I work at a private school where I teach Junior High School students. My class has no textbook, so I have to make all the materials myself. I usually create slides and teach the students basic grammar and vocabulary, but the class is officially called Practical English.
I co-teach with a JTE who puts absolutely no effort into the class. He only handles the writing sections and has the students answer random Eiken prompts with very template-like responses. Almost 99% of the time, the students cannot even read or write properly.
My main issue is that my JTE is pressuring me to teach them “natural phrases” in English. There are three problems with this:
- I already teach commonly used grammar and vocabulary in my lessons.
- The students’ level is too low—they struggle to answer even basic questions.
- The so-called “natural phrases” are just what he personally thinks is natural.
I feel totally lost. I’m a native English speaker, but it feels really patronizing to be told what is “natural English” by someone who can’t even speak the language properly.
Any advice dealing with the JTE or any suggestions how to make my lessons better to make him happy?
by ThrowMeTooTheMoon