Seems like I’ve been complaining about the same students, week after week. These days I go into class expecting something to be amiss, and I try to catch the same three or four students doing something wrong again and again. It’s beyond predictable at this point and is now just part of the routine of my day. How are they going to be bad today?
Today was dedicated reading day for one of my classes. The students have already done the work in the book, and it’s my job to get them to review. I’ve adjusted to my job as a human radio, reading books and having the class repeat after me. It’s tedious and boring, but these kids outnumber me and I can’t do individual reading without someone getting bored as their turn comes around. I usually read with my eyes down on my paper, but today the dialog was simple enough for a quick glance down to keep them reading as I scanned the mischief makers for problems.
I caught someone simply mouthing the words instead of actually reading. I stopped the lesson and made them read the same sentence again in front of everyone alone. The student couldn’t read unaided. He wasn’t paying attention in class and I caught him. Not only did he not know where we were, he couldn’t read without my help. I told him to follow along in the book by putting a finger on the words as we read them. I caught two more students doing the exact same thing. They were staring off into space as we read, and only one of them could read without any help finding the place or knowing what the book said. They did this multiple times after I started to catch students and started punishing them too.
One of the students said, "They are lip syncing!" I was surprised they knew the word, but that’s exactly what they were doing.
After class, the two students that couldn’t read anything tried to run past me out of class. I caught them both and made them stay after class. The scary head teacher listened to what was going on in class after I explained, and I caught bits and pieces of her rant as she started scolding the students. The part where she said, "You are lip syncing what your teacher reads and you think he wouldn’t notice? Do you think he’s a moron? He’s trying to help you read!" made me smile. I walked out to go to the bathroom, make some copies, and to get a drink of water. By the time I came back, one of the students was in tears, and one of them had their heads on their chest in deep contemplation. They missed their buses and needed to get rides later, which made their punishment extra lengthy too.
I’m so fed up with the same students ruining an otherwise borderline class. Their parents are just throwing money away, since these particular students have never passed a class test on the first try, done homework, or shown any interest in English ever. At least this time they were only hurting themselves and not stopping someone else from studying.
