Job Discussion Forums

[Sweetsee]

I am studying to become an effective esl instructor. I work in a private senior high school. I would like to share the things I am learning.

1) I followed Celeste's advice and I am reading "Teaching Learning".

2) The other day during assembly my students were chattering away, out of their rows, turned around, etc. I went over and told them stop talking. I came away so stressed and felt so stupid; old fart teacher moaning.
Then, a more experienced teacher displayed a much more effective method. She simply went over and crouched down near them without saying a word or initiating contact whatsoever. They were reined in.

It is my hope that some of you will share techniques you employ in being an effective instructor.

Damn rain! My tennis tournament has been postponed for the 2nd week in a row! Boo hiss!

[Eleckid]

I think out of all the posters here, I have the least exp teaching in Japan. It's great to read threads on personal experiences & to learn about dif effective techniques for the littlest things. The example sweetsee gave for telling students stop talking & simply crouch next to them made a big difference. I think one time I did the same too, but instead of making no contacts with them, I smiled at them when they noticed that I was crouching next to them. They smiled back but felt embarrassed so they stop talking.

Anyway, that's not what I wanna talk about here. Just a small story from one incident in my class (I know I don't have much experience, but I can still share something small which I did, & I'm still continuously learning. I'm not here to show off, so please don't roll your eyes on me & attack me).

Anyway~ there was one 10 yr-old student last term who just started learning English. The rest of the kids were like a couple of years younger than him (my school has this stupid system that they put kids according to age only & not by level, but his level was so low that he was put into this class, so actually he felt really out of place in the class). He was extremely destructive -- crawling under the table & not come out, hitting other students on the head, saying nasty things to students, knocking other students' books or stationaries off the table (& laughs about it), jumping around, making distracting noise really loud, not interested in learning, scribbling on other students' books with a marker, etc. ok he was really distracting my class. And he has no feeling for punishments, doesn't work when I say no to him. Sending him out of my class was useless too. One time I sent him out cuz he really messed up my cards, but he said "yatta!" & went outside where the Japanese staff scold him. I was really having a headache cuz one of the kid who got hit on the head by him cried to his mom & his mom was furious about it, saying that she doesn't want this kid to be in the same class as her son.

One day, he said something nasty to a girl. The girl then stood up & fly-kicked his stomach. He got so mad that he leaped to her & grabbed her hair by both of his hands, pulling them with all his body weight. Everything happened in like 3 sec. I ran to them & grabbed his hands, preventing him to keep pulling on the hair, & kept calling his name & stop. The pulling stopped, but he wouldn't let go of her hair. I kept telling him to stop, but of course, he didn't, so I squeezed his arms tighter & tighter until he let go. I really didn't wanna hurt him. Luckily he only got some strands of her hair & not a whole lock! I asked the girl if she was ok (she said yes) while still grabbing onto the boy to prevent anymore attack.

At that momment, so many thoughts rushed into my mind...should I yell at him? Should I punish him by sending him out of the classroom again? But for some reason I didn't do that. I don't know what happened, but I just held him really close to me gently but firmly, & I kept telling him (in a nice but firm way), looking into his face, "no, you don't do that in class" as simple as I can (I think I kept saying no & his name). It didn't matter if he understood what I said or not, I think he got the point. It was weird cuz I didn't say it in an angry way. He cried instantly. After class, I told the Japanese staff about it. After that time, he never attacked another student again. He stopped being destructive, & has became one of the top students in the class.

Come to think of it, the girl who kicked his stomach should've been warned not to do it again as well...but I forgot to do that...awww...oh well, it's past.

I don't know if what I did was right or wrong. Does anyone have any better suggestions as to what I should've done, so that I can do it the next time another student attack eachother?

[Sweetsee]

ElecKid,

I think you did good with junior. I want to tell you to be careful, though.
Our friend was working with kids like that and she got hit in the face with a toy or something and had to go to the hospital and missed work.

I found your story very touching. Touching in the sense that you holding that child and speaking to him and the affect that you obviously had on him is wonderful. I imagine that the trouble with a lot of the children is that nobody holds them, shows interest in them, talks to them, makes them feel like what they are--special.

With all the trouble I have with kids at school I never blame the kids, it's not their fault. They are simply acting the only way they know. Yes, I become upset but I think I have gotten a handle on it, just recently.

You may have little experience teaching but many can learn from you.

Keep up the good work, ElecKid. I like you.

[Sweetsee]

Here's a couple more things I am doing these days.

1) have students arrange their desks in a circle by birthday(or others)

2) show them a myriad of interesting business cards I have accumulated and encourage them to design their own with their future in mind. Then they make their card on the back of mine(I use my old ones, no shortage)
You can get a lot of mileage out of this lesson. Exchange cards, report the information to the class, etc. They dig it!


Happy teaching!

[Glenski]

I'm curious, Sweetsee. What is the name and actual purpose for the classes you teach? What is the syllabus like? Seems like a lot of useless activities for senior high school students.

[Eleckid]

Thanks, Sweetsee, for your comment on my post~

As for the post you wrote & what Glenski wrote afterwards, I think you can change it a bit to make it better. I think the idea is pretty good to start with, & changing a bit can make things a bit better (maybe, you know I've got no exp).

If it is a senior high class (as Glenski said), then what you can do is to introduce the class the subject "my future" or something like that. I guess most senior high students do worry about their future, whether they go to univ, junior college, or work, & what jobs they want & what actions to take to pursue their goal (if any). Most are lost & are uncertain about their future, at least I was when I was in high school...

Purpose: learn more about themselves (ex. fields of strength) & what jobs suit them according to their interests, 7 intelligence, & learning how to make a business card in Eng. Most of all to think about their future.

Materials: personality/intelligence/occupation survey test (on paper), dif occupation info handouts, old business cards, (option) blank business card layout (handout).

First give them a personality & 7 intelligence test (in Eng or Japanese, depends on you), it's like a survey & you can get them off from the net. Then you can explain them the dif intelligence & so they can find out their strengths.

I think there's also some personality tests which suggest dif jobs according to your interests & personality. I did that when I was in highschool. Of course, there's gonna be a bunch of occupations (in Eng) which they're not familiar with, so after their test, introduce the many occupations.

Then perhaps give them a sheet with what steps they need to do in order to pursue each occupations (ex. what majors to take in univ, how many yrs of training, etc.). There are just too many, so I guess maybe just 10-20 jobs. The # is up to you (depending on how much time you have).

Then finally, hand them dif jobs business cards, so that they can imagine themselves being the owner of that card if they were to have that job in the future. Then teach them the layout of an Eng business card. And then, let them choose 1 job which they might want to have in the future, & then finally create their own business card (it would be better to do this on the computer in a computer lab, look more like the real thing but if it's not possible then it's ok).

You can then ask a few to come up & talk about their business card. Ex. Telling other students what job they wanna have, what that job is about, as well as the steps to pursue that particular job (they just need to read the description from their sheet, so that they don't need to make up sentences in their head (too difficult for them)).

I think that they can hopefully relate to this lesson & actually take something out from this class. It also might be helpful to them for their future plans.

This lesson might or might not help them, depending if they care about their future. But as teachers, we're not there to save the world, at least we've tried to inform them about this, whether they take it seriously or not is their own choice. I wouldn't get upset if they don't take it seriously, it's just for fun & at least I know that I've done my part. The rest is really up to them.

You know I don't teach in high schools, I only teach in a eikaiwa, so I've never actually done this with my classes. I've done similar things, but just intro to dif jobs & what steps to take to pursue that job, as well as getting them to share what jobs they want in the future. Sorry if I can't help much....if someone can please modify my sloppy plan, as I'm no good with this. I'm sorry if I sound foolish, I just wanna help as much as I can.

[Sweetsee]

Glenski,

class: oral communication
purpose: speak English
syllabus: Expressways

a lot of useless activities: explain

[Sweetsee]

ElecKid,

Thank you. Looking for that quiz.
I like your idea.

Have a good day.
s

[BradS]

I'm teaching Nova Kids several times a day and had several kids who would physically and emotionally hurt other students. I tried sending them out (would literally have to "throw them out"!), yelling at them, asking them.... but the most effective way was getting them to stand in the corner while the rest of the class is playing games. They feel emotionally scarred, embarrassed and will be great after about 10 minutes. Hell, one of my trouble kids even started reining the other kids into line for me after being in the corner!

[Sweetsee]

I am losing my mind. I can't teach a single lesson anymore. There are several things that have lead me to this point.

1. class size
2. unmotivated students
3. super low-level students
4. criticism of previous method

1. more than 30 students in a class.

2. maybe one or two students per class show any interest

3. they have no grammar, no vocabulary- zip!

4. I used to make it through my lessons with no problem. Then I posted here and people told me I was nuts for asking students to recite dialog.

I was following a functional communicative syllabus. I made up or gave students a model conversation and asked them to practice until they could role-play without looking at the print. When they could do that I asked them to reverse roles. When they finished that and could perform it for me than they did an information exchange or substitution activity using the target language. Then, I went around and illicited the key language from students.

At the end of the lesson I felt confident the students could use the target language. I thought I was doing a good job.

People said students parroting dialog was a waste of time.

With 30 students in a class it is very difficult to get them all to do anything. I ask them to write the names of 3 people that are important to them. This takes forever and some can't even do that. After I have got them to do that I illict questions to ask about said persons, eg who is he, what does he do, where does he live, etc, things I have taught them before. How many students do you think can ask one of these questions-zip!

I am really freaking out over here. It's like I need to call the esl hotline and speak to a counselor because this forum isn't doing it for me. I need help.

I am not kidding around.

Please, I feel rushed in my lessons, I feel I can't ask students to practice dialogs, I am losing it....

[spidey]

spider-sense tingling...person in danger!!

Your friendly neighborhood spider-man is here...

Remember Sweetsee...

CHOCOLATE! CHOCOLATE! CHOCOLATE!

aaaaaahhhhhh...isn't that better?

But seriously...maybe it's time that you took a step back and looked at the big picture. Don't worry so much about your students. They are doing what they are supposed to be doing. You should focus on yourself and what makes you happy. Find out how "Seetsee" is doing and see if there is anything that you can improve upon to make yourself feel better. I think once you start to feel better, you won't be as concerned or stressed out by what is happening in your class.

You're a very lucky person to be leading the life you are leading. Right?

S

[Glenski]

[Sweetsee]

You are right, Spidey.

My life is charmed.

Should I forget about teaching the kids anything? I don't think anyone will mind if I just goof off with them.

I only know how to do what I used to do. I thought it was working.

[spidey]

Sweetsee,

follow your own advice...stick with what you know and always try to learn new things. The better you feel the better your students will feel.

Remember...Positive energy is very contageous.

S

[Sweetsee]

Hey Spidey,


Thanks a lot. I have been thinking about what you said and it made a lot of sense. I think that a lot of my problem is that I haven't been eating any chocolate, lately. Pheeew, don't ask me what I was thinking!

You rock Spiderman!