I walk into the classroom, bag over my shoulder with my papers, book, and pen. A genuine smile adorns my face. I love doing what I do. After summoning the energy like a Japanese animation character powering up his energy attack (yes, I’m that kind of girl), I am ready to greet my students. “Hello!”
Silence.
Undeterred, I try again. “Hey, guys!”
A few grumbled, “Hi…Hello, teacher…”
A third attempt, “C’mon, guys! Let’s try again! HELLO~~!” Smile always in check.
In unison, “Hello…”
For two out of my eight conversation classes that I teach this semester, this is a common occurrence. I want to start the class out on a happy, excited note. Set the tone right. I understand that English is often a sore subject for many of the students, so my classes consist mostly of activities and very little with a book open in front of them, me lecturing them to oblivion.
And for a majority of the classes, there is active talking going on in English, laughs, smiles, just an overall good flow to what could otherwise be a very painful two-hour class.
Naturally, I would reflect on what was wrong with my lesson. Were the activities not conducive to that topic? Did I explain it wrong? Was it not organized well? If there is a glaring issue, I will make a few adjustments to the lesson in preparation for the next few times I have to teach it that week.
This usually works well. Last week was Chuseok vacation so the students who get the lessons normally without any ‘hiccoughs’ are getting the beta version of the class. As usual, they are talkative, engaged, and the class flows well. So what’s the problem in the other two classes? Is it them or me?
How much of a lesson is made up of the teacher and how much is the personalities in the classroom?
More than this, should I just settle for a quieter class with these group of students and is anything actually wrong with that? They do the assignments asked of them. Shouldn’t that be enough?
From where I am sitting now, I am leaning towards accepting the class’s personality as they are. I wouldn’t ask someone to change how they do something just because it isn’t how someone else does it or in accordance with my particular expectations. So should a teacher try to change her students?
I would love for other teachers to share any insights they may have or offer their experiences below!
Erika Choe 
Do you teach my first class on Monday. I totally lost it and told them they’d get no participation grade at all. Only 3 students worked for the first 40 minutes. The rest sat in silence or messed around despite me prompting, checking they understood instructions, etc. Second class, same plan, totally different. I’m so annoyed at them, which sounds unprofessional as hell but they got me riled.
I also know I’m polite all the time and get rudeness in return, which just makes me wonder if they were only ‘good’ last semester before they found out how easy it is to pass the course.
LikeLike