Job Discussion Forums

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

last week, my thursday afternoon class was supposed to begin at 3pm. i was tehre but there were 0 students. i asked some students in a neighbouring class what was happening. they looked at the timetable posted on the wall of the classroom (in chinese) and it indicated that there was no class to be held in this classroom at 3pm that afternoon. now, noone told me the class was cancelled, but since noone was there, i went home. nothing said since last week.

that same class is supposed to begin again in 45 minutes but i'm not on the bus to the school right now to attend. i'm just going to wait and see what will happen. either the class is permanently cancelled and nothing will happen, or the students will show up this week but i wont be there. i'm doing this just to give these people a taste of their own medicine. right now it feels good.....

anyone have similar experiences?

7969

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

I think most of us have experienced something similar at one time or another. Good for you! Let us know the results. Yet, somehow, no matter what, this will be YOUR fault . . . you realize that, don't you?

Malsol · Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 1976 Location: Lanzhou

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

well, the point i'm making is this: as we all know, schools have no qualms in cancelling a class and not telling us about it. my actions today were based on what i discovered last week..... there was no class, the timetable on the wall showed no class scheduled for that classroom in the future, so i wasnt there today. i dont now, nor will i in the future, feel any regret about not going to class today.

now someone came knocking on my apartment door 90 minutes ago..... but i didnt answer (funny how quickly a school reacts when the inconvenience has been imposed on them). of course, i'm sure i'll hear something about this in the coming hours or days from someone. at any rate, if the class isnt cancelled and the school isnt happy with me, they know their options.

in a way i really hope there was a class today, and i realize its like banging your head against the wall trying to get school admin to change but at least i can say i gave it a go Very Happy

Super Frank · Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 365

I was called in on my day off to give a class with 2 hours notice, next day i knew the same thing would happen, i got to school at 11.30, could have left again after planning my evening class but mooched around, sure enough at 3 they asked/told me to do the 4 oclock. They knew all day but waited. It's like a game of chicken; good on ya for feigning ignorance, wished i'd had the ba lls, but i'm new......

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

hey frank, dont worry about it. if you feel you're in the right about something (and you probably will be) then just do it.

i just received a text message on my phone from my neighbour, a chinese english teacher. one of the deans in our department wants to know why i wasnt in the class (i guess there was a class today). i replied to the text message and suggested that the concerned dean phone me directly, or visit me. she lives nearby. but she wont..... chinese admin dont have the balls to face up to you. a shame they dont tend to any of my requests to repair something as quickly as they've come after me for this percieved mistake Very Happy

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

I almost ALWAYS heard things through the grapevine at my last school. More often than not, it was from my students: "We won't have class tomorrow because of testing . . . or a sporting event . . . or a class outing . . . or an assembly . . . or . . . "

TPTB rarely - - no, let me think - - NEVER came to me and invited me to sporting events or class outings or whatever. Usually a Chinese teacher would mention something and give sort of a half-assed invite an hour or two before said event.

I used to threaten them like they would do me. If I, for some reason, would miss a class, then I'd have to make it up or get docked in pay (never missed a class, by the way - - empty threats I guess). I would tell them that if I showed up for classes and they were canceled without me being informed, they'd have to pay me extra. Never happened, of course, and they STILL would never get the message that, hey! the FTs actually have some sort of life beyond the school.

I can remember my first year. Ahh, let's take a walk down that dusty memory lane, shall we? After the Spring Festival, I dutifully showed up for classes only to find that the schedules (for all teachers, mind you) had been radically changed. It seems this is common practice, don't ask me why. All the Chinese teachers had their new (in Chinese) schedules taped up neatly on the walls next to their desks, but I had nothing. Those first couple days were frantic for me, because I had no idea about, well, ANYTHING!

My second year at this school and I'm the only hanger-on from the previous year. We had a completely new set of FTs - - they ALL b*itched and moaned about the EXACT SAME THINGS we did the year before!! And STILL nothing came of it. Amazing.

By the way, now I pretty much make my own schedule. I'm told when the students' music and PE classes are and I just plug in the holes with my variety of subjects. If I want to teach Science on Monday mornings (which I do), then so be it. If I need to change things around for a week or two for whatever reason, then I do it. As long as it doesn't affect anyone else (which it doesn't), nobody seems to mind.

Sinko · Joined: 21 Apr 2005 Posts: 349

Kev, I don't really understand why you (and other teachers, I guess) assume you should wait to be told of things to happen at your school. As a professional teacher, it should be your job to keep up to date of all the events, activities, changes and news of your school. You should put yourself in a position of keeping ahead of things, especially here in China where it is a known weakness of the school personnel not to inform you of changes.
Get involved! Talk to people. Become part of the school. Don't sit back and wait for things to happen. Don't consider yourself above anyone else.
After arriving in China about 3 years ago, I quickly found out about this weakness. I have, since, made a point to regularly (and I mean regularly!) tell the Department Heads to notify me of any changes. Just keep reminding them. As a result, I have hardly had any problems.
7.., you had a week to straighten out that class. Why didn't you ask somebody about it? Couldn't you just let it go and move on? Like, is it really a big deal? No matter what job you do, in whatever country, there are always going to be incidents which you feel need to be corrected. You will never find a perfect job the way you like it. So why put yourself in a position where you could upset a few people.
Okay, you made your choice. Fine. Good luck to you. I will be interested to know the outcome. I somehow feel any good guanxi you have enjoyed with this school may have been eroded. You may end up with having more problems than you realise.

latefordinner · Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 973

Had something similar happen to me a year ago. I was sub-contracted to several schools by an agency, and had to travel around quite a bit. One day I missed lunch to get to the next school early. (didn't mind, it was quite near my home so I could walk home and start dinner early) Got to my class and put my vocab, target questions etc up on the blackboard. Classroom teacher shows up about 10 minutes after the bell and informs me (through unreliable translation) that I don't have a class that day. No, I don't have any classes, the whole grade is participating in some unanounced activity. I can go home early. Come payday of course, my employer doesn't want to pay me for classes I hadn't taught. I was there, as directed, but classes were cancelled so I wasn't going to be paid. "Oh, and here's your schedule for next week. You have to go there and make up the class you missed." I told them flat out that under no circumstances was I going back to that school. "If I'm not going to be paid for being there, I'm not going" They got the message, and it didn't happen again.

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Oh Sinko, Sinko, Sinko - - you're new here aren't you (oh wait, you said you'd been at your school for 3 years - - you found a good one then)? I shake my head at your young, trusting soul. Let's address a few of your comments:

Malsol · Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 1976 Location: Lanzhou

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

If I had to remind my superiors DAILY - as Sinko says he is doing - to keep me abreast of their latest deicisions I am sure they would make it an habit of not being in office when I would turn up for my daily reminder...

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

let me comment a bit further. i agree with kev.... we do expect to be treated as professionals and we do expect to kept apprised of things going on at the school that affect us. its the employers responsibility to make sure this happens. and as kev alluded to, incidents like these described in my original post are not a one time thing. they happen consistently. FTs are often kept out of the loop of info and i dont like being dissed like that....

sinko, i appreciate your post, however i have to say that you must be in an extremely rare situation wherever you are. i've already done as you suggested:

a. i've suggested to my boss in the past that we (two FTs and her) should have bi-weekly meetings to discuss issues at work and pass on information. she accepted our suggestion but nothing ever came of it.

b. i've reminded my school numerous times when something in my flat needs fixing or replacing. i need to remind them again and again because more often than not noone shows up until days later.

c. i've asked that i be made aware of any changes to my schedule in advance either to allow preparation for new classes or to make me aware that i didnt need to show up. to be fair, sometimes i've gotten the info i needed.

the main point is, anyone who has been in china any length of time soon sees that many schools only react quickly to an event when it's something that's detrimental to them. i like to be proactive (i've done my part) and i hate posting negative stuff but these are the facts.

on its own, this incident isnt a big deal but when you put several of them together, it becomes a big deal. and unlike some teachers, i wont accept it. and if the school cant accept my behaviour as a result of their behaviour, then they know their options.

so what happened? i received a second text message last night from my neighbour, the same teacher who sent me the first text message indicating that the dean wondered why i wasnt in class. the second text message acknowledged that the dean was sorry i wasnt informed about last weeks cancelled class. i guess thats an apology, chinese style. a step in the right direction i suppose...... Smile

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

saint57 · Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 5:10 am Post subject:

I would never complain about a cancelled class. However, I hate it when they say things like, "By the way, the parents will be sitting in on your next class and the local television station will be filming it." Different things piss different people off. I think your response is classic. Keep up the good work.