Job Discussion Forums

[jagb6f]

Hello all!

Last semester, after two years of living in Training Center hell, I signed up with a Public University. After two years of being at the training center, if they had offered me a pittance and a cardboard box on campus for my apartment, I would have happily accepted it. What I found instead was.

*An FAO who is friendly, professional and easy to communicate with.
*Students who are all English majors, who I absolutely love teaching
*Awesome coworkers who have made me feel welcome and respected.

After some of the horror stories I've read on here, I feel like I was tap-dancing blindfolded through a minefield and somehow ended up in Club Med. I know it's a bit premature as I've only spent a semester here, but I could see myself being here for a long time. With that in mind, I'd like to ask some advice on how to be a better University teacher. Here are some of the issues I've run into.

1. Too many students. As a teacher, my average class size is about 30 students. With that many it's hard for me to individually assess students and give them good grades. I tried my best last semester, but was still told my grades were too high. I'd love some ideas about how to personally give a student more personalized attention without neglecting the others and leaving them bored.

2. Making Interesting classes. I'm good at making interesting discussion topics thankfully(or at least they said they were interesting) but I'd like to find different activities to try with them. I can get them discussing topics, but sometimes they get bored and switch into Chinese. I'd love to get some other ideas for topics, or resources where I can find ideas.

3. Dealing with the boys. Maybe this is just my bad luck, but in most of my classes last year, the boys would always group up and, while they would talk, the conversation would go more like this..."You like movies?" "Yes." "Good, next question." I felt lucky if they'd give a complete sentence. I tried to always group them up with the girls, which helped a lot, but I'd love some more ideas if you have any.

Those three issues were my biggest problems, everything else was pretty wonderful and enjoyable. I'd love to hear some advice from anyone who has any good ideas. Teaching at this University is exactly my dream job(English major here) so I want to do the best I can.

Thanks so much!

[rogerwilco]

2. Do you have a textbook ? You do not always have to follow everything in the textbook, but it can help with topics and make the students feel like it is a "real" class.

3. Have the students practice follow-up questions.

After a student speaks to the class, ask random students to repeat what was said or ask a follow-up question.

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

OP:

Only thirty students? That is certainly a small class for China. Is this a university of a college? There's a difference in China.

What are you teaching?

Are the students English majors or majors in something like International trade that just requires fluency in English? Usually, English majors are voracious readers and watchers of Western television who LOVE to learn new expressions, talk about their lives, their fears, and their aspirations in life (all of which provide ideas for both writing and speaking).

If you are working with English majors who speak well, and you are having discipline problems, your class content may be boring or not challenging enough.

That you actually have good rapport with the Chinese teachers indicates that they themselves feel confident enough to speak English to you. Kudos to the Dean of Foreign Relations for hiring competent teachers.

[jagb6f]

Thanks for the replies you two!

@Rogerwilco, I don't have a textbook, but I would like one. I just used the textbook the school provided last year and it was horrific, I pretty much all but threw it out after trying to teach a few lessons. Apparently the writer got paid by the syllable, so it was ridiculously difficult words without any real good content. I'm not sure about follow-up questions...these students are English majors with, for the most part, incredibly high English skills. Follow up questions sound kind of demeaning for them.

@OhBudPowell, It's definitely a University. I might be lucky in class size because I'm only teaching at the campus way away from the city center. Some other people might hate it, but I love the clean air and peacefulness here. THis semester I'm teaching Public Speaking and Oral English. It's fun, but a bit challenging because the classes are an hour and 45 minutes, so quite a bit longer than the normal schedule from what I've heard.

The students are absolutely English majors which provided me a lot of fun topics last semester. It does provide challenges however. As you said, I'm worried the lessons aren't challenging enough. I spent two years teaching pretty low level students English at the training center, so it was a big shock to go from "Hello Teacher, it is nice to meet you. How are you?" to "Is gun violence really the problem that everyone seems to think it is? What are your thoughts on it, do you own any guns, and do you feel safe around them?"(actual question from a student.)

It was a bit overwhelming, but I'm trying to make the content much more challenging this semester. I would definitely welcome any ideas on how to do that!

[LarssonCrew]

Here's an idea, implement a self 5 or 10 minute toilet break in the middle of the class, doing almost two hours non stop is too much.

[jagb6f]

@LarssonCrew Thankfully the University already put that in the schedule, there's always a set 5-minute break every class period. Otherwise, yeah, I'd be creating one myself.

[rogerwilco]

[jagb6f]

@Rogerwilco Oh, okay! I'm sorry, I just immediately blanked to beginner ESL follow-up questions where the students have to explain what the other person just said which is a bit low-level for my students. Your idea is fantastic, especially as I'm teaching Public Speaking where speeches will be an important part of the class.

[donkeydonkey]

Hey OP, I can throw out a few topic ideas that I do with my more advanced University English classes.

Chaucer and Milton: many students know Shakespeare and have read some translations of his work, but I find that few know anything about Chaucer or Milton. If you explain that these writers are considered as important as Shakespeare in English Lit. the students tend to be very interested.

Bill Gates: I usually talk about Steve Wozniac, making computers in their garages, and the idea that Gates is a ruthless businessman.

Steve Jobs: I focus on him being a maniac work-aholic and talk about some of his crazier antics. Also, great man vs. Zeitgeist as a discussion of history works here as an add-on because many students will condone Jobs actions due to his contributions to society.

Marketing: How do companies use celebrities, lights, music, and language to manipulate buyers. How do "created environments" affect customer behavior. Conversations about materialism can also be included in this topic.

AI: Will computers and robots make humans obsolete? Will the future of A.I be like the machines of the industrial revolution that resulted in a net increase in jobs and productivity or will it result in the extreme opposite?

The history of motorcycles: It amazes me that this goes over so well, but the students always seem to love it.
I tell them about the origins as bicycles with small engines and move on to post wwII G.I's buying bikes in the U.S and forming outlaw biker gangs like the hells Angels. I also include the creation of scooters as a marketing attempt at getting women involved in motorcycles by making them lighter, slower, manual transmission so that they are easier to operate, and with a step-through design so that women could wear skirts and not have to straddle the bike.

Unfortunately, The ubiquitous clump of 5-8 boys who sit in the back of the room and need to be pulled kicking and screaming into any participation is a mainstay of my classrooms. Mixing them into the girl's groups helps for activities, but as soon as they sit down it's business as usual. i don't have answers to it.

[nomad soul]