# Teaching > General Teaching >  The Way of Teaching

## white camellia

Hi, can someone give me suggestions on how to teach rebellious high school students who dislike English?

Your pieces of advice will be much appreciated.

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## genoveva

Here's a book a friend of mine recently recommended:
Teaching Discipline and Self-Respect by SiriNam S. Khalsa
www.CorwinPress.com

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## white camellia

Thank you, genoveva. I've checked the site, and I will go to read the articles there. That sounds a great book your friend recommended. Hope I had a chance to read that.

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## jon1jt

you have to somehow convince them as to why it's important that they should learn the language. kids need to see the utility of a skill or they see no point in investing the time to learn it.

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## motherhubbard

I can’t imagine not liking English! I even liked diagramming sentences- I’m a dork though.

I remember one really fun thing we did once with Shakespeare that really helped those who were confused and was fun for everyone. The “actors” of the different parts dressed like the stereotypical jock, nerd, wallflower, cheerleader and so forth and then acted out the parts of a Mid Summers Nights Dream and moved around and talked like those stereotypical characters using Shakespeare’s dialog. Very fun.
(I wouldn’t like to diagram that- I’m the queen of run on sentences!)

Good luck with the school year!

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## jon1jt

bring in a news article to class spelling out to your students the growing global demand for bi-lingual workers. the prospect of earning a higher salary may work. 

but i really think you ought to just throw the slackers out of class. call their parents and tell them you won't tolerate their rebellious nonsense. it used to work for me.  :Smile:

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## white camellia

> kids need to see the utility of a skill or they see no point in investing the time to learn it.


They are very frastrated ones, I guess. Parents don't care that much either. English is a foreign language to them, which adds more difficulties to the learning. They do think that learning English is of no great importance to them. I think the news article thing might work. Thanks, Jon.




> I remember one really fun thing we did once with Shakespeare that really helped those who were confused and was fun for everyone.
> Good luck with the school year!


Thank you, hubbard. I'll try this kind of games. But it would not be Shakespeare. That may be a bit hard for them.

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## jon1jt

i used to know an ESL teacher who dealt with similar students. she spent many miserable days, some in tears. she eventually got a transfer to work with the lower grades and was much much happier there.

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## white camellia

> i used to know an ESL teacher who dealt with similar students. she spent many miserable days, some in tears.


Hmm, I've heard of similar incidents too.

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## genoveva

Try using comics and graphic novels.

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## Rheingold

And what is extremely important (from my teaching experiences): Try to change your teaching methods during your lessons, and surprise your students every once in a while with something special. Although classroom teaching might make sense in some situations, it should not be practiced permanently: if you get students involved, things will definitely turn out to the better. 

Best of luck!  :Smile:  

Rheingold (teaching rookie myself)

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## blazeofglory

> Hi, can someone give me suggestions on how to teach rebellious high school students who dislike English?
> 
> Your pieces of advice will be much appreciated.


The best tool for taming your rebellious students who dislike English is to tell them very interesting stories. I used to do that exactly to loll them into a fictious domain, far from their class-room reality. Please try this out and respond.

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## Countess

Yes, beat them senseless with a very large stick. They will listen to you then. (-:

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## crazefest456

try relating literature to music ( I do that with myself if I can't relate to the literature I'm studying) or relate it to some social rebellion movement (like Vonnegut and the 60s counterculture, thoreau and Pink Floyd)...

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## blazeofglory

I was a teacher and taught for nine years. Indeed I had to encounter very harsh students. Dealing with them was a very big challenge. I was teaching English literature and as such all I used to do was captivate or enchant them in a different world, in a fantasy for a while. They got lost and were hooked to what I said very attentively. Why do not use very some way to souse them in your ideas? Really you must come come up ideas that are really intoxicating, not dulling. 

Of course the are teaching is not just to be course or syllabus centric, you must indeed break the limit and encapsulate bigger realms, and of course you must entertain and instruct and if you fail to combine both at the same time you can not turn out to be a good teacher.You will be just an average.

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## byquist

There's a good site that teachers hang out on: teachers.net or teachersnet.com. You'll see similar questions. We're all trying to figure out teaching motivation and guiding classes. I would only start with asking yourself if you are fast-paced; how snappy are you up there? If your speed exceeds theirs, or if you appear to them to be as fast as a speeding bullet, then they sometimes slow down a bit. 

Another training technique I once learned was to look in the mirror each morning and form the most awful scowl imaginable. That is "the Look." Then you take the Look and hit them with it -- the meanest, nastiest possible ugly face. Sometimes that works. One successful teacher did not crack a smile from Sept. until May, and by that time she said she had them in the palm of her hand. I can't do that, but it is a good recommendation.

Usually, there are 1-3 wiseguys and if you can defuse them, the rest will be follow okay. I never wanted to believe that "The Lord of the Flies" stated truth, but classrooms can bring out the dynamics of mob behavior. Individually they are pipsqueaks, but together they are a united army. So perhaps go after the hardest nut to crack.

I speak only from experience, some of which could only be described as failure. Try to maintain your dignity irrespective of what asinine whirlwind is going on. Also, do a thorough job of marking up their papers in red ink and making suggestions. They like it when they see that you went over their work; they really do. Also, maybe use stickers. Even high schoolers like stickers.

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## white camellia

Oh I'm late for this thread, to all these wonderful responses. It turned out that I did not teach the so-called rebellious ones in the end but just lazy ones with awkward language abilities. I have used comics and that worked, not yet fantasies which I'll definitely have a try later (but once a movie fantasy).

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## Tuninks

I graduated high school about a year ago and my English teacher used traditional means of teaching. They didn't work of course because no one was paying attention. If you really want to teach a group of high schoolers English/ Literature you need a more modern approach to teaching them. Authors like Chuck Palahniuk and his books are a good start. Kids think Shakespeare is boring because it is old. More modern approaches such as the previously stated author will grab their attention and put their minds in the book.

Yes, his books are graphic, but thats what my generation wants in the end. Accepting that is the key to keeping literature in the minds of other students. Also, true stories of modern day artists such as 2 Pac or Trent Reznor (Yes two different music groups but for both spectrums of society's groups.) and their literature are actually worth reading. Use their poetry and then tell the kids that it was inspired by such works as The Raven, Hamlet and the Tales of King Arthur.

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## white camellia

Thanks all. I have a more particular question now: how to teach vocabulary (suppose there is a long vocabulary list given after every unit of the textbook I'm going to use) to avoid the ineffectiveness and boredom of reading definitions and usages? Any suggestions and approaches proved to be effective?

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## wilbur lim

You could terminate the memorization of vocabulary,endeavour to tell your students to read story books and newspapers and at the same time highlight intricate and obscure words,subsequently,use the dictionary and check.
Conduct a test and they can easily memorize them.

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## The Comedian

> Thanks all. I have a more particular question now: how to teach vocabulary (suppose there is a long vocabulary list given after every unit of the textbook I'm going to use) to avoid the ineffectiveness and boredom of reading definitions and usages? Any suggestions and approaches proved to be effective?


It's kind of weird, but I've found that students, even reluctant students, are entertained and educated by etymology. If the word had a good story to tell, even the most reluctant learner tunes in for a while.  :Smile:

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## Wilde woman

> It's kind of weird, but I've found that students, even reluctant students, are entertained and educated by etymology. If the word had a good story to tell, even the most reluctant learner tunes in for a while.


Yes, me too! I taught SAT techniques, and whenever it came to vocabulary, I would pick one or two word(s) of the day, give the definition, and the etymology. Some words have veeery interesting origins.

And when you go through the etymology of a word, you begin to familiarize your students with Greek and Latin prefixes/suffixes. If you really hammer these home, then students can begin to recognize certain prefixes/suffixes in words they DON'T know and can make an educated guess at their meaning. It's very useful.

Also, on a more cliched note, try assigning a vocab word to each student and having them make a flashcard out of it. On one side, have them draw a visual...I find that they can get really creative it and it can be funny when they present it to the class. On the back, have them do more standard definitions, usages in a sentence, synonyms/antonyms, etymologies. It's the visual that's the most useful.

Good luck!

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## Maana

I would try to take advantage of their rebelliousness somehow. There are so many possible ways to use and learn English. They should start writing something which is personally important to them.

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## ennison

Prepare three "lessons". The first is to get their attention and is primarily listening. The next is what you want to teach. The third is plan B. always have something to read aloud even if you never use it.

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## NikolaiI

> Hi, can someone give me suggestions on how to teach rebellious high school students who dislike English?
> 
> Your pieces of advice will be much appreciated.


I would say be engaging, connect with them.

Basically use the idea of Goethe - treat someone as if they are what they ought to be.

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## chinajon

I found that reading Letters to the Editor from the 1850s to the 1900s shows how Americans used to speak and write in beautiful, and elegant styles. Todays English is full of derogatory and overused words.

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## MANICHAEAN

From time to time chinajon I click onto Gutenberg to browse through less contemporary books that have in them the kind of elegance you refer to.

As for teaching difficult students, I'm not qualified to comment. I had given me books at a very early age by family, and got the love for the English language from that.

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## Danik 2016

I think, the way people use their languages today, and not only English, is greatly influenced by the internet and the social nets. That probably accounts for the overused words and expressions.

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