Job Discussion Forums

[Non Sequitur]

I've never taught in high school but have often thought of doing so.
This is because my teaching style is fairly broad (aka crowd control) and I enjoy my bigger uni and vocational classes.
A couple of links from YouTube show at least 50 students - there could be more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oifPUwSg824
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw3JHh0lVFQ

Before I take this further, can FTS who have taught in high school complete the poll on class size and comment on the difference between high school and uni if they've done both.
I'm also interested in how high school teachers of oral English grade students.
It's all very well to teach 'broadly' but the end of the process means awarding a mark to each student.

[Denim-Maniac]

I spent 3 months teaching classes of Senior Grade 2 students. Average class was probably about 50.

For me, that job was the most typical example of the oft-maligned 'Dancing Monkey' routine. No academic standards to meet and student expectation is so low Id be very reluctant to ever set foot in that type of classroom again. Everything that is wrong about EFL in China is apparent in that type of class IMO.

But ... it is easy if you just want to enjoy life in China away from the classroom.

[rogerwilco]

I taught at two different high schools in Anhui.
At both schools the class size was about 30 students. The classes were to prepare the wealthier students to go to universities abroad, and not as large as the regular high school classes.

[xiguagua]

When I taught high school in Hunan and rural Guizhou, class sizes were 60+. But when I was actually in those classes, it didn't actually FEEL like 60, it felt like less.

When I taught juniors my classes were 80-90+ and that was the same thing. With high school and juniors, you gotta keep in mind that MAYBE 50% of them are actually worth teaching and the others are just taking up space and will never try or learn regardless. Gotta learn to ignore the ones that don't care and only focus on the ones that do.

[GreatApe]

When I taught high school classes which were connected to a Language Mill, my classes were large, with a little less than 40 students each. Now that I work for an International school, my high school classes are much smaller. I teach three high school classes this semester with class sizes of: 8, 14, and 19 students each.

--GA

[jibbs]

I wonder how people manage with more than 30, really. That was enough for me. Of course you might get used to more than that, but for a foreign language even 30 is just too many.

[xiguagua]

[Denim-Maniac]

^^^ this kinda why I said I feel this type of work is the stereotypical Dancing Monkey routine. Invariably doing the job well means being a dancing monkey (make the students like you and be interested in English), and the adminstration of the school only view you as a dancing monkey (teach senior grade 3? No, they have important things like gaokao to study!).

50 students (or more) and not streamed by ability. 75% of whom would struggle to count to 10 and have very little interest or aptitude in English. 1 x 40 minute lesson a week with each class?

You can try as hard as you like and approach each lesson with an ultra-professsional head on your shoulders, but the reality of that scenario (and the one I faced) is that you really cant be anything more than a dancing monkey. I think you'd be fooling yourself to see the job as anything different.

As I also said ... that does make for an easy life. No expectation from students or employers. And generally prepare one lesson and teach it X times per week. Simple.

[Non Sequitur]

Thanks D-M.
I wonder whether the class size 'drives' the teacher approach.
Plus in your case (is it typical?) you only teach 1xcontact hour pw to each class.
When I mentioned in my OP, that I have a 'broad' approach, that was in a class of 2x45 min periods.
If I got good work in period one we did something a bit more boisterous in period 2.
I don't know whether I would like to be 'good time Charlie' all damn week.
Like you I really have only one lesson plan each week and repeat it 8 or 9 times.
To keep me up to the mark, I really try to engage with each class as if it is my only task for the week.
BTW How do you mark?

[Denim-Maniac]

My experience was just one 3 month stint doing it. There wasnt any marking, and if it was it wouldnt have been a real mark. How could it be considering limited contact time and class size? I dont know how typical my experience is, but I do think its quite typical TBH. In my example, all my classes were senior level 2, and I had 12 different classes per week. Because of the size of many middle schools, I think minimal contact time is likely because of the simple logistics of the school.

I wouldnt take that kind of job again TBH. Not unless I had something else on the go and needed the job for the visa or something.

My China employment now is very small classes (less than 10 students) and I see the same class for 90 minutes each day, 5 days a week. Im quite committed to that type of class scenario TBH and feel I can teach and grade students effectively there. The alternative scenario that I experienced before is just something I wouldnt enjoy TBH.

[Non Sequitur]

D-M - thanks.
These are some pitfalls to avoid if I go in that direction.
Best
NS

[it'snotmyfault]

I think it's a bit unfair saying that they aren't worth teaching or they don't care.
Some of them yes, but some of them will have come from primary and middle schools where oral English is not a priority or the Chinese teachers just aren't equipped to teach the nuts and bolts of the language properly.

Then fast forward them to a high school situation where there's a foreigner trying to communicate with them in a language they don't understand, have never been taught properly. The foreigner doesn't speak your L1. You run the risk of losing face if you open your mouth and say something inappropriate.

I did one semester at a high school and I had a couple of the lower grade classes that were just painful..for me and them. But some of the higher graded students were great, we'd get debates and all sorts of activities going, I didn't feel like I was having to put a show on for them.
Overall though the school didn't have a positive vibe about it. It was an affiliated school supposedly with the best (read wealthiest) students in town there. The local teachers got paid less than regular high school teachers for having the prestige of working there so morale didn't feel good.
I'd consider having another go at teaching high school in the future though. I'd just pick the job more carefully.

And the class sizes were usually around 50.

[Non Sequitur]

Good stuff Itsnotmyfault.
What was class length?
2x45 mins or 1x45 mins?

[it'snotmyfault]

[Non Sequitur]