Job Discussion Forums

[celtica]

.

I find most students polite and respectful and they do enjoy a bit of fun in the class - like all kids. (Haven't taught in Thailand so con't comment on that one). The exceptions are those who are failing in the system of exam riddled teaching that happens here. They get bored, frustrated and probably angry at their lot and like all students who feel like this, create disturbance. That disturbance is generally off-task behaviour and distracting others, talking, laughing etc. Unfortunately there are whole classes of kids like this, and we all generally end up teaching at least one of them.

Mostly the response to chastising is passivity - a blank look, maybe a mutter in Malay. More outright defiance and disrespect comes in Malay - maybe cursing , how do we know? Usually only when they have been "pushed" by the teacher....confrontation....

So the rudeness and cheekiness may well be there, but muttered in Malay rather than in-your-face-English. If you can get a colleague to speak to the students for you in Malay (with you there) and sort it out on a one to one basis, that usually works well.

Having said that, these issues are so minor compared to home....they really are very nice kids. If you are generally friendly but firm with them, they respond really well. They enjoy the different styles of teaching we give them ..

As for dealing with the apathy? Constantly trying to solve that one!!!! The only way to get real response is to keep trying all sorts of different ways of teaching/learning and finding out which ones they enjoy...then they all take part fairly willingly.

Of course I am not talking about the better schools that have high achieving, self-motivated and eager students who do their classwork and their homework without a hitch...and they do exist..

Out of school trips happen and are generally encouraged by most admin but can be rather nerve-wracking to arrange as often confirmation of transport only happens at the last minute (or sometimes is cancelled last minute).