I wanted to keep some kind of journal about my life living in England, and I figured what better way to do that, while also keeping my friends and family up to date, than with a blog. So here it is - enjoy; I know I am!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Throwing Chairs


So I survived my first week of teaching...

Teaching in Canada didn't really prepare me for the Children of England (this COULD be the title of a new horror film; one where students of different shapes and sizes viciously attack their teachers in various ways, all for their mere pleasure -- seriously consider this Darryl).

I'm teaching at a community school called Holmesdale Technology College - it is actually a nice school to look at -- two years new with all the technology a student or teacher alike could ask for. But don't let the pretty exterior fool you into thinking the students are equally as lovely. I really don't think they have EVER been told to put up their hand before they speak. I'm talking 25 kids yelling over one another at the exact same time, all while you are trying to ask them to be quiet, yet failing because, with all of their own self-generated noise, they can't hear you. Thus, the yelling begins. And it (the yelling) basically consumes you for three one-hundred-minute classes a day. After Monday I really didn't think I would have a voice come Friday. Lucky for me, I do.

Now let me discuss the ATTITUDES of (most of) these children. Three letters should do it: B-A-D.  I mean, they really have absolutely NO desire to learn. Reading this you might say to me, "Sarah, the students don't want to learn where I teach either." Believe me, your students-who-don't-want-to-learn are little learning angels compared to mine. It's like, when I ask them to write something down, I might as well have suggested they lock themselves in a room full of garbage (sorry students, "rubbish"), and spend an entire week sorting through it to find a very small dictionary which they will then have to copy out from front to back. They are DISGUSTED with me for even SUGGESTING that they pick up a pen -- that is, if they brought a pen at all. Oh yes, I am lucky if my students bring supplies with them. In fact, every teacher has to keep their student's workbooks in the classroom, because if we don't, they will be lost within the first week.

Behaviours are also quite crazy. Back-talking, refusal to do work/be quiet, flat-out SCREAMING and swearing at other students in the class who they may not - scratch that - DEFINITELY DO NOT like...the list goes on and on. AND THEN, when I give out detentions, basically one of two things happen:
1) the student argues with me about it until I end up extending their detention time (when they...)
2) walk out, usually cursing along the way
THEN - my experiences of the actual detentions themselves (if the student shows up) consist of students lying on their stomachs sliding themselves around all the desks in the room, or flat-out telling me they wish they could throw a chair at me. Like I said: lovely, right?

Don't get me wrong though - a lot of the students ARE quite nice and likeable. We laugh and learn and genuinely have a good time. So it's not all bad. Except that there is a handlful of these other students who ruin it for everyone -- not just me, but the students who actually don't mind being told to write something down.

The plus side is that I have a very supportive English and Performing Arts department who definitely help me along the way, and who have given me lots of suggestions about how to deal with these things. I probably would have cried every day if it wasn't for them.

So - that was it. My first week of teaching in England. I was so tired after every day that I could barely keep my eyes open past 9pm. BUT, on the bright side, I am learning how to deal with these behaviours, and like my parents said to me, "You'll be able to teach anyone after this." Very true, and so I am happy for this learning experience, even if it does mean I'm going to need an endless supply of honey-tea so I can actually talk to my friends and family when I come home at Christmas. Hahahaha -- what can I do but laugh?

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