Job Discussion Forums

[OzBurn]

It looks like a very good site. However, after my experience in Hungary, I would wonder about the applicability of the standard behavior analytic toolkit. Again, I found that Hungarian students just didn't respond much to praise. The point system I posted above worked because the reward was tangible. Most of the time, the verbal praise I coupled with the free time reward might as well have been spoken in Greek. Well, it was Greek to them.

I suppose if I had stayed around for another year or several more years, praise would have gradually had more effect. (I think that this was happening over the course of the year, but that could be purely imaginary.) But as one of the pages on the site above acknowledges, middle Americans are one of the very few cultural groups that tends to use verbal praise to reward "appropriate" behavior. Perhaps this is why praise tends to work so well in American classrooms, but I wonder. I found that verbal praise worked quite well even with students who probably didn't get much praise at all at home -- in fact, it might have worked better with them (because they couldn't get it at home?). (By the way, I base my ideas about whether their parents praised them at home on observations of the parents interacting with their kids, but I don't really know if my observations could reasonably be extrapolated to their family inside the home.)

The behavior analytic tradition is overwhelmingly American. I wonder to what extent its more popular classroom techniques have been validated in Asian cultures, in Turkey, etc.?

[Celeste]

This is a discipline plan that is only half joking. I find it basically works with those classes who are always testing the limits. I found this on www.teachers.net some months back and remembered it today.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Wow.

Lots of people worrying about classes of 18? I have classes of 30-40!

My boss/teacher beats the kids and they are terrified of him. I just say "Be quiet or I will get the Chinese teacher to come here."

It works.

[Ludwig]

[mjed9]

Try this one

"Do it again and your parents will be called"

If they do it again, have the parents called. It will never happen again!

[Snoopy]

First, look old. I don't have any problem with that.
Second, walk in with a load of what looks like worksheets and say "I have a lot of writing for you today. Do you want to talk for a minute before we start?"
Third, let out a silent but deadly fart, ask the class "Who made that smell? If you are sitting near, point at him." Eject the accused and send him to the nurse with a note.

[senor boogie woogie]

Hola!

To begin with, I love children. I have taught kindy and it has been greatly rewarding. Chinese children are beautiful and gifts of God. I just speak the truth from doing this gig for the past 4 years.

You need to find a kick ass no nonsense Chinese teacher that keeps everyone in line. I had this wonderful woman in one class that I had in Hangzhou, but quit, because the owner of the school was so cheap. I begged her to stay. I was going to pay her to stick around one Saturday a week. No dice. That woman leaving meant my class went to hell. Uncool.

Teaching kindy is like running bar in the rowdiest biker joint in town. If you have a no nonsense bouncer working the room, then your job can be good. What I am saying is that, a Chinese teacher is there to keep and restore order in the room. I tell the Chinese teacher that this is their job, to keep and restore order. If I get an uppity person with some worthless Chinese English study degree who questions me, then they can teach the group. The Chinese teacher is responsible for classroom management and discipline, NOT YOU. You are of value, not the Chinese teacher. A westerner is few and far between, a Chinese who speak OK English can be found anywhere and are 10 Mao a dozen.

In my class, I am the boss, if they disagree, my fat American ass walks. I want my kids to learn, I don't screw off, but I am the leader, I am the Kim Jong Il of the classroom. English talks and bull-s h i t walks.

Reward the children who try. I do. We have a conception of 4-5 year old children as humanity with the same personality with the same likes and values. 4-5 year olds are complex. I have broke up some 5 year old boys trying to kiss 5 year old girls. I have had children who absolutely refused to learn. I remember one boy who came into the room, folded his arms and refused to do anything. I would call all the children up to see me to act and review the lesson, and most would eagerly come to me because i am funny and love children, but that boys attitude was that of "English is BS, that teacher is BS, and I am not going to do s h i t in his class and I will refuse to come when called." I tried to talk the Chinese girl to talk to his parents since they are paying extra money to have me, an American teach him. The answer given was that the mother would lose face and the school would lose the income. So, I just gave up calling the brat.

Also, Kindy and primary school classes shouls be no more than 30 minutes a segment. if your school is so dumb as to schedule 2 hour blocks, tell them you will do 30 minutes on and 15 minutes off. Period. Chinese teachers work for you and you only, not the school. If they get smart and not agree to your conditions, QUIT. We foreigners are getting so valuable to the Chinese that they are greatly liberalizing foreigner rights, residence rights and job rights. Demand what you want. If they don't deliver, quit. Rent is cheap here and there are so many jobs in country that you can't miss.

We run the class or we walk. Sounds cruel, but we have the rules and laws of China behind us now. We are important and the attitudes and the changing of residence rules validates our position.

We are valuable. We need to teach the Chinese that in this department, they need us a lot more than we ever needed them.

Senor

[latefordinner]

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