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7969
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 5782
Location: Coastal Guangdong
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 Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 12:39 pm Post subject: |
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| it'snotmyfault wrote: |
| wonderingjoesmith wrote: |
| Are we so unworthy? |
Mostly, yes. Just look at a lot of the posts on Dave's, they're usually about how one can get away with doing as little work as possible for as much money as possible. Very few about how to actually improve as a teacher.
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I agree fully. Thousands of posts on money and "entitlements," very few on how to do the job, how to deal with difficulties as a teacher, resolving potential problems in the classroom etc.
| xiguagua wrote: |
| Why do extra work for the school and not be compensated? It's just asking to be taken advantage of. |
If I read correctly he's not doing this for the school. He's doing an extra 90 minutes of work a week for three reasons: he has lots of free time, the students he's spending this extra time with love English, and he gets satisfaction providing the extra help. Win-win. No-one's being taken advantage of here.
| teachingld2004 wrote: |
| So, the end result is I will teach one 90 minute class a week (free) for a class of students who really love English. |
| teachingld2004 wrote: |
| It is not going to kill me. My schedule is only six 90 minute classes. Our boss treats the teachers like gold, and I love this job. |
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wonderingjoesmith
Joined: 19 Aug 2012
Posts: 910
Location: Guangzhou
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| Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 2:15 am Post subject: |
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| 7969 wrote: |
| it'snotmyfault wrote: |
| wonderingjoesmith wrote: |
| Are we so unworthy? |
Mostly, yes. Just look at a lot of the posts on Dave's, they're usually about how one can get away with doing as little work as possible for as much money as possible. Very few about how to actually improve as a teacher.
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I agree fully. Thousands of posts on money and "entitlements," very few on how to do the job, how to deal with difficulties as a teacher, resolving potential problems in the classroom etc. |
Does the suggested high number of "entitlements" messages reflect the reality? What I have noticed is that quite a lot of communication gets distorted and the genuine teachers discouraged from sharing their views or experiences. Here, for example, a serious issue about the local education has been brought forward, but we're somehow unwilling to relate to it.
"Are we so unworthy?" is aimed at the message which claims "to be fair to the students, I have observed a lot of foreign English teachers, and there are not many I would spend my free time hanging out with!" |
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wonderingjoesmith
Joined: 19 Aug 2012
Posts: 910
Location: Guangzhou
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| Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 2:30 am Post subject: |
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| it'snotmyfault wrote: |
| wonderingjoesmith wrote: |
And, what other reasons could the students possibly have? |
A lot of them have been listed on this thread  |
Emoticons and far fetched generalizations mislead the exchange of messages. The question "what other reasons could the students possibly have?" follows a suggestion of one poster that "there could be other factors" for students either not to attend classes or to want to speak to the foreign teacher. |
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choudoufu
Joined: 25 May 2010
Posts: 3325
Location: Mao-berry, PRC
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| Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 2:59 am Post subject: |
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| wonderingjoesmith wrote: |
| it'snotmyfault wrote: |
| wonderingjoesmith wrote: |
And, what other reasons could the students possibly have? |
A lot of them have been listed on this thread |
Emoticons and far fetched generalizations mislead the exchange of messages. The question "what other reasons could the students possibly have?" follows a suggestion of one poster that "there could be other factors" for students either not to attend classes or to want to speak to the foreign teacher. |
 let's see...........some 'teachers'.  ..
 come to class late or unprepared. 
are often drunk or hungover. 
yell at, berate their students. 
show movies instead of teaching. 
spend classtime peeking up skirts or down blouses. 
shack up with their students.  |
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wonderingjoesmith
Joined: 19 Aug 2012
Posts: 910
Location: Guangzhou
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| Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 5:09 am Post subject: Re: English Majors, what a joke. (in my shool) |
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| teachingld2004 wrote: |
............
But I still am shocked that English majors do not want to take the time to speak English with a foreigner. And ast term they complained that they are taught English in Chinese.
Go figure.......... |
Would there be an equation in between the above indication and the original surprise teacher message? |
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fred13331
Joined: 20 Feb 2012
Posts: 108
Location: Southern China
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| Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 6:10 am Post subject: Re: English Majors, what a joke. (in my shool) |
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| teachingld2004 wrote: |
I had Juniors last semester, and when they found out they will not have oral English this semester, they were not happy one bit. So, I decided what the hell, i would offer them one hour a week. 3 classes, 3 hours of pure conversation, would not kill me.
2 classes decided that they did not have the time (THEY ARE ENGLISH MAJORS)but one class was so happy that I said I would do this. (They were my best class)
Go figure.......... |
Students : 'Teacher, teacher, we are so disappointed you will not teach us next year - we wish you could teach us'
Teacher : 'Ok ok, students, I can see you genuinely, earnestly want to learn from me, so i will teach you anyway. For free!!""
Students : ''Oh flock it, he has called our bluff................Erm .........aaaaah ................. oh - so sorry but we are too busy to accept your offer. We have no time - yes, yes, thats it, we are too busy.We have like 16 classes a week. Thats like 12 full hours. That only leaves 156 hours a week for other stuff. We just can't do it, sorry man. Thanks for the offer tho - please don't tell our parents we turned down free classes' |
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Simon in Suzhou
Joined: 09 Aug 2011
Posts: 404
Location: GZ
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| Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:18 am Post subject: Re: English Majors, what a joke. (in my shool) |
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| fred13331 wrote: |
| teachingld2004 wrote: |
I had Juniors last semester, and when they found out they will not have oral English this semester, they were not happy one bit. So, I decided what the hell, i would offer them one hour a week. 3 classes, 3 hours of pure conversation, would not kill me.
2 classes decided that they did not have the time (THEY ARE ENGLISH MAJORS)but one class was so happy that I said I would do this. (They were my best class)
Go figure.......... |
Students : 'Teacher, teacher, we are so disappointed you will not teach us next year - we wish you could teach us'
Teacher : 'Ok ok, students, I can see you genuinely, earnestly want to learn from me, so i will teach you anyway. For free!!""
Students : ''Oh flock it, he has called our bluff................Erm .........aaaaah ................. oh - so sorry but we are too busy to accept your offer. We have no time - yes, yes, thats it, we are too busy.We have like 16 classes a week. Thats like 12 full hours. That only leaves 156 hours a week for other stuff. We just can't do it, sorry man. Thanks for the offer tho - please don't tell our parents we turned down free classes' |
There is some truth in this, the way students will flatter you and say a lot of nice things without much substance...
However, at all 3 universities and colleges I have worked at in china, my students have had more like 30 classes per week, MANY more hours than i was teaching. I know things are not standard everywhere, and I know it is almost impossible to fail in Chinese colleges, and some of the classes and activities are somewhat laughable, but generally the students are quite busy. |
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xiguagua
Joined: 09 Oct 2011
Posts: 768
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| Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 1:26 pm Post subject: |
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| 7969 wrote: |
| xiguagua wrote: |
| Why do extra work for the school and not be compensated? It's just asking to be taken advantage of. |
If I read correctly he's not doing this for the school. He's doing an extra 90 minutes of work a week for three reasons: he has lots of free time, the students he's spending this extra time with love English, and he gets satisfaction providing the extra help. Win-win. No-one's being taken advantage of here.
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He's not being taken advantage of NOW. I'm all for helping students, but this country is littered with schools and people trying to con and scam foreigners at horrible schools, or just straight up lying because a lot of newbies don't know any better.
Like I said, if he wants to help the students, that's great. But if it were me, i'd try to organize a day where we just go out and do something rather than sit in a classroom. Go to a theatre and see a English movie, go to a park, have a BBQ, take a trip to the countryside. All of these things are beneficial for the students, good for bonding with them and if all else fails, at least it's more fun for me too. |
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xiguagua
Joined: 09 Oct 2011
Posts: 768
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| Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 1:32 pm Post subject: |
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| it'snotmyfault wrote: |
| wonderingjoesmith wrote: |
| Are we so unworthy? |
Mostly, yes. Just look at a lot of the posts on Dave's, they're usually about how one can get away with doing as little work as possible for as much money as possible. Very few about how to actually improve as a teacher.
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I often wonder if this is the vary reason why most foreigners are complete rejects and A-holes in China. Maybe we're not ACTUALLY bad people, but once upon a time there was ONE foreign dude that was a jerk, and suddenly through folk tales it has exploded into a "Everyone's a dildo except me" attitude.
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7969
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 5782
Location: Coastal Guangdong
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| Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 1:42 pm Post subject: |
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| xiguagua wrote: |
| 7969 wrote: |
| xiguagua wrote: |
| Why do extra work for the school and not be compensated? It's just asking to be taken advantage of. |
If I read correctly he's not doing this for the school. He's doing an extra 90 minutes of work a week for three reasons: he has lots of free time, the students he's spending this extra time with love English, and he gets satisfaction providing the extra help. Win-win. No-one's being taken advantage of here.
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He's not being taken advantage of NOW. I'm all for helping students, but this country is littered with schools and people trying to con and scam foreigners at horrible schools, or just straight up lying because a lot of newbies don't know any better.
Like I said, if he wants to help the students, that's great. But if it were me, i'd try to organize a day where we just go out and do something rather than sit in a classroom. Go to a theatre and see a English movie, go to a park, have a BBQ, take a trip to the countryside. All of these things are beneficial for the students, good for bonding with them and if all else fails, at least it's more fun for me too. |
Yes, they're all great ideas too. . . . |
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teachingld2004
Joined: 17 Feb 2012
Posts: 389
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| Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 3:43 pm Post subject: english majors |
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I certainly am not being taken advantage of. I have more brains then that.
I have been teaching for a long time; in Asia and America.
I love to teach, and granted half the students are not worth my spit, but half are just kids who really want to learn.
Now I made 2 90 minute open classes, and many of the juniors I had last term did not know I was doing this.
The classes are open to all the jr. English majors (bad keyboard, and arthritis in the fingers (some times they hurt so excuse the typing please)
The juniors come to my apartment (I do not give them grades. The sophomores I teach I do not let come over because I grade them)
They are not using me. They bring me things (too much tea because they know I love it and now I have enough tea to last me my whole life)
They teach me how to cook, and I cook also. They order stuff for me on the internet (in Chinese) They come with me to the doctor.
I have a lot of fun with them.
I do not let myself be used Some times I think I ask too much of them. We are going out to eat this week and I insisted dutch pay I do not want them to treat me Yes, I let them some times, but they do not have money. Some of them are so poor that I do not know how they live. I have heard about their home life and it shocks me how they an be so happy, and how they help their family in so many ways.
So for me to give free classes is not going to kill me.
I have friends who have awful schools and horrid bosses. I have had those in the past. Here I am at a school where believe it or not we are respected and treated well Teachers stay here for usually 5 years. Really Teachers are happy here. |
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7969
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 5782
Location: Coastal Guangdong
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| Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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| If you're happy, keep doing what you're doing. No-one else matters. |
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it'snotmyfault
Joined: 14 May 2012
Posts: 527
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| Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 11:13 pm Post subject: Re: english majors |
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| teachingld2004 wrote: |
| I love to teach, and granted half the students are not worth my spit |
Are you sure all the problems at your shool are the fault of the stewdents? |
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teachingld2004
Joined: 17 Feb 2012
Posts: 389
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| Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 2:57 pm Post subject: english majors |
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Bad choice of words me saying "half of the students are not worth my spit". I mean that half of them are not worth my time)
(The New Yorker in me came out with that remark) But really, half of them love English.
Today we sat outside and sat in a circle and played "truth or dare" Not my idea, theirs It was so funny and we did have a great time. One of the Chinese teachers saw us and sat down and she played with us too. I learned things from her that really blew my mind.
Now the other class is sorry they said "no" to me, but it is too late. I made other plans with that time. I said they are welcome to join the other times.
Life is good. |
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Lancy Bloom
Joined: 23 Nov 2012
Posts: 126
Location: Hong Kong
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| Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 2:56 am Post subject: |
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Been around Chinese all my life. They give you what they don't want. Bad tea, low level students, baby milk, medicine, recooked three time chicken. They give the good stuff to their leaders.
Now the Japanese give you the good things and if you are a gourmant and don' show appreciation they slowly give you the dregs.
If you don't believe this come to Hong Kong. Mainlanders making dozens of trips a day to buy things that are good. They have theri children crossing the boarder every day to attend good schools. And all the new leaders have their children in foreign schools.
So you get to teach freshmen and then they take your students after they have learned something from you. |
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