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[kev7161]

Okay, I'm going to try not to sound TOO gleeful in this posting, but no promises.

On Wednesday, the Senior department of my school decided to combine 5 Senior One classes into 4. Also, instead of just placing students from that 5th class evenly into the other 4, they scrambled ALL the classes. Students that were in Class 1 can now be found in all four classes, and so on.

The Chinese teachers were told about this shuffle the morning of and, naturally, I was told - - by a student - - the late afternoon of. . . AS IT WAS HAPPENING!

Let me see if I can paint a picture of how I am teaching the Senior One kids: Class One I see 2X a week. These kids are (were?) top of the line with only a smattering of discipline problems. Their grades are generally pretty good and many of them (esp. the girls) have some decent speaking skills. I was just finishing up Unit 6 with them and getting ready for a written test this week and plans for their final, oral test next week.

Then I have "Special English Class A". This class consists of a handful of students from Class 2 - 4 that come in 2X a week at the end of the day. They are just finishing up Unit 7 and written test next week + their oral test as well.

For the "regular" students that either couldn't be bothered to join the "special" class when I invited them or don't even grasp English, I have simple, remedial lessons (that are of a primary school level) interspersed with DVDs. Each of these classes are at different lessons depending on how often I've seen them in the past few weeks (what with classes being canceled at a moment's notice due to testing or whatever).

So, now all these classes are scrambled up and I've had to quickly reshuffle my lesson plans to try and figure out what to do. I have "special" English students mixed in with Class One students mixed in with "remedial students - - a nice, soupy mess. This is a month before the end of the term, folks. Regardless, I've managed to do my own thing this week and things are working out. Nary a peep from the director's office.

Anyway, onto the gleeful part. When I asked why they were doing this I was told by the vice-principal himself that some students weren't happy in the classes they were in and they are putting higher-level students in class 1 and 2 and lower level in 3 and 4 (higher level in all subjects or some subjects, I'm not sure). I was actually told that I should focus most of my energy on classes 1 and 2 and not to worry so much about 3 and 4. I was also told by the VP that the reason they are doing this is so the students will be happier and will want to come back next year. "Show me the money, baby!"

Well, it seems that many of the students aren't too happy with being stuck in another class all of a sudden. Don't forget that a majority of students here in China bond with their immediate classmates and they become sort of a little "family". They've made calls to mommy and daddy and now there are parents milling around our department trying to figure out why their child is so unhappy. I've heard whisperings that some serious backlash is going on.

You would think that when I asked them about this reshuffling they would have responded with some sort of "We are concerned about our students' educational future" BS instead of agreeing with me when I said it's all about the money! Wonder how this is all going to pan out?

[englishgibson]

Hey Kev, frustrating events. You said that they moved students around in order to put the better ones in the class one and two. Sorry if I do not make the right point here, but how have they figured out who is suitable for class one and class two (the better classes)? Considering that you teach the "conversational" English, wouldn't that be up to the foreign teacher to make that decisions to separate the students?

Cheers and beers

[Zero Hero]

The members of the 'better' class are invariably those whose parents can afford a greater than average bribe. In China this streaming process is called 'face' or 'guanxi'. In the rest of the world it is referred to as 'bribery', 'corruption', 'fraud', and, depending on the extent of the blood relationship, 'nepotism'.

[kev7161]

From what I understand, each class has a focus on a certain area (a "major" if you will). Class one has a focus on maths and physics, and class two is the arts (?) (again, just what I was told). I have no idea what class 3 and 4's focus is. I asked which class focuses on English and the teacher I asked just laughed. If nothing else, I would think a foreign language might be lumped into arts, but I could be wrong.

You know, I could have told them back in November who the stronger students were when it came to English (that's why I attempted this Special class "A" thing - - originally, it was class "A" and "B", but not enough were interested and the school didn't back me up on it anyway). If they would adopt a western style of school where students don't stay in one classroom all day, rather move from class to class depending on their skills, strengths, and interests (along with mandatory classes), then this sort of thing wouldn't be such a problem. Sure, you'd still have a few kids in the wrong classes, but that's a whole lot easier to "fix" than to have such a crazy mix-up like this. Also, kids would interact with a wide variety of others throughout the day (sometimes even different grade levels and not with just 30 or so of the same kids every day, all day). In addition, classrooms wouldn't be as messy. Kids would keep their belongings in lockers and not piled high on, under, and around their desks. I'm sure not all schools are like this, but these classrooms here can be little pigstys! I'm so glad that students come to my classroom , but I daily have to clean out the desks of various forms of rubbish.

[Roger]

Hi, Kevin,
I understand your frustration, yet I believe you could derive some relief from their action. The purpose of scrambling up your classes might very well be to instill a greater degree of discipline and respect for teachers in all students; by putting slackers among high-achievers the former will have to adapt.
The ideal of CHinese people is to have "harmony" in any group; apparently "Harmony" in some of your classes meant that they were pretty united in their aversion to school and teachers and friendly with each other. It surely puts more competition in your classrooms - among students. The losers will have to really lose out!

[kev7161]

I don't disagree, Roger, but ONE MONTH before the end of the term? It's just a crazy time to do something like this (outside of the stated fact that it's a ploy to bring kids back next term) - - why wasn't this planned, then implemented right after Spring Festival break? I and most teachers I talk with knew then what a problem some of these classes were.

[Zero Hero]

'Kev7161', if I may, you seem to be labouring under the illusion that the English classes that they have rotated are there to give the students an opportunity to learn and practice English; they are not. Rather, they have such classes in order to have such classes. The only thing that matters is how it looks on paper to an outsider. This is called Chinese logic and accounts for much of the mess in their education system and their country.

[kev7161]

I just wanted to clarify: All classes are affected, not just the English classes - - math, science, Chinese, history, etc. I don't know how the other teachers are dealing with this, but then again, they see the kids every day and undoubtedly follow roughly the same lesson plan for each class. If a day of lessons is canceled, it wouldn't affect them nearly as much as it affects me when a Day One is canceled here and a Day Three is canceled there (with me seeing them only 2X a week, that can really put the kids at different places in the units I'm teaching).

[dalong]

Kev, Kev, Kev, Kev, Kev! How many times do I have to tell you? IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU ARE AFFECTED or if the school's actions "put kids at different places in the units you are teaching". You are not there to teach - you are there because it is good for the school business.

As many a poster has said before, do the math yourself. I'll give everyone the history of the school that I am about to finish up at, by way of example. For those of you who are too busy/pissed/tired/lazy/whatever to do the math, skip this next bit in italics.

About six years ago, the middle school decided to trial some "experimental" classes. This apparently meant that those classes got the best teachers in all subjects (which is far from the truth) and, of course, on top of that, they would receive Oral English instruction from foreign teachers.

The "experimental students" paid 4000 RMB per year while the others paid 800. (In fact, these figures apply to the last 2-3 years. Before that, I can't be sure, but for mathematical analysis, allow me to stick with this.)

These classes have about 65-70 students per class.

1st year: 2 classes - 1 foreign teacher (FT)
2nd year: 5 new classes, Total 7 - 1 FT
3rd year: 5 new classes, Total 12 - 2 FTS
4th year: 5 new classes, Total 15 (first 2 classes finish) - 4 FTs

At this point (and maybe before), they give the other (non-experimental) classes the odd lesson from a FT. I don't know how much (or if ) these students paid. Let's keep things simple and assume they paid nothing.

5th year: 10 new classes, Total 20 - 4 FTs

At the start of this year (the 6th), these "experimental" classes have moved to a new school, the "Foreign Language School", half privately-owned and half "publicly"-owned (by the original school).

6th year: 16 new classes, Total 31 - 3 FTs

Each teacher's salary is 3000 RMB per month for 16 lessons a week, overtime 65 RMB per extra class. Standard contract is 10 months. Each "experimental" class has received 2 lessons a week during all this time. Other expenses incurred by the school are what most would consider standard: airfare, holiday allowance, medical, residence and so on.

How much money did the school make from having foreign teachers?

I'm not making a feeble attempt at sarcasm here and I'm not having a go at you. But the fact is, if you are in a middle/high school, private or public, you are (generally speaking) only there for one reason, and it's not anything to do with education.

Kev, you wrote of your upcoming Oral exam. For anyone who doubts me, try this: withhold the results of the Oral exam and see if anyone asks you for them.

[lostinshanghai]

Money is talking here. Someone's dishing out the bucks for the "better students". And here's the real kicker. If there are any problems with the class, you'll probably get the blame. The school won't admit they made a mistake doing this to you. Good luck with that!

[kev7161]

Wow! What happened here? This thread had disappeared off the charts (in other words, deleted) or so it seemed. Someone even PMed me to ask if I did the deleting. And now here it is, back and newer than ever.

Update: I haven't heard too much the last several days on what has happened since we've had visiting parents. I only have about 10 more days left, so I can't be TOO concerned any longer!

[hollie628]

Well, so far I've noticed that the others' comments are pretty on the mark, and in my own recent experience: I was added to help reduce class size in my school. There was no assessment to determine which students would go into the new class. So, halfway into my teaching some students complained and wanted to go back to the other teacher. We gave a test and decided that the stronger students would stick with one and the weaker ones with another.

It was a fair division and in the best interests of the students. Too bad the parents decided they wanted to keep their kids in the same class and not go with our plan. I almost lost my class (and 600 a week!). We talked to the director who agreed to let us try our plan for 1 day and then would talk to the parents again. It worked! So I didn't lose my class and the students are better classified and learning all at the same level.

This isn't common. My school isn't common - I teach 5 students and the other teachers have 6. This is really unusual and I'm all that much happier! But since it's uncommon, don't expect your companies or schools to cooperate. It's all about the money and if you help them make and keep their money, you're in. If you buck the system and they fear losing money (and usually do when they act out of fear!) you will be blamed.

It's near the end - so do your best and go with the flow. Explain what you can to the students and parents who inquire and just hope for the best! Good Luck!

[echo2004sierra]

Kev, you have explained the new changes very clearly.

The changes have happened and you are faced with a slightly varied situation.

Why these changes have taken place have been discussed here.

Whether or not the changes are logical, reasonable, good or bad have also been discussed.

Someone has talked about whether you, as a foreigner, make any difference to the students' learning or not: whether you should hand in the exam results only if you are asked to.

Others have shared their experiences of changes that they effected at their schools and how parents opposed the changes but then relented.

I think I understand that you now have a wide gap of mixed ability-students in each class now. There are perhaps some gifted learners and some with learning difficulties.

I am interested to know how you are going to handle the changed situation as it is after the reshuffle. Have you got a strategy?

[kev7161]

Well, this thread is becoming long in the tooth as the incident happened almost a month ago. But, essentially, I pulled kids out of classes that were previously in my Class 1 and finished the unit/test with them. I continued to hold my "special" class so we could also finish their unit/test and then I conducted all my spoken tests. Now we are finishing up DVDs in the Senior One classes and, if I see them after our final 4-day break, I'll plan on some games.

In other words, I did what I had to do - - nobody said a word. I only have a very few days left here. I'm no longer concerned about it. But, thanks for asking anyway!