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Are students too an*l-retentive sometimes?
Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:37 am
by fluffyhamster
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewt ... 9267#39267
I suppose that, to answer my own question, in a word, Yes, they are.
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 1:34 pm
by Stephen Jones
I had a colleague who had a whole class of anally-retentive students. Five minutes into the lesson 90% of them would say they wanted to go to the toilet and never come back.
Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:24 pm
by fluffyhamster
That sounds more like a case of "mass expulsion"!
Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 5:49 am
by Macavity
Some of my students certainly seem to have suffered very badly over potty training in their childhood. However, I'm not sure that this is all that is to blame for their excessive fussiness and intolerance of anything which is even slightly ambiguous. I am involved in a teacher-training programme and also very often have school teachers assigned to my "open courses"; and I can only say that some of these people are amongst the worst bunch of "know-it-alls" that I have ever encountered. Little wonder that many of my students arrive at my door with a degree of psychological baggage that needs to be unpacked as we go.
Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 11:21 am
by lolwhites
I agree with Macavity. I once attended a residential course in Spain for Spanish teachers from all over Europe, and was surprised that so many teachers still clung to, and taught as gospel, grammar "rules" that made quantum theory look simple. No wonder my English classes in the UK were full of students who needed to unlearn all kinds of rubbish.
How many of us haven't rolled our eyes on hearing the words "but my teacher said..."?
Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:22 am
by fluffyhamster
That thread has really "hotted up" - flame-retardant underpants may soon be needed! Comments there on the wild gooseberry-bushfire raging um there would be welcome.