Job Discussion Forums

[yamahuh]

Another good idea.
Thanks guys (and girls).

I'm really surprised by how many people have responded that they wouldn't touch these things with a 10' barge pole. In my opinion; right or wrong, we're a commodity that can be used by our boss to grow her business. I'm sure any teachers working for language schools are viewed the same way by their employers.
As long as there are clearly defined guidelines that both parties agree to(like maybe not having ANY demo for more than 75 Ss MAX) I really don't see what the issue is.

Just my opinion of course & it's all a learning experience.

Sigmoid I just dropped you a PM.

[Mideatoo]

Run!!!!!!

[abufletcher]

Actually, I did something comparable at an elementary school in Japan. I was asked to give a "presentation" to the entire student body (around 600 students, grades 1-6) in the gym and decided it would just be too cruel to make 600 kids "sit at attention" listening to some gaijin.

Soooo...I decided to make the best of a very strange situation and tried to create an activity. I won't bother with the details but this basically involved 600 fun handouts and a simple powerpoint presentation. The kids seemed to have a great time and all the other teachers joined in to help. I tried to design the handout so that everyone from the 1st graders on up would have something they could do.

Another time I was asked to do something for Halloween (at another elementary school). This time I can up with 10 easy Halloween activities at 10 stations each manned by one of the school's teachers and we ran each group of kids (about 10 per station) through all the stations.

I'm not sure what I'd call these things -- but the primarily goal was to promote goodwill first towards English and second towards the university I work for.

[ChinaMovieMagic]

Li Yang puts on great shows...1000 or more folks...he gets them standing up and sitting down en masse...waves of laughter/enthusiasm pass thru the mass audiences

In Shenyang, at Dongbei U, I did groups of 600--1000 or more. I insisted on DVD movie projection...and used Movie Magic approaches...describing movie sequences...then having folks come up to the staage for Role Play.
I moved around the auditorium w/a portable mike.

It was lots of fun! The wonderful feeling...to have those waves of energy/enthusiasm pass up from the audience.

[Brian Caulfield]

This stinks. A demo where you don't get paid . People have to stop doing this . I am not saying that it can't be done in good will but it is more like a pimmp ordering one of his ladies to do a gang banng . No respect for the foreigner . You need to be paid big bucks for something like this . Think about it . Would a Chinese person ever do something like this ? We pay are way over here get and they treat you like this .

[ChinaMovieMagic]

yES...pimps and scabs...
all the newbies fresh-off-the-boat
no learning curve...

For my shows...I'm paid well
FTs Unite!!!!

[yamahuh]

Hey man, I'm not saying we should or shouldn't do it; I'm just asking for some ideas from people who may have been in the same situation.
If you wouldn't do it ...more power to you..That wasn't my question.
As I said previously; I'm not averse to doing these things as long as it doesn't compromise my 'contact hours agreement' , which so far it hasn't.
We've been here for a year..how long does it take for us to not be considered 'newbies'?

[Jizzo T. Clown]

I had to teach classes of 70+ students in China and I usually had them get into groups of four to do activities. Of course, the ones who didn't want to participate just spoke Chinese, but it didn't hurt my feelings if they fell to the wayside--I was getting paid a measly 40 kuai for teaching 3 classes this size one day a week. One thing that did go over pretty well was "Jeopardy!" and hangman. I also had them draw things like menus or maps depending on the content. You have to break them down into somewhat manageable groups and get a few volunteers. Drills also worked fairly well.
Would I do it again? Absolutely not.