Eikaiwa Student Stereotypes - The Mentalist
While the behaviour of other types of student is often problematic for teachers or classmates, the Mentalist’s behaviour can either be problematic or benign. Whichever way though, their behaviour is so bizarre that you suspect they’re mentally ill.
Some of the more common examples of such behaviour include digressing (not only talking about topics totally unrelated to the lesson, but also the more worrying habit of responding to questions with unrelated answers) and strange time-keeping (turning up for the last few minutes of the lesson every week or arriving several hours too early for class without realising it).
Because the Mentalist is such a unique type of student however, their behaviour is usually so strange and idiosyncratic that it’s difficult to find other common examples. Ask any eikaiwa teacher though, and you’ll no doubt hear countless tales about ‘memorable’ incidents and behaviour they’ve encountered in the classroom.
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The introduction to the Eikaiwa Student Stereotypes series can be found here. For more posts like this one, check out the contents page or most popular content page.
March 4th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Interesting examples. I have experienced teaching these types of students, but frankly I think you are being far too generous with how you label them. I think 90% of these students have deeper psycho-social problem than that.
March 5th, 2009 at 3:03 am
I feel sorry that you have to deal with those disgraceful acts at your work place in Japan. Those mentalist are obviously maniac attention seekers. I had been a student at Eikawa school before, but I never really seen those people in my class. However, when I was teaching at a Jyuku (cram school), some junior high-shool kids were nightware… Maybe, you should have a word with those people, saying that speaking English doesn’t mean they can be rude and obnoxious, and English teachers are not like those comedians on Japanese TV, making people laugh by being picked on.