Job Discussion Forums

[thunder_god]

I haven't run into this issue until today, but I had one student who had a real stick up his a$$ who couldn't even understand a normal question I asked him (like what rank is he in the military) demand that I teach him idioms like just out of the blue. It was my first time teaching this guy and within 5 minutes he was trying to tell me what to teach him when I asked him to tell me about his family. I was caught off guard by this and within 10 seconds, this guy ends our chat. I was thinking what a real douche bag. I've taught close to 40-50 students since I started this online teaching job like 2.5 weeks ago but it was my first time experiencing this.

This got me thinking, how difficult is it teach English abroad in a classroom? My understanding was that you teach them basic oral English, reading, and writing skills. Do your students ask you questions like teach me idioms or some random stuff like that? Also how often do your students challenge you and try to control the session and how do you handle those situations?

[scot47]

The customer is always right.
It is not wise to ask a Muslim student questions about his family and female relatives.

It might be an idea to travel a bit to widen your horizons before committing to a career in TEFLing.

[nomad soul]

[spiral78]

[thunder_god]

[thunder_god]

[spiral78]

Ok, so the experience you're getting through this 'job' isn't going to help you much in an actual real ESL/EFL context.

(Many muslims are 'white guys,' btw).

Possible follow up questions to the request for idioms:

Ok, tell me more. What kinds of people do you expect to be talking with? What are the purposes of your communication in English? How do you feel idioms will be valuable to you? Great - I'll prepare for the next time. Now, can we talk about ....? What else would be interesting and useful for you?

[nomad soul]

[thunder_god]

[nomad soul]

[santi84]

There are always going to be people who think they know better, and that goes for any profession. I recently received a complaint from a student at a CLB 2 (equivalent to A1) who thought my class was too easy. He can't use simple past in the most basic form (I was), but thought he belonged in the CLB 5-7 class (that's pre-university, B2+ or C1, I think).

He's not malicious, but perhaps just overconfident in abilities. When teaching adult education (ESL or not), you have to be wary of self-esteem and ego. It happens. Appropriately explaining to students your reasons for this/that is a skill.

The hardest skill in teaching, in my opinion, is being able to swiftly adapt to changes (tech fail, jerk student, whatever). I might have interjected a comment about "biting the bullet" Such a military-related idiom could have been useful to peak his attention back.

But if you have no training or experience, it is natural to not have quick ideas in such challenging situations. In a 1:1 tutoring session, the client's goals are always #1. It is not the same as a class.

[santi84]

[In the heat of the moment]

Maybe his low rank really rankles, maybe he thought you were being rude when asking him about his family (cultural differences), maybe he won't hire a private tutor because then he'd actually have to get up off of his a&@$ and leave the house.

Or maybe he's just an obnoxious to$$er, if you teach enough students you'll come across a few; it's part and parcel of teaching. Learning techniques to deal with them, a bit like dealing with hecklers when on stage, is also a part of teaching and with enough practice you'll be able to issue a withering retort without going too far.

[buravirgil]

[nomad soul]