Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - How difficult is it to teach English abroad?

Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today!

Teach English Abroad and Get Paid to see the World!

Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"

FAQ

Memberlist

Usergroups

Profile

How difficult is it to teach English abroad?
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next

Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion

View previous topic :: View next topic

Author

Message

spiral78

Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:08 am Post subject:

Quote:

If I were a student, I'd feel pretty uncomfortable being asked what topics were taboo (and I don't think I could think of everything off the top of my head

No, the point is that when one is teaching private lessons, the first step normally is to ask the STUDENT what s/he is interested, in, wants to work on, and what s/he would like to chat about, if the lesson is about chat. It's student driven, not driven by the teacher.

Nicky_McG

Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Posts: 190

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:20 am Post subject:

spiral78 wrote:

Quote:

If I were a student, I'd feel pretty uncomfortable being asked what topics were taboo (and I don't think I could think of everything off the top of my head

Spiral, I obviously didn't mean it that way. Asking a student what his/her intrests are is obviously very different from asking what he he/she doesn't want to talk about (or more specifically what is taboo to talk about). Everybody does (or should do) the former but the latter has never been an issue for me. I can't think of a single occassion when a problem has arisen because I use my common sense when doing classes and choosing topics.

spiral78

Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:31 am Post subject:

Quote:

Asking a student what his/her intrests are is obviously very different from asking what he he/she doesn't want to talk about (or more specifically what is taboo to talk about).

My point is that if you open a lesson (or series of lessons) by asking the student what s/he wants to work on and then focus on that, there is no need to try to find out what s/he DOESN'T want to talk about. Shocked

nomad soul

Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 11:38 am Post subject:

spiral78 wrote:

Nicky_McG wrote:

Asking a student what his/her intrests are is obviously very different from asking what he he/she doesn't want to talk about (or more specifically what is taboo to talk about).

Here's what I posted:

nomad soul wrote:

I suggest that he start conversation sessions with new clients by asking if there are any topics they don't want to talk about as well as those they're interested in (even if that means idioms).

Q: Are there any topics you don't want to talk about?
A: I hate sports, or
A: My country, or
A: Grammar, or
A: No.

Q: That's okay. What topics are you interested in talking about?
A: Idioms, or
A; Preparing for the IELTS, or
A: Everything.

Obviously, asking about interests is key in student-centered learning. However, I included inquiring about "not interested in" or "off limits" topics mostly because of the extremely volatile environments I've taught in. I never want to touch on any part of a subject a student is sensitive about or just not thrilled about, regardless of their nationality and background.

Anyway, it would good to hear from the OP, especially if he incorporated at least one of the suggestions mentioned throughout this thread.

thunder_god

Joined: 22 Jul 2015
Posts: 65

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 5:08 pm Post subject:

nomad soul wrote:

spiral78 wrote:

Nicky_McG wrote:

Asking a student what his/her intrests are is obviously very different from asking what he he/she doesn't want to talk about (or more specifically what is taboo to talk about).

Here's what I posted:

nomad soul wrote:

I suggest that he start conversation sessions with new clients by asking if there are any topics they don't want to talk about as well as those they're interested in (even if that means idioms).

This was an isolated incident with this student. I've taught well over 12 students from Saudi Arabia and never had any issues before, in fact I've had students tell me I was doing a very good job from the same country. This student in particular didn't give me much of a chance to move things forward, he abruptly ended the conversation before I even got a chance to tell him an idiom. He said he didn't understand and then when I tried to switch topics and ask him something else he asks me to teach him idioms, and I'm like "idoms?" and then he ends the call a few seconds later. I have employed your strategy in the pass where I asked the student what the wanted to talk about but I usually got " I don't know, whatever you want to talk about response" back from the student especially the beginners which this guy clearly was. Now I usually ask the students open ended questions and lead from there, and if the student seems interested in a particular topic I would work on that with them. Also I had no more then 5 minutes to chat with this guy. It took him like a good 3 minutes to even introduce himself during which he mentioned he was in the military. I asked him a simple military follow up question and he didn't understand so I tried to switch topics and then he asked for idioms and then got pissed like a few seconds later and ended the call. Sure I could have told him that I could prepare idioms for next time, but he ended the chat before I got a chance to do anything.

Just 2 days ago, I had another student from Brazil and he mentioned he was preparing for an English test so I told him that if he let me know what specific topics and areas he was interested in working on, I could prepare it ahead of time for him and we could work on it during our next session.

And just for the record, I don't care what country or religion your from, just because your in a pissed off mood right off the bat doesn't give you the right to act like an ass to people. I'm not a mind reader who can tell right off the bat how your feeling especially if your webcam is turned off and I can't even see you and its the first time we have talked. I'll try to switch topics if I sense that you don't want to talk about a particular topic or if you have trouble understanding it, and will even ask you what you want to work on if I sense that your not happy with what we're doing at the moment. I'm already depressed as it is in my inability to land a teaching job in China due to racism and discrimination and this poor attitude is the last thing I need from a student.

nomad soul

Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:02 pm Post subject:

thunder_god wrote:

This was an isolated incident with this student. I've taught well over 12 students from Saudi Arabia and never had any issues before, in fact I've had students tell me I was doing a very good job from the same country.
....
I'm already depressed as it is in my inability to land a teaching job in China due to racism and discrimination and this poor attitude is the last thing I need from a student.

That incident may have been isolated, yet you found it so bothersome that you wrote about it in this thread. Anyway, it's done. Move on so that it doesn't continue to fester. Try not to personalize minor, funky situations.

I recall from the China forum that you're set on teaching in China but are hitting a wall of racism because of your Asian ethnicity. Unfortunately, that's the reality. (I'm multiracial --- I empathize with you.) But China isn't the only country