Job Discussion Forums

[Babala]

You cannot confiscate phones from corporate students. I don't allow them to use their phone as a dictionary and I ask them to take any calls outside the classroom. I have seldom ever had a problem with those rules.

[MisterButtkins]

[Bud Powell]

[doogsville]

I once took a phone of a student and dropped it out of the window on the third floor. He didn't know there was a ledge just below the window, and neither did his classmates. Just before the end of the class I told him he could go down and get it, and when he left the room I got it back off the ledge. He was almost crying when he got back so I gave him the phone. I had warned him, and them, several times about using phones, and told them next time I would not use the ledge. They were very well behaved after that.

I don't allow phones on the desk, or under the desk, or anywhere they can be seen. I tell them in the first class that phones need to be kept in their bags or pockets. If I see them, I take them away until the end of the class. If they don't understand a word I explain it, and if necessary, use my own phone's English/Chinese dictionary so the whole class can see it.

I don't care how long they've had a phone. They're not just studying, their preparing for the real world of working for a living. Playing with a phone when you should be working, sleeping when you should be working and being habitually late are not acceptable behaviours, and they need to learn that before they graduate. Just because it happens in the world of work doesn't mean it's okay. Maybe they do it because they learned that it's okay, but it's not okay in my classroom.

[Shroob]

[Babala]

Immaturity goes both ways. I would say that the way a few people on this thread handled their problems was not at all professional. I think we need to remember as teachers not to reaction emotionally.

[doogsville]

[doogsville]

[LPKSA]

You need to lay down the law from the start.

1. Tell them to turn off the cell phones when they walk into class. If they can't understand that, or refuse to accept that, take the phone away.

2. If they complain about you, tell them directly, to the whole class, "look, we're adults, I didn't come out here to have students go behind my back. Are you a Confucian culture which places respect on education and teachers? If so, show me the respect I do deserve."

3. Late students should not be allowed into the room after 10 minutes, or they should have a written excuse.

4. If they come in eating, send them back out to finish their food in the hall, otherwise they'll just throw their trash on the floor.

5. If they talk in class while you are teaching, stop teaching. Stand quietly, look around the room to catch the attention of the other students and draw their attention to the students who are talking. They will police themselves. Do not continue teaching until the students have stopped.

6. Do not give your private contact info to your students. Do not go out with your students outside of class either. If they see you on the street say hi and move on. If a student sees you talking to another student on the street, they might see this as threatening to the relation between you and the whole class. They are very sensitive at times, and they grew up in single child families, therefore they don't have the same social interaction skills as students from say, Korea, or Japan, or the west, where it's more likely to come from a family with more than one child.

7. If a student is being blatantly disrespectful, kick him/her out. Tell them to leave. Point to the door and just say go. Get out. They'll get the picture.

8. Have a syllabus, or some kind of structure to follow. They want to see this. They want to know that you know what you are doing. Keep them engaged, and keep them working together as well

9. Don't give up. I have had some terrible experiences in Chinese classrooms, with 8 year old girls thrown into a room with PRC soldiers. The dynamic was awful. Students started getting confused, as was I. There were periods of absolute confusion which led certain students to stand up to me and "offer me a suggestion." If students want to "offer you a suggestion" tell them to submit it in writing. That way you will have a chance to correct their grammar and keep them in their place, thus reinforcing the teacher>student hierarchy, while taking their suggestion with consideration.

10. Don't sweat it. It's China.

[Bud Powell]

I agree with the above with this exception:

Do not go out with your students outside of class either. If they see you on the street say hi and move on. If a student sees you talking to another student on the street, they might see this as threatening to the relation between you and the whole class. They are very sensitive at times, and they grew up in single child families, therefore they don't have the same social interaction skills as students from say, Korea, or Japan, or the west, where it's more likely to come from a family with more than one child.

I teach University level. I have always made it known that anyone and everyone is free to join me for lunch on Friday afternoons. (Many public universities have no classes after noontime on Fridays).

Dinner is okay if they initiate it.

I have found that occasionally associating with my students and being open to discussion is a good thing.

I would NEVER do this in the States, though when I was in school there were occasional beer-and-pizza gatherings near campus with the professors(s). Back then, it was encouraged by the universities. Now, however, in the States, a teacher can be sued for almost anything.

I always let the FAO and the FL department know when I go to lunch or dinner with a group of students. I invite FL faculty and the FAO to join us. Without exception, FL faculty and FAO's have agreed and encouraged the association. As long as no one is excluded, it actually creates unity within the class room.

Some students prefer to keep a large distance from me, and that's okay.

Associating with university students isn't for everyone, and those who are uncomfortable with it and who can't handle the student who takes the opportunity to turn the dinners into something other than a class activity shouldn't do it. It isn't for everyone.

High schoolers and younger? No way. Hi-hello-nice-to-see-you-did-you-do-your-homework? Bye-bye.

[Alien abductee]

[Shroob]

Just a note on the sibling issue - a lot of Chinese people will say they have a 'sister' or a 'brother' when they actually mean cousin.

On the issue of socialising with students - I used to work at a university, I sometimes went out with them to restaurants, picnics, even on trips with them. It was a good time, I still keep in contact with some on QQ.

[MisterButtkins]

[Bud Powell]

[Shroob]