A Troubled Student

Gap-fill exercise

This exercise contains an essay written as a response to the question; "Write about an event which happened in the classroom (good or bad) and how it affected your teaching career." Some grammar and vocabulary mistakes have been highlighted with an *asterisk* on either side of them. They are then followed by a gap for you to fill in. If the answer is to just delete the word or phrase, type "Delete" in the gap. To give you more help following the gap is a marking code (preceded by "«" and also between *asterisks*). To download an MS Word doc with an explanation of the code click here.

Fill in all the gaps, and then press, "Check" to check your answers. Use the "Hint" button to get a free letter if an answer is giving you trouble. You can also click on the "[?]" button to get a clue. Sometimes the clue button will give you a link to a page on the web where there is information that will help you. This may be a page from a dictionary or thesaurus, or the results of a search from a web-based concordancer.

Note that you will lose points if you ask for hints or clues! You do not lose points if you click on a "Click here for comment" link. These comments just point out additional points about the text.

I love my job and usually have no *troubles* «*Plural* coping with the students. *It is because* «*Exp* most of the students know how to behave *at the right time and at the right place* «*Exp*. But sometimes, the students may have study or emotional problems which are beyond our expectations. That can be a frightening experience.

This event took place many years ago when I became a secondary teacher. I *remembered* «*Tense* it happened on the first day of school when every student returned to school after a long period of summer holidays. I was assigned to be form 2C master. After entering the classroom, I could recognize most of the faces except *MISSING WORD* «*Prep* a few as I had attended the orientation day earlier. While I was calling the roll, a student screamed and *walked around suddenly* «*Exp*. I told him to keep quiet and remain in his seat *for* «*Prep* several times, but in vain. He began to use foul language Click here for comment to *blame me* «*Wrong-Wd*. I was embarrassed because it was the first time that I *was* «*Tense* *scolded* «*Wrong-Wd* by a student in front of the whole class. As I did not have any experience of dealing with this situation. I was struck *MISSING WORD* «*Noun*. I just sat on a chair and did nothing.

I was lucky enough to have a student to remind me that I should send a student to the general office and ask for help. After a while, the disciplinary master came to the class and attempted to take him away. At the very beginning, he did not co-operate with my colleague and kept on *speaking* «*Wrong-Wd* foul language Click here for comment. After he had been told «*☻* that his parents might be invited to school to bring him home, he began to walk out of the classroom quietly. Then everything returned to normal. You can see how destructive it may be if you have a student with emotional problems.

I have learned a lesson from this event. I know how to deal with *the* «*Art* similar situation next time. Most important of all, I have to try every possible means to calm *him* «*Wrong-Wd* down first, and investigate the causes later. Then I should try my best to gain his trust so that he will not do any harm in class. If it fails, I should not hesitate and seek help from others.