[clivehawkins]

Does anyone else have this problem?

I've been teaching a particular group of adults for at least four years now, and we've made steady progress (they had also done at least three years elsewhere). Our most recent course was a post intermediate level and it didn't pose any particular problems for the group.

Imagine my surprise when, quite by chance, I found two of them attending an Elementary course! My first reaction was to ask what on earth they were doing there, not because they weren't doing the course with me but because of the level. They explained that they just wanted to do some 'dusting' of their English etc and in fact weren't actively participating in the class. I found this a little difficult to believe so spoke to their teacher who confirmed my fears. They were the first to shout out the answers, unsolicited, and weren't terribly patient with the other students who were at the CORRECT level for the course.

I can't find an explanation for this. Why would you spend 6 hours of your busy week doing a course that is of absolutely no use to you whatsoever? I could understand doing a refresher course at a lower level, say Intermediate, but not back to the very beginning.

Has anyone else experienced this? I'd like to hear about it.