#15 Classroom Dynamics
Entry posted by Sofa King
351 views
When you teach at a typical Thai school, you usually teach one grade level. Right now I teach eight M4 classes (kids aged 15-16) and three M2 classes (13-14). I teach each class twice a week for about 50 minutes each day, though the kids are always late, so there's probably only about 35-40 minutes of actual teaching.
Each class is numbered based on their ability. My 4/1 class is filled with very bright, respectful, well-behaved kids, and they are a joy to teach. My 4/13 class, on the other hand, is the most apathetic group of "alleged" students I've ever taught. Usually even the lower ability classes have at least 2-3 students who are above average students and want to learn, but not this 4/13 class. There's a group of girls who are respectful, but they're uninterested in English, usually spending more time on their make-up than studying. There are the quiet students - boys and girls who do the minimum but almost never participate in class. There are the talkers - 5-6 students who, while not troublemakers, can't seem to STFU. Then there are the belligerents: a group of 7-8 boys who only come to class to cause trouble. They sleep, talk, play on their phones, hit each other, make as much noise as possible with chairs and pens and whatever they have. When I call on them they usually give a smart-assed answer in Thai ("Alai wah?" is their favorite response, which roughly translates to "What the fuck?"), much to the amusement of the rest of the class. It's just an unpleasant experience every time I attempt to teach them.
My best class is my 4/7 class. They're not as bright as my 4/1s or my 4/3s, but they are more fun and better at in-class participation than those other classes. The group as a whole just seems to have a great personality, and most of them are genuinely interested in learning. It's a big class - about 50 students - but it's about 80% girls, and as most teachers will tell you the girls are much easier to deal with than the boys.
The M2 classes are sometimes an exception to the "girls are better" stereotype. M2 is probably the most difficult level to teach because most of the kids are going through puberty, and emotionally they're all over the place. This is the level where you start to have little packs of "bad girls" - the ones who have discovered the power they have over the opposite sex. I had an M2 class at a previous school with a group of "bad girls". They would alternately flirt with me and be disrespectful to me, looking for the attention they weren't getting at home. Sometimes it's sad because you see them making poor choices that you know they'll regret later. One girl was a good student the first half of the term, then she started missing a lot of classes in the second half. Even though she didn't come to my class, she could be seen everyday hanging out with her "bad boy" boyfriend. He was a drop-out, probably 17-18 years old, always hanging around the school on his motobike, and she'd be there with him. I heard from other teachers that he was allegedly selling drugs to students. Of course the school administration did nothing to keep him out. She'll likely drop out, get pregnant, after which he'll abandon her . . . well, any guy who has been to Pattaya has heard the story before. She'll probably be working at a Soi 7 beer bar in a couple of years.
I teach two lower-ability M2 classes: 45-50 kids in each class, mostly boys, and they are always a handful. I literally spend half the class time on discipline, constantly yelling at the boys to sit down, stop talking, stop hitting, etc., etc. As I entered one such class the other day, one of my trouble makers was wrestling with another boy, screaming at the top of his lungs. Moments later I took roll and noticed he was not present. I gave them a listening test that day, and about 20 minutes into the test the trouble maker shows up just outside the classroom door, making noise, playing around with another boy, just being disruptive. I chased him off, threatening to take him to the office, but he just ran off laughing. Now, not only do I have to get him to make up the test he missed, but I'll also have to give him some sort of punishment during our next class. It's a constant battle with these classes.
There are good moments, watching the good students learn and grow, but there's an awful lot of BS to put up with as well.
Each class is numbered based on their ability. My 4/1 class is filled with very bright, respectful, well-behaved kids, and they are a joy to teach. My 4/13 class, on the other hand, is the most apathetic group of "alleged" students I've ever taught. Usually even the lower ability classes have at least 2-3 students who are above average students and want to learn, but not this 4/13 class. There's a group of girls who are respectful, but they're uninterested in English, usually spending more time on their make-up than studying. There are the quiet students - boys and girls who do the minimum but almost never participate in class. There are the talkers - 5-6 students who, while not troublemakers, can't seem to STFU. Then there are the belligerents: a group of 7-8 boys who only come to class to cause trouble. They sleep, talk, play on their phones, hit each other, make as much noise as possible with chairs and pens and whatever they have. When I call on them they usually give a smart-assed answer in Thai ("Alai wah?" is their favorite response, which roughly translates to "What the fuck?"), much to the amusement of the rest of the class. It's just an unpleasant experience every time I attempt to teach them.
My best class is my 4/7 class. They're not as bright as my 4/1s or my 4/3s, but they are more fun and better at in-class participation than those other classes. The group as a whole just seems to have a great personality, and most of them are genuinely interested in learning. It's a big class - about 50 students - but it's about 80% girls, and as most teachers will tell you the girls are much easier to deal with than the boys.
The M2 classes are sometimes an exception to the "girls are better" stereotype. M2 is probably the most difficult level to teach because most of the kids are going through puberty, and emotionally they're all over the place. This is the level where you start to have little packs of "bad girls" - the ones who have discovered the power they have over the opposite sex. I had an M2 class at a previous school with a group of "bad girls". They would alternately flirt with me and be disrespectful to me, looking for the attention they weren't getting at home. Sometimes it's sad because you see them making poor choices that you know they'll regret later. One girl was a good student the first half of the term, then she started missing a lot of classes in the second half. Even though she didn't come to my class, she could be seen everyday hanging out with her "bad boy" boyfriend. He was a drop-out, probably 17-18 years old, always hanging around the school on his motobike, and she'd be there with him. I heard from other teachers that he was allegedly selling drugs to students. Of course the school administration did nothing to keep him out. She'll likely drop out, get pregnant, after which he'll abandon her . . . well, any guy who has been to Pattaya has heard the story before. She'll probably be working at a Soi 7 beer bar in a couple of years.
I teach two lower-ability M2 classes: 45-50 kids in each class, mostly boys, and they are always a handful. I literally spend half the class time on discipline, constantly yelling at the boys to sit down, stop talking, stop hitting, etc., etc. As I entered one such class the other day, one of my trouble makers was wrestling with another boy, screaming at the top of his lungs. Moments later I took roll and noticed he was not present. I gave them a listening test that day, and about 20 minutes into the test the trouble maker shows up just outside the classroom door, making noise, playing around with another boy, just being disruptive. I chased him off, threatening to take him to the office, but he just ran off laughing. Now, not only do I have to get him to make up the test he missed, but I'll also have to give him some sort of punishment during our next class. It's a constant battle with these classes.
There are good moments, watching the good students learn and grow, but there's an awful lot of BS to put up with as well.
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