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Ask for help > Problem with overbearing student
Problem with overbearing student
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linda306de
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Problem with overbearing student
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I have a problem in my adult education course. There are only 4 students, all advanced, and one of them is too dominant. Her English is the best of all the students - she has studied or worked in Great Britain and the U.S. She is also has teaching experience. So not only does she talk too much and intimidate others with her superior language skills, she also is bored with anything I would like to do and tells me each time what we should do.
Has anyone got any suggestions about what kind of task I could give her to challenge her?
What can I do to show her the boundries - she acts like she is the boss and the others are too intimidated to say anything.
Help!
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31 Aug 2010
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Lina Ladybird
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Hi, Linda! :))
I know from my own experience how annoying such a student can be.
If I were you, I �d ask her in private to hold the next lesson herself if she feels what you do is not good enough. Ask her why she is in that course if she thinks that she knows everything already. And I would choose exactly these hard words so that she knows she cannot go on like that!! Let her know that the others feel intimidated by her behaviour! Maybe she isn�t even aware of that fact.
On the other hand, I think it wouldn �t be so bad if she decided to leave that course, because the other participants would surely benefit if she cancelled it.
Sorry for being so harsh, however, there �s no other way I can think of... Moreover, you have to consolidate your authority as a teacher.
 - Silke |
31 Aug 2010
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franknbea
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Oh Boy Linda,
Do I feel for you, I know exactly how you feel.
Been there, done that, watched the movie ate the popcorn.
I �m afraid Silke �s suggestion is the only way out. In my case The school ended up give the student the money back for the last three lessons he attended just to get rid of him. He is annoying somebody else right now.
Please do try and reason with this lady first, but it sounds like she is intimidating you a little as well. maybe there is someone on here who has resolved a similar situation in a positive way, if so I �d also like to hear the solution.
I wish you all the best in this delicate situation. |
31 Aug 2010
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s.lefevre
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I would do as Silke said and tell her to hold the next lesson, but for real. She would have to prepare a lesson, explain the points to the other students, correct them and answer their questions. You would take notes and then correct her mistakes. English mistakes and mistakes as a teacher.
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31 Aug 2010
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Lina Ladybird
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I also meant that this lady should hold the next lesson for real, dear Sylvia!! I was serious about it, because when she has to teach the others standing in front of the class, she might not be so self-confident anymore afterwards even if she has some teaching experience...
She will soon notice that it�s not as easy as she may think to explain certain things to the students! ;)) BTW, I would give her a really, really difficult topic! 
Nasty me!!  |
31 Aug 2010
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s.lefevre
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I have done it once with a German student. He started learning German with me. He was really a very good student, I must say. Then he went to Germany and spent one month there. When he came back he tought that he knew everything and told me how to held my classes. He was perfect, he said, everything was easy and boring. He wanted to read something more challanging, because the easy books I gave him were not up to his category. It wasn �t true, I didn �t give him easy books. So, just for revenge, I gave him the Zauberberg from Thomas Mann. He read two pages and came to the conclusion that he had to learn a lot before being perfet. |
31 Aug 2010
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anitarobi
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It probably hasn �t got much to do with her actual knowledge, but character - overbearing and overly dominant people are like that - they can �t help themselves (or maybe they can?)...
The advice everyone gave you is really good - she has to be shown that she doesn �t know everything. Nobody does... Just use some CPE exercises - she �ll freak out... |
31 Aug 2010
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joy2bill
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What I like to do with such a student is put them on the spot. When another student asks you a question, don �t answer it...say to the overbearing one, "How would you explain that..." and keep following with the question , "but why?"
Often these students know about grammar or whatever but do not always use it correctly or at the appropriate time, nor can they explain why.
Correct them constantly even if it is only with pronunciation. |
31 Aug 2010
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viccxx
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Hi!
Well, I �ve had experience on both sides of the equation. I WAS the very advanced student who annoys everyone and has a say in everything and I honestly have to say I NEVER understood I was doing it. I was continuously bored in lesson and instead of setting a good example for the others (as the best student should do) I made them believe that you could be indifferent and lazy in class and still be good. My teachers were on guard all the time because I was in the extremelly bad habit of correcting every single mistake they ever did, and as we all know, everybody makes mistakes sometimes...I am ashamed of myself now that I remember what a punk I was.... At some point one of teachers called my parents and told them I wasn �t welcomed in the class anymore. It was a wakening call, let me tell you!!!!
Later, in one of my first classes I had such a student and I realised first hand what a headache I had been. The solution: I gave the students an assignment on a book. I explained the level of difficulty would be according to their skills..."Of course, since you .....are my very best student ever, you will get ....(insert name of the toughest book you can imagine)" She came back crying after a week... |
31 Aug 2010
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douglas
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The first thing you need to do is to talk to here off-line (in private) and expalain to her that you are the teacher and that here behavior is preventing you from effectively doing your job. Explain to her that apparent need to be accepted in the group by showing off her language skills and overbearing the others is having the exactly opposite effect and is hurting the others. If she has suggestions or criticism she can talk to you off-line, but not during class.
I personally would go on to tell her that every teacher must find their own teaching style--one that fits their personality. When she begins as a teacher she will find her own style and it will be different from yours. This does not mean yours is wrong--it is just different. For some students here style may end up being more effectiev, but for others it won �t work at all. That �s why not every teacher can effectively teach every student. Then tell her this may be one of those cases and perhaps she needs to find another teacher if she can �t accept your teaching style and integrate into the team better.
Douglas |
31 Aug 2010
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elderberrywine
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I �ve got a 14-year-old student like this in one of my classes.
It �s her parents who are systematically spoiling her.
Her parents, both teachers, are a terrible pain in the neck, constantly complaining about our school, the general level of teaching (not mine, thank God). I think they start analyzing and criticizing her school day the moment she gets home and starts talking about it - every day.
Her mother often turns up at school for looooong conversations with the teachers or writes letters, and we all cringe when we see her handwriting.
This girl is quite good at English, but not excellent. She has changed a lot over the last six months, especially the corners of her mouth which go down all the time now. She is becoming a bored, arrogant person who feels out of things (disinterested) because nothing we can offer her is good enough.
Needless to say she has no friends and no-one who wants to do group work or pair work with her.
What a pity, what a waste...
But I won �t try to do anything about it any more, I �ve had so many heated and tiring discussions with her mother that I �ve given up.
This girl will probably grow into someone like the lady you are talking about.
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31 Aug 2010
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