The Frozen Foreign Teacher

Hey, I wasn’t done complaining about the weather. Seriously, it’s bad. Every time I go to class, I think to myself, “There is no way I can tolerate this for another two months.” Those classrooms are so cold, it’s making my whole body ache. But when I ask the students to close the windows, they look at me like I’m crazy and keep trying to crack them open again when I’m not looking. What the hell is wrong with you people?!

The afternoon classes are even colder than the morning, and the last class of the day—the special class for the top students—makes me want to cry. I don’t even take off my beanie or coat or gloves to teach. It’s a shame I have to end the day in the coldest room in the school, because the special classes are the only classes that feel like actual teaching. Those students are also the only students I feel any kind of connection with since I see them twice as much as everyone else (i.e. two times a week).

One of these special students did have the nerve to tell me my normal lessons were too easy, though. I reminded him that I was teaching from their book, and he replied, “Yes, you teach us many words, but we already know these words. You should pick a topic, like traffic, and we can talk about it.” Except that if we did that, only five students would participate. Every class has about five know-it-alls (he being one of them), but the rest of the students are divided evenly into “I can answer if you give me a minute” and “Duh……”

My current lesson, for instance, pulls a list of vocabulary words straight out of the book, simple words like “important” and “able.” I know they know what these mean, but few of the students really understand how far these words reach. They just parrot safe, familiar answers, “Sleep is important. Eat is important. I am able to study.” What I want is for them to personalize the words and tell me something that is specifically important to them. All I get in return, though, is, “Duh……”

19 November 2009 | Teaching | Comments | Home
tags: weather

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