Try not to slip into the mindset of blaming the students. It never leads anywhere positive.
I’d agree with that, but they’ve now said that they just flat out don’t want to do anything. I’m not sure why they even come in that case.
If I do drone on for two hours, they get bored. I don’t have enough material for two hours if nobody is talking to me. So far the most successful strategy has been to be incredibly boring and slow, which bores them to death and I don’t think they even pay attention. If I do that, they come back.
This strategy doesn’t work for me because it really pisses me off when I’m trying to show them something and nobody even looks up at the board when I write something. I also hate it when I ask a question and nobody says anything. Not that nobody knows, it’s that they don’t care, and probably didn’t even listen to me. If they’re like that what am I even there for? I should just play video games or something and let them know if they have a question they can ask me, otherwise they’re free to sit there and stare at their books or whatever it is they like to do in class.
Activities that get them talking get them leaving, so I’m not really sure what it is they actually expect. I’ve even complained about them to students in my other classes (probably not the best idea, I know) and those students, at the same level, said they sound incredibly rude and asked me questions like “then why do they go to class?”… good question.
Have you tried just sitting there, and saying nothing? Smilingly, of course.
Playing video games is rude, waiting for someone to ask you a question is fine.
If they flat out don’t want to do anything, and have told you that, then there is nothing you can do. Not if you play by their ruels anyway. They’re calling the shots, and you can never win. You can suck it up, spend the time practising your soliloquys or sales pitches, and not care that nobody knows what’s going on. Or you can beat yourself up trying to pretend that you’re teaching something, and adopt the painfully slow and boring route. Or you can just insist that they do things your way and to hell with the consequences.
I don’t see any magic bullet here. Otherwise you could shoot the offenders!
Alternatively, they sound like a good class to try TPRS with. You might as well give it a go.
What if you brought a book you have been trying to find time to read? Stand in front of the class and read it out loud. At least you are getting paid for something you want to do.
Awesome! If I ever have a job that I don’t mind being fired from, I’m doing it. My dream job 
Once when I was sick I flat out told them, “look, I don’t have the energy for this today, if you want to talk to me, do it, otherwise I’m going to sit here.”
That was after I put them in groups and they just sat there and pretended to not understand me.
One of them started talking to me after a while.
In general I’m pretty polite, and leave big pauses… extended pauses… for them to talk. Smiling the whole time… that’s when I get pissed off, because I want them to show me they’re alive. I have classes in two cities. In one, people may not know the answer, but you can see that they have some lights on in their head… they’re at least thinking. In the city with my problem class, they’re pretty much just zombies. I’d pretty much swear these people don’t even have souls. They’re just empty. No reaction. Daytime classes are better there since I have enough older people that aren’t afraid to speak to keep things moving, but at night with younger people… forget about it.
As far as playing by their rules, that’s one thing I really don’t know how to deal with in Taiwan. In a kids class that’s not really hard, but with adults If someone doesn’t like something for any reason, then it’s always going to be my fault. It’s not like I can punish them or anything. It’s an adult class anyway, so I think the very idea of needing to do much more than asking someone to stop making noise with their phone so much or something is ridiculous.
But anyway, if we play by my rules, they just leave. There are no grades… if I get angry they just won’t come back, or worse, they’d go complain about me. They leave when I try to be friendly and help them accomplish what they’re paying money to do, so I don’t think I have much to gain by pushing them around.
The first two schools I worked at here basically just lied to me about things to control me from day one, so I don’t really feel like making waves would be a smart thing to do when schools here are willing to treat people that way. My current school hasn’t been that way, but there is next to no relationship with the boss (meaning next to no opportunity for it), so I’d have to assume I don’t exactly have a lot of weight to throw around.
I don’t understand what the fuss is. I love teaching adults. You can actually have a proper conversation with them!! I guess I learned a lot through my CELTA and MTESOL courses.
Taiwanvisitor, I seriously emphasize with your situation. I’ve had zombie classes before and it sucks.
Honestly, sometimes the teachers job is not just to teach English (or whatever they’re teaching) it’s also to take care of the emotional well-being of the students. It’s not in the job description, but it’s part of it. For one reason or another, they are not comfortable talking in your class. You have to do something to make them feel safe and comfortable. What’s worked for me is taking a VERY active interest in them. I remember grandchildren (location, number, worries, concerns), birthdays, vacation plans, jobs, majors, hopes dreams etc. Since they won’t talk, one thing that might work is to have a ‘student information sheet’. Don’t ask anything too private, but do ask about their English learning history, their future plans for English, and ask them who their favorite English teacher was in the past, what activities this teacher did that they loved, what activities they hated, etc.
Then have them (after filling the sheet out) answer some of the more basic questions aloud to the whole class. Go around in a circle, starting with yourself (explain your own foreign language learning experiences, to give them an example) and then going to the most gregarious person in the class, then around in a circle from there.
write the beginning of the sentences on the board so they simply have to finish them.
“I was ___ years old when I first started learning English, and I (liked it, hated it, etc.)”
This activity has gotten my students talking WITHOUT fail every time I’ve done it. If they say they hated English, laugh out loud, if they say they loved it, ask them why. Tell them how difficult studying Chinese is for you. Speak some terrible Chinese to make them laugh. Try to get a good blush going and tell them how shy it makes you, how you feel stupid when people don’t understand you, etc. Tell them you wish you were taking a class so you had a safe place to make mistakes- because it’s better to make mistakes in a class then it is ‘out there’ where people laugh at you.
(meanwhile, if students laugh at a student who is making mistakes, shut that shit down. give them the dirtiest look you can)
Also, asking for help never fails to get a response from my students.
“I need to go to the doctor. Who here knows of a good doctor?” “I really want some Italian food. Do you guys like Italian food? Is there a good place around here?”
Then draw a rough map of your city on the board and have them give you directions. Explain how giving and recieving directions is one of the most useful skills you can learn in a second language. Praise them mercilessly when they help you find something you need/want.
Ask them about cultural issues you’re facing. My students hear about every altercation I have with my landlord. They give me advice. I share how I’d handle things in America and they explain why it wouldn’t work in Taiwan.
Good luck. I know it’s rough, but seriously, if you put the extra work in, it’s SO worth it. Try hard to learn their names.
What a good attitude!
[quote=“Loretta”]Small victories:
An email a few weeks ago from a former student, haven’t seen her for five years. She was a quiet girl, didn’t like to talk at first, but she got over it and eventually brought up an issue in class that she needed help with: sexual harassment at work. With support from the class, she got it sorted out, got on with her life, met a nice guy, and wrote to thank me on the eve of her marriage.
Sitting at a traffic lights one night last year, a guy ran up to me to say hello. Another former student, who had been in classes because he had to. Under my influence, he started learning photography, then he gave up studying English and started taking cooking lessons instead. Again, the message was ‘thanks for helping me change my life’
Email last week from one of last year’s crop, currently backpacking in Australia. She had never believed she could do something like that, now she’s having the time of her life.
Yeah, we all get situations where we’re tired and frustrated. Keep at it, dude. You may not even realise the effect you’re having. But the more under-inspired and lifeless they are, the more they benefit from your care.[/quote]