Job Discussion Forums

[Lynn]

I work at a language school in a large city in the US. Many students are not serious about studying. In fact, they actually admit they are just at school for their I-20. Having these kinds of students is very frustrating. They just show up so they can get their required 18 hours of school in, they sleep, they don't do homework or partcipate in class. The directors are aware of it, but students are customers, so they don't kick them out.

Does anyone have any stories of inspiration? I am so burnt out on trying to teach to students who are in class for the wrong reasons.

[Celeste]

Boy, that sounds familliar! Didn't I teach that class in Vancouver a few years ago? I know how frustrating it can be. What kind of curriculum are you using? Do they use a textbook? Do they get all whiney about the book?

I used to turn a lot of those kinds of classes into movie classes. (no, I didn't just put the VCR on for 2 hours and leave the room) I would play a segment form a movie for which I had transcripts, and then we would do listening exercises, fill in the blanks, translate the slang and idioms, summarize the scene, act out the scene, predict the action of the next scene. In this way, one video would last me for about a week. (Video from Blockbuster:$5; smiling students:priceless) I eventually bought a few movies that worked well for me. You can do the same lesson with episodes of "Friends" There are lots of websites where you can get transcripts for this show, and students love it.

[Lynn]

One class meets 2 hours every day, Mon-Thurs. Each course is 6 weeks. Yes, there is a required textbook which the students never buy. I have to pull teeth just to get them to buy it. Fortunately, the school is trying to improve that. (it's more money for the school).

As for the video idea. Thanks! That sounds really cool. Unfortunately, the vice president has recently put a ban on all video/tvs in the classroom. Can you believe it? I might try to work around her though, by going through the academic director!

[Celeste]

I can understand the ban. I have met more than one ESL instructor who has not been able to use the tool correctly. Managers do get upset when they hear that students did nothing but watch TV all week. Try putting to gether a really slick lesson plan to go along with the movie or tv show, and taking that into the director.

Also, try some board games with this class. I like monopoly, scruples, taboo, and password. All of these work very well with classes that don't want to talk.

I also like to send classes on scavenger hunts. (This is sometimes difficult to clear with the administration.) I get them to find out information using the phone or going into local businesses and asking questions. For example, at starbucks: How much is a triple shot tall cappuccino? Or at the local convenience store: What is the most expensive scratch and win lottery ticket? How much can you win on that ticket?

[WorkingVaca]

I taught at a visa factory--my first job as an ESL teacher. Did it for a few months to practice before going overseas. The pay sucked compared to my prior job. I asked myself why I changed careers to work for less money if I wasn't going to actually go overseas already.

[TokyoLiz]

I've had those classes, too. How many times did me and my director of studies talk about buying plane tickets for the slackasses and send them home?

But what to do with them...I often use two episodes from the x-files - one for lower level, the other for mid-intermediate. I've prepared lots of activities

- cloze exercises where they have a partial script and they must listen for key words
- quote cards - dialogue on the cards that they must listen for. After we have identified the speaker, we talk about the grammar, vocabulary or idiom and they have to use it later in post-viewing discussions
- partner watching/speaking - split the class in half - one group with their backs to the tv, the other facing it. The students facing the tv tell their partners about the action in the scene. Switch half way through the scene. Choose a really dramatic scene with little dialogue.

If you're really banned from using video, try lots of music. There are lots of lyrics to songs available online. I teach from Red Hot Chili Peppers (Under the Bridge for frequency adverbs like ever/never), Tom Waits (What's he Building in There? for prepositions), various songs for inference and comprehension where the topic isn't specifically stated.

When students are really dead, I use physical stuff to shake them up - aikido warm ups to get their blood moving.

I got lots more stuff, but I'm taking up space.

[matko]

I worked in an international High School in Vancouver. Most of the students were Chinese. About 20 % of the students came to the first day of school and were never heard from again. Of course the school had to report them to immigration. The theory was that they went to the States to work.
My point is, hasn't the gov. cracked down on these kinds of students since 9/11? The ones just looking for a visa? Tell them you will report them to immigration! THAT might wake them up!!!!

[Lynn]

Thanks for all the inspiring stories!!! I will definitely use them in the future. But, for now I have made a major change in my life. I put in my two week notice at the visa factory and now teach an evening class to beginner students. I have 27 students total and not one F-1 student. School ends at 9pm and all the other teachers let out at 8:45. But my students are so eager to learn, they insist we go all the way to 9:00. It is quite an adjustment. I have spent the last week (12 hours) teaching three basic greetings. Even though it's challenging, it is much more rewarding. By the way, this school is also a visa factory, but all those students take the morning or afternoon classes. That's why I teach evening!

[jg]

Yeah, it does suck when so many of the students are just farting around. That is not much different than ESL anywhere though, judging from the message boards in nearly every country. Here in China, the majority of the students at my school are children whose parents have pushed them into the class, on top of their other rigorous schooling. I am constantly amazed that they have any enthusiasm at all, what with all the pressure.

It goes both ways though. I used to get pissed about the students in my class just faking it, but I can understand them - the adults learning English are doing it for more $ or furthering their careers, the serious students and I are just sort of caught in the middle, but it comes with the territory... plus, there are no shortage of lazy "teachers" - poorly planned lessons, weak command of grammar, malodorous communication skills, and my favorite: those who too often go the movie route! Get off your butt and plan a lesson, it is not that difficult!

I-20 visas are actually given out by the National Restaurant Association. That is my theory. That, and there is a such a dire shortage of nannys that the middle-class would implode in certain areas - ok, D.C. - if "students" weren't allowed in to, umm, study...