After a 20 year absence, I have returned from teaching in the mainstream British secondary education system to teaching EFL ……and it is quite clear that the kids who I encountered on this year’s EFL international summer course are different to the ones I used to teach back in the early 2000’s. The world has changed significantly. …..
From my experience this summer, by and large, gone are the genteel EFL students of yesteryear with their youthful inquisitiveness and extrinsically-motivated aspirations of self-betterment passed down by sensible parenting. Instead, this year, (partly due to the Pandemic no doubt), they were replaced with entitled, intrinsically-motivated & superbrat kids who were often unable to see the benefit of doing things beyond their own selfish needs. This ranged from questioning why they should hand in their mobile phones on a daily basis to littering the school despite the syllabus including a frequently taught topic on how to become good global citizens.
My PGCE teacher training for secondary school teaching (as well as considerable practical experience), has thankfully taught me the necessary skills in classroom behaviour management. That said, there were occasions this summer when I had to ‘put my foot down’ with one or two individual students. Unfortunately, some of my EFL-only trained teaching colleagues were not so lucky and had to deal with some unruly students without sufficient training. By the end of the day, some of these colleagues looked like they had been dragged through a hedge backwards with their dignity challenged somewhat.
On reflection, it would appear that these relatively-new teachers are perhaps being short-changed in their 120 hour teacher training certificate or even longer diploma courses for which they pay a tidy sum. Yes, they need to know the pedagogical theories and frameworks for teaching effective lessons but with the rise of the superbrat generation, should the courses not include a module on behaviour management and inclusiveness to guarantee better classroom management? After all, this is considered a hugely important aspect of teacher training within mainstream education and without which, lessons cannot run smoothly. A disruptive classroom is the enemy of sustainable learning……..for which the parents of these self-inflicted superbrats should also be questioning the value of sending their prima donna children on such courses – which are also a tidy sum.
Better Language Skills 