Most ESL students don’t do goofy things just to irritate the teacher. Usually, they are unaware of how they are coming across or not aware that they are acting differently from the other students or even what is expected of them. These are some of the habits students tend to bring to our classes:
- Chronically arriving to class late
- Text messaging during class
- Not paying attention
- Chatting with classmate
- Not participating in a group
- Calling out answer before others get a chance
- Sitting in the back of the room day-dreaming
- No eye contact to teacher or classmates in a group
- Speaking own language in a group
- And more
To circumvent these habits and help students develop an awareness of expectations, in the two most recent ESL programs that I’ve taught in, we included some skits during our orientation of new students or during a workshop for students after the term had started. Not only did the students seem to enjoy them, but also we noticed far fewer students coming to our classes with these behaviors.
Common Sense Teaching ESL 