Teacher Discussion Forums

Snowhite · Joined: 21 Sep 2009 Posts: 1

A little while ago I got my first teaching job in a new school. When I got here, there were no materials. Basically, it was up to me to design the syllabus & materials for their future use. The students are paying their fees before the materials are there, and then the eyes are on me.. There are six courses, each consisting of 48 hours. Besides the English teaching I am also expected to deliver personality development. Is this usual in Asia or what? There is no-one around whom I could consult or ask for a second opinion, and I haven't taught any of these subjects, so just using my own judgement.

Now, besides all this, I Am now working on a Advanced course and am lost on what to include, as the preceding course is for Beginners, so everyone who is not an absolute Beginner will end up in the Advanced class.

I would really appreciate any advice on this..

Thanks

Sally Olsen · Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:40 pm Post subject:

Where? What age?

Right now just bluff your way through - you have 48 weeks to work it out and if you have some kind of plan it will reassure everyone. It is probably important to appear professional at the beginning.

Your students will dictate what you really teach when they are in the classroom. I have never met a teacher who really followed the curriculum when the door to the classroom was closed. So Google something that looks impressive and then work it out as you go along.

Every school will ask you to do what they need so you get some bizarre requests. In the end, they all want to learn English but ask the students what they want to learn in the personality course and then find some things on the Internet and tailor them to their level. It can be fun and they will help you design a good course for them.

heather2010 · Joined: 15 Jul 2010 Posts: 1

Others might chime in, but I definitely don't think that's the 'norm' in Asia.

Then again, the overall point is that Asia is a huge place, and everyone has a different expectation level. I think it's way outside of hiring an ESL teacher and then, after the fact, inform him or her that it's part of the job to develop two 48 week courses from scratch to teach from. Was that in the contract??

Thankfully there are a lot of good resources on this forum, so hopefully you found what you were looking for.