Job Discussion Forums

[doogsville]

[chinatimes]

Don't stress out too much. I have been in classes where only 3 participated and I lectured the rest to get involved but no one else did. I got high marks with that class, but another class which was the opposite with 3 bad students gave me low marks. It only takes a few bad apples to spoil the bunch.

Out of 36 classes, I had 1 class write up a letter to me asking me to change the lesson structure. This was the worst class out of 36, one student shouted "F U" during one class. I went to the head English teacher to let her know about this and she told me not to worry about it and that the Chinese teacher for that class should not have had the students write up a letter but instead discuss the issues concerning her class. After that incident, I noticed that teacher either never showed up when it was my turn to teach or she was removed.

Each class is unique. What works in one class won't work in another, even if they are at the same level. The classes consist of different personality types. If more people are introverted, they will want more time to reply. The extroverted bunches want to see reactions and tend to laugh at every little thing.

Whatever you decide to teach, mix teaching with something else like a game or activity. This allows people a choice to participate. They may not want to answer your question directly in class, but if the question comes up as a trivia or game question they might be more motivated to give the answer.

[teenoso]

"I am always very friendly to my students, as I am with my colleagues, friends and often random strangers I meet on my travels. It in no way undermines my authority over them. For instance a student is late, I make them stand at the door, tell me why they are late, and then apologise to me and their classmates for wasting my time and their time and money.

you cannot be serious ? how is this 'friendly '?
the best advice I got from an experienced teacher was , always assume that a student who is late has a good reason to be so. Why should they apologise ? and how is their being late , wasting your time ?

[Non Sequitur]

C'times
'Whatever you decide to teach, mix teaching with something else like a game or activity. This allows people a choice to participate. They may not want to answer your question directly in class, but if the question comes up as a trivia or game question they might be more motivated to give the answer'.
EXACTLY!!

[doogsville]

[choudoufu]

late student is invited to sit in the front row as teacher's special
friend. special friend gets to answer many questions. special friend
gets to demonstrate kungfu mastery of grammar principles. special
friend gets to participate in all dialogs. special friend....and so on.

special friend always arrives on time.

[teachingld2004]

If your read what I said, I said be friendly but not their friends. I said I am their friends after the grades are in.

I am friendly. After class last Monday I went to lunch with two of the students. I tell them I am always available for them before class, break time, and after class. They have my email and phone number.

My main focus is to be their teacher.

Too many teachers get in trouble by becoming "pals".

4 x students just left. I taught them a year and 1/2 ago. They really did become my friends. Now they are seniors and soon will have to look for jobs.

We have talked about different levels of friend ship. We can talk about anything and everything. But we could not do that when I was their teacher.

So when I say "be friendly but not their friend", understand where I am coming from.

[mw182006]

So how's it going mcloo? I've got my first class in about 30 minutes

[Javelin of Radiance]

[Denim-Maniac]

[mcloo7]

Sorry, I thought this thread was buried, I didnt see these later two posts. The class went well, thank you all very much. I realize my question may have sounded a little unprofessional, but I was nervous. And now, I most likely will never have to ask it again.

One of my co-workers was specifically helpful by telling me what he did in his first classes, and showing me the slide show that he used. I made a powerpoint slide show, with lots of pictures introducing myself, and where Im from; what my home city it like; what I like about China so far, etc. They seemed to really enjoy this. Than, like my coworker, I had my students make name cards with construction paper that I gave them. I bought multi colored construction paper, and I told them that they can pick the color, but they have to say the name of it when they pick; I went around and handed these papers out. Then they had to pick an English name; I solicited names that they knew and wrote them on the board, then added some new names to it. They wrote their Chinese names, and student numbers on the other side of the folded part of the paper, and on the inside of the paper they had to answer some questions that I gave them, such as where are they from, what do they like about their hometown, what are their three favorite things to do, and why do they want to learn English. This whole process took about half of a two-period class (40 minutes.)

For the second half of class I had them play People Bingo. But I see now that other games go by that name too. I wrote a grid with 25 squares; in each square I wrote a certain fact such as "likes pu'erh tea" and students had to go around and find a person who matches up with a square and get them to sign their name. This went quicker than I thought it would so in the first couple of classes I had to change the parameters as we were going by saying you had to have three lines of names to win, rather than 1. I also brought prizes to give to the winners of these games.

After that, they all had to stand up and tell me something they learned about one of their classmates that they didnt know before. In my first few classes, all these things took one and a half classes, but by my last three classes, we got it done all in the first class (which is 1.5 hours). It went well.

[Denim-Maniac]

Congrats sir ... that sounds like a very solid first lesson! Glad it went well for you! And nice to read your update too! Keep 'em coming!

[mcloo7]

[Non Sequitur]

Ditto
Within the constraints of your usual China classroom, getting students moving aids enjoyment and learning.
You're on your way!