Job Discussion Forums

[Yu]

Am I the only person who has these? It seems I start the semester with the absolute best of intentions and feel full of passion and excitement. The first few weeks of class go as planned and I think ok, it is going to be a great semester.
Then something happens. Some offhand comments about some students. Some realization that they are just not getting it. I never know what it will be but it starts off the slump. Mine came just before the october holiday. Spent the holidays in Spain, and came back refreshed (well, sort of.... I'll just say in a little over a week we made 6 visits to La Farmacia).
This semester I am teaching "thesis" writing for senior English major students. By the end of the year they need to have completed an 8000 word thesis. As I taught this class last year, I knew some of the challenges I would be facing. I found some textbooks I thought would help. I also though in addition to writing I would also try to teach critical and creative thinking. I got books for both topics. Made copies for the students. Then the day the slump started one of my brigher students said all the students think the thinking book is boring. I also assign weekly joutnals and one student asked why I put in the effort to do it. not happy.
Not it seems not so bad again.

[kev7161]

I think we (foreign teachers) expect more from our students than what is realistic (not necessarily only in China!). I'm always gung-ho at the beginning of a semester - - visions of sugar plums in my head. I'm at the other end of the spectrum as you, but I'm trying to get my kids to write little 3 and 4 sentence stories (they're only Primary grade 2, mind you!) but most of them consistently make the same mistakes (we have a new assignment every week), misspelling the same words over and over, forgetting a period at the end of the sentence - - things we've gone over time and again last year and the first few weeks of this term. It gets a little frustrating for me as a teacher and I wonder, "What am I doing wrong that my students spell the word 'bule' instead of 'blue'?" (for example) But then I come home, put my feet up, and take a deep breath and start over again the next day! Speaking of which, time for bed so I can do it all over again tomorrow.

[adamsmith]

how ture Kevin - oops, I mean true. That is the one I see everywhere. You would think that by the time they hit uni the could spell 'true'. I even seen it on a t-shirt the other day.

[no_exit]

kev, the fact that your grade 2 kids can write their own sentence stories is much more important than whether or not they spell blue right. At least they know the word they're *trying* to write.

Give yourself some credit, you've obviously made progress with them.

As for the slump, it seems like any time I teach for too long without at least a 3 or 4 days break from it, I start getting more negative about my job. Teaching takes a lot out of you, and when you get crap on top of it, whether it be from students, parents, or other teachers, it can often be the final straw!

[Craig!]

Yu, Yu're not the only one. I too am sensitive about students' discouraging remarks, lack of progress, and repeating mistakes.
But actually, no, I never feel an early-semester slump, and never need to go to ''La Farmacia''. But, then again, I'm not a woman --bad joke, 'pardon.
Let's remember to be not too hard on ourselves.

[tw]

Wow, I'd thought I was the only one in the TEFL world suffering from slumps. It is such a relief to hear that quite a few of you do too. Though I have to say, it'd been a vicious cycle for the last few years. I start the term thinking that all my students would be eager to improve their oral English. Then a couple weeks later I am begging for the week-long holiday to arrive, thinking that a little R & R would do me good and help my teaching. I return after the holiday only to be disappointed yet again, and can't wait for the summer/winter break. Alas, during the long break I find myself bored and, laugh all you want, lonely and miss seeing students. I get all excited when the new term starts, only to go back to square one again.

I have noticed that I am not suffering from the slumps this term as much as I'd suffered in previous terms. I think the major reason is that I only see my students once a week. Also, I have stopped expecting much from my students. As my wife tells me, if they want to improve their English, then they will try. If they don't give a damn about English at all, then you can try your hardest and it wouldn't do any good.

[China.Pete]

Let's be honest. A lot of Chinese students aren't used to thinking very hard in school. Their parents make them go, and decide their course of study. The teachers take over from there, subjecting them to mind-numbing wrote learning during all hours of the day and night, and assigning homework that no one person could possibly correct in any detail. The students respond by sleeping or reading newspapers in class, and submitting (possibly copied) homework they dashed off on a scrap of paper. Learning is the last thing on anybody's mind.

While, as a FT, we can begin with a clean slate so to speak at the beginning of each term, especially with college freshmen or young primary school students, the greater education system eventually works its perverse way into our students' little minds, telling them it's all boring, useless knowledge, best forgotten at the earliest opportunity. Sadly, I see this after spending several classes teaching students all the elements of a written essay, seeing them put it into practice in class, and then getting some fragmentary piece of crap (possibly copied off the Internet, without their even having bothered to reformat the fonts) as the final paper.

It can all be pretty demotivating for the FT. Nevertheless, if we acknowledge the differences, prepare our courses well, and just do the best we can, I see no reason why we shouldn't be able to take pride in whatever we've been able to accomplish as a FT working here.