Job Discussion Forums

Redsparrow · Joined: 03 Nov 2004 Posts: 9 Location: Guangzhou

I begin work at a university in Guangzhou in about three weeks now. I have been spending the last couple of weeks reading books regarding syllabus design as I have yet to be given anything resembling a course description. My boss seems like a great guy and I am sure I will receive some direction however, as I anxiously await my debut, any suggestions on how to approach these crucial first few lessons would be much appreciated. So far there has been no textbook mentioned and no course objectives other than the promotion of spoken English. To those who have taught spoken English in a university situation before, where did you start? This is a very general question but I hope it will stimulate some discussion and perhaps generate some helpful ideas.

tw · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 3898

You may want to consider some of the ideas in this thread:

www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=25476

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

If you don't want to prematurely grow gray hair don't take your job too seriously. Note: I am not saying you should NOT take it seriously - the emphasis is on the little word "TOO"...

Your employer and students won't take it more seriously than you either! You are most likely a poster man to render the English department more attractive.

In the end whatever fanciful job description is handed to you you will be given inadequate materials and your students will be eminently underequipped academically to follow you.

Since you still have 3 weeks to go - my term begins in 8 days! - you have plenty of time to study the English skills of chance encounters anywhere in the province; this will be as good a guide to your future job as our input; focus on REMEDIAL NEEDS.
And if you have time, get a grip on phonetics so that you can use the phonetic alphabet to write on the black board English words and how to pronounce them! They have done that - but if you can point out some of their shortcomings you have one up over them.

bubblebubble · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 7:19 am Post subject:

perhaps you are expected to design / develop your own teaching material. at where i work, we do not have any textbook. instead, we have a library full of english language learning material and we are asked to tailor made materials suitable for students' major (e.g. computer, applied science, hotel management etc.). double check with your boss. good luck!

virago · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 7:47 am Post subject:

A likely scenario

You will probably get your text book a few days before (or if you are lucky 1 week before) and realise that it's totally inadequate. Then once you start teaching you will realise that the levels are varied in class and alot lower than what the school may have told you. You then throw out your course material you prepared and start 'winging it' a week before, a day before or the even the hour before class! Wink

Take the advice from Roger and don't fret if you don't get the assistance and take every 'yes' you hear as 'probably won't happen' and check up regularly what you have requested or asked.

At the school I worked for the text book was useless but we still had to follow similar course outline. We could constantly download stuff from the net or even write materials ourselves which I did for accounting/marketing and HR.

Good luck and check back in to ask questions and read other issues.

bubblebubble · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 12:25 pm Post subject:

virago: that's SOOOO true. you find the textbook and teaching material available so useless that you simply rewrite the whole thing yourself. yes... and you end up coming up with something like 3 minutes before your class starts, quickly run enough copies through the photocopier and when they arrive at your classroom, they are still nice and warm.

good luck!

randyj · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 1:34 pm Post subject:

In a couple of weeks a colleague and I will begin teaching in Wuhan. Like Red, we would love to give the students a syllabus from the start, but I am afraid any such effort now might be a waste of time. As the other posters have pointed out, often the students' proficiency, the course materials and lack of direction from a school conspire against such planning. "Winging it" is not very professional behavior, but there are too many uncertainties to do otherwise.

Chris_Crossley · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 1:41 pm Post subject: Only to find out that .........

latefordinner · Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 973

First, a standard disclaimer. Any similarites between Redsparrow's position and mine are definitely a figment of your imagination. Well, mostly.

Redsparrow · Joined: 03 Nov 2004 Posts: 9 Location: Guangzhou

Thanks for the useful feedback from everyone. I'm looking forward to that familiar rush of adrenalin that comes from being thrown head first into the deep end of a cold pool. Bring on the grey hairs and the chain smoking! Regarding course planning on a practical strata... do the majority of you use a situational design, a grammatical design or a notional design or a mash up of all three?

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

tarzaninchina · Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 348 Location: World

When I started at this college last year (and yes I renewed), I received the textbooks in mid August (term starts early Sept). I teach oral and written English to first and third-year students respectively BTW.

The oral textbook, while new actual content for the students, is simply too easy. So, I use it as a crutch for them in the first month or two so they can get confident simply saying things in front of their first foreign teacher. We do other things and then the book becomes a distant memory.

The writing textbook was co-written by the dean of the English dept. While it is common for this to happen in China for such people to guarantee an extra income for themselves, this one most likely falls into that category as I'm uncertain as to the amount of sincerity this guy put into this academic contribution. Anyway, the book focusses too much on one thing, has out-dated styles, has very bad examples in some cases, and two chapters that will actually make your writing worse if you read it. I will be telling my students this year not to waste their money.

Thing is though, the dean said "Here are the textbooks, but you can do what you want in class so long as the students learn and improve their writing." Fair enough, so that's what I've done.

Thing is, you gotta like what you teach. I can't stand lit, so I don't kid myself into teaching it. So, yes, I do my own course development and since I've renewed and edited the course in the summer break, I can have it a little easier this year.

Don't fret from this stuff, use your teaching muscles! If you don't want to do that with the light uni schedule you probably have, go work for a foreign face outfit where thinking is optional.