truly interested and mindful that they weren’t hurtful – I persuaded them to clarify. Honestly, the clarification they then gave failed to create greater understanding – I remained with no idea.

What possibly made it especially amusing was the considering gesture I had executed while speaking. I later learned that this often accompanies ““sixseven”: I meant it to assist in expressing the action of me verbalizing thoughts.

With the aim of kill it off I attempt to bring it up as much as I can. Nothing reduces a craze like this more emphatically than an grown-up trying to join in.

‘Feeding the trend creates a blaze’

Being aware of it aids so that you can prevent just unintentionally stating statements like “for example, there existed 6, 7 hundred people without work in Germany in 1933”. In cases where the numerical sequence is unpreventable, having a rock-solid school behaviour policy and expectations on pupil behavior really helps, as you can sanction it as you would any different interruption, but I rarely been required to take that action. Rules are necessary, but if students accept what the learning environment is doing, they’ll be less distracted by the internet crazes (especially in class periods).

With sixseven, I haven’t lost any instructional minutes, other than for an infrequent quizzical look and commenting ““indeed, those are numerals, excellent”. When you provide focus on it, it transforms into a blaze. I treat it in the equivalent fashion I would treat any different disruption.

Previously existed the mathematical meme trend a previous period, and there will no doubt be another craze subsequently. That’s children’s behavior. During my own growing up, it was doing Kevin and Perry impersonations (truthfully outside the school environment).

Young people are unpredictable, and I think it’s an adult’s job to behave in a way that redirects them in the direction of the path that will get them where they need to go, which, hopefully, is completing their studies with certificates rather than a disciplinary record lengthy for the use of random numbers.

‘Students desire belonging to a community’

Young learners utilize it like a unifying phrase in the recreation area: one says it and the other children answer to demonstrate they belong to the same group. It’s similar to a interactive chant or a football chant – an common expression they use. I believe it has any particular meaning to them; they just know it’s a thing to say. No matter what the current trend is, they seek to experience belonging to it.

It’s prohibited in my classroom, though – it results in a caution if they shout it out – similar to any other calling out is. It’s particularly challenging in mathematics classes. But my class at year 5 are nine to 10-year-olds, so they’re fairly adherent to the rules, while I appreciate that at secondary [school] it might be a separate situation.

I have worked as a instructor for a decade and a half, and such trends persist for a few weeks. This phenomenon will fade away shortly – this consistently happens, especially once their little brothers and sisters start saying it and it’s no longer fashionable. Subsequently they will be on to the subsequent trend.

‘You just have to laugh with them’

I started noticing it in August, while educating in English language at a foreign language school. It was mainly young men uttering it. I taught teenagers and it was widespread among the younger pupils. I didn’t understand its significance at the time, but being twenty-four and I understood it was merely a viral phenomenon similar to when I attended classes.

These trends are constantly changing. ““Skibidi” was a familiar phenomenon at the time when I was at my educational institute, but it didn’t really exist as much in the educational setting. Differing from ““sixseven”, “skibidi toilet” was not scribbled on the chalkboard in class, so students were less prepared to embrace it.

I typically overlook it, or periodically I will smile with the students if I unintentionally utter it, attempting to relate to them and recognize that it’s merely contemporary trends. I think they just want to feel that sense of community and camaraderie.

‘Lighthearted usage has diminished its occurrence’

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