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The bear
Joined: 16 Aug 2015
Posts: 483
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 Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 6:02 am Post subject: |
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| LarssonCrew wrote: |
But if you're the most experienced teacher where do you get feedback from? Someone who has been working for six months in education?
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Well, a fresh pair of eyes may give some useful advice, or a new perspective. The experienced teacher could have learnt education theory 30 years ago, whereas the six month teacher could be newly qualified/certified and know the latest pedagogy.
Though that said, a few weeks ago I noticed a new face in my class, easy to miss when I have 45, when I was monitoring I asked her who she was so I could add her name to the register. Turns out it was an English teacher from my department I hadn't seen and she was just in to observe.
During the break she comes up to the desk with a student and has the student translate! This is an English teacher at the university who used a student to translate! She noted how the students were engaged and liked me but I should teach more difficult vocabulary and to push the students more. I was flabbergasted. |
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Mr. Kalgukshi
Mod Team
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Posts: 6613
Location: Need to know basis only.
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| Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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| This thread is now unlocked with the proviso that if it again has to be moderated, it will cease to exist and sanctions will be issued. |
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getbehindthemule
Joined: 15 Oct 2015
Posts: 712
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 2:54 am Post subject: Re: Opportunities for professional development? |
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| nomad soul wrote: |
| The topic of professional development has been discussed on other forums. For China, what opportunities do you have in terms of building your knowledge, skills, and abilities through your place of employment? If not, what type of professional development/training would you like to receive -- that you feel is lacking? |
I have been sent on a 5 day intensive training course hosted by a top professional from the US. This was very useful and helped me to develop some ideas that were in the back of my mind. I have also had the opportunity to observe teachers/peers at other schools and vice versa. I find that I always learn something when observing a class, although I’ve found that there’s not too much in terms of evaluation here.
I guess in terms of development my next step would be to gain experience in the IB/PYP department. It would obviously be better to be licensed prior to this though. I don’t really desire this anyway (extra workload, politics, etc.) if I'm being honest with myself. Working a public school gig suits me just fine.
When it comes to building skills and abilities what I’d really like is funding haha – to have a laboratory with equipment like some of the other schools that I visit would be sweet! Although my school did invest in Robotics equipment, complete with laptops for programming, this year which was a nice surprise! |
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Volver
Joined: 27 Sep 2013
Posts: 181
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| Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 5:28 am Post subject: |
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I just got an e-mail from the Cengage (Nat Geo) rep I work with in Beijing. They are starting to do PD for teachers. Really good people to work with and I love their books.
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 8:24 am Post subject: |
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| getbehindthemule wrote: |
| When it comes to building skills and abilities what I’d really like is funding haha – to have a laboratory with equipment like some of the other schools that I visit would be sweet! Although my school did invest in Robotics equipment, complete with laptops for programming, this year which was a nice surprise! |
By the way, the term professional development morphed into professional learning, which ties into your comment about technology:
"Traditional challenges of professional development often include funding or time constraints. However, the reason this terminology is falling out of style is due to the inactive nature of current professional development. Educators are finding increasing ways to make a classroom more interactive; hence, their learning environments are being repurposed into multimedia workspaces that allow students to participate and collaborate more openly."
Source: https://www.wgu.edu/blogpost/professional-development-vs-professional-learning-teachers#
| The bear wrote: |
The Chinese employers didn't care [about professional development]. To be fair though, I can sort of understand why, there are a number of reasons for this. Foreign English teacher classes are a bit of a 'token gesture'. Turnover is high - why invest in training when they're gone the next year? Test focused - as long as students can pass tests it's all OK.
At the same time, there's little demand for it. Most foreign English teachers are here for a sort of gap year, adventure, travel opportunity, etc. Not really interested in it as a career. So it's not like I'm blaming the Chinese employers for lack of professional development. |
I'd argue that investing in training and development is a way to retain and attract the better teachers. A high turnover rate is costly for employers.
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Guerciotti
Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 842
Location: In a sleazy bar killing all the bad guys.
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| Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 10:46 am Post subject: |
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No help from the schools. They promise, but then say 'no'.
So this year I started to fly myself to AP workshops, and I started to take relevant MOOCs. The MOOCs are great. Glad I found them.
Observations are a complete waste of time. English teachers criticise my demos for my subject course. Chinese teacher's score: 99.5. She does the same demo every month. Every month. My score: 80%. The minimum score is 80%.
From my experience, in China, any professional development depends on you.
Professional development in China  |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2017 10:17 pm Post subject: |
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TESOL Association Expands Reach in China
Associations Now | Jul 27, 2017
Source: https://associationsnow.com/2017/07/tesol-association-expands-reach-china/
Through new events and a new partnership, TESOL International Association is expanding its presence in China.
Working with 21st Century English Education Media, TESOL International—which serves professionals teaching English to non-English speakers—aims to bring more events and resources to the English teachers and learners in China.
“We have seen over the years in many different countries there is a demand and interest in English language teaching. China has been an area of interest for many years, and really we’ve seen that demand increase rapidly,” said John Segota, CAE, associate executive director for public policy and professional relations. “And so this is an opportunity for TESOL to be able to connect with and work more closely with English language teachers and English learners in China.”
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In addition, 21st Century will sponsor regional and local English language teaching conferences with support from TESOL, and the association will have a regular presence at 21st Century’s annual English speaking competition for English learners in China. “We really want to be able to share the resources that we provide,” Segota said.
As part of the agreement, 21st Century will help identify 2,000 new potential global members for TESOL. Segota explained this is particularly helpful as interest in the organization expressed by many international professionals, often through Facebook, doesn’t necessarily translate into an increase in members. “We’re hoping that working more closely with a partner in China can help encourage more English language teachers and others to engage with the association,” he said.
Lastly, the two organizations will continue working together on new ways to provide support to the English teaching community in China.
(End of excerpt) |
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