Job Discussion Forums

[krem1234]

I've though about this issue lately as I've taught adults before, but have only minimal experience teaching English to adults. I was curious about what type of experiences teachers have had in regard to dealing with difficult students, and how often/common it is to have experiences like this. In my own experience teaching adults in other subjects (college classes), the primary difficulties I've had just relate to students complaining about their grades. My primary interest here is that I don't want to go from dealing with difficult clients in my current job to having to spend much time and energy dealing with difficult students.

Thanks

[1st Sgt Welsh]

I teach only adults and in regards to how difficult the students will be depends, I think, a lot on the culture. I've been teaching in Vietnam for two years, had well over a thousand students in this time and I've never had a student ask me to review their marks. When I was in South Africa, it happened every term .

Anyway the Vietnamese are generally great students to teach and maybe I'm just spoilt. I have had some "difficult" Vietnamese students, but they are a rarity. In fact, I've actually got two of them now in a cover class I'm teaching for two weeks .

[nomad soul]

[krem1234]

Good question - I guess my main concern would be students who are belligerent, or students that don't show you respect (by debating/arguing constantly etc.), or complain all the time - things like that. Personally the experiences I had with students complaining about their grades was annoying but basically a one-shot deal, as in the semester itself wasn't made worse by one or a group of difficult students. I've had pretty good luck in my own time teaching, I had one student once who complained about EVERYTHING (like if my co-lecturer made some tiny change to the scheduling) which became annoying and stressful, though I really only "dealt" with it by putting up with the student for the semester.

>>Unfortunately, conflict is a given both in our personal and work lives. And as teachers, it's just part of the job. But what difficult student scenarios are you thinking you'd encounter and would have trouble dealing with? Also, what challenging classroom and individual student situations have you run into in the past as a teacher and how did you handle them? (By the way, these are questions you may be asked during an interview!)

[EFLeducator]

[DebMer]

[nomad soul]

Krem1234:

You've discovered that ignoring or putting up with the problem doesn't make it go away. The 'offending' student is aware of it too. Also realize that you probably aren't the only one in the classroom annoyed, stressed out, or tired of hearing others whine or argue with you. You're subjecting the other students to this behavior by not nipping it in the bud early on. And it won't take long before you lose your students' respect for you.

Depending on the proficiency level of your students, one solution would be to establish classroom rules right from the get-go. But instead of you coming up with the do's and don'ts, have the students brainstorm and discuss what behaviors are appropriate or inappropriate in the classroom and make their own rules for proper class etiquette. They can do this as a class or in small groups if the class size is big. Your role is to facilitate the activity and encourage them to participate in the decision-making so that they feel empowered and have a sense of ownership and personal responsibility in the process and the outcome. You can get them started by presenting a couple of examples of difficult behavior---even acting it out if you're brave enough. As the students brainstorm other behaviors, write them on the board and then have the class discuss each one and why it's a problem. Based on their input, they should then come up with a list of class rules they all agree on or can live with. It could also be in the form of a pledge that they each sign. Have the class rules printed on a poster-sized sheet of paper to tack up on a prominent wall in your classroom. You don't need to spend a lot of class time on this; the students can always revisit the rules and add to or amend them if needed.

So, when a student starts complaining, all you need to do is gesture to the rules on the wall and believe me, the other students will 'remind' the offender that such behavior is not allowed. A little peer pressure goes a long way!

This was a rough explanation, but you get the idea. I'm sure others on this forum will also have some valuable tips for managing classroom behavior and keeping the learning environment as stress-free and congenial as possible for you and your students. But I agree with the other posters that adult students typically don't present the problems you've described or are anticipating. However, if you were to teach teens and young adults...

Good luck!

[sharter]

In the Arab world it's important to always be calm and friendly but firm when necessary. As long as you are fair, it's usually very easy to bring a rowdy student into line. I tend to just stop talking for example....they usually get the message and it's often from another learner. A 1:1 in the office can also help. Often students who misbehave are overchallenged or underchallenged, so get a strategy to deal with that. When students aren't interested it can be tricky and there's no set rule.

It's usually a deluded prima donna colleague who is the biggest pain in the arse though. They usually unravel sooner or later.

[johnslat]

Dear sharter,

I recall one such student who thought locking the classroom door from the inside would be funny.

I kicked it open - never had any more problems from him .

Regards,
John

[markcmc]

I don't think it's a big problem. I've taught English to adults in Taiwan, Spain, Portugal and Turkey, and I've seldom had this problem. I usually tell students in advance that they are probably going to fail, and discuss the reasons with them then. Gets it out of the way.

Of course, all teachers have one or two stories...

[teacheratlarge]

[sharter]

Unplugging the speakers during the break is a current fave or putting the lens cap back on the projector

[santi84]

The least hassle (for me, anyways) is teaching immigrants/survival English. They don't really care about grades, they just want to learn English to work or live in their community. Classes generally revolve around talking about themselves - so you may get a talkative domineering student who won't shut up, but that's about as bad as it gets. Of course, the jobs are rare and the pay is sometimes pretty bad so there's your trade-off

[Madame J]

It used to happen when I had multilingual classes dominated by Arab students. A lot of the Arabs would complain if they felt there were too many other Arabs in the class, or if they felt they should have changed levels (we had a particular bunch of students who thought they'd go from elementary to intermediate within the space of a month). Also there were often issues with lateness and not doing homework.

[artemisia]

I find Arab students will all 'help' one another extensively. I've asked a number of students if they've really written the work they're presenting to me. They'll um and ah for a bit. Some will admit they didn't. Some will say they had the ideas but their friend helped them to write. Some will go away and come back again with a real attempt. Setting work in class time doesn't always stamp this out as they won't necessarily do much. But when I - or rather they - have really covered the ground work on a topic they're personally interested in, it makes a difference. I've been surprised to see how freely and easily they've started writing and how much they've written.

A lot are really motivated but I'd probaby keel over in shock if they all turned up on time everyday. I have had students of all nationalities (straight out of high school) do things like lock the door but they were locking each other out! Usually there'd be wild giggles and a mad scramble to let me in. I'd just roll my eyes and make a few of my usual comments about "high school". Sometimes, I couldn't help laughing but didn't want to encourage it. I've put a few cocky students back in their box from time to time, but mostly I don't have any real problems with the age group I currently teach.