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[Like a Rolling Stone]

Who is the strangest student you have evre taught?

I had one student who was always laughing at EVERYTHING! I said "Hello, How are you?" and she just statred giggling all the time. I couldn't do anything before she would laugh. Even if we were talking about a very serious subject she was just laughing.

[JZer]

[dreadnought]

I had a teenage student in Greece who on occasion would sit there and slowly rip out the pages of his coursebook and eat them. He also rather enjoyed answering 'E' to any multiple choice question that only had A-D as options. When we phoned his parents to find out whether they could do anything abou t his behaviour, they said, 'oh, we can't do anything, we've sent him to psychiatrists and everything - we were hoping your school could instil some disciple in him'. Nice.

I taught a Korean Moonie in England who refused point blank to speak to anyone in the class except me (group work was always something of a struggle)

I had an ageing Russian lady in my advanced class in Lithuania who was so shy she alway spoke from behind a piece of paper held inches from her face.

Not so much a strange student as a strange situation - in Poland I taught a class which (i'm pretty sure) had a hooker and her pimp in. She called herself a hostess and him her boss, but she wasn't really fooling anyone. Anyhow, she was very outgoing - I suppose you have to be in that line of work - and he was a dour soul, and he used to just sit there and glare at her everytime she opened her mouth in class.

[dreadnought]

I had a teenage student in Greece who on occasion would sit there and slowly rip out the pages of his coursebook and eat them. He also rather enjoyed answering 'E' to any multiple choice question that only had A-D as options. When we phoned his parents to find out whether they could do anything abou t his behaviour, they said, 'oh, we can't do anything, we've sent him to psychiatrists and everything - we were hoping your school could instil some disciple in him'. Nice.

I taught a Korean Moonie in England who refused point blank to speak to anyone in the class except me (group work was always something of a struggle)

I had an ageing Russian lady in my advanced class in Lithuania who was so shy she alway spoke from behind a piece of paper held inches from her face.

Not so much a strange student as a strange situation - in Poland I taught a class which (i'm pretty sure) had a hooker and her pimp in. She called herself a hostess and him her boss, but she wasn't really fooling anyone. Anyhow, she was very outgoing - I suppose you have to be in that line of work - and he was a dour soul, and he used to just sit there and glare at her everytime she opened her mouth in class.

[Gordon]

There is a guy I taught last year in a Japanese university. He would stick his hands down his pants and rub himself all the time. Then he'd sniff his hand. Made me almost lose my lunch. When I went to the office about him, they said he must be off his meds and that I should remind him not to do that in class. This was in a class with 50 other students and he'd sit front row center. I still see him periodically on campus and I sure won't be shaking his hand any time soon.

[sidjameson]

When I WAS a student at university there was a guy in our house who never ate anything, thin as a rake, but still he was alive so he must have ate some time. One day we found out when. He crept down in the middle of the night and ate the food from the garbage bin. Picked the stuff out......no matter what the state of the bin.
This was the only way he could seem to accept food.

[Justin Trullinger]

Had one in Spain whose favourite discussion topic was "the myth of racial equality." Read books about the third reich, asked for help with them...this was not a nice man.

Knew another, taught by a friend, who had memorized a dictionary. Very advanced level, but wanted to practice all his vocab, which meant that in writing, all nouns were followed by long lists of adverbs. Went on long rants about how natives have inadequate vocabularies, and phrasal verbs are a plot by linguists to keep themselves in their cushy jobs long after a language has been completely invented...not a particularly sane man, but nice enough.


Justin

[Perpetual Traveller]

[Jetgirly]

I had a "special" student in Italy. This guy was about 28 years old. Some highlights:

On the first day of lessons I had them prepare three true statements about themselves and one false statement, as a way of introducing themselves to the group. One of his TRUE statements: "I am anti-social."

In the same lesson I had them make a few questions in the present perfect and interview their classmates. One of his questions: "Have you ever killed someone?"

As a second conditional lesson I asked them, "What would you do if aliens landed in your backyard?" Someone said he would barbeque the aliens and eat them. This upset the "special" student very much, and he refrained from answering the question, saying only that "aliens are sentient beings who deserve our respect". Good use of the word sentient though.

Another time they were doing a written activity, and I was walking around checking their work. He had written something particularly good, so I pointed to it and said, "That's really good." He then took his pen, crossed out the answer COMPLETELY until the whole area was covered in black, and refused to do any more work.

In another classroom discussion (I don't remember the context) he said, "I find cars physically repulsive." Yet for some reason he didn't have a problem asking his classmate for a ride home after the lesson...

He reminded me a lot of the stereotypical school shooter- hunched over, never making eye contact, oily hair, baggy plaid or camo clothes... Some of the students approached me and said they felt uncomfortable with him in the class, but as it was a corporate lesson I told them they had to address it with their program coordinator. It was interesting that ALL of his colleagues knew one another and yet nobody had met him before... sometimes I wondered if he really worked there!

I was one happy girl the last time I taught him!

[Gordon]

[lozwich]

I've just received a very pro-Nazi essay from one of my students...

[Chasgul]

I have trouble with guys who are creationist and at the same time racist - not so uncommon here in BG...

[thelmadatter]

I dont let content of essays bother me much. Ive taught writing to native and non-native students for almost 10 years. Got one pro-Nazi essay once and quite a number about the "evil American empire"

However, all I care about is that the student writes what s/he believes and uses conventions of rhetoric correctly. I dont have to be convinced of the student's argument to get an A. Having had legal training helps me a lot here! I know there are multiple arguments for everything... and just because I dont agree with something doesnt make it a non-interesting or invalid argument.

What makes me proud as a teacher is that I DO get essays with very varying opinions on almost any topic. That confirms to me that I teach HOW to think and not WHAT to think. Not terribly common in education nowadays ... esp in higher ed.

I also happen to be a fan of the Irascible Professor http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-04-27-06.htm

I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread....

[Justin Trullinger]

A teenage girl who peeled the skin off her arms in class also deserves an honourable mention here.

[Will.]

It makes you wonder what your own teachers would have said about you, in the staffroom, doesn't it?

WHO? Oh! that kid, What a pain! Never shuts up. Never does homework.


What was the worst thing they said about you?