Job Discussion Forums

[Non Sequitur]

OK so your living arrangements are under control, you know your way around campus and you’re adjusting to the diet.
Here’s another list, this time of the class situations you’ll encounter in that first week.
• Know where the classroom is and get there on time.
• Make sure you know what A/V equipment is available but don’t assume it is working perfectly.
• Is the equipment in a locked cabinet? If so, know where to pick up the key.
• Do you need to sign in at the caretaker’s office?
• Be prepared for a ‘sea’ of Chinese faces when you enter the classroom and don’t be surprised if freshmen students stand and even applaud.
• Take charge of the class. You are their leader – show it.
• Be larger than life in action and voice BUT DON”T SPEAK TOO QUICKLY. It will take a while for your accent to gel with them.
• Some of the students will have given up on English in high school. Give them a chance to begin again.
• Teach the back wall. Don’t get sucked in to teaching only that admiring little group in the front row.
• Most jobs are Oral English. In these classes, YOU talking is a bad thing. THEM talking is a good thing.
• Chinese teachers emphasise their status by picking up on every mistake of grammar and pronunciation. Your students may expect you to do the same – DON’T.
• The ‘communicative’ method means that as long as you can follow them and they you, keep the conversation going.
• Get a look at the textbook and assess its value. Even if you think it is rubbish, don’t say this to your students. Many will have a touching attachment to this text as it represents a new beginning for their English studies. Any negativity WILL get back to the school admin.
• Trudging through the text book for 2x45 min periods back-to-back isn’t going to work. Within the parameters of Oral English you need something else for the 2nd 45.
• Have a known routine to get the class going. ‘Good morning class’. ‘Good morning teacher’. ‘What shall we do?’ ‘Let’s speak English!’
• Go straight into warm up and there’s nothing like a song. At my last school the A/V was so dodgy I carried a ghetto blaster and song sheets. Choose a song that maintains pace throughout. Not something with a catchy chorus and a dirge as a verse. A boy/girl themed number is popular. Change the song say every five weeks and reprise old ones from time-to-time.
• Remember if you can get that first 10 mins off to a positive start, the rest of the lesson is much easier.
• Pick your fights. As winter comes on, more students will bring food to class and try to eat it hiding behind another kid. 8am classes are particularly known for this. I call 8am classes ‘Teacher’s Breakfast Club’ and as long as it is all gone by the first 45 mins – OK. Ask questions about the food. ‘What are you eating?’ ‘Yoghurt teacher’. What flavour is it? ‘It is pineapple flavour teacher’.
• If you have a 16 hour weekly schedule, that’s eight classes each of say 40 students or 320 students in total. As much as getting started with these students is uppermost in your mind remember one thing. IN EIGHTEEN WEEKS TIME YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO HAVE SUFFICIENT UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR INDIVIDUAL SPEAKING ABILITY, SO AS TO AWARD A MARK THAT IS FAIR AND DEFENDABLE Don’t wake up on Week 10 to this reality. Make it part of your planning from the first class.
• Across that 18-week semester you are going have to maintain knowledge of who has spoken and who hasn’t – even if the class is split across two weeks. An individual score for each student and whether they are improving or otherwise. How they fared speaking with other students in the mid-semester and final assessments. If they are working in pairs or trios, who their partners are. Having a note of their English name and the means of changing it. Noting that in semester 2 they may use a different name to semester 1, which in turn is different to that on the database you will be expected to load your marks onto.
• If you don’t have a better method I use the Student Progress Slip available here:
http://www.eslteachersresources.com/individual-student-progress/ Dirt cheap and come finals time you will have a database from which to award marks.
• If experienced teachers can add other ‘heads up’ items - please do. If you feel the need to ventilate on the unfairness of the universe – please do it elsewhere.

[beckyshaile]

I disagree with 1/2 of this. It sounds to me that you are submissively trying to fly under the radar of the powers-that-be. Yes, take charge, I agree with that.

As for the student progress thing - which seems like cheap advertising to me - it's ridiculously simple to make your own. I teach university and made my own professional western standard type of form - if anyone wants it (at zero cost), let me know and I can post it online for download.

Also, I assume you are referring to spoken/oral classes. Many other classes and subjects are available and are taught in differing ways.

[Non Sequitur]

Bullet point 10 refers to Oral English.
The cost of the individual item works out at less than one quarter of one cent per student over an average year.
Generally you won't have the experience to construct a progress slip of your own until you're well in to or at the end of semester one.
I thought I had made it clear that the purpose of the thread is to equip newbies to be effective from Day One.

[johntpartee]

[kev7161]

After reading this list, I just have to say I am SO happy with my job (25 or fewer students per classroom, NOT "oral English", and no worries about most of the things on that list!).

[davelister]

[Non Sequitur]

[Bud Powell]

I'm with the OP on this for the most part.

Even if you think it is rubbish, don’t say this to your students. Many will have a touching attachment to this text as it represents a new beginning for their English studies. Any negativity WILL get back to the school admin.

Absolutely. They'll figure it out themselves if it's a college class. If the teacher has enough experience, he'll have a lot of other material to augment what the Chinese text lacks. If he doesn't he should begin working toward acquiring new material from the internet. For Oral English, idioms are always a hit with students.

I'd add:

Always come to class prepared to accomplish twice what you think you will accomplish in a class period.

and

Always have a plan B.

and

For Oral English, get the entire class involved, not just the students who are speaking. It'll take a fair amount of preparation, but cut small, index card-sized paper slips from copy paper and distribute it to the non-speaking, non-performing students for them to write their remarks to be given to the students' speech. (Buy a paper cutter at the beginning of the semester, and it will make life much easier). Middle school, high school, and college students appreciate this. You'll have the students who always say (in English) Good Work when the performance was really bad. The students know when it's BS.

[chinesearmy]

[Non Sequitur]

China is a lot less ethnically diverse than Western classes.
No blacks
No Scandinavians
No 'gingas'
We all look alike to them though.
I was watching TV with my boss and she asked me about one show character like 'Who's this guy again?'
When I said 'He's the neighbour's brother (or whatever)'.
She responded 'all Westerners look alike to me'.
So the sea of Han features with black hair can be challenging as in 'How will I ever tell them apart?'
You do of course and they are as different as we are.

[mw182006]

Thanks for sharing NS, your posts have always been pretty helpful in my limited time here. You mention warmup activities and songs, can you elaborate? Do you have them sing, and do university students get into that? I'm still working my full-time job so I haven't been able to start preparing lessons and warm-ups, assuming this move finally happens.

[Non Sequitur]

[MozartFloyd]

Thanks, Non Sequitur, I enjoyed your post and I think it's bound to be informative to newbies. I for one always enjoy reading other teachers insights, so much appreciation.

I like the song idea as well. I'll try it out on my Uni students when the new semester starts in September.

[Non Sequitur]

I posted a self-congratulatory message which I've now deleted.

[Non Sequitur]