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Q: For the English teachers: How do you deal with problem students?
I had a one-on-one class with a university student yesterday and she flat out refused to learn the sections she was scheduled to do for the lesson. She didn't take notes. Didn't repeat the new vocabulary, and just pretty much wasted my time but I had to sit in the room with her for an hour. She's not motivated at all and has no inclination to make an effort to learn. Doea anyone else have a similar experience? What did you do about it?
12 years 26 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
While, I am not a teacher, I do have problem employees every now and then that have the similar problems.
What I do is sit them down and try to discover their motivations. What do they like to do? What do they want to do? And most importantly, how can I help them achieve those goals?
Once I understand what makes my employee tick, I can help them grow as a person. When they see that I have taken a genuine interest in them, they normally improve greatly as an employee.
If they don't, I harvest their organs with a spoon and sell the husk to a jaotzi factory. :)
I Teach adult students how to use earthmoving machines and how to drive
Heavy trucks.
I do alot of the classroom work and come across this all the time
but they have diffrent issuse.
first we have the Mummys boy whow has never had to do anything for himself
and waits for you to do everything for them
then there is the Im only here because if I dont attend my unemployment benifits will be cut off.
The hurry up I know everything so give me a licence.
and the ever faithfull
I paid money and I will never use it so give me the licence
ever now and then you get me no speak good English
I am reffuge
I pay you to give me licence so I drive big truck with much petrol.
The only thing you can do is tell the one paying the bill and let them handle it.
there is no magic wond
You can only teach people who want to learn.
teach who you can to your best and be happy about what you achive.
I doubt that will help much with Chinese students though
best wishes
starts from day one. i lay down the law. when i see a student breaking the rules , i will warn them in class. if it continues i tell them to leave. sometimes students are trying to vie for the class clown award but they stay in the gray area of the rules. during the break i talk to them and warn them. there was one case of blatent disrespect and i told the guy to leave and take the rest of the month off it cost him about 30 points off his grade. while working in groups i reminded the class to speak engl he yelled out "bu xie wan" (dont want) he was shocked i knew what it meant. when he came back and the next semester he was a saint. i love working in the smaller schools.
crimochina:
oh in your case, if the money is in the 200rmb/hour range show her films and discuss it. you cant teach someone who does want to be taught
GuilinRaf:
I do the same as Crimo. You have to be strict from moment 1. If you dont, they will walk all over you. One thing i do, is I confiscate mp-3, mobile phones, etc. I Put them in an envelope and give them to the head of the students department. They get their mobils back, yes, but they have to explain WHY the foreign teacher had them in the first place. i have never h ad a repeat offender. I also fail kids who do not do a good job, or who dont at least try. I do not "retest" and if I am given another teachers student to retest, contact the teacher and ask why the student failed. More often than not, it is that he never came to class. In that case, unless they have truly good english language abilities (one has yet to) I fail them as well.
If more foreign teachers did likewise, there would be less perception of the foreign teacher as a clown.
