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darkcity
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: SF, CA
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 Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 6:04 pm Post subject: teaching ideas for a really difficult student |
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So i teach one-on-one, and I have a student, let's call her Yuna. I'm her regular teacher three days a week, an hour each class. she likes me because i'm kind to her and understand her level (she's a very low level speaker). problem is, she never studies, isn't creative, and rarely has an opinion.
i like her as a student, but a lot of her answers to simple questions, like "what is your brother's personality like?" are one-word answers, like, "Kind." or simply "I don't know."
so my question is, are there any good, interactive, engaging activities you guys know of?
yesterday I did a psychology test with her, a cube test: http://www.topix.com/forum/afam/TPG72545K73O75DP3
This was fun because I had to force her to visualize and explain. But I need more ideas!
We've done roleplaying, she hates it. We've done grammar exercises, she hates it. She no longer uses the video and listening exercises. So I just want to know if any other teacher have some tried and true interactive exercises? Preferably untraditional teaching methods...I adapted a drinking game for the classroom, and that seemed to work okay also...
thanks in advance... |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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| How old is Yuna? 10? 40? |
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Xuanzang
Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Location: Sadang
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| Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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| I hope she`s not 10 with the drinking game. |
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darkcity
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: SF, CA
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| Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 12:18 am Post subject: |
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sorry, that would've been useful information to mention.
she's 25 and a kindergarten teacher. |
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ChinaBoy
Joined: 17 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 12:42 am Post subject: |
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I doubt you'll ever get her interested. Some people just aren't motivated by anything and are bored with life.
I guess this wasn't a helpful post, but really, I don't think you can do anything. She sounds just like me. |
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saw6436
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Daejeon, ROK
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| Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 8:11 am Post subject: |
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| Of all of the adults I have taught in Korea, I've never given more than five minutes to the ones that are not interested or don't make any effort. She is an adult for christs sake. Teaching unmotivated/uninterested adults is just a waste of yours and their time. |
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darkcity
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: SF, CA
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| Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Of all of the adults I have taught in Korea, I've never given more than five minutes to the ones that are not interested or don't make any effort. |
lucky you, that you had the choice...i think she's a great girl, but a terrible student. and I have her for two full hours on saturdays. thinking of doing a preposition exercise, where she builds something with blocks, then describes it to me and I have to duplicate it based on her instructions. i have no idea how she'll take it. i feel hesitant to do such childish exercises with adult students. |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:33 pm Post subject: |
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Two hours once per week is both too long (for an unmotivated student) and not frequent enough for any real impact. Try to go for 1 hour twice per week.
Start with her hobbies, and move on from there. I have a feeling this student won't be around long. Some people like the idea of learning, but don't want to work at it. |
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semi-fly
Joined: 07 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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| bassexpander wrote: |
Two hours once per week is both too long (for an unmotivated student) and not frequent enough for any real impact. Try to go for 1 hour twice per week.
Start with her hobbies, and move on from there. I have a feeling this student won't be around long. Some people like the idea of learning, but don't want to work at it. |
He said he was instructing her three times a week for an hour per session. |
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jay-shi
Joined: 09 May 2004
Location: On tour
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| Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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| saw6436 wrote: |
| Of all of the adults I have taught in Korea, I've never given more than five minutes to the ones that are not interested or don't make any effort. She is an adult for christs sake. Teaching unmotivated/uninterested adults is just a waste of yours and their time. |
Word! |
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Fishead soup
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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Cover your azz. These kinds of students will go throught the entire session do absolutely nothing and then complain to higher up's that she got absolutely nothing from your class.
Make detailed notes of her apathetic behavour and forward it to your direct supervisor. Get her in shyt, before she has a chance to get you in shyt. |
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Hanson
Joined: 20 Oct 2004
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| Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:03 pm Post subject: |
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| darkcity wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Of all of the adults I have taught in Korea, I've never given more than five minutes to the ones that are not interested or don't make any effort. |
lucky you, that you had the choice...i think she's a great girl, but a terrible student. and I have her for two full hours on saturdays. thinking of doing a preposition exercise, where she builds something with blocks, then describes it to me and I have to duplicate it based on her instructions. i have no idea how she'll take it. i feel hesitant to do such childish exercises with adult students. |
Don't hesitate to use childish activities, as long as it generates something. I've often used children's material for adult learners, often with very good results.
Some ideas:
Information gaps: Pre-teach vocab/grammar needed, and then Q&A with you to find out the other person's info. Info gaps are everywhere in ESL "conversation" textbooks.
Task-based activities: Could include things like advice, requests/offers, invitations, telling the time, conditionals, comparatives/superlatives, process (how to make something), agree/disagree, etc... These are easy to find and force the student to use English in a controlled way.
Board Games: Get some dice, a "conversation" game with topics to discuss or questions to answer, and away you go.
Cut-ups: Use cut-up pieces of paper for matching activities like dominoes, put-the-story-in-order, compound nouns, conditionals, pronunciation games (matching syllables/stress patterns), suffixes/prefixes, etc...
Mazes/Puzzles/Riddles: This one is a real winner with adult students, as much as this might surprise some. Lots of good stuff out there in ESL land.
Hope this helps... |
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darkcity
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: SF, CA
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| Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:56 am Post subject: |
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| bassexpander wrote: |
Start with her hobbies, and move on from there. I have a feeling this student won't be around long. Some people like the idea of learning, but don't want to work at it. |
i've been teaching her for three months now. the reason i posted here is because i've officially run out of ideas. she's friends with management and gets a discount, which might be part of the reason she attends.
| Quote: |
Cover your azz. These kinds of students will go throught the entire session do absolutely nothing and then complain to higher up's that she got absolutely nothing from your class.
Make detailed notes of her apathetic behavour and forward it to your direct supervisor. Get her in shyt, before she has a chance to get you in shyt. |
good advice, but overall i'm really not concerned about her complaining to management. even though she's hard to teach, we have a really tight relationship. she prefers me over all the other teachers, gyopo or native. she said it's cause i'm kind and understand her level, but the management thinks she has a crush on me. I don't really care what the case is, but I just want the hour to pass by a little less painfully.
Thanks to Hanson, btw...your advice was a little more constructive. because we've already spent 3 months with each other one on one, i already know her pretty well. the most useful thing is to get her to imagine something and describe it to me (as in the cube activity i posted earlier). but i haven't been able to find similar activities to that yet.
i have her tomorrow evening...wish me luck. thanks for the advice so far. |
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juicyfresh
Joined: 22 Apr 2007
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Ramen
Joined: 15 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 7:06 pm Post subject: |
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| jay-shi wrote: |
| saw6436 wrote: |
| Of all of the adults I have taught in Korea, I've never given more than five minutes to the ones that are not interested or don't make any effort. She is an adult for christs sake. Teaching unmotivated/uninterested adults is just a waste of yours and their time. |
Word! |
Yeah word!
She needs some sort of stimulation. Sexual stimulation to open up perhaps? |
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