Job Discussion Forums

[martinphipps]

I am writing a book about teaching English in Asia, but my experience only relates to Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines. Tell me about teaching English in China. I have some specific questions.

Do you work with a local teacher? Is she in the classroom with you or does she teach the same class at a different time? Is he or she considered your boss or your equal or does this depend on how much experience you have?

When in China, do people expect you to learn the local language or are they surprised whenever you use Chinese at all? Are you forbidden by your school owners from using Chinese in class? Do the students seem to expect you to understand Chinese and get frustrated when you don't understand Chinese?

Do most people work in private cram schools or in government sponsored public schools? Do they provide you with textbooks and a syllabus or is that entirely up to the teachers? Do you get in trouble for using Chinese in class or by not playing enough games or are teaching methods left up to the teacher to decide?

If it isn't you who makes the decision as to how to teach your class then who's decision is it? Your co-teacher? Your supervisor? The owner of the school?

What is the biggest problem that Chinese students have? How does the local language affect the way they speak English? Are there any words they especially have trouble pronouncing? Do they have trouble adapting to the fact that English uses a different alphabet or do they pick it up fairly quickly?

Thank you.

Martin Phipps,
Assistant Professor,
Department of Applied Foreign Languages,
Chungtai Institute pf Health Sciences and Technology,
Taichong, Taiwan

[lagerlout2006]

I have taught at 2 Colleges and a private boarding school..

1) I have never had a co-teacher. Well I do actually but there really is no communication between us.

2) They will generally be surprised if you know ANY Chinese. If you do you would certainly not get in trouble using it in class.

3) I guess the split is about equal between private and public schools but I have no proof.

4) There are textbooks but often you are discouraged from using them. They expect FT's to bring material from their own country. (Although they don't tell you this in advance.)

5) Chinese students biggest problem is in actual communication. They are very sharp though with written text.


And now lets wait for someone to post and tell you to disregard all of this.

That is all I will post but feel free to PM for more specific info.. Good luck with your work.

[Old Dog]

I'd suggest, if you intend writing a book that includes anything at all about teaching in China, that you come and do some in-depth research into teaching here and all the variables that impact on it. I certainly wouldn't be using this or any other forum as a source of my "research". Otherwise entitle your book, "Teaching in Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines". For an "Assistant Professor" to write a text based on haphazard research would not exactly induce confidence in either the writer or in his Department.

Oh, my God! Surely I misunderstand your intention.

[Sinobear]

Disregard ALL of Lagerlout's fantasizing above!

I worked at one private college (hereafter, pu) and now a public school (hereafter, ps).

PU - no co-teacher, all courses conducted in English (much to everyone's amusement)
PS - co-teacher in all classes. Co-teacher is supposed to mirror my wonderful performance; alas, very few can actually speak English. They are considered immeasurably superior to me despite my whopper of a salary, bonuses, and extremely threadbare workload.

I think students would be grateful if you can manage some Chinese. For non-class related conversations, I speak managable Chinese, but I will not use it in class. I have one wonderful little twit who insists on using his patented 'Lightning Mandarin' with this s**t-eating grin on his face. Always a happy feeling to respond to him in German and know that his ancestors are spinning.

PU - I supplied all the materials, generated the syllabus, and got in all the trouble.
PS - They gave me the books that were written by smack-fiends from Australia. I improvise with more current and distinguished materials. I have recently discovered that the mgmt would much prefer that I teach more songs. Apparently, the parents cannot guage their child's comprehension of English unless they hear them sing. I am slowly archiving System of a Down's lyrics for next semester.

Biggest problem Chinese students have? I think in all cases, it's their parents. Unending pressure to excel and study, study, study...without any real direction. By the time we're almost done high school, at least most of us will have at least an idea of what we would like to pursue. Chinese students have no clue what they'll be until it's decided what University will accept them. Furthermore, more and more primary schools are offering conversational English (with the dancing bears) whereas middle schools are still stuck in the endless grammar drills in preparation for the university entrance exams.
There is not really any chance outside of the classroom for students to use their English...and thus with disuse, they will sadly "lose" their English.

Happy trails!

[ChinaEFLteacher]

and yet again i must concur with the wisdom of old dog!

[Newbs]

At the risk of being repetitive, I also agree with Old Dog.

[Guest]

Roger may be the one to reply to this post, however I agree with nearly everything that Lagerlout 2006 had to say.

[Roger]

[peggiescott]

Martin,

I wish you the best with any endeavor you undertake. And I believe that OldDog must be correct when he says he misunderstood your intent. Since I don't believe you can possibly be writing a scholarly tome based on what you read here (i.e. "Statistically 3 out of 5 Dave's posters work in private schools" or "It has been shown that a foreign teacher in China is expected to bring their own training materials from home").

Please give us more information about your needs. Who is your audience (scholars, potential teachers, Oprah)? What is the point of your book (the teaching differences between various Asian countries, the differences between teaching in Asia and teaching in the West, it's a steamy romance novel and you just need some background for character development)? What are you specifically looking for (statistics, anecdotes to fill out your statistics, another story from Gunther)?

This is a helpful group, give us something more tangible to be helpful about.
Thanks,
Peggie