English Groupies (Part 1)

Groupies: not just for rock stars...

I've spent a few hours today searching through other English teachers' blogs and websites to look for advice concerning a problem that I am sure affects all English teachers at one point or another: English Groupies.

ETX has wrote a little about them on his blog and in his (highly recommended) book. As for other bloggers writing about English groupies... I've come across nothing, maybe we don't want to talk about it but all of us know it happens?

Either way,  I'm going to present my thoughts today...

English Groupie - A definition.

For me, English groupies, are those who are prepared to cross the imaginary boundary between acceptable teacher student relations and unacceptable relations. I have a simple rule of thumb for crossing this line - Would I feel comfortable in this situation/ doing this activity with a man? I'm not homophobic, in fact I'm pretty liberal, but when I take a situation I'm involved in (which feels dodgy) and apply the 'man situation' it's easier for me to identify 'weird' or potentially 'weird' situations that students are dragging me into.

For more clarification, the wikipedia definition is spot on here: Groupie

Are English Groupies a bad thing?

Not at all. I'm sure that there are lots of cavalier men and women English teachers out there who just want a good time and English Groupies form part of that. However, they are a problem, if like me, you're married or have a long term partner or you're thinking of your bank balance.

English Groupies can cause the most hassle when they cross that 'imaginary' line, you reject them and then you inevitably lose a student. Meaning you are the financial loser which will need to dedicate time to replace the lost student, longside the short term loss of beer money while you find that replacement.

English teachers have groupies?

Definitely Yes! Why? Well maybe it's a combination of the free spirited adventurer pretence that many English teachers exude to students and the human desire to break rules. Personally, I blame the nature of modern communicative lessons, particularly in a private class setting. Every lesson you're communicating with students, often on much deeper levels, than most people communicate with to their friends. 

For example, look at these questions taken from a popular English textbook...

Who is your role model?

What have been your biggest regrets?

Do you have a phobia?

What makes someone kill the object of their obsession?

Jeez, I think about some of my best friends and I don't know the answers to these questions for them yet I can answer them on behalf of a number of my students.

I think romance or groupie-ism is an unfortunate by-product of communicative lessons that can maybe catch a lot of students off guard, especially if they are used to being taught in a less-communicative environment.

But these are just my thoughts, any other suggestions/opinions?

I'd really like to know how many other teachers have the same problems? 

I'd be curious to hear from some female teachers, are there male English groupies?