Job Discussion Forums

[fox1]

This morning I had the dullest, least active class ever. It's always quite inactive but today took the cake, and it was 2nd period and didn't follow gym! Many were dozy or didn't want to try the worksheet because it was a tiny bit challenging. My student profile: few go to university.

I have tried different things. Getting angry. Humor ("next time, everybody has to drink Pocari Sweat!").

I want to say to the kids on the borderline of doing the worksheet but who give up something along the lines of
"Guess what! You can do it!"
"Go for it and you might surprise yourself because you can do it".

Any ideas on how to Japanify those sentiments? Also, any other ideas?

[gonzarelli]

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

You could also find out if they have a test in another class. Remember some of these kids are doing school stuff from early morning until they go to bed every single day. They are just too tired to think, and this is cold season so many of them may be overtired all the time because they are fighting off a cold- which is spread because these kids aren't allowed to not show up for school, then club activity, then juku just before going to bed (otherwise people might have to parent, and that isn't tested in high school so they don't memorize lists of how to do it, and cosequentially they don't know how to do it).

[fox1]

Only about 10 students in the whole year go to university. Very very few go to juku. Most are just sleeping or giving up cos they can't be bothered! This is not every class, by the way.

[anne_o]

I've been teaching at a small conversation school in Tokyo for a few months now, and most of my classes are pretty upbeat and the kids seem somewhat interested, but a few of them, mainly the older ones (11-14) don't really care. I keep the classes really light and play a lot of games because that's what the curriculum involves for the school I work for.
For the most part, and this is just from what I've seen in the last 6 months here, these kids definatly don't want a challenge........keep it light and fun.
Anyway, some classes just don't have the energy of others, maybe because of the dynamics of the students.....who knows.....and yes, who cares.....they don't!
But I know, teaching a bunch of sleepy students can really ruin your morale as a teacher.
I know this subject has been discussed extensively on this site and others, but Japanese studens are not very eager to learn English, they are extremely apathetic, and how anyone can do it for year after year is a puzzle to me.
Sometimes when I ask my students to take out their books to do some bookwork, which we do very little of, they just stare at me....then again maybe they don't even understand what I'm saying...."take out your books"!
Maybe you should just ease up on them and show them the energy level they show you.....

[chollimaspeed]

The problem with teaching English, particularly conversational English is that, like PE or music, it requires participation of the students. They actually have to physically make an effort to improve. A lot of students are used to sitting in rows and simply taking notes and not being taxed too hard to use their imagination or initiative. When they come to English class they often seem bewildered about what they have to do.

I recommend that students should get to learn a routine that makes it easier for them to know what is expected of them.

I have also found that moving students around the class can help. If they are sat next to their friends they often tend to mutter to each other and not concentrate on the lesson. Sometimes sitting them boy-girl-boy helps.

If they really don't seem to want to do lively activities then sometimes giving them boring grammar drills and spellings can be a way forward. It is completely unsatisfying and boring but they are used to that and they may end up learning something and allow you to at least save your energy.

[Glenski]

If they feel they can't be bothered, and they really have little intention of going to university, why beat yourself over the head?

Don't approach this head on. No Japanese translations of "you can do it".
No rah rah speeches. Certainly no threats.

Attack this sideways. If they don't need English, and any authority figure pushing it on them only meets with disinterest and sleep, don't give traditional lessons. Add videos or music. Get free samples of graded readers and have them read for fun (plus the 1-page fill-in-the-blanks book reports). Charades. BINGO. Talkopoly (see Talk A Lot text).

[Sweetsee]

How about making teams of fours and helping them to work cooperatively, Fox? Are you interested?

[Mothy]

That sounds like my high school! Do you secretly teach at my school on days I'm not there?
I'm new enough that I certainly don't have it figured out how to handle classes like that. But I think Glenski has a good point with doing more non-conventional lessons. The lesson that has worked best for me thus far was one where I used music. Even the most apathetic students in my classes seemed to get into it.
90% of them will probably never even reach the stage where they can produce more than a "good morning" (some of my students seem to be even unable to do that. Is this really their 4th year of studying English?). But I don't want to completely give up on them yet. So I think these fun activities are really the way to go... The only problem is having enough of the ideas. You can't really listen to music in class every day... Or can you?