I take the O.P. at their word ‘‘is there any student (singular) whom you like or dislike?’’
That idea of indiviual students being favourites has kinda bugged me from the start, when I was first asked ‘‘who’s your favouite?’’ I had no idea how to answer. They are kids, they are therefore repulsive. As long as they do what they have to do and don’t bother me, I like them, admire them even. I guess that was my gut feeling.
I find the classroom becomes this place (or palace) of war between personalities. It’s weird. I feel as if I can’t teach without infilcvting my personality on them, and that they can’t seem to be themselves without inflicting themselves on me. Where’s the harmony, I ask you? We are there to do this task of learning a language but there is so much conflict and wasting of energy on random crap. Whats the deal with this teacher? Whats the deal with this student? Whats the deal with this? :discodance:
I never especially like or dislike them. Just work. I don’t really engage with students on a personal level. I’ve never ‘disliked’ a child; that’s just weird.
I was hurt and exasperated, when an adult student complained about me once, and told a bunch of lies about me in order to get a refund. She didn’t get it, and apologized to me at the end of the course. My ****y ‘managers’ didn’t, of course.
The difference was when I taught the same bunch for fifteen hours a week for six months, in a class of eight. Some of us grew to be good friends.
It’s sort of a strange question for me. I have not had a student I do not like and I have been teaching for 7 years.
Students can drive me crazy. Students can annoy the daylights out of me. Students can be a pain sometimes. But I have never had a student I do not like. If I end up taking a student’s actions and turning that into me not liking the student, that means one thing - I have to change my perception of that student.
Generally speaking, it is the teaching environment itself that I do not like and that tends to be easier to push onto the students. It’s easier to say, “I don’t like this student” rather than say, “These students sit too long all day then they have to come to me to learn in school that makes them sit all day…that’s what I don’t like.” I’ve had to clarify that situation many times with myself.
[quote=“bob”][quote=“craya”]
Most people here are boring and weird to talk to because they were literally “taught” to talk like half wit robots.[/quote][/quote]
[quote=“Puppet”][quote=“bob”][quote=“craya”]
Most people here are boring and weird to talk to because they were literally “taught” to talk like half wit robots.[/quote][/quote]
How are you?
I’m fine, thank you. And you?
[/quote]
That’s a reasonable gambit. It might be used if you wanted to adopt a mocking tone. You could even use it with complete sincerity, perhaps with an 85 year old English teacher. That answer is only “off” if the question is “off,” which it isn’t. Sometimes you see somebody again and sometimes you want to know how they are.
The only problem with that gambit would be if people memorized it without knowing that it could be used in different ways.
The correct answer is of course ‘Fine!’ in Britain. Any other answer is an indication of mental illness/trouble to come. Which is as it should be. Who gives a shit how you are? If they were friends, they’d know anyway. It’s an opener. ‘Have you eaten yet? No, I’m feeling slightly bilious. I had a cup of green tea, and an apple, but I really could do with something carb-ish to fill me up before class. If I exercise on an empty stomach, I get a bit dizzy. Low blood sugar, I guess? I wonder if that Italian owned sandwich shop has finished its refurbishment yet?’
Honestly, I am a bitter man. An angry man. There is something unattractive about me. People can always tell there is something wrong. I think my liver is damaged. Out of spite I refuse to see a doctor, though I have great respect for the medical profession. Were this an occassion of wet snow, rather than warm tropical breezes I would likely be “actually” miserable, rather than just pretending, etc.
