I certainly agree with your point that teaching a class will go more successfully if you show you care about the students. I’ve always had the best times teaching (especially teens) if I’ve done that as much as I can.

Thanks for the comment, Sputnik.

Thanks very much for your comment.

Like you, I try and learn the names of my students ASAP. My biggest worry is whether I’m saying their names correctly – I always say in the first weeks (sometimes up to the first month!) ‘If I say your name incorrectly, please tell me!!’

I find that really strange about the teacher you mention not knowing her students’ names and they not knowing hers – how odd! I can appreciate having students you might not want to get to know too well, though.

Gosh! I can’t even imagine teaching 80 students!! For me, 20 is a big number, though I am aware that such big classes do exist. That’s the thing about individual differences – in some contexts it’s so difficult to get a handle on who the students are, and of course it brings into play the whole issue of differentiation (but that’s a post for another time!!)

All the best

Mike

Thanks for the kind words. From you that is high praise indeed =)

I know it sounds completely obvious but I try to learn my students’ names straight away and use them as much as possible as it seems a first step towards embracing individuality in the classroom. I feel absolutely dreadful, cold and emotionally-detached when I can’t remember someone’s name; I can remember some really easily but have to make a massive mental effort to remember others. If I’ve got a Christian and a Cristophe together in one class, I’m doomed and have to make up all sorts of funny stories to help me remember who is who.

I say all this because I am aware of a teacher who does not know some of her students’ names or nationalities and …. I really cannot believe this ….. they do not know hers. Shocking! It seems that her students are a mass and not worth the effort of getting to know very well. Not much room for being an individual or having individual needs in that classroom.

Once upon a time though, I did have a class of 80 who sat in different places every week – not much chance of being able to embrace individual differences then but I did give it a go and learned about 10 names ;-(

This post was mentioned on Twitter by ShellTerrell: Individual Differences Count (by Mike Harrison) http://bit.ly/cz4E9y via @barbsaka…

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks again for letting me write something for your site – it allowed me to revisit the task I had done while training, which was interesting to think back on.

I’m glad you mentioned about not knowing what happens in our students’ lives outside the classroom. I was running out of space for the post! I’d also add that how a student performs/copes in a language class isn’t necessarily indicative of their ability or intelligence. People are also different in different spaces.

All the best

Mike