Jr. High students

[DreamHarmony289]

Hi,

I'm currently teaching in Japan. It's my first teaching job. I've been teaching at my current school for over 4 months. I teach kindergarten, elementary, jr. high, high school, and adult classes. I really enjoy teaching, but I have difficulties with a few of my jr. high students' classes. I don't have any other problems with my other classes; and the students really enjoy class.

Mainly, my problem is that 2 of my jr. high classes aren't motivated at all. They just want to sleep, or they don't want to be there. (By the way, there is about a max of 4 students in each class.) I'm getting frustrated since my boss seems to focus on these 2 classes, even though they don't make up the majority of the school. The kinder, elementary, high school and adult make up for the majority. (Plus, I recently got 7 new students to join.) I can understand my boss's stance, from a sales point of view; but it's very frustrating.

I only keep hearing negative comments about these classes and that I need to get them more interested. I'm frustrated because I'll ask the classes if they understand or don't understand (which they will tell me they understand); and I'll ask if they have any suggestions for how to improve the class. The students will answer, "No" and smile and act like they really enjoy the class. However after class, they will go complain to my boss.

I've spoken to my boss about how the students say they understand, don't have suggestions, and act like they really enjoy my class. My boss told me I should just try to "read their faces" to figure out how they are feeling and what they want. It's a little difficult due to cultural differences in translations of facial expressions and body language. I asked if I could give out an evaluation, in hopes that they might not feel as embarrassed or worried to express their opinions on paper. However, my boss told me that I shouldn't do that. She decided to give an evaluation to the students, in which the students said the lesson plan and everything is fine and didn't really give any suggestions. The one suggestion I did receive is I need to be more friendly. I thought I have been friendly. I try really hard to make them smile and feel enthused about class. I feel like I have to tap dance for them 24/7.

Therefore, I asked my boss what exactly does that mean. How should I be more friendly? Should I chat more? Do they want to play more games? My boss just says, "I don't know. Try to think of something." I'll ask if she has any suggestions, and she'll just tell me, "Let me think. I'll get back to you" (which she never does.)

Thus, I'm on here asking for advice and suggestions on what I can do to motivate these kids. Sorry for the rant. Thanks for reading.

Edit: Also, I've already looked at the sticky posts about unmotivated students.

[fluffyhamster]

It sounds like these kids don't want to be there but obviously can't just come out and say that, so they'll nitpick and pull faces behind your back in the vain hope that it'll somehow get them excused from having to take English lessons at all (or at least make them feel better about having taken yours). I ultimately don't know if what I could suggest will get your boss at least off of your back, but I'd take absolutely nothing for granted, get back to linguistic brass tacks and endeavour to really teach (and I mean teach, not "teach" or "show") them a thing or two about English (e.g. how articles and the noun system generally actually works), after which I'd expect them to start noticing things about English that they hadn't appreciated before, and using them in their own speech etc. Here's what I developed to ensure my classes were reasonably successful at elementary school level - no reason it'll be too basic/won't work or form a good basis for JHS age too (do they ever get that "advanced"?):
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic ... 217#646217

Then again, there was a time that I was in a similar situation in an independent eikaiwa (except some of my adult classes too were also full of right pains if not outright sour-faced unpleasant types), and bascially gave up and handed in my notice - I didn't feel like developing anything half as reasonable for those kiddies, especially since my boss then was pretty similar to how yours sounds (full of wants and demands but never of much actual help or even support - boy did they saddle me with some difficult groupings); nope, I only developed that sort of stuff for actual elementary school classes, where there'd be even nominal interest and support from homeroom teachers, the Board of Education etc. You can only bang your head against a brick wall for so long before you have to either give up or suffer a permanent headache for want of somebody at least offering you an aspirin (if not offering to help you break down the wall).

[Senorita Daniels]

I've heard that Japanese schools are really demanding on the students, so they could be burnt out from all of their regular classes. Then being in another on top of that would be really mentally exhausting. Maybe you could ask them questions about Japan in English. Ask about any cultural things you don't understand. Who are the popular singers and actors and why?

[RozannaB]

Since you are teaching multiple age levels and don't have trouble with the other groups, it is important to realize that students in jr. high are going through a transitional stage in their lives. It is a period of time where their bodies and minds are changing and growing, which can cause self-consciousness and confusion. While they have a longer attention span than elementary school students, there are also many diversions to distract students in their lives both in and outside of school. Young teens are very sensitive about the changes they are going through and their self esteem can be fragile. It is important for you to try to steer clear of activities that may make them feel embarrassed in front of their peers, planning activities in small groups, highlight their strengths, and emphasize working as a team rather than competing with one another. Your students may be trying to seem 'cool' in front of their peers by acting uninterested. If you relate your lessons to their everyday lives, they will be more engaged. Also, by splitting them up into small groups, they are more likely to take risks and share answers with each other than in front of the whole class (takes away the fear of being embarrassed). Good luck to yoU!