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[kev7161]

Hi all,

Somehow this school year, I've lost my way. Let me do a little background info first:

Currently, I have 10 different classes: Senior 3 (2 classes), Senior 2 (3 classes), and Senior 1 (5 classes). After the winter holiday, I will lose the Senior 3 classes as they will be preparing intensively for their end-of-year test. I'm sad to lose them as they are my favorites, but I'll still see them in the hallways.

So, that leaves me with 8 different classes. Of these 8, I don't teach three of them (if you can believe it). For awhile I was showing DVDs, then I realized it simply wasn't fair to the other hard-working classes that the lazy, "unteachable" classes were being "punished" with DVDs. So, now I just go in for 45 minutes and sit there, sometimes I bring a book. They get to sleep or talk or read or . . . whatever. My director has tasked me with making sure they stay in the classroom. To date, nobody. . . NOBODY . . . has stopped in or questioned on why I wasn't teaching lessons to these classes. The sadness of it all is that about 1/2 the kids in each of these classes are fairly good and somewhat adept at the English language, but the behavior of the other 1/2 makes it impossible to teach. I'm not allowed to just kick them out.

My "conversation" English classes are only twice a week. I'm lumped in with such classes as art, music, and PE. Nothing wrong with those classes, but I've walked by the "PE" class before. There were the boys, shooting hoops, while the girls sat on the seats chatting and watching the boys. If I could somehow put the non-interested, bad kids aside somewhere while I taught the rest, then I would. But that is just not do-able.

So, here's the dilemma: I would like to try (after the break) to do something for these classes. Don't ask me why, maybe I'd like to leave this place on a high note. I suggested we break the kids up into beginning, intermediate, and advanced classes instead of Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, etc. The logistics of this are almost impossible as they would go back to being Class 1, Class 2, etc. after my class. In other words, while I am teaching my "advanced" class, what are the other students doing? Where are they? I thought while I'm teaching one level, the Chinese English teachers could be teaching the other levels and then vice-versa the next period. Well, again, a problem since I have them 2X a week and they have them 5X a week. Then I thought, why don't I step into their 5X a week schedule and teach the kids twice and the Chinese teachers have them the other 3 times? But that's really not going to work either.

The obvious solution is that I have them 5X a week and we get a second FT in the department, but THAT'S not going to happen. So, I'm stuck with having all these different levels and abilities in all my classes. If the lessons are too simple, then I'm doing a disservice to the more advanced students. If they are too difficult, then the lower-level ones shut me out. Even my "good" classes are often getting too unruly and I find myself yelling more and more. Then I feel bad and feel like it's all me - I'm not finding a solution how to keep these kids interested and, yes, entertained enough. Of course, I realize that many of them just don't want to learn English and there's nothing I can do about that! If I had fewer groups to keep track of, I could have remediations and extensions for the different levels - - but that's more of a textbook kind of class. Yes, I do use a text, but I still try to get them to talk and read aloud as much as possible. And, really, with just that little bit of effort, even the most lackluster kid could pick up on some of this stuff.

So, *whew!* pretty lengthy post here. Sorry about that. Any thoughts? Ideas? Solutions? As usual, the smart-a$$ responses can keep it to themselves. Only mature adults, please - - thanks.

[tofuman]

Kev, Have you thought about organizing small groups of students within each class? I give all my students a screening exam at the start of each term. All are assigned a number value. I then divide the class up into groups with a similar total number value. I balance each excellent student with a poor one, and so on, in each group.

In your case, you could separate the class into "good" groups and "bad" groups. Spend time with the good groups and let the "losers" drift. Give the drifters opportunities. If they demonstrate an interest, you can always promote them into another group.

Sometimes the students resist being "grouped." Try group activities such as skits to involve them in team work.

Can't hurt to try. I did the groups for a while. Those classes that resist, I resume the old format for a while. I may go back to the groups again.

Good luck!

[kev7161]

I think grouping is a great idea and I actually do that with my Senior Two classes (the two I actually teach anyway). I am so lucky with these two classes as the "good" kids far outweigh the potential "bad" students. I've actually made a competition out of it. Each group came up with their own team name and they get points for good test scores and other activities. We just did skits for commercials advertising miracle medicines. (Take one of these pills each day and you can FLY! - - - no comments about hallucinagens!) This did not take in my other Senior Two class. There are about 10 or 11 boys that want to do NOTHING and were constantly disrupting the class with their bad behavior.

Senior One is more of a sticky wicket (isn't that a British phrase?). Two classes are generally quite good (Class 1 and 2, naturally). They have head teachers that care. My lessons generally tend to flow along quite nicely and test scores have a vast range, but I get many, many As and Bs. Class 3 is slowly going down the toilet, regardless of what kind of activities we try. And Class 4 and 5 are the ones I babysit. So, I'll think about grouping them next semester. But I'd better come up with some more ideas as well.