I have one class twice a week with four students about to enter middle school in a couple weeks. One of the girls is very talkative, and fun to have in class. The other three will barely say a word. Sometimes they won't talk even if they are directly addressed.
Yesterday, the talkative girl was absent. I started class with a game, trying to get the students relaxed and talking. It was a game I found on an TEFL website - students try to ask questions that get the teacher to say yes. For example: "Is your name Tom?" "Are you wearing a shirt?" and so forth. It's a big hit amongst the younger classes, and it's really cool hearing the little kids use full sentences (otherwise they almost never do).
With this older class, however, there was nothing. I got one kid to ask a question, but the other two just sat there. I tried to help them along, basically making the sentences for them, but still nothing. I asked them if they'd rather read from the textbook. Of course they didn't answer, so we did the textbook. At least they were "talking" when they read out loud from the book.
Afterwards I told Jason about the class. He'd had similar experiences with them. They are like kids anywhere who go to school because they are forced to, and they don't really care about the subject. I probably wasn't much better as a Spanish student.
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