ESL Students: The Usual Suspects

05/21/09  Print This Post Print This Post    5 Comments      Written by Sarah Menkedick
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Student by foundphotoslj. Feature photo by Okko Pokko

Sarah Menkedick introduces four types of students in your ESL class.

There’s the guy who’s really interested in grammar and can’t stop asking you why the present perfect form of run is irregular.

He pores over his book every night and could present a thesis on the use of adverbs of frequency, but if he actually needs to bust out a comprehensible sentence in casual conversation, he’s floored.

There are the two or three middle-aged workers who’ve randomly decided they should learn English, gotten really pumped about it during the first week, and then promptly grown bored.

Now they recite new vocabulary words as if they were heavy rocks dropping with a thud.

There are the keen university students who want it, need it, soak it up with the desperation of a man trying every trick he knows to get the woman he wants.

They grapple with the language, play with it, try to please it and alter it a bit to suit their needs. They could use more practice, but they’ve got skillz in place for the moment when they actually meet a foreigner.

And then there are the rare students who soak up language like the proverbial sponge, who will always have a four-year old’s capacity for absorbing new vocabulary and grammatical structures.

There are, of course, many more types of language learners.

Which one are you?


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About the Author

Matador ID: SarahMenkedick

Matador Contributing Editor Sarah Menkedick is a freelance writer based in Oaxaca, Mexico. Her writing has appeared in print and online publications, including Literary Traveler, Abroad View magazine, and National Geographic Glimpse. She has traveled, lived, and taught on five continents, and is constantly in pursuit of spicy food, dark beer, and new places to run. Check out her website of photography and creative nonfiction inspired by travel.

5 Comments... join the discussion!

  • Turner replied on May 21, 2009

    Oh, com’n Sarah, you know there are more types than that in Japan:

    - The Office Ladies and moms who love to gossip with each other in the middle of class
    - The retired salaryman types, who, IMHO, are the best students
    - The 17-18 year olds who are good enough with the language to be in an adult class, but to shy to say anything once they arrive

    etc, etc.

    How goes it over there?

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  • Sarah replied on May 21, 2009

    Hey Turner!

    It goes! My students are all 17-18 year old girls at this all women’s university, and they’re for the most wonderful. I could do a whole different post about the types of learners you find in a class of fifteen teenaged girls….this post was based off of Mexico for the most part, since I haven’t taught at a language school in Japan. C’mon, give me some more types! I know you can do it!

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  • joshywashington replied on May 22, 2009

    in Vietnam I had a class of 5-9 year old who knew only random pop cultural references…my best strategy was acting like a clown, watching Nemo and the hokey pokey.

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  • Shreya replied on May 23, 2009

    How about bored uninterested high school students who’re being forced to do an extra ESL class by their economics teacher because their writing isn’t up to scratch? Also, how about this bunch when they’re nearly your age and just last year, you were their senior in the same school? No, I suppose that’s not the scenario we’re talking about here, but that’s the extent of my ESL/writing skills teaching experience. Gaah. It was hard work to bring some of them around, but worth it. I’ll never forget the experience, at any rate :D

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  • Rambo replied on January 28, 2010

    Let us not forget the 19-30-year old ESL student who comes to the U.S. for several weeks to “study” English. They are really at cross-purposes; they want to relax, party and have fun, yet they claim they are “serious” about learning English. However, they typically never do any homework, come to class late, never remember anything you told them the day before and seem peeved when you correct their grammar or pronunciation. Loads of fun. They then have the gall to say the class was “boring” or “too easy”. As if content would have made a difference anyway! These are the kind of people who just like to complain, and no matter what you do as a teacher they will find fault with it. I don’t understand this type of student because typically they are not going to use any English once they get back to their country, so their motivation to learn is typically low. Of course, this begs the question of why they came to “study” in the first place…

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