Eikaiwa Student Stereotypes - The Pot Plant
As everyone knows, potted plants are used to decorate people’s homes and just sit in the corner doing nothing. Similarly the pot plant’s role in the class is purely decorative, their input in the proceedings non-existent.
The question ‘what’s new?’ always receives the same answer: ‘nothing special’. Similarly, enquiries about whether they have any hobbies gets responses like ‘sleeping’, ‘shopping’ or simply ‘I have no hobbies’.
This passive student seems to do nothing with their free time, has little social contact outside of work or school, and seemingly has no opinions about anything whatsoever.
Not to be confused with students of low English ability, this student has a good enough English level but no personality. In Japanese, the expression shiro-iro enpitsu (white coloured pencil) is used to describe such dull, boring people.
Since the primary function of language is to allow people to talk about themselves and their opinions, studying English when you have nothing to say about yourself is, quite frankly, an utter waste of time.