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bulgogiboy

Joined: 23 Feb 2005 Posts: 803
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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EFLeducator wrote: |
djunamod wrote: |
In 8 years of teaching, I've come to resign myself to the fact that they are adults and if they don't want to take responsibility for their learning, I can't force them to.Djuna |
Right! And most do not want to take that responsibility because adult students for the most part could care less about learning English unless it is tied to their pocketbooks such as the ones I taught in Mexico City.
No generalizing going on here. Just hard cold facts about teaching adults and or teens in general. Teaching EFL may even be met with less respect towards the teacher than say teaching high school. Why? Because when teaching EFL one may find themselves in an area of a country where their home country is not respected and that really has an impact on the attitude the student has towards English in general.
For example, in Mexico City it is a fact that they do not like the U.S. I saw this mentality everywhere I went in Mexico City and it affected how the students approached learning English.
I know there are some who would prefer to blame the teacher or that the teacher has to "earn" the respect of the students , but in reality such thinking is incorrect.
Teaching is a job that gets no respect basically. It doesn't matter if this is right or wrong, that's how it is. It is however, easier to teach adults than kids because the adults at least sit there and "pretend" to respcet the teacher or they at least will hide their lack of respect for you more than a teen for example.
Here's another personal example. One guy I was teaching was talking with me one day and he was saying how teaching EFL must be easy. I asked him if he really believed that and he said yes.
He said teaching is what people do who have no other skills nor talents. He said, you'll never see a really smart person "teaching".
So one can see with that attitude that it is difficult to find respect towards teachers in general. But I guess most who teach are doing it because they "love it" or for the "lifestyle".
FAIR...& BALANCED. |
"Who's the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?" -
Obi Wan Kenobe. |
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Sashadroogie

Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 11061 Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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AGoodStory wrote: |
Sashadroogie wrote: |
All these 'facts' floating around makes me wonder about what this word means in US. It would appear to be shorthand for 'my limited experience and personal bias'.
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Ah! Life in the post-fact culture!
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Facts are unimportant when everything is fair and balanced. |
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artemisia

Joined: 04 Nov 2008 Posts: 875 Location: the world
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:51 pm Post subject: |
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The concept of having to earn respect possibly does stick in the craw of some teachers. It might mean having to apply yourself to the job in a way you didn�t expect you�d have to. It�s quite a common mistake newbie high school teachers, for example, make. Some trainee teachers will observe a teacher interacting with a class and assume that they can saunter in and interact in the same way despite the fact that they haven�t established themselves. They�re usually in for a shock.
Building up a repertoire of techniques and materials to put to use in different � and difficult � teaching situations is worthwhile, pays off with students and is also what increases your skill level as a teacher. Getting some concrete advice and ideas on possible ways to do this, as Sasha�s post outlined, is what is so useful on a teacher�s board.
It's not going to be possible to change or resolve all situations, but some can be turned around or improved. If you choose not to invest in this way, there's a fair chance these days that your students will view you as not very skilled. |
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