Eikaiwa Student Stereotypes - The Mumbler
There are two types of mumbler, the most common being the type whose chronic shyness and lack of confidence causes them to speak at a volume that’s inaudible over the sound of an air conditioner. The second, rarer type (I’ve only taught two like this) is the student likes to do a bizarre kind of shadowing activity, lip-reading as you speak and repeating the words you say half a second later.
This gives the lesson the same kind of effect as the time delay that occurs during a webcam conversation with someone on the other side of the world, when you can hear what you just said in the background at the other end. Needless to say, this is very annoying, but can be countered by using long words the student is unfamiliar with.
June 16th, 2008 at 10:14 am
yet another stereotype of eikaiwa student is a broken record, whose conversation only consists of “really?”, “yes / yeah”, and “im fine, thank you”. as for “yeah”, they do have some various tones.. like chinese peoples’ vowels. these backchanneling makes us speak once again, and again and again if we have to keep the conversation going. hardwork.
July 11th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I saw this a while ago and literally laughed out loud. I think one of the first things I asked you about when I started teaching was whether the rare shadowing behavior was normal. You assured me it wasn’t, and thankfully you were right. Still disturbing though…I really get pissed with webcam delays. I can’t handle it in person.