Job Discussion Forums

[LarssonCrew]

And then when you need a class off for something like visa renewal, visiting another school for a new job etc. you've got a good rep. It's how China works, you scrub my back I'll scrub yours.

[amberandonyx]

[weshh1]

Hey Nomad,
I haven't abandoned the idea of doing it, I just have not seen any postings for special ed positions in China, and rarely elsewhere.

Also, I got my temporary teaching certification in k-6, so I'm not sure if I meet the qualifications for international school special ed positions.



I would definitely host English competitions and other extracurriculars the university/students want. I think those things are fun generally.
I had a talent contest in my summer class and was happy to spend time outside of class with the students.

Also, 12 hour class time kindergarten sounds awesome.... even if those kids are tiring. That's like 2 days teaching in the US.
I've seen a lot more advertising the 20-24hr range, which is not bad either.
I just don't know if kindergarten or 1-5th grade would be better. I know in the US 2nd grade is pretty good because there is less testing, the kids are more house broken but still sweet and innocent.

[nomad soul]

[doogsville]

My experience of uni teaching so far is that there are two requirements. The first, at the beginning of the semester, is that all boxes are ticked, all forms are filled in correctly and all procedures are believed to have been followed. This keeps the administration happy. However, since the administrative staff seem to have zero experience of actually teaching students the second requirement kicks in.

The second requirement is that those students who are interested in getting something out of their time at university are provided with something of value. The biggest obstacle to this occurs when you are teaching the same material as other teachers who got the job through guanxi or simply luck and don't actually give a f**k about the students. You may find yourself using the same piss poor textbook as those teachers, who will have converted it into a series or PPT's and will follow those to the letter, using mostly Chinese to teach. In that situation you will have to split the class between valid, useful material of your own devising, and the shit from the textbook that will eventually appear in the exam paper.

The skill that needs to be developed, over time, is the balancing act between these two requirements. The first is not too difficult. It mainly involves using your creative skills to commit to paper what you think the people who will give it a cursory glance will want to see. If you are in a particularly perverse mood, you can fall back on the kind of business school language that no one actually understands but everyone pretends to understand.

The second takes longer and needs you to first determine the level of comprehension and ability of your students. Be advised that this will often be much, much lower than their major or the class title would lead you to believe. For example, students of International Finance may be little maths geniuses, but have no comprehension of the geography of China, let alone the world outside it, and will struggle to make even the simplest of sentences describing their daily life. Tourism majors may have never been outside of their village in the mountains of some province no one has ever heard of and may not be able to get beyond 'Hello' and 'I am fine, thank you'.

So use the textbook as a framework, but be prepared to spend a fair amount of time putting it into the context of a lesson that gives as many students as give a damn the opportunity to learn a few new words, and have at least a few minutes practising them. As to the others, it's up to you whether you let them sleep, play with their phones or chat to their equally unmotivated friends. It's all about learning, theirs and yours.

[thechangling]

I honestly think that lesson prep and power point presentations are a waste of time at uni level in China as long as you have a decent textbook to teach oral, writing or listening english from. I just slowly move through the various exercises using the cd the first time and my voice the second time and maximise the use of each exercise whether that be questions and answers or testing their comprehension.
If my textbooks really were sh*** i would make something myself because i like to be as effective as possible and couldn't stand not being a decent english teacher and if the institution would not get goods textbooks i would simply find another job.

[adventious]

[LarssonCrew]

Developing?

But Chinese and Chinese people keep saying they are the most powerful country, so much more powerful than their neighbours, and over a small remark about swimming cheats who took drugs, threatened to 'roll our tanks over them.'

Chinese cannot proclaim they're the smartest, fastest, richest, best etc. and then the next minute play the 'developing country' card.

And, I visited India, a country poorer than China, and the people I met there were far far more aware of where places where and their relevance to the world, i.e. Indonesia being the most populated muslim country than any other.

So many of my Chinese friends when I said I was vacationing in Morocco said 'but it's full of blacks, Africa is dirty[less dirty than China] and people are poor [Major cities in Morocco have a higher GDP PP than China as a whole]

[Non Sequitur]

[nomadic_meow]

I've done a couple years in a provincial university and a shorter period in a private high school. Just one location each so far.

The university provided one textbook per course. (Both places had an oral textbook but no workbook, btw.) There was occasional, mostly informal checking in by some staff and deans, nothing really high pressure. Occasionally someone would come sit in for a class period, or staff might casually suggest doing more of some sort of activity or topic in very general terms.

Immediate supervisory staff at the univ got a little concerned near the end of semester about whether most of the textbook had been officially "covered," but told them the truth (some texts lacking activities, some too much for the students) and compromises were soon allowed. Listening courses were the most well-resourced, mainly because the students could have used umpteen runs through the CD if there were only more class time for it. Writing courses were the toughest for grading time and the book being largely reference shelf material. Apart from exams, lots of unstructured time if one can dream up something to do for the next class quickly enough.

The private high school has been much the same, actually, but with younger students and more discipline failures. On paper they are pursuing an Australian certificate with a long list of suggested resources for comparative and complex topics which should really use a multitude of sources. In actuality, they try to pick one "main" text off the list, or desperately fling about for maybe a little more to photocopy from a sister school's shelf when pressured repeatedly about the first one getting used up.

Some units, the sister school had more of the shorter, supplementary materials and it's not quite as bad. More of the same issues with materials of a huge range of intermediate to near-graduate levels, most of them far far beyond the students' starting point. Better facilities and network to fish for stuff yourself, but also more student issues, meetings, and sudden office work popping up simultaneously.

[weshh1]

Very informative post, nomadic. I really appreciate you sharing your experiences.


(And previous posters as well)



Where did you teach the university and HS?

[doogsville]

[LarssonCrew]

doogs I believe that that guy is part of a set of people who are paid by a certain group of people to post and get paid handsomely, so ignore him.

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

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