I think all my students despise me, how can I change this?

Question

I am an English language teacher and I only qualified about 6 months ago, so I'm very new to teaching. Last week a manager of an English language school in London said that he urgently needed a teacher for an advanced class and would I do it ( he only gave me two days notice), so I said yes, which meant I didn't really have any time to prepare any lessons. My lessons are three hours long and at the moment they're painfully dull and easy and all the students are looking at me like they hate me. Do you have any reccomendations for making a class more fun and interactive taking into account that I've only got a couple of hours to prepare. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou. x

Answer 1

Hmm.

I like teachers who are fun xD

Like adding humour to everything

It's only when people throw chairs etc at you that you'll know they hate you =/

xx

Answer 2

i agree with the statements above me..make it a fun class..ure only there a few days anyways..so y not?

Answer 3

The advantage to teaching adults is that they can tell you exactly what they want to learn.  Make them your partners in the enterprise, rather than trying to guess what they might want.  I always found with adults that acknowledging their strengths, and allowing them to feel competent, was really important.  If I had tried to act like an authority figure, I would have gotten nowhere with them, because they would feel demeaned and incompetent.  

Tell them that you need their help to make this class useful to them, and that you need their feedback.  Do early evaluations, so that rather than guessing that they hate you, you can get more useful feedback.  Good luck!

Answer 4

photocopy some articles and highlight certain sentences. put the class into groups and they have to match the highlighted sentences to technical words such as synonym. This wat they will understabd what certain words means.  even write technical words up on the boards and the class works in teams to select the one that matches what you are reading out e.g however, because, therefore          these are all conjunctions.   when done they can write their own small article on a hobbie they do and muct inclde one of each they have learnt.  hope this helps. x

of if they are younger then do it with nouns, adjectives etc

Answer 5

Ask your students what they're interested in, outside of learning English.  Then tailor your lessons as much as possible to those interests.  One thing I learned during my time teaching ESL is that the classes work best when you get the students to dictate what they want to learn. This is especially true for advanced classes.  

Also, four cups of coffee right before class.  If you're whirring around like a madwoman, it'll wake them up and get them involved.

In any event, good luck.

Answer 6

im not a teacher so maybe this isnt a good suggestion

but i always liked the teachers with imagination who could make what they were teaching relevant to my world with real-life examples

so maybe think of ways to do that

if youre enthusiastic that will rub off on students too

Answer 7

well i suggest you change your teaching styles, try using ice breakers for start. ask each and every student to introduce themselves and to share one thing about themselves to the class. you want to make sure they interact so the class could be a bit lively

Answer 8

You don't say what you are covering, but props and laughs and a bit of personal information are very helpful. You also don't say how old your students are... often I find it easier to get through to my poetry kids by including their choice of song lyrics in with the set works, they love this and often it's the first time they have found poetry relevant to themselves, even if it is cunningly disguised as Massive Attack lyrics :)

They are there to learn, that's half the battle won. Look forward to your time with them, ask them what they would like to do. If they say something silly like go for a picnic, do it if you can, make it relevant somehow to the material you are covering. I remember a wonderful evening camping (in tents) in the classroom with my kids, getting the full impact of a particularly scary book we were covering. Have fun, enjoy them and talk to them, I'm sure they don't hate you, why would they. If your classes are fun and different they will love and remember you forever. And just by asking them, you are showing them that their experience of the classes is important to you too! Best of luck and let us know how you get on!

Answer 9

I teach middle school/junior high school english right now, and I have to say that there are so many ways to make it more interesting!  You cannot lecture all the time or read to them all the time or have them read to you all the time...that's boring...we do a lot of role playing, group work, research projects, we play language jeopardy, all kinds of things...my students tend to walk out of my class a little more hyper than other kids.  I also do journal writings, and let some students share their thoughts and beliefs on hot topics in the news, media, etc.  These are just some ideas...dont forget...if its boring to you...its going to be 10 times boring to them....I always try to do something that will keep my interest...just some thoughts.

Answer 10

try treating them more like equals

Answer 11

i graduated a little while ago from high school, and most the ppl in my family are teachers, my father in particular is very popular with his class, it depends how old the class is, walk in enthusiastic but not to enthusiastic, and be calm and relaxed sorry to say but most new teachers are given a hard time.. because they are new.. but try and relax and make the classes interesting if that means standing on your desk saying captain my captain.. then you might want to change it a little.. but make the class interactive, try and make boring topics more interesting my relating them back to the class, have mini essays that are interesting like saying a rapping a poem.. good luck.. those who teach, love good luck!

Answer 12

well why dont you play the ball game through them a ball and ask them a question, or you could move all the tables and sit in a circle and takl about shake spear

Answer 13

They don't hate you, they are just bored. Turn the lessons in to games and figure out how the lesson applies to their life. Many times I try to find a popular song to introduce the idea of the lesson. They don't need to like you, they just need to respect that you are trying to teach them.