I recently experienced a student heckler – fortunately this was in a class I was covering, and so I don’t need to deal with this left-side driver regularly.
What is a student heckler? I’d say it’s a student who will distinguish him- or herself from the group with some kind of negative comment or action. Haven’t we all had that one who wants it known that whatever the group is doing is boring or useless, or that one who couldn’t care less about grammar but goes out of his way to find a counterexample to whatever you happen to be talking about. Certainly there are inquisitive individuals who really just want to know – they may go too far and end up sidetracking the lesson if you don’t deal with their questions appropriately – but these aren’t hecklers.
One time, my fairly good-natured but regular heckler came to class wearing sunglasses – and didn’t take them off the length of the class – possibly because he was stoned. Another heckler was a woman probably only a few years older than me who was a teacher of gifted students at an exclusive private school (“It’s a good job, but what can I teach them? They already know so much…”). One was an older man repeating beginner level by his own choice, and with his wife, after completing a class several levels higher a few years ago. I had my moment when he pointed to the floor and called it the ceiling. Ha! Wrong. Someone needs to work on his architectural English.
To be honest it’s a little unpleasant to think of these people now even though the stories sound a little silly and the people are clearly out of my way. Why are they hecklers? Maybe they are insecure and feel they need to prove something. Maybe that is just their personality. Or maybe, in some cases, they are right, and what they are saying is something others agree with but don’t want to go out on a limb and say. In a class setting, especially one like in EFL where there are constructive ways for students to give feedback, I’d certainly rather avoid a passive-aggressive heckler. But in life there are times when hecklers may just play a necessary role.
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I so related with your article. Yes, I’ve had my share of hecklers…I remember the time I worked at a refugee camp and was assigned to Secondary School students. I hated to have to attend one of my classes because almost half of them were hecklers. They were rude, boisterous, and talked in their vernacular about me (you’ll know).
Graduation Day was such a relief. I didn’t want to see these kids ever again, and I was so glad they were off to America and hoped they’d be given a hard time there. To my surprise, these very same students whom I branded as troublemakers invited me for photo ops, asked me to join them in celebrations at their billets, etc.
It was then that I realized they were “reaching out.” They had so many stories to tell, but as a greenhorn teacher, I was too exhausted after classes to get to know my students better.
The older teachers at the camp made it a point to visit their students during the weekends. They didn’t have problem students like I did. And they were right in saying that once a student bares his soul to you, he’d be ashamed to pretend to be “much better than you” in class.
Thanks for your comment – it’s good to know I’m not the only one with the occasional heckler! Your story goes to show that it’s hard to always know where people are “coming from” in the figurative sense, I guess. But it sounds like you ended on a good note with those kids – which is great.
What you’re describing is something called the “alter leader”. See this link for an anqlysis, and – more importantly – ways of dealing with them : http://tlgonline.com/art/2.shtml
Interesting…I don’t know that my “hecklers” have fit that exactly, but next time I get one I’m going to try some of those strategies!
I’ve had the misfortune to have four hecklers in my class this week. Have you read The Devil Wears Prada? In that case, you’ll know who Miranda Priestly is. I had her multiplied by 3.5 in class. They are rude: continuously interrupting each other and their teachers, disparaging the host country and trying to turn my colleague and I against each other.
) they become ashamed of the way they behave. Yesterday, I just stopped mid-lesson and asked them why they act like they hate us. We trashed out the issue for about 45mins. Today they were relatively well behaved.
Usually I love my job but this week dragging myself to class was exhausting – I was even late once because I so didn’t want to teach them.
Perhaps Angie is right in saying that ‘once they bear their souls’ (assuming they have any
I’m currently keeping my fingers crossed.
That sounds awful. And I just watched the movie so I know what you mean!
Good for your for calling them on it. I hope it helps lead to a solution.
There are so many good things about teaching, but I don’t know if people who haven’t taught really get how blah it is to be in front of a group of people and some of them act like jerks…
Good luck!
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