Job Discussion Forums

[7969]

the first thing i try to achieve in my class is some talking, talking about anything. once the students in china have the confidence to talk, one on one, or in front of the class, things become much easier.

i always tell my students at the outset, just talk. if you use chinglish, no problem, i can (usually) still understand you. we can fine tune and improve the english as we move along.

measurable improvement or not, if a student who was reluctant to speak in week 1, is speaking by week 5, 10 or 20, then progress has been made. this is china, i set the bar relatively low and if we exceed that in class, fine. if not, back to the drawing board next year.

7969

[Malsol]

[vikdk]

Goals are always a sticky playing area for the teacher - shizer in the west with certain countries going back to the nice an'easy to understand "back to basics" regulations of national curricula, educational standard and school league tables - then those goals are made even murkier when the more difficult to understand concepts of modern pedagogy - such as personal developement, social education and the rights of respect with regard to an individual student's abilities and talents are thrown into this ugly politicaly charged pile!!! Teachers are pushed in a direction towards the political goal but know that methods will and should be questioned if the social and developmental elements of teaching are scrapped along the way.
With this in mind more and more teachers are turning the question about goal around 180 degrees and starting to concentrate on a whole other area - the goal of what kind of teacher do I want to be - because If you aint answered this question the chances are your views regarding the goals of your teaching, and what you are prepaired to do in the name of education, are going to be pretty confussed!!!
So with this more simplified goal in mind - and reflecting on the fact that the Chinese mainstream educational goal seems to be "make that student pass exams almost regardless of any consequences" - then I have drawn up a list of possible goals which any FT could aim for -

goal 1 - oramental white monkey - be an ornament who's only impact is to advertising a product (the English language) through appearance and cultural roots - the kids and the monkeys soon seem to get bored of each other.

goal 2 -obedient white monkey - the transition from ornament to a tool which can be operated through precise instruction, where teacher loyally follows the line of instruction - kids tend to hate these monkeys after a while - so boring - unless the instuction and backup for the monkey is of a high class (rarely the case in China)!

goal 3 - naughty white monkey - the FT who is dissalusioned and starting to rebel - but still tows line since employer and employee still have a use for one another - kinda OK with the kids, shows lots of VCD's lets the class entertain itself - monkeys and kids help each other pass the time.

goal 4 - innovative white monkey - those monkeys that can invent their own teaching "tricks" - these monkeys are often headstrong and sometimes bite - so some owners don't really like them - but there seems to be growing demand for them since the kids seem to love 'em and their new tricks on a longterm basis - can also be effective with regard to teaching the English language.

goal 5 - the loner white monkey - the monkey that doesn't want to be regarded as a monkey so tries to be a freelancing creature removed as much as possible from any local master (the person who does so much to remind then they are an ape) - the creature soon discovers that they can't entirely escape monkey status since this is a valuable selling point - but what the hell maybe this is a starting point on that long road to their own personal version of freedom and respect. Being a loner isn't any gaurantee that kids will like 'em or indeed if its classroom effective or has any good tricks - but some bosses like to bring them into their language zoo's since surving alone in the jungle seems to impart a certain quality over them. But this monkey has the ability to run at the slightest whiff of conflict - so their independance is usualy respected to a certain degree.

By the way most of these monkeys should be able to reach that goal teaching a student to say hello - but that of rocking traditional Chinese teaching methods by generating a full blown classroom discussion which both entertains and educationaly stimulates the student - well shouldn't that monkey show a few wild qualities that singles it out from the usual pets

[Henry_Cowell]

[sheeba]

[vikdk]

[sheeba]

[vikdk]

I see your point sheeba - the practicalities of a situation sometimes make those finer nobler goals of education a tad difficult to achieve - but thebn again surely they shouldn't be completely scrapped - anyways what the hell!!! I work with kindy kids, hardly any hard hitting discussion going on with my students

[sheeba]