They never believe me until it’s too late. Then they act as if it’s the first time they’ve ever heard it.
Part of the problem of not having a regular textbook for the second grade high school classes at the school where I work is that the students tend to not take the worksheets they get seriously. Although we emphasize that these sheets are, in fact, their textbook and that the final exam will consist of grammar and vocabulary from those sheets, many students act as if there is no exam and that there are no consequences for their not keeping the worksheets.
That changes this week.
Today I had several students react with surprise that they were supposed to have kept the worksheets. I pointed out the rules–which, oddly, they had kept–and they continued to act surprised. They then asked me for another copy of the worksheet and I pointed out the line in the rules that says they only get one copy.
Every now and then one of them gets angry and 1) acts as if this all this is my fault–which, technically, as their teacher it is; and 2) acts as if I care–which I don’t.
I do offer some advice: make a copy of a worksheet filled in by one of your classmates. Just make sure you pick a classmate who’s smarter than you.
Ah, the good old days. This is usually followed after the test with students getting very upset when they dismally fail, even though they did not study as, I quote, “Eikaiwa is no study test”, yet is again your fault for making the test too difficult, even though the students who did a modicum of study get into the 90s. But hey, “this is Japan” and they don’t need English. It’s lucky advanced math and science is so useful in day to day life and the business world or your career prospects could be in trouble.