Written by Regan Khoo, Evelin Chuluunbat, Justin Yu and Eva Deng 

We all know that feeling – worrying if you had just lost marks for missing a class or not participating in a class discussion. For an international student, active class participation is an important part of the Trinity College Foundation Studies experience. It can take up about an average of 10 marks per subject – that’s a total of 70 marks across the board!  
 
As students who fall under this category, we thought it was natural to feel pressured to score these marks and boost our grades. Some might think that active class participation is just a passive way of gaining free marks, but we’ve come to realise that the actual nature of class participation is quite different from what we assumed. 
 
So, what’s the problem? 
Many of us find it difficult to actively participate. Our personalities, learning preferences, schedules and language differences all play a factor in getting us involved in class. Of course, this can vary with teacher to teacher, and doesn’t have a strict set of rules. As some teachers would say – punctuality and attendance are the prime ingredients for active class participation, while others might rely more on an active class discussion to judge this. 
 
Regardless of what the factors might be, we all face challenges and find difficulty in giving a hundred percent to actively participate in our classes. As international students and the authors of this article, we can assure you these challenges common for students like us: 
 

1. Understanding lesson materials 
   Making sense of and understanding lesson materials can be difficult. This can leave us second-guessing ourselves and lose confidence in our ability to learn well, particularly in class discussions where we might be asked questions. One of the most fearful, intimidating aspects of this is getting it wrong in front of our peers and how that might make us look. 
    

2. Personality, personality, personality! 
   Personality can make a major difference with achieving successful class participation. Many of us are more introverted or shy, which might also make us less confident or sure of ourselves when trying to engage in class. Gathering the courage to share our thoughts in discussions or write them down can take time and effort. 
    

3. Sleeping problems 
   School is tiring and can take a toll on anyone, even from the most academic of students. It is only natural that some students may feel the need to miss lessons in hope of recouping hours lost to tiring and sleepless nights completing assessments and revising for exams. This can add more stressful to students when tutors take attendance into strict consideration as they mark a student’s participation. 
    

4. Language 
   At an international school, English is not the first language of many international students. This can create conflict and miscommunication with peers from other parts of the world, but also grab hold of potentially important information. 
    

Is there a better way to participate? 

These challenges might have you conclude that putting in the effort isn’t worth all the trouble. It might also cross your mind that tutors are being unreasonable in asking students to be as active as possible in class.  
 
Jenny, a tutor from Trinity College explains that tutors always put in the effort to make classes enjoyable for students to want to come and learn. In our conversation with her, she gave us some useful tips: 

• Remember not to be so hard on yourself 
• Making mistakes is totally fine and a normal part of learning  
• All answers are valued in a discussion 
• Make it your best attempt to complete and contribute to tasks  
• If you are struggling to make it on class on time, get a good night’s sleep before and try to come to all your classes punctually.  

Finally, the most important tip was that don’t be afraid to reach out to your tutor and understand that you can always reach out to them privately. Be it asking for help, clarification, express a thought or explaining your absence from class, this can show them that you do care about the lesson and are engaging actively in your own way. Show yourself and your tutor that you can participate without it needing to be in front of your classmates.