 Dealing with difficult student
My question is about successfully dealing with a student who I have taught before and who did not enjoy my class.
I have taught adult academic ESL for 10 years. Last summer, I taught a subject for the first time. I did my best, but as often happens the first time teaching a class, it was definitely a process of trial and error. Anyway, most of my students were satisfied and improved their skills. However, I had one student who greatly disliked my class. She was very difficult to please and had trouble accepting ambiguity (i.e., there had to be a rule for everything). In addition, she asked several questions during each class period which. The fact that I made some mistakes (due to the fact that I hadn't taught the subject before) only made things worse.
Anyway, I am 99% sure she will be my student again in Spring quarter. This time, the subject of the course will be completely different. It is also a topic I know a lot better. I want to be proactive this time. So, I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for:
1) Dealing with students who ask many questions during class, most of which turn out to be about grammatical minutiae or other topics which do not interest the other students.
2) Achieving success with a student who will probably be predisposed to dislike my class since I am teaching it.
Thank you, I appreciate any advice you can give!  |