|
Boredom in the ESL Classroom: What Every Teacher,
Student, Administrator, Supervisor, and Director Should Know.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"When I have occasionally set myself to consider the different distractions
of men, I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single
fact; that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber."
---- Blase Pascal, French philosopher. (1623--1662.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Teacher, I'm bored." "Teacher, this is boring. Can we do something else?"
"Teacher, you're boring!" "Teacher, are you bored?"
Who hasn't heard this from time to time? Just me? I thought so. But boredom in
the ESL classroom is a problem. I just know it. Even if we don't acknowledge it,
or do our best to ignore it in the hope that it will just go away. Like any
other social problem, we as educators must come to terms with boredom if we are
to help solve the problem.
One of the things we may not know about boredom is that it comes in many shapes
and sizes which contributes to its many perceptions. Blase Pascal was right. Man
has yet to find a way to stay quietly in his own chamber. We are by nature
restless beings, relentlessly seeking the next quick fix to our boredom, whether
it be drugs, alcohol, loveless sex, or ESL lessons. But that's just one way of
looking at it.
Another problem with boredom is that, at least from a Marxist perspective, it's
seen as primarily an aristocratic and bourgeois phenomenon. The upper class, and
to a slightly lesser extent, the middle class of any society can be found at the
malls purchasing overpriced and essentially useless items simply in order to
stave off any boredom that has invaded and infested every cell of their body.
The same can be said about people who spend hours on end in front of their
computers playing violent games, chatting provocatively to people they'll
(hopefully) never meet, and sending spam emails to others requesting them to buy
Viagra or donate money to their fictitious cause. All this because, as Pascal
said, they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber.
This is also the same boredom that has driven thousands of useless and desperate
people to seek refuge in English language schools, simply to escape the drudgery
of their domesticity. This boredom has become a huge social malaise--- perhaps a
malaise of the modernity of contemporary society. This malaise of modernity---
this boredom--- where just about everything has become easy and perhaps too
convenient--- is spreading like a cancer into the very heart and soul of
humanity.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"People of wealth and the so called upper class suffer the most from
boredom."
---- Arthur Schopenhauer, German Philosopher. (1788--1860.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The poor, at least the real financial poor, have precious little time for social
frivolities such as boredom. They're simply wondering where their next meal will
come from. Try living on a dollar or two a day, like a billion other people in
this world, and see if you have time to feel bored. But I do realize that the
Marxist perspective on this issue, although valid in a sense, is also a bit
simplistic. Of course poor people feel bored. Why wouldn't they? It's a human
emotion we all feel from time to time, isn't it?
When I hear of students complaining that they're bored, my first response, at
least to myself is, "So?" My next response is,
"I really don't care." Which is true. I can't see why I should. I can't see why
anybody should care. Education is the solution to boredom. Education offers
opportunities for the student that staying ignorant doesn't. It's that simple.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Work relieves us from three great evils: Boredom, vice, and want."
---- French proverb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But perhaps a better response to, "Teacher I'm bored", would be, "Then get a
job! Earn some money! Roll up your sleeves and get to work! Learn something! Do
something! Anything! But don't just stand there and complain that you're bored.
Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Help an old lady cross the street. Talk to God.
Make merit. Buy a beggar a meal. Anything! Go to a doctor. Increase your meds."
Okay, I'm getting a bit carried away. But you get my point. Doesn't the good
book say something about idleness being the devil's work tools?
The thing is--- and here is where I hope every language school director is
listening--- students are not necessarily bored by their ESL classes or their
teachers. Although certain ESL teachers and classes are boring from time to
time--- they can't always be fun and exciting--- the vast majority of ESL
students bring their boredom with them to class. And for a large number of
students, boredom is the main reason--- and, at times, the ONLY reason for
taking ESL classes! In other words, ESL classes and their teachers are NOT the
cause of the students' boredom. The students were bored long before they ever
got to the classroom.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You'll find boredom where there is an absence of a good idea."
----Earl Nightingale, American radio announcer, author, motivator, speaker.
(1921--1989.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boredom is not only a social and psychological problem, it is a social and
psychological disease. It is tough enough for us ESL teachers to teach even
under the best of circumstances, but when we are constantly faced with a
multitude of lifeless, listless people, made spiritually sterile and emotionally
bereft by their own hierarchical and conformist cultures, then the challenge of
teaching them anything at all becomes, at the very least, a herculean task.
Where there is "an absence of a good idea", there is also an absence of
curiosity and creativity. Where there is an absence of curiosity and creativity,
there is an absence of will. Now here's the herculean task of all ESL educators
teaching in conformist and anti-individual societies: To transform and reshape
societies where a great number of its people lack the basic human qualities and
characteristics necessary to build great and lasting civilizations; curiosity,
creativity, will, ambition, diligence, passion, desire, foresight, and a
profound social and spiritual yearning for self-reliance. Great and lasting
civilizations were built by people who possessed all these qualities to a
greater or lesser degree. Great civilizations and societies were built by people
who rolled up their sleeves and got to work--- boredom or no boredom.
The point and mission of any educational endeavor--- including ESL--- is to push
the process forward by improving the conditions of both the learner and the
society in which the learner functions. As long as this is being done, as long
as we as educators and learners continue to work together to ensure that the
process is moved forward, on however small or minute scale it may be, then
boredom--- and by extension--- just about all sentiment becomes a moot point. In
fact, boredom, and other similar social diseases, becomes an impediment and a
danger to the educational endeavor itself.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Lotte signed, a deep internal cadence, her face turning to the weeping
window. 'I'm bored Lulu. I'm not a bad person, but I'm bored. And it was a
little drama for me, you and Douglas. A woman can do a lot of damage just in the
name of maintaining a bit of interest in this life.'"
---- Lotte Gerard. (A character in David Baddiel's novel "The Secret Purposes.",
2004.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then there are students who say they're bored because they know that they can
get away with murder. In the spring of 2003, I spent just over a month at an
adult language school in Istanbul. I was on a tourist visa having flown there
directly from Bangkok. (You can get a work visa for Turkey ONLY in your home
country.) I was teaching part time--- barely 10 hours a week plus another couple
of hours in something called a "Conversation hour" where you just sit and talk
to the students. It brought back nightmares of my Korea days.
Needless to say, these "Conversation hours" were a colossal waste of time.
Several teachers, myself included, were treated by the students with, "Teacher,
this is boring. Let's talk about something else", whenever they got tired with
discussing a certain topic, which only took most of them about 10 minutes. It
was not unheard of at this school for students to request another teacher, and
get it, just because they were bored. This is what happens when you allow
students to run the school where foreigners teach.
When it comes to boredom, the bottom line is simple. It's not that I can't do
anything with bored students. I simply won't. I suppose I can dance naked for
them or put on a clown's suit and juggle balls. That may make me a better clown,
but how will it make me a better teacher? A bored mind is a closed mind, and a
closed mind has no place in a place of learning and instruction. Period.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Only those who want everything done for them are bored."
---- Billy Graham, American Evangelist. (1918--)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Students from all walks of life must come to English class for a reason. They
must have a reason for being there. "I just wanted to get out of the house," is
not a good enough reason. "I just want something to do until my kids get home
from school," is not a good enough reason. "I'm just here because my parents
want me to be here," is not a good enough reason. "I'm just here because there's
nothing good on T.V. right now," is not a good enough reason."I'm just here to
find me a man," is not a good enough reason.
There are several good reasons to take ESL classes: Because you want to live and
work abroad; because you want to escape religious or political persecution;
because you have found the love of your life and want to move to his or her
country; because you're a single parent raising a child on your own, and you
want to make a better life for both yourself and your child; or because you
simply love to learn and want to better yourself as a human being. These are
great reasons to take ESL classes, and these reasons, as well as many others,
leaves the learner with very little room to feel bored.
For the last three months I have had the pleasure of having "Aung" in two of my
lower level classes. "Aung" is a young man in his 20's from Burma. He is living
and studying here in Bangkok, but is looking forward to going home one day. I
hope that one day soon he will go home to a free and democratic Burma. But I'm
glad to see that he's enjoying my classes and that he is not bored. (At least I
don't think he is.) He's been the brightest student in both my lower level
classes, and I know that he's there not only because he wants to be, but because
he feels that if Burma is to be free one day, he has to be. Now there's a reason
to be in an ESL class!
I also have "Yu" in the same class. Yu is a mom and a 28 year old nurse who
hasn't missed any of my classes. I'm also proud of her for what she is trying to
do--- carve out a better life for herself and her family--- despite the odds
against her. ESL students must take their fair share of the responsibility in
moving the education process forward, or else it's simply not going to work.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in
with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that
you had thought could never be yours."
---- Dale Carnegie, American author and trainer. (1888--1955.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is our collective responsibility as ESL teachers, educators, administrators,
principals, supervisors, and language school directors to remind our students
everyday of their responsibility to come to class with a purpose; with a reason
for being there, far beyond the ridiculous and mundane, "I have nothing better
to do." We must continue to remind our students of their collective
responsibility for making both themselves and their society better.
I'm not sure what happened to "Thanya", the 23 year old who dropped out of my
writing class because she was bored. I do know that she was an only child, that
her parents bought her a car, and that she had a cell phone far more expensive
than mine. I also know that when she complained to one of the AUA managers about
her boredom in my writing class, it wasn't taken too seriously. I'm glad that
Tanya's complaint wasn't taken too seriously. There's only so much we ESL
teachers can do (and should do) for someone so easily bored by life's
circumstances.
I can still remember my paternal grandfather Fred, who left his small Romanian
village to come to Canada in 1928. He had very little with him except a strong
desire and a deep determination to carve out a life for himself in the new
world. He married and had four children, one of which became my father.
Grandfather Fred worked extremely hard, six sometimes seven days a week, holding
down two full time jobs and, at times, taking on extra work when required.
Eventually his family did achieve middle class status, a status that I enjoyed
throughout my life as well. But I have never forgotten how hard my grandparents
had to work to make that happen.
I wonder if Thanya, and others like her, are aware of how hard their ancestors
struggled in what is still a third world country. I wonder if Thanya, and the
others like her who have reached the 'upper-middleclass' of their society, can
still see the dire poverty of all those around them. Or have they shut
themselves out to whatever they don't care to see? Her English was good, very
good. And I not only wonder why she needed to learn English, but IF she needed
to learn English.
Connecting the individual's need to learn English to that of the greater good is
one of the reasons why we're here. An ESL teacher must see the relationship
between the individual's desire to improve himself and the societies need to
better itself. This is the definite and clear link that binds us all to our
goals and mission. ESL students must see and feel this as well. They must see
and feel how the betterment of their lives will contribute to the overall
improvement of their society. And language school directors and managers must
also see this connection so that when a students walks into their office
complaining that they are bored, the appropriate response will be,
"(Student's name), you have an amazing opportunity here. Not only will you learn
something, but you have the added opportunity (and responsibility) to take your
new-found knowledge and transform your society, making it a far better place to
live not only for you and your family, but for many others around you. Life
offers us so few of these pivotal moments. Let's not forget that there are
others out there not as fortunate as yourself. So let's take this opportunity,
(student's name), and make a difference."
There you have it. I said my piece about boredom in the ESL classroom. I just
hope you weren't too bored reading it.
Steve Schertzer, esl_steve@excite.com
August 1, 2005.
|
