class management-pair work

Hi everyone,

I have an important problem with one of my students in my class. She refuses to work in pairs with some international students in the class and says that she doesn't like people from that country. Should I force her to work with them, or let her work with others in the class as she wishes? By the way, she is about 18 years old, and this is the university prep class. Last week I told her to come and talk to me after class, but she didn't. I really don't know how to deal with it. I talked to my colleagues, but they also don't know what to do.

Thanks,

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Originally Posted by tschansey61

Hi everyone,

I have an important problem with one of my students in my class. She refuses to work in pairs with some international students in the class and says that she doesn't like people from that country. Should I force her to work with them, or let her work with others in the class as she wishes? By the way, she is about 18 years old, and this is the university prep class. Last week I told her to come and talk to me after class, but she didn't. I really don't know how to deal with it. I talked to my colleagues, but they also don't know what to do.

Thanks,

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I'd try to accomodate her if possible. There's possibly some legitimate psychological reason for her xenophobia. The other point is that it's unfair to these other specific students if they are forced to work with her, knowing that she hates them.
I'd say you're right in insisting on talking to her first though. If she's just being difficult, you shouldn't have to change your whole class setup for her. She might be happier at a different school.

What about letting her work alone? Explain nicely to her that no one else in the class wants to work with her because she comes from X country.

It might work...

This reminds me of a question in the CELTA pre-course task. I was wondering what teachers would do in this situation, its a complicated one for sure.

Are there any other problems with her, or is it just this issue? What are the school's rules on it?

I talked to the co-director of the school and we arranged a meeting with the student. She didn't tell us anything in particular, just told us that she wouldn't work with that group of students. We agreed on relocating the student into a different class with no international students. I am not sure if we did the right thing, but the school has no policy about it and we haven't experienced anything like that before.

Thank you all for your replies..

Probably the best idea in the circumstances