Job Discussion Forums

[Kurochan]

Every once in a while you get a class that's just horrible, and there's nothing you can do about it. The first year I taught in China I was teaching 2nd, 5th and 6th grades, and the 2nd were really bad. Teachers said it was because they were born in the year of the monkey! There was one class where either 5 or 6 Chinese teachers quit rather than teach them! I'm not exaggerating.

My dad, who was a college professor, also agrees with this (and also with my opinion that once in a while you get a whole year's worth of lousy kids). But, in his case, since he had tenure, he just had to wait it out, and know he'd never have to see those students again. Being foreign teachers in China, we don't have that luxury.

[cimarch]

Shout, shout and shout some more!
Seriously, sometimes you have to let them know you're angry, it tends to terrify them. But it gets very hard on the voice. I carry a metre stick around in class and when they are being too noisy (or sleeping) I just slam it down on the desk nearest me. If the kids sitting there are being good I'll mime putting my hands over my ears first and they smile and copy me, they all know exactly what's coming next.
A point on standing in the corner, sometimes it's not much of a punishment. If they still don't behave I make them hold out their arms at shoulder height and keep them straight, it gets REALLY painful after a little while. If that doesn't work it's either throwing them out of the classroom or the god old 'on the knees facing the wall, hands behind the head' from 'Malcom in the Middle'. His Mom was cool...

[Teacher Lindsay]

cimarch

How high is your 'stress level' when you're teaching?

Do you often get headaches?

How's your blood pressure?

Cheers

[cimarch]

Not bad actually. I'm not saying walk into class and start laying into them from the word go, I'm saying that you have to let them know, clearly, when their behaviour is unacceptable. I'm very light-hearted, easy-going and relaxed in class and I can be because they all know exactly what will happen if they cross the line. I'm generally very tolerant of behaviour as long as it doesn't disrupt the class. I don't mind if they help their neighbour to understand something (I prefer it) and I put up with a certain amount of horse-play. They enjoy the class much more than if it's overly regimented and they learn faster. But I have several warning signs to let them know when they're pushing things. If a class goes beserk I come down VERY hard. I've happily sat there while the whole class has copied out the same (very long) passage from the text book 5 times on more than one occasion. It doesn't seem fair to the good kids in the class I know, but it doesn't take them long to beat it into the heads of the others that they aren't happy with them. Just make sure they realise that it's not your fault, it was their actions that led to the punishment.

p.s. The 'Shout, shout and shout again' is a quote from Blackadder, not to be taken literally.

[naturegirl321]

Rhino, you picked a kid up and took him out of the class. Happens daily to me, Sometimes dragging them by their feet. I'm small, these kids are only a bit shorter than me. Others kick and scream. One kid went lipm while I was going to carry her down stairs, told her to stand up, or she would be dragged. she stood up. Going to try to water gun and let you know what happens.

[Roger]

I guess, as non-local teachers we don't enjoy enough respect. Misbehaving kids are widely viewed as venting their imperially sanctioned anti-foreign anger. Not always, but on occasion, yes. We are here, perhaps, as a kind of mollifier as those little monsters are forced by their own people to learn the lingo of the Barbarian. The Barbarian made us buckle under. Accept the WTO terms. We are the greatest nation on planet Earth, yet we have to speak with foreigners in their own lingo. How shameful this is!
So we hire some of them and they must know which station they occupy! If they don't know, our kids will teach them.
First thing: those kids assess foreign teachers. Those who "fail" get fired. Few of us get fired, to be sure, but it does happen. And, if the kids are dissatisfied with our performance our opinion is not taken into consideration.

This sometimes comes to my mind. Can I punish anyone here? I have tried, and very seldom got any assistance from local teachers. I stood miscreants in the corridor outside the classroom - a Chinese teacher reported this to the Head of the Foreign Language Department, who came down on me. "These students get too lively in my class!" - "So what? That's what they are supposed to do... They can learn under a Chinese teazcher. You are here to practise with them..."

[OzBurn]

A point system I have used to improve students� behaviour in a positive way is described below. If you find yourself getting into a negative relationship with the class, I would recommend it. It has helped me and other teachers.

This system requires that students be able to earn free time. This free time can come either at the end of class, cutting the class short, or during their regularly scheduled break -- which then becomes earned time rather than something that happens automatically.

POINT SYSTEM
At beginning of class, write students� names in roughly alphabetical order on whiteboard (this is important because it makes the names easier to find later). When a student does something right, give him a point. Students have to earn ten points to get all ten minutes of the break (it was ten minutes at my school, anyway).

If a student has not earned enough points, the lesson continues (you also keep giving points for the tasks they do after the end of class, when they are still working because they have not earned enough points to go on free time). I usually call those students who are short points up to the board and have them work in a small group, going over the more difficult content from the lesson. It is not necessary to keep the students more than a minute or two for them to learn the lesson that it is important to pay attention in class, work hard, and follow the rules.

Students� behaviour may not change the first time you use the point system, as they are waiting to see if you really will enforce the contingency. Once they learn that they will not go on break until they have earned ten points, they will be much more cooperative.

My students actually enjoy the point system (it works best with students under thirteen, however). But it is most important that you frequently deliver points. It is easy to arrive at the end of class with students� having earned an average of only five or six points.

Do not worry about students earning excess points. A student may get to fifteen or twenty points in a class, but believe me, in most cases he will keep working to have even more.

Students can also lose points for misbehaviour, but it is better not to emphasize this kind of thing, since it tends to create a negative atmosphere if it happens very often. Go with the positive points and you wil