I am so incredibly burned out right now. I have been feeling this way since Chuseok. I cannot get excited or interested in teaching again. I don't know how to get rid of this feeling.
I have shown the movie "The Incredibles" to buy myself some time. It has been 2 weeks of that movie, and I'm still not over it. I found a superheroes project online for the students to do, everything is done for me, I just have to follow the directions... I can't even think about starting it.
Maybe the problem is that no matter what I prepare, my students don't like it. I spend time making imaginative lessons, using power point and fun things. They look at me like "is that all you got?" I give my lessons to other EFL teachers around the world, and they write back about how much their students just loved the lessons, and how much fun they had, and how much they all learned. Jerks.
Part of it is the fact that I've been here for six months now. I just cannot get out of this funk. I need something or someone to help me out here. Luckily, I only have to teach through November and December. The students have January and February off for break. Then I teach March and most of April, and I'm done. I'm basically counting the days.
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4 comments:
dan, i wish i could come over there right now and go to Soda Star with you. At least! then i would like to come to class with you and see this bunch of hard to please children you have there....sounds like you're really having to dig down deep to get thru it there...
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Hang in there!
When I taught one semester at a local university, there were many times my students appeared not to give a damn and hated everything i had them do. (because I had them actually do work in class.) But you know what? Many of them learned the material in spite of their attitude. I took pride and personal satisfaction in the group of students who earned high marks, and those who really made an effort to attend class and participate. The rest of them, I learned I had to just disassociate because i couldn't let their negative attitude bring me down. All you can do is bring your A game and try to make it interesting and informative, which it sounds like you're trying to do. Just do the best you can and let the rest go. If the students are disrespectful, hostile or resist your attempts to teach them or help them in any way, F--- them 'cause you're outta there next year. You don't deserve to be treated like that anyway.
You seem like a really dedicated teacher who cares. Don't let those kids hurt your self esteem or take their negativity personally which I know is hard.
Keep your chin up and push through it. You're a strong person.
yes...Shari's is a grand idea! Don't beat yourself up about this...remember way back in May when you wrote this?
"On top of this normal behavior, my school is a vocational school, and the vast majority of high school students have no interrest in learning English. Sure, if you want to get a good job working for Samsung or LG you have to have excellent English skills. But the fact is that every student is forced to take English, so the one's that gave up long ago are still being forced to work at it. Getting these students to speak English is like pulling teeth.
This is my life, for 22 hours a week. 22 classes that do not want to be there, that do not want to learn English. This is not the "reality" that exists in my American mind. How strange it is when actual reality butts in and ruins everything."
So you know, you can't let it get to you too much...they are what they are...and it has nothing to do with you. Do not measure yourself by them. You can lead a horse to water....
Namaste...
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