More Homework Please

I started teaching a new class a few weeks ago.

There are 4 students in the class, all 3rd year middle school (9th grade), and two of the boys were my students several years ago.  (Interesting note: those 2 students are as tall as I am--6 feet--and the other boy is taller.  Only the 1 girl is shorter.)

They have one 50 min. class with me, and then another 50 min. class with another foreign teacher. I'm teaching them writing; the focus, after some review, will be on writing essays for tests.  The other teacher is doing a grammar test prep class.

These are advanced students; their English is essentially fluent, and their moms have them on track to get into good high schools and universities (thus good test scores are needed).

This is not the kind of class that my English academy normally teaches, as we are primarily a conversation school, but the time slots were available and, as mentioned, 2 of the students were known and recognized as being diligent.

We have class on Mondays and Fridays, and I have been feeling them out to see what their writing levels are like.  For example, last week their assignment was to write--and then type--a standard 5 paragraph essay.  I got them started in class, and when they showed up with their typed drafts on Monday (the first test--all of them completed the assignment), I had them do peer editing and then revise and edit the drafts for homework.  I will review the finished essays tomorrow.  I also have them writing diaries (2nd test--only 2 completed the assignment), something we don't usually require of middle school students, since they are too busy.

Which leads me to my point--they are busy.  These students have virtually no free time, as they go to school and then attend 2-3+ academies per day, and then do homework and study until they go to sleep.

However, the other teacher and I were told on Friday that one or more of the moms felt like we weren't assigning enough homework; they (the moms) would like an hour of homework per night.

When my director told me that I said it was probably true from the moms' perspective that I wasn't giving enough homework, and that I could give more, though I would have to think about the best way to do that.  However, I also told my director that the focus of my class was to have the students--at some point in the future--be comfortable with walking into a test room, be assigned a previously unknown essay topic, and to be able to sit down and write a good essay.  If they can do that, I will be satisfied that I have achieved what I want with them (and this in 5 months or so, as I assume they will all quit before Christmas, because they will have to focus on high school entrance--the new school year starts in March).

I don't necessarily feel that assigning more homework is going to help to achieve that result, and I truly am concerned about the amount of homework some of my students have to do.  When I ask them about what they are going to do for their vacation, the number one answer is "play", but usually the number two answer is "sleep".

After hearing the news about increased homework, I went to talk with the students during their break time.  I told them that, starting Monday they would have more homework because their moms pushed for it.  Fair's fair--I don't want to be demonized by students I like for something outside of my control.  They groaned and moaned, and one boy said that he was now writing 3 diaries, to which I replied, good-naturedly, "If you have a problem, talk to your mom."