Before my own student teaching placement began, the percentage of adults enrolled onto language evening classes in Barnsley had already decreased by as much as one third within six weeks and it was deemed that this sudden drop-out rate was due to several factors, e.g. work commitments, the delivery of teaching set by some members of staff, or the unsuitable focus of the course syllabus objectives in relation to the needs of the vast majority of learners.  The rate at which new topics were introduced and the vast amount of language content to be covered in contrast to the one-year period before the exam season was due to commence may have certainly led to a degree of pressure, which many adults do not want.

I had discussed with my respective students on several occasions during my placement their judgments regarding course content and the variety of resources and techniques which I had used in its teaching.  The general consensus was that beginners and other course modules placed far too much emphasis on the learning of set vocabulary and phrases, some of them entirely uncommon in everyday conversation.  However, the students were grateful of the fact that I had tried to be as creative and as student-sensitive as possible in my approach to teaching aspects of language which learners found valuable and could relate to real life scenarios.