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[superturbo]

Hi all,

I'm looking to complete a CELTA course and take up teaching in Europe (probably Eastern Europe) in order to gain experience in this field. I don't have any actual professional teaching experience so expect to learn a lot!

My question is - what are your impression of European students from different countries? I am British so know exactly how UK kids can be: rowdy, rude, smart. I wonder, how are things in other countries? Are there any particular traits different places have?

Cheers,

[superturbo]

By the way - my generalisation about UK kids was just that - a generalisation. In reality I know students come in all shapes and sizes so I was asking for common themes/traits.

[Basilm87]

What age of the 'European students' are you thinking of?

Got no idea about Eastern Europe, as you call it, but here in Sweden its like the UK, but alot less of the rude-ness / I-am-cooler-than-my-teacher-look-at-me! syndrome

(This stereotype Swedish 'case' is 90-99% accurate for all the Scandinavian countries, however getting a teacher position around here is tough).

((If youre thinking about Poland, ask someone who has taught Russians, its kinda the same Ive heard from a polish chick in my former class. Lazy-ness 'gang', I dont need school for nothing 'gang', a 'gang' of Im a real hip-hop star , look at my flashy clothes, and a 'gang' of students who actually listens to what youre saying)). Then again thats just word of a classmate, got no hands-on exp with polish or russian kids/teenagers.

[spiral78]

Uh, if you're going to teach in Eastern Europe at the newbie level, your students are most likely to be adult professionals. It is extremely rare to land a job in an actual state school, where you would need local language skills in addition to qualifications in English teaching.

The adult students you will most likely be working with will be generally pretty motivated, and in need of skills to deal with the English used in international workplaces. So, motivated, yes, but also time-pressured, meaning that they may make less progress than you and they would like, due to lack of time to study outside of class. There will be few real newbies, mostly intermediate range students. One worst case scenario is a small group including secretaries and their bosses - the secretaries seem to be usually much better in English, but not wanting to embarass the boss - difficult group dynamics!

As for regional differences, sure, there are some - but if you're talking Eastern Europe, Czech adults aren't so different from most Polish adults - rather reserved in terms of making new friends - they are rarely outgoing. They tend to be more formal in dress and manner that in some other regions. They'll concentrate in class, but want you to know your stuff...

What else?

[superturbo]

Interesting replies - it's a good point about the age of the students - I think I'd most probably be teaching older students as opposed to school age kids (thankfully).

[Mike_2007]

I can tell you about Romanian students, but as you say, it's a generalisation and you'll always find exceptions. Here I'm referring to adults (21+) either in-company or privately.

The younger ones are generally quite good at English having been brought up on English-language films and music and in many cases computer software and games. Almost no films here are dubbed and you'll often hear younger Romanians slipping English expressions into their dialogue to be 'cool', much to the horror of the Romanian language purists.

Most of the Romanian education system involves copying. This isn't cheating, this is actually what they are taught to do - to copy text literally word-for-word from a text book (normally one endorsed or even written by their professor) onto paper and submit. Unorthodox ideas, arguments that don't agree with the critics/professor and other such things are frowned upon.

As a result of this and the new 'Google generation' the younger students ae generally lazy, especially when it comes to writing. They really do hate to write anything. Even when filling the gaps they won't bother writing the main verb if it is in the infinitive and it's already there in brackets! They often fail test because of not bothering to read the question.

I've found that communicative exercises aren't particularly well-received. Again, at school a lot of student participation is not encouraged and this shows, particularly in group lessons with students in their twenties and thirties. They rarely ask questions (not good to ask questions, makes you look stupid) and are not particularly inquisitive (does it benefit me to know?). Pairwork often seems stilted. Romanian society is quite paranoid and suspicious on the whole and I think this contributes to this particular aspect of their attitude. It's certainly a huge contrast to my experiences in Turkey where the students are the complete opposite; curious, talkative and very open. It takes a lot longer here to build up the trust you need for open communication. With one-to-one classes it's a lot better though.

The point Spiral78 makes about groups mixing bosses and secretaries is also true here. It's a very hierarchical society and people are generally very careful about what they say and to who - they don't ask and they don't tell! I've had students who I've taught for over a year who know nothing about me. In contrast, a typical Turkish student would have extracted every piece of information out of you by the end of the first lesson!

They do, on the whole, seem to quite like tests (except written ones!). They like to get scores for everything and you can use this to motivate them or to instil a little friendly competition into classroom activities. Also, I would say that their attendance is pretty good too. I would guess that I have 90% attendance in a typical week, compared to around 70% in Turkey. They are generally punctual when coming to class. I've never had any problems with being paid, either by companies or private students.

In more rural areas, particularly in Ardeal/Transylvania, the students are a little more open and certainly friendlier than those in the south/Bucharest. The Transylvanians are much more western in their behaviour and thinking, whereas the Bucharestians and Moldovians seem more 'Balkan' in personality. I imagine teaching somewhere like Timisoara or Cluj would be far more rewarding than Bucharest, but the grass is always greener...

Best,
Mike

[superturbo]

Thanks Mike, very informative. How about the same view from other countries around the area? I could study my course in places like Czech Rep, Hungary, Ukraine and wondered about the situation there.