Job Discussion Forums

[mandu]

i would like to find out if you ever feel like you are burnt out or had enough of teaching

I seem to be having these feelings alot these days and struggleing to find a solution.
i feel it does reflect on my classes (not good),and my attidtude towards my work.
not really sure the best way to deal with it.somtimes i feel like im losing the plot.
I like being in china and my wife is chinese.

my bad days at work out way the good days,i dont feel fresh any more as a teacher.
i did have a holiday during the summer vacation i went back home to NZ for a month that was after four years of being away.

how do you deal with this?

and I hope no one thinks im strange by writing these thoughts

[Old Dog]

Dear Mandu,

You sound like a good young man and you deserve better than to feel this way.

I've always been an English teacher but, when I feel down in some way, I resort to Mathematics. It goes like this:

If my life is the equivalent of 1 + 2 = 3 - and the 3 of my life is not the life I want, then I've got to do something to change 3 into 4 or 2. If that's so, I've got either to add or subtract something from my life so that the total is not 3. I can have 1 + 1 + 2 and get a happy 4. Or I can have 1 + 1 and get a happy 2.

Having read your posts, it seems that your 3 is not so hot at the moment. OK, add something or take something away. And, by the sound of it, take away your present employer or employment situation. Come February, ensure that you are in a new school and, hey presto, I think things will very quickly start to look a lot better.

There's nothing strange about recognizing you're burnt out and unhappy. You sound like a pretty fine young fellow.

[Dalaoer]

Hi mandu.

You're not alone in that sentiment, my friend. I too am in China, married, and like it here.

I still wouldn't say I'm burnt out, or that I have bad days, but I'm beginning to find teaching incredibly dull.

I think the root of the problem is obvious. I love teaching, but teaching Oral English to the same type of student for five years can kill your love for teaching! I've done it all, seen it all, thought it all. I don't find the classes fresh anymore (you chose the perfect word there). When I try something new, it either by-passes the students or it's the usual 'sorry, I don't know' hogwash. I don't even care about finding new challenges anymore, because I know they will backfire (trying to get many of these students to participate is like trying to get blood out of a turnip).

And it's not one of those 'I'm better than this' ego trips. Teaching is a very noble profession and I like it. I just happen to get bored after doing the same thing for five years.

Some people can do the same job for years and be perfectly happy, but I'm not one of those (and I expect not many FTs are either- otherwise, we wouldn't be living abroad, would we?). How to stay fresh then? I guess a change is as good as a holiday, be it a change of job or location or duties.

The problem is that our choices are fairly limited (for me in a small city, anyway: my coices are Oral English in college or Oral English in middle school), and the fact that we're never really taken seriously as teachers doesn't help, so we have to make our own challenges to stay fresh.

I guess a change of job or location should help you, even if only for one term (your wife's gonna flame me for suggesting this ). You might feel refreshed after new challenges, new sights. Remember, a rolling stone gathers no moss.

Try to remember that exciting feeling you had when you first landed here and get it back!

Hope that helps

[limits601]

ditto :+)

[burnsie]

reality check ...... please come here!

[stavrogin2001]

I have been here four years and I am also starting to think about these things. I have had the same ideas about work, about social lives, and about general conditions here in China.

In the end I find it a little more comforting that there are others of you out there with the same ideas.

Sometimes I wonder if a move to a larger city might help. I have been in the Dongbei for a long time and I am ot sure that it is good as one poster said, "A rolling stone gathers no moss."

[TEAM_PAPUA]

[ShapeSphere]

Mandu,

I imagine that burnout is quite common amongst teachers due to the nature and demands of the profession. I'm not convinced that a change of location will rejuvenate your desire for this vocation. I tried that.

Originally spent two years in Germany. My first teaching stint and I was lucky as had brilliant students- well educated, well travelled and usually motivated. But near the end of my time began to get bored of the repetitious nature of our job, and had my fill of German society and as the economy took a downturn, decided to go to Spain for a two month break.

Felt better and then came to China as there were many job opportunities, heard about the fantastic culture, history, wisdom, challenges and the rapid development of this vast land. Within a few weeks it was apparent that the change of location was irrelevant, it was the job that needed to be changed.

Also, the problem was exacerbated by Chinese students being the dullest, rudest, most unmotivated and most immature collection of human beings I have ever met. Not one student has ever said anything inspiring or original to me. Their answers are like clockwork and teaching them is like having this constant sense of deja vu. Every effort by me to seek new games, new methods, new materials, etc., etc., is just greeted by their lack of energy, drive or innovation.

Every day I have to 'raise the dead' and give an Oscar-winning acting performance of a 'happy and interested' teacher. Robert De Niro, Jude Law, Kevin Spacey, etc., are all amateurs compared to me!

My solution is in hand - learn more Chinese, learn new skills and later change profession. Don't possess enough 'guanxi' yet to get a job here. The Chinese are not impressed by ability or initiative, just who you know.

If you have had enough of the job, then maybe it is time to think of an alternative career.

Lastly, I would be interested to know how other teachers keep themselves motivated after doing many years in this job.

How do you do it?

[TEAM_PAPUA]

[Roger]

To be talking about the burn-out syndrome you should be of at least mature age and have been working for several years. Otherwise I would say it is anything but burn-out syndrome.

You urn out at just about any job, even as a pilot or a physician!

For me, it's rather the realisation that no matter how long we stay in China, we are having zero impact on the TEFL business here. We are not being listened to. To know that these foreigners learning our lingo persist and persevere at doing things their own bigotted and ntiquated way, imposing on us their whims and idiosyncrasies and hoping we LEARN anything from them is slowly getting at me.

I mean the depressingly poor results of the majority of Chinese English learners, even those under our instruction, shopuld set alarm bells ringing!

[7969]

i'm not sure its possible to burn out here in china. at least in my situation, i only work about 12 hours a week, and the students are decent overall. the salary is ok, holidays are generous and the school basically leaves me alone. i may just be window dressing here, even tho noone tells me so, but at least i have time to look after some of my other pursuits.

as roger said, to "burn out" you at least had to have been working for some period of time. i recently heard some 21 year old tell me she was tired of the "rat race" and had to find an easier life. she hadn't done anything in her life yet! a sign of todays youth i suppose.....

i served in the army in the past, and the life i had there was more difficult than anything anyone else could ever throw at me. i just cruise through life now..... and i more or less enjoy it, no matter where i am or what i'm doing.

btw, take a look at some of my photos from china. one of my many pursuits:

http://www.usefilm.com/photographer/24995.html

[Ferne]

Mandu...I believe burn-out is very well possible for FTs in China, and is not restricted to some specific age or work history. I know that because I experienced it, too. The way we define and approach burn out in the West is very specific I have noticed. And yet, --as 7969 mentioned-- burn out affects others, too, who don't fit into that by-the-book scheme. The thing is, if one says he/she feels "burnt out", then that is probably exactly what it is. Sometimes, our guts tell us very well what is wrong with us. So if you feel burnt out Mandu, then that's what it is, and if it comes to a point where you feel you can't go on like that, then something inside you will probably also tell you what to do about it, what you personally need to be better. I believe every one of us has their individual threshold of what they can take...this has nothing to do with weakness or strength, it's just a reality. People simply are built differently, and what tickles one, might as well kill the other, if I can say it that way. As far as I can say, burn out is --similar to Old Dog's math--an addition of factors, and what other place/experience could give a better example than China. Living conditions, work environment, the daily battles over small things, lack of communication, culture shock...that sure isn't easy.
If you are tired of teaching Mandu, I mean really tired without there being a chance of it just being a "phase", then find something else. There are endless possibilities, even for foreigners in China. There ARE other jobs besides teaching. How did you feel after your trip home? Did that help a bit? I just returned to China recently, and was off for a very very bad start. So after only two weeks, I did feel burnt out and was unable to work...I had no energy left. A short trip home gave me the chance to regain my strength, and I returned to China to make a fresh, better start (this time around, always with pepper spray in my bag). Sometimes, burn out is merely a loss of perspective, being "caught" in one's perception. And I, personally, truly believe in change of location, be it permanent or temporary. That doesn't mean you have to leave China as I did...whatever works for you, it's okay, and totally acceptable.

[mandu]

i have been teaching english since 1999,1st japan,taiwan,korea now china,i have only been at this job Im in now just over 2 months.(been 4yrs)
Iam tired of teaching,i think if there were work shops to do once month or a training day once a month so you could feel fresh with new ideas.
Iam the only western person at my kindergarten.
when i was in korea i feel that was my peak,all the teachers shared ideas with each other.i used make lots of things for classes.come up with good ideas.
but now I feel as though i struggle everyday.
i think if i could throw the towel in i would,but its a bit of a catch 22.one thing is money.if i want to take my wife back to NZ.

[Kurochan]

Howdy --

I agree that one good antidote to burn-out is change. I moved from Shenzhen to Shanghai, and changed schools for that reason. I'm teaching pretty much what I taught last year, but my students are much older, and my classes are much smaller, so a lot of the feeling is gone.

Here's another question -- do you think you really LIKE teaching? If you don't like it, that burnt out feeling will follow you wherever you go. It's easy to bear a job you don't like for a while, but as time goes on it gets tougher and tougher.

[Sinobear]

Kurochan: What's with the slight against bears? I don't like the racist implications of your post! I am determined to weed out any posts that cast bears in a negative light.

(Actually, I was just trying out a new Chablis tonight and I wanted to see if I could be as anal {if that word is allowed} as Gemini Tigger.


Cheers!