No matter how great a class is, there’s always that one kid that wants to cause problems or thinks they aren’t getting enough attention. There’s always a problem child somewhere. Or there’s a problem with the parents. Or the school wants something impossible.
I’m pretty sure I have more than my fair share of problem students. Each of my classes has at least one problem child. One class has 3! Then, I also get problem parents that I have to try to cater to.
What did I do to get so unlucky? One of my coworkers has only 1 problem child and he teaches 8 classes a week!
My youngest kids have the most behavior problems. With one class, it is the parents that are more of a problem than the students! Although, the students can cause quite a few problems if their own.
On the whole my classes are going well. The students are starting to learn the routine and are starting to expect to do certain things at certain points in class. We just need to work on getting them to wait patiently and not grab their bags in the middle of class.
Here are some of the more troublesome folks that I’ve met so far:
Problem Parents
Last week, a couple parents decided that they don’t trust me or my Chinese teacher as teachers. So, they stormed the class a couple times, disrupting my class and distracting the students. I don’t know anyone that would teach better from having parents coming in and out of the room constantly.
They have also turned most of the class against us, except for one of the quiet students who really likes me and doesn’t want to leave my classroom. The whole class will be given to a different foreign teacher. But, they never said when and all the other teachers’ schedules are almost completely full. So, I doubt the class is going anywhere anytime soon.
So, one of the kids whose parents are leading the charge against me, spent half the class today basically humping my leg. And I had so many kids put their hands on my ass while playing Follow the Leader, I thought I’d have to charge the whole class with sexual harassment.
I guess the kids really do like me, their parents are just being vocal and annoying about things that don’t really matter.
Random Crying
Today, I had a make up for my beginner class. The kids were happy and having as much fun as they can learning vocabulary, then all of a sudden one child starts crying. No reason whatsoever. He had been doing good. We were learning the last word and I was setting up for a game that we often play that the kids love.
I tried to calm him down, but I don’t really speak Chinese. The other student tried to help and was trying to distract the crier and show him the game is fun. But nothing worked.
I had to run out to get my Chinese teacher, who was talking to a parent. She talked with him while I played a game with the other student to keep him occupied. Eventually the crying stopped, and he played the game and was laughing. He told my Chinese teacher he didn’t know why he was crying.
Kids, man.
I had a kid in one of my beginner classes that always looked like he was about to start crying or had just finished. One class my Chinese teacher was outside with him for half of class because he was crying and the family member he came with wouldn’t do anything about it.
Bribes (stickers), fake yelling at my Chinese teacher, and a game were required to get him into the second half of class. The other students also told him to come in as we had been playing games and class was fun.
Next class, the kid’s uncle said it was our fault that he was always crying before class and we need to do something about it. It’s not the parents’ (who are never around) or the uncle’s fault or problem to deal with. But, it’s our fault and we have to do something in the 3 hours a week we see the child.
My Chinese teacher asked that they don’t come back to class.
Learning Difficulties
We recently reviewed what they had been learning in class for a few weeks. It was awesome. So much fun! They finally understood! They can say the sentences and do the verb actions. And, my current dream come true, we played charades! It was the highlight of my week! Yes, they really had no idea what they were doing, but I had fun and they mostly enjoyed themselves as well.
But, I had a make up with my worst student, language wise (this one). He has actually gotten worse than he was a couple days ago even though he reviewed the words! He was impressively bad.
He can’t sit or stand still for more than a couple seconds. If he’s sitting, his arms are always doing something, whether it is touching or playing with something he shouldn’t be or just moving his arms up and down the wall behind him. If he’s standing, he needs to be moving, usually at a run. He doesn’t walk for more than a couple steps. Standing still, he tends to fall over. We even looked at his legs to see if anything was wrong, but we’re English teachers, not doctors, so we didn’t see anything obvious.
He has issues speaking clearly. As I mentioned before, he doesn’t speak properly in English or Chinese. And he can’t say more than a couple words in a row without having issues and resorting to speaking gibberish.
He hasn’t learned 90% of the vocab. So, he can’t follow along in class and has difficulties playing any games. Sometimes he’ll know about half of the day’s vocab, but he never remembers any of it next class.
He can’t do the homework. He needs a family member’s assistance to do the online homework and there is no one around to help him. So, not all of his issues are his own fault, but it’s really hard to have him in the class.
He can’t listen or follow instructions. Because he has no idea what is going on as he isn’t learning the vocab. And, his Chinese is really behind. He also isn’t used to listening to others speak and he isn’t used to listening to get useful information. You know, just everything that goes on in a classroom.
When discussing with his dad, my Chinese teacher told him that he needs to speak clearly and talk to him. Dad replied, “That’s a good idea. I’ll have to start doing that.”
I’m terrified.
He’s definitely in regular school. How do his normal teachers handle him? Is he going to fail 1st grade?
I did hear that he was in an international kindergarten (for those outside China it’s a pre-school where the teachers speak both English and Chinese) but was kicked out due to these same behavior issues.
I’m not quite ready to give up on him or label him with ADHD or autism or anything like that. I have seen him do well, when he got the necessary support at home. He just needs that full time.
Shy Students
I had a make up student who got to write about a crazy robot. She didn’t talk much, but she did understand. There was a lot of nodding, smiling, and laughing. I couldn’t tell if she’s just shy or if there’s some other reason why she didn’t talk. Eventually, I met up with her regular teacher to discuss her unusual, to me, behavior.
Apparently, she’s just shy.
Too Much Work
In class right now, the students are learning family members and they’re supposed to be able to say how many people are in their family. Today, my Chinese teacher and I came up with a plan to get them there, in a month or two.
First we have to get to be able to say which family members they have in one long sentence. Then, we can count.
Then, we abandoned the plan as they need to learn tons of new vocabulary (5-8 words every class!) and I don’t have time in the schedule to work on this.
Illness
I’ve been working as en English teacher in China for about 2 months and I’m already on my second sore throat. Although, I think the second one turned into a cold. It progressed into a very annoying cough and difficulty speaking, which for a teacher is not a good thing.
A coworker got sick (just before my second sore throat started) and the Chinese teachers at his center kept trying to send him to the hospital.
Another coworker, years ago, when he first came to China had some sort of throat infection and spent a week at the hospital and needed antibiotics.
Little kids are walking, talking, sticky, germ factories. You will get sick. It’s inevitable.
When packing to teach in a foreign country, bring some medicine. You will need it. And send some throat drops my way. I’m almost out.
So what are some of your teacher horror stories? Or what advice do you have for a new teacher?
If you have any questions about any of the terms I’ve used, look in the glossary.
My TEFL Adventure 