EFL as Entertainment

One of the more irritating aspects of being an EFL teacher abroad is dealing with people who see EFL classes primarily as a form of entertainment.

I suspect I may have finally stumbled onto a few of those. Wednesdays and Fridays, I teach an Elementary class in the morning. The first session, two women showed up; today, a third joined our class.

Now, I admit maybe I have gone a little fast, and I am still trying to figure out how much these women know already. But we have been doing pretty basic-level stuff: "Do you work part-time or full-time?" "Is he a doctor?" That kind of thing.

Today, after class, these women all went to Eve and asked about switching to Foundation because I was "too hard" and the vocabulary was "too over their head". Now, they may need some review, which I would be glad to provide. But, based on the homework they turned in, I can't justify the idea that they aren't capable of doing an elementary-level course.

Most likely, I think they want to change levels because they were expecting entertainment and encountered a teacher who actually sees it as his job to teach the English language.

We'll see how this all turns out.