Job Discussion Forums

[RustyShackleford]

A teacher at my place recently had their contract terminated because of student feedback. They were someone who, as Luke described, looked fantastic on paper (degrees, qualifications, years of experience) yet, in the classroom, under observation, was simply talking to the students for hours upon hours. Students complained to other teachers, but we all just told them to confront the teacher directly - which one, at least, actually did. DOS and such also made several large hints that the style of teaching needs to change.

This teacher later went on a rant placing all blame on students and accusing the school of bad practice. This, despite repeated warning and offers to work with the gent.

Incidentally, I also had students literally boycott my class at one point for quite similar reasons. It forced me to take a good look at myself and, upon opening an honest dialogue the students, I came to understand what they wanted and they came to understand what I wanted and we all sang Kum-bah-frickin-yah. Well, no, but things went much much better.

Our place is not much for clowns in the classroom either. Much like Luke says though, some well-placed humor and creating an engaging but still serious atmosphere goes a long way.

And yes, that Droid is fantastic.

[1st Sgt Welsh]

[ExpatLuke]

[skarper]

As so often happens people tend to argue at cross purposes.

Feedback could be and even sometimes is useful, valuable and positive.

Even if we're qualified up to the eyes and have years of experience we can get lazy, complacent or just not have the right styles for a new country or new class. Feedback can help you improve and be a better teacher....

Sadly - feedback like observations in a previous thread are often abused by poor managers to get rid of staff who are annoying them in other ways or simply too expensive/excess to requirements. They can fire you and have an excuse and not lose face for having broken a contract or perhaps risk a law suit [unlikely though it may be.]

Though made it jest - the blog post linked to above is how it all too often pans out in practice.

In the end students who dislike your classes would be best advised to find another class to join. This doesn't really work in a large school with dozens of teachers coming and going on loose or non-existent contracts of course.

It's thorny problem. IMO EFL was much better when there were small scale cooperatives run by close knit groups of like minded teachers with no big-bucks boss behind the scenes trying to squeeze every cent of profit out of it. Sometimes I dream of founding something like that - but then reality smacks my in the face and I get back to my niche and forget about righting wrongs and making the world safe for EFL....

[half moon]

[ekim10]

Thanks for sharing the short story, FreshlyBrewed. It isn't at all a complaint, and I and other users appreciate honest posts such as this one. This post is a good indicator of why I left esl not only in Vietnam but Asia in general -- more and more it's about popularity and being "staff favorites" over quality lessons and classroom skill.

[RustyShackleford]

[ExpatLuke]