Job Discussion Forums

[GreatApe]

LMAO! ... I bet I know exactly WHY you've "been around Chinese all your life"!



...you can try to write, but you can't hide! Another H.Ker who hates the mainland and is working hard to grind that axe!

Nothing better to do, I suppose. Pathetic.

--GA

[choudoufu]

deported from mainland = bitter

[wonderingjoesmith]

[7969]

[wonderingjoesmith]

[7969]

That's the spirit

[teachingld2004]

Update:

I did make the 2 extra classes. Each class has between 8 and 12 students in it. They are the ones who love English and love to talk. Some times a few of the others pop in for a bit.

I am having a great time with them. They are funny and open. (or at least i think so). I learn a lot from them, and I am having a grand old time.

I would not advise everyone to do this, but it works for me

I do not care about the extra time I give them. They give me back.
I laugh. I learn things about me. It is fine.

I am happy. It "pays" to give. I am not being taken advantage of. I decided to do this.

I have sophomores this year. They will be juniors next year. I will not do this for them. The juniors I am doing this with/for are the ones I started with last term.

I am more free in conversation with the juniors then the sophomores. We built up a different kind of relationship.

Anyway, this was an update.

[wonderingjoesmith]

This thread resembles Robin Williams in �The World�s Greatest Dad�.

[cormac]

I think that a rather large part of the problem is that many Fts in china do not come with an educational based major and therefore believe that they will make a profound impact on both the students perception of the world, and perhaps more importantly on their level of English. I, myself, fell into this category since I'd worked in business for years prior to teaching and had a rather limited understanding of the practicalities of teaching even though I came from a family of teachers. But.... There are also those with an educational major and still are.... Incapable of seeng being grammar rules or a certain book of activities or games.

There a number of problems within this thread. Some avoidance of rather effective limitations on our job to teach English.

First. Most universities or colleges will only give students one to two classes with an oral teacher a week. This usually amounts to between two and four hours of actual class work with the students. On its own, such a commitment of students time to oral English cannot provide them with much to improve in any drastic way. In my las uni, I worked sixteen hours of classes a week. No individual class had me for more than two hours a week.

Second. The students themselves. Chinese students for the most part have this belief that having good oral English will appear without any genuine hard work. They are incapable of practicing on their own steam with each other. Instead we have the extremely common limitation that its too weird to speak any language other than Chinese to other Chinese people. So.... Students rely almost exclusively on the oral classes themselves to give them fluency. (Besides the naive expectation that watching movies with Chinese subtitles will help). Even homework assignments or projects are handed in without any serious effort in logic or an attempt to impress. Instead many copy directly from the Internet or books without feeling any need to distinguish themselves.

Third. A combination of students, the establishment, and the teacher themselves. Usually while there are books provided there is no clear curriculum with goals or targets included. Sure, teachers can create them, but often the students themselves will shoot them down. They learn grammar in other classes with Chinese teachers (although rarely improve), and don't want conventional classes from a foreigner. The school itself will bow to the demands of students and the monitors... Leaving the teacher often wondering how to improve classes while retaining a certain level of interest.

Unfortunately there are a rather large number of Fts who just give up and watch movies all the time. I, myself, have done this for a full semester because I got sick to death of the lack of improvement despite my own extra work.

Some students are different and will improve. But then they improve on their own, and just need direction from us. The educational system in china with the primary focus on writing, reading, and listening, makes our role rather limited. Sometimes I have felt that I taught more English when I was working with children than at university level.

Now. I'm an average teacher. I'm not particularly great at teaching English as a language. I am great a motivation, logic, reasoning, etc. but that's mostly my business background. But saying that I'm still only an average quality teacher except that I still maintain an interest in improving the overall quality of my students. I do love teaching and will likely continue to teach in the future.

Next I would say that I have been extremely lucky to have been able to watch truly great Fts in china, and they're definitely out there. Alas the vast majority I've seen or interviewed do not fall into that category. So many people are jaded, or just want a job for their year of sex in china.

So this expectation that English majors should be much higher than they are is rather.. Foolish. There isn't an environment in place for them to learn, and no real desire to maintain one even of it was created. In many ways its actually easier for students learning other majors like German or Russian since English has such a ignorant focus here.

I no longer teach at university level. I needed a break and now with new oriental. Rich kids with a serious focus on ielts, bec, and tofl. It's got it's own problems but overall it's certainly a nice break from the rather dispiriting world of English majors.

[Shroob]