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Q: How to motivate wealthy H.S. students?
I have been teaching here for about 3 years and most of my career I'd say I have been pretty successful, However at my current position I am indeed failing, failing the students and myself which is disappointing. I teach in a public school and about 2 months after my arrival was asked to beging teaching TOEFL. (which is well beyond my students level) In addition this TOEFL class/public school has an agreement with a training school (off campus) that students, on any given day can choose to attend either the training school or our public school. So our classroom environment changes from day to day, 5 students Monday, 15 on Tuesday, 4 on Wednesday, 10 on Thursday (but only 9 that can speak English). The most successful classes I have with them are our reading and discussing classes. However, if a majority of the class is absent the students always suggest we watch a movie because of the low number of students, their interest level is particularly low.
What can I do to increase their interest? How do I motivate them?
Should I continue with the lesson I had intended, even if I arrive at the class to find 6 students?
P.S. the students know that TOEFL is important for their future, I have discussed it with them many times. However my school also lacks serious discipline as you can see by the freedom given to these wealthy students that make up our 'international classes'. They are given special privileges and also allowed to bring their iPhones, iPads and computers to class to use. This year I disciplined a girl for using her phone in class, she told the Chinese teacher and I was told that I can't take their phones away during class.
Suggestions? Help?
11 years 13 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
You are rowing a sinking ship.
The students are unmotivated.
The discipline is non-existent.
The school does not back you (how can you teach when students are playing with their phones and computers)
And if you fail them, they will simply "retest".
I would be "business as usual" in terms of teaching, even if only one student shows up I would give a "real" class. If you play games, if you watch movies, you are sabotaging yourself and throwing jet fuel into the fire. You will become, and I hesitate to use this phrase, the "dancing monkey".
I would also penalize lateness and absences.
Then, once my contract is over, I would move to another school, preferably university, which is a little less challenging than elementary/high school.
It seems to me that the school just wants you there "for show" and to make them money, not to teach.
Good luck.
Yep, like GuilinRaf said, teach the students who actually want to be taught. Due to the fact you can't do anything about the rest of the spoilt brats, ignore them.
As long as they don't make noise leave them be. (unless they disrupt by talking then give them hell!)
apple has some apps for usage on iphones for the ielts and toefl, but i doubt they would use them, you can do a 2 minute talk , record and send to britain for suggestions and score for grammar and fluency, wish this shit was around when i was young but i was from the poor side of town, so would not have helped me anyway. the only way to motivate rich kids is to offer them reason for leaving china, independence, new adventure, some videos of foreign students, have the same problem, we use skype to show real classroom courses from canada and the kids activities but we still have slackers that dont want to go and parents are pushing them.
Give them a pep talk tell them a true inspiring story to try and motivate them. One that will make them see the light and make them humble.
DaqingDevil:
Give a Chinese kid a pep talk??? Can you record one that you have done and put it online so we can listen? Get some pointers?
Well... yeah. Good luck on trying to get them to take the subject more seriously. But you know what? This is a problem that teachers all over the world have an issue with--their students just don't give a crap.
You need to adjust your teaching style. I've been teaching ESL/IELTS/TOEFL for three years in China, and am a very popular teacher. My students don't give a crap, either. But does that mean that your class has to suck? No! Make it fun for them (they will still learn). It'll make your job more fun, too. Think back to when you were in high school. Who was your favorite teacher? Mine was always the one who was a little relaxed and made an effort to make the class enjoyable. I always did better in those classes, too.
Your classes don't have to be so "by the book". Okay, so they need to study for their TOEFL. It may take a little extra planning, but you can incorporate fun activities that have them learning what they need to learn, too. These kids spend countless hours studying rhetoric memorization. Your TOEFL class can be much more flexible--and how you treat your students makes a difference, too. For example, I am relaxed with my students, but they know how to behave in my class, too. A rule that I have in my class is "no Chinese! If Chinese is to spoken, it can only be spoken by me!" Then, even if they whisper something... it's ten push-ups. It cracks the other students up when another student has to do them, and usually I only need to implement that rule once for each class.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that... yeah. These students can be a pain in the ass. But this our job right? Who wants to work in a job they hate? So, change things around so that you can enjoy it a little more!
