Job Discussion Forums

[Voldermort]

I took up my latest position, in a high school, to allow me to teach on a more one to one level. I am supposed to teach only 2 senior 1 classes whome I see 4 times a week. The problem is, the school is short of a teacher, so I have ended up teaching an extra 2 senior 2 classes, doubling my workload.

I am doing this to help out my school and receive no extra salary.

The problem is, one of the extra classes have 63 students the other 73. On top of that their last foreign teacher was a worthless peice of s**t. His classes consisted of listening to music and watching DVD's. The students know that they learnt nothing from him last year. After a year of this the students have become really lazy, they expect me to do the same for them this year. My job with senior 2 is not to teach them oral English, but to teach them English to a high enough standard that would allow them to gain entry to a foreign university. Another reason I took the job.

I started off being friendly with them (it's in my teaching style before anyone starts), I then tried being strict with them. I have also tried bribing them with movies. The smaller class have come around and have started doing things my way, and they feel better from it. But the other class just keep getting worse.

I gave them a homework assignment last week (they had 5 days to write 200 words), only 3 of the students handed it in. After speaking to the school about this they told me to send them out if it happens again, even if it leaves only 3 students in the class. I gave them another chance, today the remainder handed in the homework. I guess they had a pre-warning.

I have never in all my life been so insulted. Most of their homework consisted of excuses why they didnt do it, insults about my class and directions on how to teach them!!! Here is a quote from one of their essays:

"The examination we have to face in 2 years is really a serious problem. You must realize we have already got an English teacher. She can teach us many more skills to deal with the exam than you can. (To be honest, the exam is so abnormal that even native Englishmen can not pass.) I hope you will not teach us grammars like simple present tense (I really treat it as a course of kindergarten.) Our English teacher will teach us all the grammars and their usages. " And on, and on, and on....

My senior 1 students, most of whome have never had a foreign teacher before, have no problems what-so-ever. They do their work in the class, always complete their homework on time; better than that though, they give me compliments, invite me out with their families and we have a really good time together.

This one class, which is a quarter of my workload, is going to give me a bad image with the school. If it were just one class out of the average 18, it would be nothing. But I see these guys nearly every day, and now I am starting to suffer some serious sleep loss.

[Midlothian Mapleheart]

Edited to remove offensive content.

Middy

[Starry Night]

Firstly, you should be receiving an extra salary for the classes.

Second of all, perhaps they have valid reasons as to why they only need one English teacher, however, its your job to convince them your class is worthwhile.

It can be frustrating when you prepare for a lesson, only to feel like you're wasting your time. I teach middle school which is near impossible at times and also faintly ridiculous! Sometimes I think that, yes, these kids don't need an Oral English teacher, but they've got me so I have to make the best of it.

Get an idea of what the students want to be, career-wise and go from there. How is their English level? If its high, perhaps you could prepare an application for a foreign university and use that as an in-class activity. The first student to complete their application could be given candy as an incentive.

I'm guessing the students are fairly well-off, if your class is to prepare them for a foreign university. In that case, perhaps you can bring in campus information about foreign universities and have students discuss them and write a speech.

Good luck!

[Voldermort]

Thanks for the input guys. It's good to have a shoulder to cry on from time to time.

As far as the salary goes, I was asked to cover the class for just 2 weeks at the beginning of the term while the school finds another teacher. The first turned up and ended up fighting with the staff, and insulting China after only 2 days. The second teacher arrived and turned out to be a little too old an unsuitable for the position with no real teaching experience. I am married to a local, therefore it's important for me to have a good image and lots of guanxi in this city. I can worry about extra money later.

Starry Night, thanks for your ideas. I am a little too upset to think about any of that myself. I will certainly try your suggestion of the university entrance form. I have decided to make my own which will be a little more difficult than the norm. Also I will give the same paper to my senior 1 students. I intend to point out that because senior 1 are better students they can do a better job. I hope this will shock my bad class and poor students into working a little harder and giving me a little more respect.

Also, the first I have seen in China, my students will have an oral English exam which counts towards their end of year score. The students here already have exams every month for the other subjects. But as far as my classes go, there is nothing, so I can't blame the students for thinking it is a waste of time.

[kev7161]

[latefordinner]

Voldermort:

[nolefan]

Hi V,

congrats on the marriage, hope it all woks out for you. I'm glad to see that the new environment is better than what you had in qinhuandao.

Back to the issue of the classes; You gotta get a grip on them before they get completely out of hands. It does not matter wether they are right or wrong, what counts is that you are their teacher and you deserve to be treated a such. Homework that needs to be handed in HAS to be handed in. If need there be, give the ones that didn't do it a ZERO. they'll come around to your way of doing things quickly enough once they realize that their grades depend on it.
Also, another thing you can say is that you will have the school notify their parents of their behavior in class. You can go as far as saying that you will call the parents and speak to them directly... that'll scare the crap out of them quick enough.

The student (or students) that wrote about you not being able to help them pass whatever test are only repeating what their Chinese teachers are telling them. They'd never dare say such a thing on their own. Start turning the table around and setting the story straight with them first. If those teachers were so bloody qualified to begin with, the students English level would illustrate it.

Last, stop teaching the class for free. You've done your share and built enough Guanxi by doing it for a bit. The longer you keep at it, the longer the school will think they can go without bringing another teacher in. I'd suggest giving them a fair warning that the upcoming week is your last one doing so and that you've been doing them a favor for the past X weeks but that it is becoming inconvenient for you to do it. They WILL understand and the new teacher will arrive shortly after. Anyways, these are just my two cents worth.

Cheers/

B.

[Voldermort]

Hi Nolefan, thanks for the note of congrats.

I couldn't care less what some people on here have to say about me working these extra hours. Simple fact is, this is a fairly small city. There are only 3 schools here legaly allowed to hire foreign teachers. I am not some backpacker intending to spend just a few short years here before moving on, this is now my hometown. I have to build a future here. Demanding money at every turn is not going to help things in the long run. By doing this now I will be in an excellent position to negotiate a contract later.

The school is not using me. I know this because I have interviewed very many prospective new teachers. The school have been very keen to take the workload away from me, but I feel it's more important to find a suitable teacher who is going to last more than a few weeks before a family emergency occurs.

You people are in no position to comment about my stupidity. You simply do not know the situation here.

Oh I forgot to mention the new teacher will arrive on the 10th of November. I could simply bide my time with this class, but it's unfair to pass these problems on to another teacher.

[Keath]

Hi,

Don't be frustrated or insulted by your students letter.

This is a common experience for many ESL teachers in China. You've been lucky not to have one until now.. Its how we wrap our brain around this situation and react to it that makes all the difference.

The first thing you have to tell yourself that you are NOT going to be able to please everyone.. As with everything else, it is impossible in the classroom and whether or not students articulate it directly to you or keep it to themselves, there are always going to be students who are generally unhappy at the teachers style, workload, lesson plans..etc..

Don't be insulted that they wrote you this letter.. This is actually a good thing! Why? Because they want you to be the teacher they're just asking you to do things differently. They took the time to write it in English to you.

Despite whatever experience you have had in the past, and how good a teacher you are, maybe you should evaluate your teaching style and the lessons you are preparing? Even if yu are 90% successful that lasts class falls into the 10% where your general teaching style may not work.

I am not saying what you are doing is wrong, or that you are a bad teacher, - on the contrary it seems you are quite successful and seeking advice on this forum shows clearly you are a sincere and caring teacher.

One of the evaulative scores we give to our TEFL candidates is how they accept and adjust to constructive critisism. Don't take the students letters word for word, remember they are English learners so the message is usually direct which can lead to most of us feeling insulted.. (This is how small misunderstandings brew into castastrophe!) * My way of speaking Chinese is much like their letter. *

One lesson plan isnt a blue print for all the classes, Personally, I used to prepare two lessons, Plan A and Plan B in case Plan A started to fail, Plan B could kick in.. (I always felt sorry for the first two classes whereby the weeks lesson format was usually developed and I had alot of Plan A's fail miserably - Deer in the headlamp stares..)

ORAL ENGLISH IMMERSION

It's difficult for Chinese students to be in an immersion class and it can be very tiring listening to English when the students workload is really generally high to begin with.. The students make a valid point about grammer, Oral English - Should focus on situational dialogue, accent reduction, and proper grammer. There should be very little writing assigned for homework or in class work.

Usually when our teachers assign writing assignments, it is in the context of having the student develop an argument or "crib" notes that they can use to strengthen a teams debate or personal argument during oral presentation. Students usually turn in their notes as a measuring stick to see what they have done to prepare for the oral presentation, sometimes it can make the difference by as much as a half a grade.. but not by much more than that.

WHAT TO DO?

First, I think you have to start from scratch. You came into this class in the middle of the semester so you got to take a few steps back and get them to respect you.

I'd thank them for their constructive critisism, then I'd explain to them the beauty of democracy. I'd try to make the class interesting by a vote as to what they would all like to do.. But before the vote they'd have one last writing assignment, the only one -

1. Write down what they want to get out of the class?
2. What are the students interests?
3. Why they think it is important to learn English?
4. What is the aspect of learning English most important to them? (Speaking, Listening, writing, Grammer?)
5. What are the students interests..

From these simple responses you wont have to even count the responses to get a general idea of their interests and what direction the class needs to go..

Consider having a vote on which lessons to choose, make THEM responsible for the direction of class, then develop your cirriculum from that..

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
I once taught Economics to University Students in China. I used to reinforce vocabulary and terms with games, but when it came down to learning the tough concepts I got a letter that week which read:

"Dear teacher, we find that your class is very boring these days, can we play more games?" There was a small group of about 12 friends who had gotten together in the class to write that letter.

Next Class:
I read the letter aloud to the classroom.
I asked the students how they felt about it the letter, I asked them to speak up and defend their position and make suggestions..

I then said we would have a vote, but before we voted I wanted them to consier one very important thing: I told them, "Can you imagine, that if at every classroom.. at every University across China.. When the students come to the hard part.. they just play games.. Where would China be in ten years if at every University acoss China students just played games? China would be very good at playing games wouldn't they?

They voted to continue with the class as I had been preparing it, and I was very surprised at the support I received from the other students who I found although were very quiet - were intensely learning the material.

IF ALL ELSE FAILS: THEN:

I'd lay it on the line with the class and let them know you are a new teacher, with your own set of rules.. Go over the rules with them one LAST time.. then tell them they have no excuse for not knowing the rules, bring another Chinese teacher in the classroom as both a witness and to explain your instructions to the students in Chinese..

The next one who hands in a homework late gets it ripped up in front of the class and sent out of the class for the day.. Cell phones and talking in class are instant removals - I used to tell students, "you can talk in class as much as you like, you can even interrupt me, but it had better be in English.."

Don't turn into a monster though, do it with a polite smile and then quickly move on to the next classroom topic. Don't let the lazy ones interfere with the learning of those who are really there to learn.. Even if the ratio is like 10"lazies" to 1 "learner" you are there for the learner..

Consider this, if you have 60 students in a class and one acedemic period to work with each one of them.. Each student would only be able to receive less than 1 minute of individual time.. Sometimes when you do the math for them and wrap it into the context as to WHY they need to pay attention (The impossibility of individualized attention) then this helps grease the wheels, shows you are thoughtful and sincere about them..

GETTING PAID FOR YOUR HARD WORK
It seems like your favor has turned into real tangible hard work with marginal reward and some headache.. You're comfortable doing this and thats all that matters in the end. But YOU SHOULD BE PAID FOR IT.

For many teachers in China it seems a lot of schools don't know how to show appreciation for the kind of generosity you are providing. Not that they're ambivilant to it or uncaring to kindness, but the decision makers usually dont know whats relly going on. On the other hand, schools that have a good chain of command and communication show appreciation by paying for nice dinners, offering days off, trips or other special little things..

Anyway, thats my 2 RMB.. Good luck to you.

PS> For others reading this thread - HARD LINE: don't be afraid to flunk them.. You're a teacher, they're students.. Their obligation is to be students and earn grades.. yours is to give them..

PSS> This advice doesn't apply to those schools who have hired foreign teachers to be paid "monkeys." (Where quality of education doesnt apply and grades aren't worth the time to scratch ink..

Keith Curran
TEACH ENGLISH IN CHINA
www.JourneyEast.org
(773) 532-9988 Free Pre-Trip Consulting

[erinyes]

I would ask them why they are learning English, and if they really believe that they only want to be there to pass the university entrance exam, tell them to get out, or please go to sleep at the back of the classroom. (and them hope they don�t take you up on the offer� this is China so I guess they wont.)

i am honest with my students, passing the exams is useless. If they can't learn to communicate then they shouldn't bother to learn English at all.

So the Chinese teacher is there to teach them to pass the exam, and you are there to teach them how to communicate using a foreign language.

Just like some of my Chinese-English teacher colleague say "If you can't speak English, then you haven�t learn anything." Sounds like their "grammars" could use some brushing up too hey?

You don't have to be horrible to them, but the honest truth is, many of the Chinese teachers around can't even hold down a good conversation about a great deal of subjects.

The methods here are SO BAD, i mean I have met many Europeans who can speak 5 languages fluently by the age of 15, and Chinese students can't even do 3 - 2 of which have exactly the same writing (Cantonese and Mandarin).

[Roger]

I think most of us have experienced this sort of put-down. When my students came to steal my five minutes of break between two periods only to tell me that they would like to make "a suggestion", then I wouldknow they wanted to criticise me.
Their criticism was often of the most ludicrous kind:
"we want MORE free talk" or "you only need to give us an INTERESTING topic, and we can do the talking..."
Who put such ideas in their silly minds? It is their Chinese English teachers!

They are afraid you would expose their teaching incompetence (not everyone of them is incompetent, of course).

Thus I believe it would be in your own interest to bring about a change to the ideas these Chiense teachers nurture; you are as FT, and as such more tolerated than respected; since you have a Chinese partner they might fear you are making attempts at upsetting the balance of power.

You must make them aware that in the interest of the school and the students quality improvements to TEFL are needed. The school wants to cash in on the English craze; they must first learn to respect an FT. I have yet to see a Chinese school where FTs set standards, mark final exam papers and decide on the needed methodology changes. You must not put up with being assigned a subsidiary role in their anonymous school organism. Make yourself heard, your competence acknowledged and your voice heard by the students.
You will need the help of your colleagues in reforming your students!

So, how can you win their minds (if not hearts)?
Make the typical Chinese influences on their English known to them all! Pronunciation and accent can easily enough be compared and worked on - use tapes, and record your students' English pronunciation!
Their grammar is up to scratch? It is so because it is foreigners, i.e. Chinese, saying this about themselves! Again, this is easy enough to disprove!
Most of your work ought to be remedial anyway, and to have to do such a thankless job deserves respect from your colleagues and superiors! Tell them that if they do not implement certain badly-needed changes their students stand no, or limited, chances of being admitted to universities where a good command of English is vital.
Who can guarantee that Chiense can enrol at overseas universities? Hardly any Chinese teacher can...

[kev7161]

[hesterprynne]

You are fortunate to have admin support-use it.
I would "teach to the test" for these brats-
Also make and distribute a rubric showing points deducted for late or off-topic or incomplete or missing work. Points for participation. Post point totals regularly so ss can see their progress- public list for all to see.

[hengyangdave]

friendly teaching style isnt a bad style.....works for me....my kids loved my custard in class today....if they will be my friend....i will be friendly back....if they dont want to paly this game....they better learn to not enjoy my class and to be the star attraction in the corner or in the courtyard or on the basketball coury!

[SZVagrant]