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7969
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 5682
Location: South China, by the sea.
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 Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 2:02 am Post subject: |
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For those people who don't have a timetable till the day before classes begin, doesn't your school publish them on the school website? Or post them outside an office on campus somewhere?
Our school emails timetables to us at the end of the previous term, and just to be sure we got the message the monitors of each class ring up their teachers the week before classes begin to confirm they all have the right time and place for class.
I have no morning classes this term, and Sat, Sun, and Mon free. |
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choudoufu
Joined: 25 May 2010
Posts: 2259
Location: Mao-berry, PRC
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 2:20 am Post subject: |
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| 7969 wrote: |
| For those people who don't have a timetable till the day before classes begin, doesn't your school publish them on the school website? Or post them outside an office on campus somewhere? |
NO. the dude that makes the schedules will maybe return from leave
sometime maybe today maybe. we will maybe receive our schedules
maybe this afternoon maybe, or possibly this evening maybe. classes
begin tomorrow morning. maybe they will maybe tell me which books
i will maybe use and how many students i maybe shall have in each class
maybe. maybe they'll even provide class rosters maybe before classes
begin maybe. |
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ecubyrd
Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 113
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 2:34 am Post subject: |
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| I should be able to get my final schedule tomorrow at the in-service day for teachers. We had things worked out prior to the winter break, but one of the teachers dropped the bomb that he won't be returning on the last day. This f'd everything up; the schedule has to be redone and those classes will be spread out among the remaining teachers for the year. Looks like I will be at 22*40 min classes spread out over the M-F work week this go around. Classes begin this coming Monday. Have a good term, guys! |
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GreatApe
Joined: 11 Apr 2012
Posts: 193
Location: Guangdong, PRC
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 3:48 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| lemak wrote: That's an impressive commitment. Hope you're making some pretty serious coin. |
I'm doing very well by "teaching in China" / EFL standards. It's all relative ... I mean, I make one-third what I made as a 12 year teacher in the U.S., but I don't spend anything here and I can save a lot more money.
I also don't teach as much here as I would if I were still teaching in America. My last year of teaching high school in the U.S. was 6 classes per day @ 50 minutes each. That's 10 more hours of teaching per week than I currently do. Add in all the grading, standardized testing, assessment, meetings and evaluations along with professional development, etc. and I worked much harder than I do now. And that's the proverbial tip-of-the-Iceberg in terms os the crap you have to put up with in the American educational system.
I won't get rich teaching here, but that's never been one of my life goals anyway. I wouldn't be a teacher if money mattered that much to me. I live very comfortably here and make good money.
--GA
Last edited by GreatApe on Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:09 am; edited 1 time in total |
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wonderingjoesmith
Joined: 19 Aug 2012
Posts: 394
Location: Guangzhou
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:05 am Post subject: |
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| I agree with the last post but how much of a purpose does one serve here as oppose to the states keeps my mind going |
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7969
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 5682
Location: South China, by the sea.
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:07 am Post subject: |
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| wonderingjoesmith wrote: |
| I agree with the last post but how much of a purpose does one serve here as oppose to the states keeps my mind going |
How many batteries does that take Joe? |
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GreatApe
Joined: 11 Apr 2012
Posts: 193
Location: Guangdong, PRC
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:12 am Post subject: |
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| wonderingjoesmith wrote: I agree with the last post but how much of a purpose does one serve here as oppose to the states keeps my mind going |
 What we have here is a failure to communicate!
I'm not sure what you mean, Joe.
--GA |
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ecubyrd
Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 113
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:31 am Post subject: |
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| GreatApe wrote: |
| Quote: |
| lemak wrote: That's an impressive commitment. Hope you're making some pretty serious coin. |
I'm doing very well by "teaching in China" / EFL standards. It's all relative ... I mean, I make one-third what I made as a 12 year teacher in the U.S., but I don't spend anything here and I can save a lot more money.
I also don't teach as much here as I would if I were still teaching in America. My last year of teaching high school in the U.S. was 6 classes per day @ 50 minutes each. That's 10 more hours of teaching per week than I currently do. |
Yeah, same here for less hours teaching and being able to save way more things. I taught 5*45min classes a day in middle school in the States, so even at 22*40 here I'm teaching less hours. I can put back savings-wise quite a bit more here than back there as well.
I'm curious about a couple of other things you touched on. You said you work at an international school, right? You don't have to do any of these things at your school?
| GreatApe wrote: |
| Add in all the grading, standardized testing, assessment, meetings and evaluations along with professional development, etc. and I worked much harder than I do now. And that's the proverbial tip-of-the-Iceberg in terms os the crap you have to put up with in the American educational system.--GA |
Also, you make a third of what you did back home? You must have been banking there or are getting paid less than your worth here. If I had stayed on course with the ps system where I'm from I'd be making about the same as I am now with years put in. |
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roadwalker
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 1060
Location: Ch
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:32 am Post subject: |
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For the second term in a row, I got a partial schedule and was told the rest was TBA. They've got more teachers this year, so the bread and butter oral English classes are probably all doled out. I'll be picking up classes in the next couple of weeks. If I could have a Friday-off schedule (Monday's already filled), I'll be relatively happy.
(I think wonderingjoesmith meant teaching in the States made more of a difference in the overall scheme of educational things than teaching in China. I think we can all make a difference, positive or negative, or make little difference, anywhere.) |
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GreatApe
Joined: 11 Apr 2012
Posts: 193
Location: Guangdong, PRC
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 5:48 am Post subject: |
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| ecubyrd wrote: I'm curious about a couple of other things you touched on. You said you work at an international school, right? You don't have to do any of these things at your school? |
Yes, I do have to do MOST of those things at the International school where I teach, BUT it's not nearly on the same scale as in the U.S. I administer the IGCSE exams for our school, but it's not that difficult and I get any help I need (except for on the Spoken English section).
To give you some perspective: we currently have 120 students at our school in TOTAL. I teach six different forms (there is only one class that I do not teach. Right now, I teach 103 students. When I was teaching in America, I had 186 students (6 classes of 11th graders) by myself! One of my many responsibilities (aside from teaching) was to counsel those 186 students to make sure that they were on course to graduate.
We can talk about the beauracracy of teaching and living in China, but there is NOTHING like the beauracracy surrounding teaching in America (particularly at this time in history). I'm sure you can relate. You've done it. It's a nightmare!
I'm not bragging or "tooting my own horn" but I am presently the ONLY Native-English speaker at my International school, and that means I have to take on responsibilities which include a level of being "the English voice" for our school. It's challenging and demanding, but it's less demanding than teaching 11th grade in America. In my opinion, it's less-stressful, more challenging, and more enjoyable.
| Quote: |
| ecubyrd also wrote: Also, you make a third of what you did back home? You must have been banking there or are getting paid less than your worth here. If I had stayed on course with the ps system where I'm from I'd be making about the same as I am now with years put in. |
I made $56,000 in my last year of teaching in America. I do a little better than $20,000 a year teaching here. I have 10 teaching hours less per week, more holiday time, and I don't have the disciplinary problems or as many motivational problems as I had teaching in the U.S. I don't have as many hassles from administrators either. I have a lot more lee-way here to do things the way I want to do them and to try new things, experiment and have some fun.
Don't get me wrong, I LIVE at school (literally and figuratively) ... and during the course of the semester I log A LOT of time in the office. I'd say I work 10 hours a day, five days a week at least. I think of the school as what it is -- a COMMUNITY. When it's time to work, I work ... when it's time for vacation, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone relaxing more than me.
When I was working for a Training Center I came to resent the time I spent traveling from school to school just to teach. Then there was teaching at the center itself on the weekends, 6 days a week, with very little vacation. It felt like someone was always encroaching upon my life and my time. It wasted A LOT of my time; I had to jump through a bunch of hoops and it was frustrating for a wide variety of reasons. Now, I'm much more grounded and stable and I feel like this is my "home." If I'm tired of working and don't have class, I go home to my apartment and shut the door. When I want to work, I open my door and whether I have class or not, there's work all around me!
As long as I keep my teaching schedule and my appointments, I'm free to come and go as I please. I don't get phone calls telling me to be places at certain times. I don't get asked to do anything more than I'm willing to do. If I say "No" to something, I do not get harrassed or hounded or made to feel guilty for saying "no."
Yeah, if you pressed me, I'd admit it and say that I'd love to be making closer to $35,000 or $40,000 a year right now. That would be an outstanding salary for teaching ESL in China. Perhaps I can get there one day through investments or share-holding or other business opportunities. I work with some people that I know I can trust and for a boss who is a really good guy -- very loyal, sincere and straight-forward as long as you treat him the same way. I just take it one day at a time, one semester at a time, one contract at a time.
--GA |
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GreatApe
Joined: 11 Apr 2012
Posts: 193
Location: Guangdong, PRC
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 6:12 am Post subject: |
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| roadwalker wrote: (I think wonderingjoesmith meant teaching in the States made more of a difference in the overall scheme of educational things than teaching in China. I think we can all make a difference, positive or negative, or make little difference, anywhere.) |
If this is, in fact, what wonderingjoesmith meant, then I'd have to ask him what he thinks is the difference in satisfaction level. I mean, to me, teaching is all about helping someone along a path to achieve their goals or "dreams." It's helping them accomplish what they want to accomplish, as well as teaching them skills they can use. It's about challenging them to think and learn. It's about growing the love and importance for education as a life-long process, and not just a class grade or a report card.
I continually tell my former colleagues and teacher friends back home in the states that the two BIGGEST problems I had as a teacher in the U.S. are NON-EXISTENT in China! Number one: disipline. Chinese students have it, and most American students do not. Also, in China I don't have to be the policeman, the psychologist, the mother and the father as well as the teacher. I can just be the teacher.
Number two: motivation. While it may be true that many Chinese students lack a solid motivation to learn or speak English, I don't think it's on the same level as American students. At least not in my experience. Three quarters of the students in each of my classes are trying and willing and wanting to learn. In general, I found a lower motivational level in America.
--GA |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 1624
Location: Chengdu, Sichuan, PRC
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 6:42 am Post subject: |
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Bingo!
Many thanks for your posts Grape Ape. They very quickly helped me remember my time "in the system" as a teacher in New York City. Lately, I have been thinking about going back...
...and then I read your posts. Yeah, I really don't want to deal with all of that again. Teaching in China is more worthwhile. At the moment the students I teach are great.
I agree with you about discipline and motivation in China vs. in America (generally speaking).
As you mentioned, I also don't mind putting in the hours here during the semester. My work is appreciated by both the adminstrators and the students. I put in soooo many hours back "in the system" and a lot of times it seemed to go for naught. Thinking back on it, I should have always skipped out when the final bell of the day rang, rather than sticking around and logging in the extra hours into the evening. 
Being a policeman, psychologist, mother, father, and and and? I am sooo glad that those days are over and I am can just focus on being a teacher and crafting a solid lesson plan that will get appreciated.
Warm regards,
fat_chris |
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GreatApe
Joined: 11 Apr 2012
Posts: 193
Location: Guangdong, PRC
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 7:57 am Post subject: |
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My pleasure, fat_chris!
Although it's "GreatApe" as opposed to the old-school cartoon, "Grape Ape" which I'm old enough to remember and old enough to have watched in the original. I'm getting old, period! 
I will admit here on these threads that last semester the "Honeymoon" period of teaching in China ended for me. I had a REAL struggle with frustration and not achieving what I wanted to achieve as a teacher, but it didn't last for very long --a month, maybe.
I had to have a serious "chat" with myself over the Spring Festival vacation and REMIND myself of exactly those times that you mentioned in your post, fat_chris.
I have no desire to go back to America and teach. I like it just fine where I'm at, as challenging and frustrating as it can sometimes be.
CHEERS!
--GA |
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wonderingjoesmith
Joined: 19 Aug 2012
Posts: 394
Location: Guangzhou
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| Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2013 7:24 am Post subject: |
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| 7969 wrote: |
| wonderingjoesmith wrote: |
| I agree with the last post but how much of a purpose does one serve here as oppose to the states keeps my mind going |
How many batteries does that take Joe? |
How many mutants does it take to screw in a light bulb? |
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wonderingjoesmith
Joined: 19 Aug 2012
Posts: 394
Location: Guangzhou
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| Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2013 7:27 am Post subject: |
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| GreatApe wrote: |
| Quote: |
| wonderingjoesmith wrote: I agree with the last post but how much of a purpose does one serve here as oppose to the states keeps my mind going |
What we have here is a failure to communicate!
I'm not sure what you mean, Joe.
--GA |
I was wondering about the function of one foreign teacher here vs a teacher in states system. |
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