[dudle]

Hello there,

I´m an EFL teacher in Spain teaching 16-17yr olds FCE, as well as adult classes. the FCE class are due to take the exam in June 07.
I started at a new school in September and this FCE class. My problem is that they treat the lesson like a cafe, always gossiping and speaking spanish. One girl in particular is really bad, she only speaks english to read or answer questions, a real disruption. Its got to the stage where i tell them every week (lessons twice a week) to stop speaking spanish, and get in the habbit of practicing English in class. I have tried all sorts of positive reasoning, being nice, fun lessons. Also doing the stern teacher stuff, but they soon slip back into spanish chit chat. I know FCE can be boring, but its structured preperation for an exam. They now only seem to speak English when answering questions or reading. They do have the ability, its not like they are in the wrong level. I really don´t know what to do with them, i think if one or two were taken out (class of 7) then the rest would be alright, There are constant distractions. Other teachers have said that this one girl was doing the same last year but her class mates usually told her to shut up, it seems this new class is made up of a few students who just want to catch up on gossip with their classmates, and as a result are bringing the rest down. I am starting to loath this class, and I´m sure they don´t like my lectures, but I feel really sorry for the 2 good students who are trying to learn and pass their exam, for their sake i really need to find an answer! It must be costing the parents a fortune.
I´ve been teaching for 4 years, i´ve never had such a bad class before, especially an exam class.
Does anyone have any suggestions before I have to get my DOS involved, which i´d like to avoid if I can.
Thanks