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ESL forum >
Techniques and methods in Language Teaching > Difficult students
Difficult students
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ignis.fatuus
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Difficult students
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Hello friends,
I hope everyone is doing great!
i �m writing hoping that maybe somebody could help me. i �m a young teacher (i �m 26, however have quite a lot experience in teaching). recently, i �ve started teaching a new group. well, it �s quite difficult because the students work as border guards and they are (at least a large group is) at least 15-20 years older,mainly male.
the problem is that i feel they don �t treat me seriously. i mean, there are 3 students who try to compromite me, showing my lack of knowledge, experience and so on.
i never claimed i know everything, because let �s face it, nobody does. there are some thing they have to learn and nobody can explain that to them.it �s a rule and that �s it! they ask random questions or ask me to translate words i sometimes don �t know (trust me, they are really specific!) and i know they don �t do it because they want to know (they don �t need that at this level- pre-intermediate) but to reveal my lack of knowledge.
do you have similar experiences? any ideas how to deal with that?
thanks in advance
martyna
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20 Apr 2010
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atsanti85
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Hey Martyna,
I just found this really good ebook (with free enewsletters) about classroom discipline.
It �s definitely worth checking out!
It really opened my eyes to a lot of things because classroom discipline is one of my weakest areas.
I know how emotional/stressful situations can get, especially for someone who has entered into the noble profession of teaching in order to share knowledge with others. Hang in there, though! I think it �s a good idea to reach out to other colleagues (like on this site) and in your school. They can probably help you with clear routines, rules, and CONSEQUENCES (something the links above really emphasize).
Big hug from Canada. Hope it gets better!
Aileen |
20 Apr 2010
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DUSIA
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Hi there!
If you do not mind I have just sent you a private massage. Do not give up! I always tell my students that learning languages never ends. There are no people who know all the words in their own mother tongue so how can you expect anyone to know everything? There are dictionaries ! I remember my secondary school students trying to do the same - I just honestly admitted that I do not know and I checked it in the dictionary - and then I used the word they asked me during the tests... (as you said sometimes they ask about words that are not really useful just to check you...)
They are adult men so it might be their childish way of... well.... picking you up or just showing off....
Best wishes!
Kasia
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20 Apr 2010
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Jaya Radhika
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One of my colleagues once said : "I �m not a two-legged dictionary..."
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20 Apr 2010
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ignis.fatuus
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thanks a lot for all your advice! i �ll put it into practice
:)
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20 Apr 2010
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banska bystrica
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Dear martyna,
I can imagine your situation, although I �ve never experienced something exactly like that. Last days I �ve been thinking about the teachers � authority and their respect and I just cannot come to a conclusion... I don �t know why some people can �t appreciate that there is somebody who wants to teach them something and why they feel like destroying all his/her effort... It is very sad when these people are adults, because they are bad models to their kids (that is something what really makes me frustrated  ) There are two things that I always try when I have a difficult student and usually it works: humour and direct questions. If somebody wants to compromise me, if it is possible I try to react in a funny way (not to offend or insult the person, but to show that I can take things easy) or I ask direct questions like: Why do you want to know that? Why don �t you like this or that? In your case I would ask the people what their aims are... if to learn useful (pre-intermediate) words and stuff, or if they really want to find out what you don �t know from advanced level or specific fields ( buy the way, from time to time I would directly remind to them their level and competencies)... If this doesn �t work, I don �t push myself to teach them at all costs. Teaching is a process where both sides are equally important and it �s for their sake to be aware of that. In such atmosphere, (as you described it) they cannot learn and you cannot teach (I would tell them this point-blank).
It was just yesterday when I had a women in her 50s in my class and she didn �t like the cards I asked them to describe (actually, they were cartoon jokes, but of course, the point was not to laugh but to speak, she just didn �t get it, although I explained the task)... She was puffing all the time, she didn �t speak (everybody else did, they really liked the activity), I asked her if she wanted to change the card (she did, 5 times!!), she kept on grumbling..... I just ask myself, whose pity is it? Mine? I don �t think so.....She didn �t use the chance to speak and I wasn �t unable to get to sleep for that. I would have been sorry, I always try to do my best, but I know her, she is just that kind of person, who is complaining all the time and about everything... Do you think she is good at English? No... because she never respects a teacher (my colleagues told me the same about her behaviour)....She gets what she gives.....
I wish you a lot of energy and humour!!
Good night from Slovakia.
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20 Apr 2010
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Catalina Sorina
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When we did our practice in schools (we were students in university) our coordinator told us to find out several difficult new words in the mother tongue and ask them to explain those words in exchange to their malicious question. I don �t know if it �s good or working, I haven �t faces it yet (I �m only 23 and teaching for 2 years), but ...
Hugs,
Catalina |
20 Apr 2010
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winky2
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It is working Catalina. I �ve once tested it. I had a very difficult student, who kep asking me about very difficult and specific words and he even threaten me to inform the authorities that he was taught by a teacher who didn �t know the language. One day I asked him to explain one word for me and he was really ahamed when I told him that this was a Polish word. It never happened again |
20 Apr 2010
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crocus23
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Hello! My students somtimes ask me some words that I can �t remember at that time or I don �t know. ( by the way they don �t do it maliciously )Then I tell them that I �m not a dictionary. If you want to learn , learn it by yourself. This is the simplest way I think. Don �t forget. Whatever they do or say,you are always better than them and you are the head of the class.
Loves |
20 Apr 2010
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arlissa
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Have you been able to identify if there is a "ringleader" amongst your students who are being purposefully annoying? I learned this first from the TV program "The Dog Whisperer" and then later again in a TESOL program - you must identify and reprimand the ringleader of the misbehaving students. If your class is anything like mine have always been, it �s pretty easy to see who is the cause of the disruption. Direct your actions to that student first, and to the others involved next.
I think the recommendations on what actions to take given here by the other teachers are very good. Try some of them and see which works for that student best. But NEVER let the misbehavior go on without your involvement, don �t ignore it and hope it goes away. If you ignore the problem, it will continue and become worse.
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20 Apr 2010
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