Adventures in Tefl 3: My classroom

So. I have bored you with tales of how to get qualified and how to make an arse of yourself. So what of the job itself?

For the most part, my work consists of one-on-one classes in companies. Now this can be good and this can be horrible. As a positive example, I have classes most mornings in the Ajuntaimento (the local government) which are absolutely fine.

They start at 8.30 am and generally last about 1 and half hours. I like doing them as the students are quite relaxed and fun to get on with. Indeed, the class which I have first thing on Fridays is my favourite, as this is with Jorge, a 38 year old senior civil servant. Classes with this guy are not like classes at all. It's more like meeting a mate for a chat each Friday morning. Frequently we just go for coffee, talk about football, movies and his pet favourite subject, international politics. I'm actually learning quite a lot from this guy as his knowledge of the subject is extensive to say the least. He is also just as cynical as I am.

On the other hand, I have to teach at a furniture company on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I fall short of the words needed to descibe just how much I hate this. A large part of this, is due to the student in question: a small, bespectacled, troll-like creature (who shall remain nameless) who is, to put it simply, stupid. I hate the very sight of him. His clothes, his voice and his smelly dank office. Teaching this individual is akin to pulling teeth with a rusty pliers. I hate it, hate it, hate it.

I also have classes with groups of adults and groups of teenagers. The adults are a doddle and fun to teach, but I have had spectacular problems in recent weeks with one group of kids which led to me instigating a reign of terror in the classroom. This includes a yellow-card, red-card system for discipline. After getting in three sets of parents regarding the behaviour of some students things seem to be better. Still, that doesn't stop me from entertaining fantasies where I pick a student up by his feet, swing him around and dash his brains out upon the classroom wall.