students... ugh

Every Friday from 6:00 to 7:00, I teach two junior high school students English conversation and a bit of grammar on the side, and damn, do they have a way of getting to me! One is a girl, an awkwardly lanky girl with a face you can't put a finger on with beady eyes, hair always pulled into two tight piggie-tails, and her shoulders are always slouched forward. The other is a boy, equally lanky but in a sporty way, tanned skin, a quiet face and hair that falls into his eyes. Sometimes I wonder if these two were sent from some strange planet to torture my mind!

During our lesson, I give them a question starter that we all use to create our own question to ask the class. After any given instruction on question, I ask if I was understood and the usual reply I get is a stony blank stare from the both of them. 

"Well, did you or didn't you understand?" I press, a smile plastered on my face.
"........."
I turn to the girl. "Shall I repeat the question? Did you understand?" At this point, I'm already tapping imginary fingers on the table in an impatient way, but I know that only 10 minutes have passed, and that I'd have to hang on quite a bit longer. 
"arghhacoeuihaoiu#$%&%!" is her usual reply. And so it begins.
"Okay, I need that in English. It's an English lesson, remember? English!" I press, still smiling, but I can just only imagine how fake it must look. 
"raahraahraaaahhhgh!" This time, it's her special grunt. I have taken this to mean that regardless of whether she understands or not she refuses to speak in English. I sigh heavily, and turn to the boy, who is blank in his expression and has his eyes fixed on some tiny object on the table, only visible to him. 
"And you? Did you understand?" I ask, and to which he nods. 
"Well then! Let's hear the answer!" He rolls his eyes twice, and mutters the answer snail-pace under his breath, putting on a very strong Japanese accent on purpose, eyes still fixed on the unseen. 
"Fantastic answer! Well done. Did you hear that?" I keep things upbeat the best I can, and turn to the girl who is now pulling on her remarkably stretchy cheeks, and rolling her eyes back, making her face look like... I don't know, a modern artist's piece gone wrong?
"No, no, no, no, noooooooo!" At lest this time, her answer I could understand! 

This goes on for about 20 minutes. The girl is playing with her face, skin, and hair, and everything else on the table while grunting and making sassy quick comments in Japanese, while the boy continues to stare and stare... and stare. Occasionally, he peeks up and smirks and giggles at the faces she's pulling, which really eggs her on. And I.... well, try my best not to do something I'll regret later.

The most annoying thing of all is that I know for a fact that both students are quite intelligent. Their homework is usually 85% correct, they've got good spelling and grammar, and sometimes they correctly answer my questions in Japanese, indicating that they understand completely. I guess they're just trying to make this hour the most tortuous they can. They do an excellent job.

When I first realized that I was to teach these two, I remember my mind freezing up. I've heard other teachers try teaching them and 'disastrous' would be an understatement to describe those lessons. And as I started teaching them myself, I quickly caught on that in cases like this, being more strict and angry didn't help anything. Teenagers are a brand of there own and each must be handled with great care and concern. I made it a point to laugh at the girl's strange faces, and sometimes ask the boy what he was so intent on looking at. Was it a ghost, a pea, some species that can be invisible? This did help things a little, but when I say 'a little', I mean, less then 5%.

Until the last second, they keep this up: face pulling, grunting, staring, laughing, giggling, talking in Japanese..almost everything besides English! It's a real pain. I'm not trying to ask for special advice, sympathy, or anything in particular. We all had our special ways of expressing ourselves when we were in our teens, and I understand that it's a phase. But I do need to vent somewhere, and vent I shall!

And the surprising thing is that the girl told her mom that she particularly enjoyed my lessons. Well, girl, thanks for not showing it during class! I need a beer! Argh!