Hello all,
I have a question for those with mixed nationality classes. I have a 7am class of business people...with one Korean (who always shows up on time) and a bunch of laidback latinos that show up at least half hour late. I have a very hard time with my Korean student as she acts like she doesn't respect me and attacks me if I have a small doubt about a grammar point. The other students don't like her and she shows little respect for her fellow students. What do I do?
One Korean, lots of Latinos
Moderators: Dimitris, maneki neko2, Lorikeet, Enrico Palazzo, superpeach, cecil2, Mr. Kalgukshi2
Talk to her!
She might be really annoyed with the fact that other students show up late, isolated, and uncomfortable. Is there anyone she's friendly with? Have you tried pair/group work?
Also, she should know that you're not a walking dictionary/grammar reference book. Having doubts during a lesson happens and as long as you get back to your students with a full explanation you're okay.
Is there anything you can do so that your students show up on time?
She might be really annoyed with the fact that other students show up late, isolated, and uncomfortable. Is there anyone she's friendly with? Have you tried pair/group work?
Also, she should know that you're not a walking dictionary/grammar reference book. Having doubts during a lesson happens and as long as you get back to your students with a full explanation you're okay.
Is there anything you can do so that your students show up on time?
She's feeling superior (she's on time/they're not; she knows grammar/you're not sure). But she won't be happy until that feeling is acknowledged and goes away.
Two things you can do:
1) Give her an outlet to show her "superiority". Let her do something that makes her feel special. Maybe she could give an oral presentation on some aspect of Korean life, and the other students could give presentations about parallel aspects of their home country cultures. You could ask her to talk about Chusok, for example, since the holiday is nearly upon us. Or since it's a business class, have her talk about women in the workplace in Korea, or differences between Korean work cultures and those of the place where you are now. And just in general, let her show off a little. If you think she probably knows the answer to something, let her be the one to answer the question and inform the rest of the class.
2) Bring her down a notch. Put in more positive terms, this could also be called "challenging her". Give her extra homework ("Because you seem to be at a higher level than the other students...") and be disapproving if it doesn't get done. Ask her some questions that you know she won't be able to answer ("Don't worry if you don't know it--that's why I'm here, after all!").
I think if the student gets a chance to show off sometimes, and also gets a chance to clearly see her own weaknesses some other times, her attitude may improve.
Good luck,
-EH
Two things you can do:
1) Give her an outlet to show her "superiority". Let her do something that makes her feel special. Maybe she could give an oral presentation on some aspect of Korean life, and the other students could give presentations about parallel aspects of their home country cultures. You could ask her to talk about Chusok, for example, since the holiday is nearly upon us. Or since it's a business class, have her talk about women in the workplace in Korea, or differences between Korean work cultures and those of the place where you are now. And just in general, let her show off a little. If you think she probably knows the answer to something, let her be the one to answer the question and inform the rest of the class.
2) Bring her down a notch. Put in more positive terms, this could also be called "challenging her". Give her extra homework ("Because you seem to be at a higher level than the other students...") and be disapproving if it doesn't get done. Ask her some questions that you know she won't be able to answer ("Don't worry if you don't know it--that's why I'm here, after all!").
I think if the student gets a chance to show off sometimes, and also gets a chance to clearly see her own weaknesses some other times, her attitude may improve.
Good luck,
-EH