Thanks for your time

Published on by Yinglan

In several occasions during the past few years, I have been placed in a room full of strangers, mostly students I don’t know. Most of the times, they would ask me about my story but none of the times, they would give me the full allotted time to do. I mean, at least give me 2 minutes. I would’ve been grateful for four but come on, they would had lost their attention by then. After all, they are teenagers, they have a shorter attention span during adults.

In those occasions when I am placed in a classroom full of bratty hormonal teenagers who think life is all about shopping for brand-names like my cousin. He won’t wear anything that’s not a famous brand-name like Nike or Calvin Klein. That’s why we had to go to the Outlet Mall on Saturday, to get some brand-name clothing for him. Same with the ones I used to deal with at a time when people barely classified me as an adult.

Anyway, I am usually only given about 30 seconds to a minute to introduce myself before those people realize they don’t need to take me seriously. I can never figure out why until I looked myself in the mirror and realized I wasn’t intimidating enough. Clearly, you need to have an intimidating face to be a teacher and if you don’t, well, let’s just say you will come home screaming everyday crying out “Why!”

Anyway, at the start of the class, I would say something like, “I am Yinglan and you will be learning ESL from me.”

Then someone would raise their hand, “What is ESL?”

“English-as-a-Second-Language.”

“Anyway, I will be teaching you the basis of English starting with grammar and vocabulary.” Then I’d pass out the disclosure statement, all the teachers does it, that states my rules. I’d read each rule aloud, then have them sign it. Just like that, strict town and anxiety was over. They began talking and not listening to me.

They must have sensed something about me that I couldn’t sense myself. They have decided to not take me seriously. That’s why I like blogging by the way, people here don’t know who I am, they don’t know what I sound like. I am just another normal-ish person. If I was given a chance to be in a room full of stranger that would give me 4 minutes of their undivided attention, I would be able to tell from life story and by that, I mean, the slightly extended version of “About me“.

9 thoughts on “Thanks for your time”

  1. If you ever have to do that again, just write your name on the board, tell everyone the first day of school should be eliminated from the schedule, call roll and have each student stand and tell the class where he/she is from, chat with each one briefly. Remember; your goal is just to get them to speak English in front of each other on the very first day. Praise them for their efforts, THEN introduce yourself. The first day of school students — especially ESL students — are so freaked out all they want to know is are they in the right room and are you a nice person. You don’t have to be intimidating. You can’t be. You’re a small, young woman. Go with your strengths. You and your students are in this together. I promise, it will improve your life. That’s from 17 years teaching ESL…and these days even a native speaker classroom is an ESL classroom.

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    1. Wow, you have completely different experience than me. I don’t have roll and I tried getting my students to speak English in front of each other for the entire time but nothing made them budge. So how can I praise them when there’s no effort and progress? They are not afraid too. I’ve walked around the hall and seen them speak English because only when they were coaxed but still, they spoke English. I think the new generation of teens are a little messed up and rebellious or maybe it’s just me.

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      1. You don’t have a list of students who are in your class? I just retired, Yinglan. I’ve been teaching this new generation until 2 months ago. 😉 A lot depends on what skill you’re teaching them and where they’re from. A sense of humor is a big help, too. I always found grammar and conversation to be the hardest skills — if they had nothing to talk about (no content) why should they talk? And the stupid stuff in a lot of ESL text books would make me shut up immediately. And many students think grammar is language so they are afraid to speak because they’ll make a mistake. Then, I just think grammar is useless until people are able to open their mouths and attempt to say something with confidence.

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      2. Yup, you don’t really need a roll when you only have a total of less than 10 students. The students that come to my class usually have the principal’s permission to skip their current class and come to mine instead.

        Also I don’t usually go with stuff from the books, I have my own material that I draw from when I was learning myself. So no books. I would give them a topic everyone’s familiar with but most of the time, they would say that they have too much homework and ask if they could do them and since it’s one of my duty to help them with homework, I just let them. However, the class after that, they would ask the same thing. I felt for their tricks, didn’t I.

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      3. Yep. We all do throughout our teaching lives. I learned the hard way that without a book, my students took me less seriously. It’s weird. They want ALL the conventions of school. I used roll and took attendance even in small classes for the same reason. It took a while to learn that… It also made me respect my students less, somehow. They were willing to be machines…

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      4. Yeah, I found that out myself. When you use your own material, students don’t want to learn but if you carry a book around, they pay attention just a little more. I got to the point that I just don’t want to go to work. I’m glad I quit because teaching is definitely not for me.

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      5. Teaching is absolutely not for everyone and even a person who is born to teach can reach a point where they just can’t do it any more. I loved it for 30 years, but then in 2010 a student threatened me over a grade (A-) and at that moment, a switch in my mind and heart went to the “Off” position. I found it very difficult to care about my students any more or have a positive attitude toward them. That student was the straw that broke the camel’s back. From then on, I didn’t see the bright side any more. I saw manipulation, dishonesty, laziness and all the ugly things that were always there. I had to struggle to see the good stuff whereas before, I ONLY saw the good stuff. It really broke my heart. I hung on until I could retire and now, like you, I’m glad I quit.

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