My first class is class 3 – ohhhhh class 3. There are 35 students, and I think 25 of them are failing the class. There are about 5 or 6 that are so talented and quick, but I don’t think that the rest even understand what I’m saying to them. This makes this class incredibly challenging not just because I have to balance the talented students with the rest of the bunch and make sure they don’t become bored or unmotivated, but also because I am being forced to teach a curriculum that is SO MUCH past their abilities. We’re reading 3 or 4 page stories, but they can’t even tell me where they live or how old they are. The fact that I am being faced with this problem tells me two things: 1) many of their parents are likely uneducated and therefore haven’t instilled good study habits in their children. Thus, many of them don’t do their homework and probably don’t understand how the value of education; 2) the teachers don’t care. I personally think that they look at their job more as a babysit gig than a teaching job. I think they just go into class, teach from page 1-100 of the book, and don’t put any thought into it. If they did think and care about their students, how did a class like class 3 emerge?
I’ve been very frustrated over it since the beginning but finally decided to do something about this situation after three quarters of the class failed an easy quiz on a chapter I’d spoon-fed them for 2 weeks. I have managed to switch things around with another teacher so that I can teach class 3 twice each day. The first time I will teach the whole class, but the second time I am only going to teach the 25 worst students and I am going to take them back to the basics of English – starting with nouns. This means more in class time for me and more prep time each day (which believe me, I already do enough, and now have the utmost respect for teachers) but if I am not here to actually help, then I may as well just go back to Canada. In fact, I told that to the teacher that I work with most closely at the school, because he asked me why I’m even bothering. He asked me how much I expect to accomplish with these kids in 5 weeks. I know he has a point, but if I don’t try, if I don’t give them a little something, then why did I even come? It would be selfish to say I came for myself and to gain some type of “life experience”. I’ll go back to Canada having grown as a human being, but leave these kids in the dust? No way, I can’t do that. Besides, in the few weeks that I’ve been here, I already see a change in the confidence and interest of many students. When I first started teaching, I pulled several kids outside a few times to talk to them individually and after that, I started paying a lot of attention to them – making sure they do their work, asking them to answer questions in class, rewarding them for effort. And, really truly, I can already see a light in their eyes that wasn’t there before. I am no angel or messiah, I just feel that a little attention, caring, and positive reinforcement goes a long way.
I’ve been very frustrated over it since the beginning but finally decided to do something about this situation after three quarters of the class failed an easy quiz on a chapter I’d spoon-fed them for 2 weeks. I have managed to switch things around with another teacher so that I can teach class 3 twice each day. The first time I will teach the whole class, but the second time I am only going to teach the 25 worst students and I am going to take them back to the basics of English – starting with nouns. This means more in class time for me and more prep time each day (which believe me, I already do enough, and now have the utmost respect for teachers) but if I am not here to actually help, then I may as well just go back to Canada. In fact, I told that to the teacher that I work with most closely at the school, because he asked me why I’m even bothering. He asked me how much I expect to accomplish with these kids in 5 weeks. I know he has a point, but if I don’t try, if I don’t give them a little something, then why did I even come? It would be selfish to say I came for myself and to gain some type of “life experience”. I’ll go back to Canada having grown as a human being, but leave these kids in the dust? No way, I can’t do that. Besides, in the few weeks that I’ve been here, I already see a change in the confidence and interest of many students. When I first started teaching, I pulled several kids outside a few times to talk to them individually and after that, I started paying a lot of attention to them – making sure they do their work, asking them to answer questions in class, rewarding them for effort. And, really truly, I can already see a light in their eyes that wasn’t there before. I am no angel or messiah, I just feel that a little attention, caring, and positive reinforcement goes a long way.
