On weekends I "moonlight" as a German teacher for teenagers, at a local Bay Area Saturday German School. The school is set up with classes for all ages, where the students learn basic speaking, reading and writing skills. Most of these kids are part German, so they hear the language frequently at home or during vacations abroad.
About half the kids in my class come to school because their parents make them. The other half come and get annoyed by the bad behavior of the rest. I have to deal with disciplinary problems. I have kids brining Ipods into class. I have kids who complain they're too cold, and others who complain they're too hot. I have kids who cuss when they get a question wrong. Other ones cuss at eachother. Keep in mind, these are "smart" kids - who are learning foreign languages on Saturdays.
This morning, my class was a zoo, as usual. "Kevin" brought his Ipod. I told him to take it off. He took it out of one ear. I ignored him. "Mary" complained she was cold (it was kind of cold). I told her she could sit in front of the window, where it was sunny. She refused (she prefers to sit "with the girls", and not in back , by the window with "the boys"). I told "Mary" she could stand in front of the heater. All the girls joined her, forming a gaggle in front of the heater. All the kids stood up, "in rebellion". I had to start yelling and tell everyboday to take seats.
Then, for no reason at all, they start yelling at each other. They rarely make the effort to speak any German, unless I start yelling for them to be quiet, and pay attention, and answer the godd- question. (I don't say godd-) to them. I do a fair amount of yelling. I feel sorry for the adult class next door. I am surprised they have not complained to me yet about the zoo we have.
Here is what we did in 2 1/4 hours of class.
- We went over our dialogs for the "Adventsfeier" (Christmas Party). Our class are narrators for the fairy tale re-enactment to take place next Sunday. All they have to do is learn 2 or 3 sentences each. Though I have been asking my students to learn their parts for 3 weeks, hardly any of them know it. They mispronounce words, mangle phrases, and skip punctuation.
- We listened to some tape dialogs for our German textbook. We listed 2 or 3 times to each, because usually, while the tape was playing, someone (usually "Kevin" or "Matthew") was talking. In an addition, I did not realize that since our new texbooks are East German, the people speaking the dialogs all would have East German accents. That's like teaching kids english listening to a bunch of people who grew up in the Kentucky mountains.
- We went over the concept of "split verbs". I started handing out chocolates to whomever got a question right or could give me a correct example. That got some reaction. Mostly, yelling, in english.
- We played a German word-game (where more yelling occurred, between students)
Basically, kids these days, even smart ones, don't listen to you unless you "get tough" with them. This is too bad, because it makes the job of teaching more like a policeman. I won't tell you what I'm getting paid to do this, but let's just say, I'm not doing it for the money.
I will keep you apprised ...
