Hello everybody, I hope you are well.
I've been a member of this site for a while now and really appreciate all the excellent ideas I can find on here.
I haven't felt the need to post a question before now, but here goes.
I've been teaching English for 6 years now, but last year I came across the worst behaved class I have ever seen. I've been asked to teach the same course again, and find that a lot of the students are the same who caused problems in the class last year, if anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it!
Last years class consisted of 12 students, ranging from complete beginner to intermediate. The age range within the class was from 25-75, with an even split of female and male students. Behaviour issues included: not listening to me, not listening to other students, talking the native language during activities, translating (in a loud voice) every kind of material that was given(including during listening activities), refusing to do activities, refusing to stay on topic etc.
A fairly typical situation would be me demonstrating an activity with a student, while 8 people were having seperate conversations in Japanese, and another 2 were giving us simultaneous translation into Japanese. Obviously in this environment there was no way that students were able to do the activity, and in general there was no learning going on.
I was not happy with the direction the course was taking, so talked to the people that offered the course. As this organisation is not involved in education, and no one within the organisation has experience of learning a language there was a real lack of understanding of the issues involved, which was compounded by us having to communicate in my imperfect Japanese.
It was eventually agreed that I would speak to the students and asked them to establish rules for the group. I did this in Japanese, and was quite surprised to find that the students were happy with the course( or at the least not prepared to criticise the behaviour of others in front of the group) Therefore what I had intended to be a group session of developing guidelines turned into a session of me setting rules. This did have the effect of immediately improving the behaviour within the group, but as the rules came solely from me I feel that the group never really bought into them. In particular the oldest members of the group appeared very unwilling to comply, and the undesirable behaviours continued on a low level to the end of the course.
Sorry for taking up everyone's time with a very long post, but I would really appreciate any ideas that anyone may have to try and make a more successful course this year.
Regards, Steve
- Login or register to post comments
Printer-friendly version
Log in or register
Follow TeachingEnglish
 |
 |
 |
 |
Hi Steve, it's not a easy job to handle adult class. Just curious what is the purpose of this course offered by an organization not involved in education... is it some sort of 'pastime' coure?
My experience in both adult and youth classes tell me that classroom management can resolve most of the behavior problems provided that Ss recognize the rules. It's a must for these learners to learn self-management, indeed.
Another thing is about the culture difference. For youth class I will encourage the Ss to discuss on the classroom management issue and get participating as much as possible. For adults, a clear and concrete copy of 'rules in classroom' can be displayed in the classroom: everybody can read and understand. It works for most Chinese or Japanese native-speakers, probably because these adults are used to following rules in their daily life. No matter what, the most important should be a 'commitment' by all, both teachers and Ss.
Good luck!
Give the disruptive ones responsibility duties, team leader roles. They are usually people used to getting attention. Good luck.
TE Team
This sounds like a really tough class!
Have you tried talking to the students individually? You could give them a feedback form to fill in where they have to rate how they feel about their progress in speaking, writing, grammar etc. Include questions that ask about what they find most and least useful in class as well as their opinion on how the class could be improved. Collect in the forms then have a five minute chat with each student about their progress while the rest of the class are engaged in an activity (watching a film?). They might feel more able to speak their minds in this situation and you'll have the chance to give your advice on learning strategies, e.g., pay attention and listen in class, to specific trouble makers. Not a magic solution but it might help.
Good luck!
Hi Steve
I have gone through several situations similar to what you are going through right now. The only difference is the people you work with, do not have a strong background in academics, whereas in my case, inspite of having tons of experience, all teacher trainers are clueless and not able to handle their classes at all. This has resulted in a toally chaotic situation, where the teacher obviously, will not be respected by the student.
Coming to your concern, ensure that you communicate only in the English Language. Set the decorum for the class. Anyone breaking the decorum, should be asked to leave the class. Send a strong signal to the whole batch that you mean business. My expereince with adults tells me, that you need to be very tough with them. Apart from ego issues, they also have this feeling of know all, which you need to break and show them where they stand.
Your idea of coming to Japanese was not a good one, since it will clearly tell the students that you are coming their way.
Never allow the use of L1. Be ruthless with decorum breakers. Make your sessions interactive and enjoyable which I presume you are doing.
Stick to your guns.
Hi Steve
I know exactly how you feel and how frustrating it is to face such issues with a group of adults who you know should know better!
Starting a new year is good as you can in effect start afresh and you might well find that the new members of the group totally change the class dynamic.
I would take some time in the first class to do a needs analysis and find out what they want (like the counselling idea of Sally's). FInd out why they are learning English, what they expect from the class, what their previous language learning experience is. You could do this individually or as a group exercise, which is less time-consuming as you can then move between groups and collate feedback as you go. Or get them to fill in a questionnaire in groups, with discussion, and collect these at the end.
I did this once with an IELTS class who were complaining about the course. I then wrote a letter to each student and included a personal response to something each of them had brought up in the discussion. This was very time consuming but worked wonders as they really felt like they had been listened to and I was able to manage their expectation for the rest of the course. It was also a useful document to refer back to as I got them to agree on action they would take,as well as things they would like me to change about the course.
I think it's important to consider and if possible find out why they won't stay on topic or do activities. Is it interesting to them? Can they see the value of the activity? Do they know what they have to do and why they are doing it? Best way is to ask.
The mixed level of the class presents its own challenges! Was it especially the low level learners who resorted to Japanese? Did they have enough language to perform tasks you set in English?
I agree with Small's suggestion about class rules, and sympathise with your experience of last time where you felt frustrated that the rules seemed to come from you. It's a nice first class activity. You could structure this to ensure they participate, for example
- by giving them example rules that they can agree with or discard or change e.g. we will only speak English in class. They can do this in groups. Cut ups make it fun and you can then compare the groups ideas and amalgamate for the class. Good speaking activity.
- by giving them sentence stems e.g. we will speak... - you might get some interesting ideas here!
- by giving them options e.g. we will speak a) English b) Japanese c) French in class as much as possible
I'm sure there are cultural issues too that I can't comment on as I've never worked with Japanese learners. I hope that you have colleagues you can vent to and who can give you some support too in this regard.
All the best and hang in there - it can only get better!
Claire
I am a French Teacher for foreigners and I sometimes face the same problems with Chinese Japanese !
But l also learned Chinese mandarin and the morphology is very simple. Fot them learning French is a night mare..besides they are not used to learning with the communicative approach which works with the British !
My chinese teacher gave us lessons in a very (boring for me) different way than the communicative lessons my English teacher used to give me ( texts, funny exercises, video, ...) It was just the grammar rule + exercises + structure+ grammar written on the blackboard...
I find it boring but the rule +exercises is the way they learn in China.
Oh ! also something they like : Write a lot on the board, it' s easier for them to understand (you can draw if you like it) Don't forget that they do not have articles, prepositions declinaisons and so on...
I hope you understand my (dusty) english but unfortunaltely I haven't been practising since I returned ffrom London in 2004 (I am looking for work there...)
have a nice day and don t worry too much
Constance ( French T since 2001)
Hello Steve,
I've had some similar problems with an intermediate class of 13 adults, most of whom are retired. Most members of the group have been attending this class for more than 10 years, and they don't really progress as such - the class provides "maintenance" for their English. But they keep coming back, year after year, because they enjoy it - I am their 7th teacher! Don't get me wrong, this is a lovely class, but they are challenging for young(ish) English teachers who have been trained to use modern teaching methods.
Here are a few things that have worked for me, and also those that haven't:
Although I try to stick to English in class, the students do like to do some translation. They will also do a bit of grammar, and a few written exercises (gap-fill or similar, but not creative writing). They will happily read aloud in turn, and like me to correct their pronunciation. They also like me to write vocabulary on the board.
But they will NOT work in pairs or groups, they won't play games, and they always sit in the same places. They also won't do homework, although a couple of the more capable ones sometimes ask for book recommendations as they enjoy reading English books (graded readers) at home.
They struggle with conversation unless it is quite structured. Questions like "What do you think about the disruption caused by the volcano?" are met with only a few mumblings, whereas more direct questions like "Do you know anyone who has had their flight cancelled because of the volcano?" get a much better response! (That could be cultural - Germans tend to be more direct.)
Having said that, they do respond quite well to jokes or thought-provoking texts, and we always find something to laugh about in class.
If you consider what our older students' schooling must have been like it makes more sense. They were probably taught by a teacher who stood at the front of the class, talked a lot, wrote on the blackboard and asked direct questions to individual pupils. They had to sit still in their own seats, and were only allowed to speak when spoken to. They learned grammar and their times-tables by rote (as a whole class), and were not expected to voice their own opinions. They probably didn't even use a text book - the teacher taught them everything, and they copied texts from the blackboard into their exercise books.
Because my students pay to attend this class, I feel duty-bound to provide them with the kind of learning environment that works for them - albeit by using what are considered to be "old fashioned" teaching methods.
I don't know if any of this helps, but it may be helpful to know that you're not alone! Keep smiling, and try to understand the learning process from your students' point of view.
Good luck!
Carol K.
English Teacher in Germany
Hi Steve,
Although I've not taught English for as long as you have, I've been in the training and teaching environment for more then 10 years.
To start with a few basic issues vis-a-vis an English language (or any other language) class.
1. You cannot put complete beginners and intermediate students together. It's a non starter. You will have to find a way of separating them into 2 classes. It will be better, as a smaller class will benefit the students and you. Try to have an even number in each class so that it is easy to pair them off.
2. You cannot put a 25 year old student and a 75 year old student together. I am quite certain the needs of the students will be different, and above all their motivation to learn will also different. You have to be able to identify the needs of your students before you can even start planning and designing any program.
3. I believe you did an excellent thing where you got the students to establish the rules for themselves. This way they will take ownership and respond to your better.
Since there's a great deal of 2nd language (Japanese) being used, I would suggest that you actively use the 2nd language to teach in the beginners class. This will do three things for you (especially for the beginners), i.e. you'll break the ice with them faster, you'll be able to encourage them to speak more spontaneously, as they will not be afraid of making mistakes and they will develop confidence to speak in English. As the students progress, reduce the use of the 2nd language and drop it when they reach the intermediate level.
I hope this will help you. Please let me know the result if you try any of the techniques. Thank you.
Cheers
Hi Steve,
When taking class for adults we should always treat them as equals.Its easier to share with them than preaching or teaching.I have the experience of taking classes for adults of as diverse a group as you were talking of.
Discuss with them as far as possible and then proceed.Its important to establish a rapport with them for any programme to succeed.To begin with you can start with a brief introduction and ask for theirs.You can also ask them to write on a slip what are their expectation from the programme and how they wish to go about it.
Once you start as equals their response will certainly be better.When you start your course ,need not mention the previous year.Welcome them with a new zeal.
Wish you all the best.
Hello Steve,
I perfectly understand how you feel about your adult class. Personally, my experience with teaching adults is a real nightmare, especially women in their middle or late forties. They refuse to use English or French in class (I teach both English and French) either by me or them, they are very slow learners, they forget everything as they don't revise at home, refuse to do any homework, in addition to insisting to talk to me in an authoritative tone, not requesting anything politely but in orders, especially that most of them have left school early. So they feel they will never learn, they're stupid and will never make it. I try to raise their spirits and convince them they can make it if they really want, and that is only a question of time and will and that they just need to work well for it. I personally agree with one of the teachers who said you should be a little tough with them, I always open a kind of dialogue with my students to know them well, understand their needs, I always smile to them and treat them like equals, yet they don't stop complaining.
Therefore, I try as much as I can to give my lessons as simply as possible, trying to fix their learning in their heads, warning them that I'm not responsible for them after class, for without making efforts and revising continually they cannot advance, which makes my task more difficult.
Good luck, hoping all the teachers' advices will help you
I always pray I will not have any adults either in one to one class or group!