Job Discussion Forums

[Marcoregano]

PT...hopefully something constructive will come out of this....so i'll continue, despite your irritatingly assured stance (BTW, you must have as much time on your hands as me...and what time is it in P?).

No, i didn't say i can't control my class...or at least i didn't intend giving that impression. To clarify, what I mean is that when students are given group discussion activities, many students will quickly revert to Cantonese after only mimimal effort. This (as already explained) is somewhat attributable to poor motivation and also to what might be termed a Sinographic (China-Korea-Japan) difficulty with free and open discussion, especially when asked to do so in a foreign tongue. The poorest groups break into Cantonese first and I go to them and say "hey, aren't you guys here to learn English...please speak in English".. bla bla etc etc) until I feel that whatever exercise we're doing has run its course. I control with a velvet glove, though have been known to snap occasionally. However, one of the good things about teaching adults, especially in this part of the world is that there generally isn't a 'control' problem.

As regards motivation....you seem to be confusing motivation 'in' the classroom with motivation for 'coming to' the classroom in the first place. Regarding the former, I do my best to motivate the students, make the lessons interesting etc. But if students don't want to learn English (and believe me, strange though it might sound some of them don't), or are not prepared to put enough effort in, then there is a limit to what I can do. I'm certainly not saying I can't improve...I'm looking for ways to do so, which is one of the reasons I'm using this forum, but Jeez, it's taking up a lot of my time. My classes....up to 33 students...though average attendance is around 25.

[PanamaTeacher]

Ok marco you've conviced me you win

[Marcoregano]

You obviously didn't read my last post. Bedtime in Panama?

[PanamaTeacher]

I read it, I was convinced. Thanks for the effort. It's 11:00 pm here, I'm getting ready to go to sleep in a few. I teach at home so I use the computer during my classes (my students are practicing for the SAT). Thanks for caring.