Job Discussion Forums

saint57 · Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 1:18 am Post subject: Your Worst Teaching Moment

My worst moment as a teacher was in China. I taught a class of 35 grade six students who didn't understand a word I said. Needless to say, pandemonium broke loose within five minutes of each class starting. One day I simply walked out of class. As horrible as the class was, I was wrong to have done that.

Anyone else care to share their bad teaching moments?

gengrant · Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:26 am Post subject:

me? bad teaching? perish the thought.

Rolling Eyes

gengrant · Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:27 am Post subject:

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

I've had my share of "bad teaching moments" - - I don't know if it's the worst, but one day it was so bad that I went to the vice-principal's office, laid (okay, more like slammed) a 50rmb note onto his desk and said I was going home for the day, he could deal with this certain *!%##**!! class without me (50 was the "penalty" if you ever missed a class without proper excuse - - I never had before in almost two years of working there).

I don't know what happened to that 50, but I never went back to that class (it was the last 4 or 5 weeks of the school year) and I was never shorted on my last couple of pays either.

Voldermort · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 597

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

lollercauster · Joined: 18 Mar 2006 Posts: 418 Location: Inside-Out NYC

What happened? It doesn't seem all that bad....

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

themanymoonsofjupiter · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 205 Location: The Big Link

my first year teaching spanish in the US, i was extremely disorganized and always pressed for time. not knowing what to do for my spanish III kids (and like ten minutes before i had to leave to go to school), i pulled Pablo Neruda's "El tigre" off the net without really looking at it and printed out enough for the students. as we're reading & discussing it in class, i realise it's not really about a tiger attacking his prey but about a sexual conquest. thankfully, their spanish wasn't really good enough (or minds not dirty enough? that couldn't be the case) to get that out of it. y'all's stories beat mine, though.

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

Malsol . . . would love to hear the ULTIMATE outcome of your tale.

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

KarenB · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 227 Location: Hainan

The day my tights fell down to my ankles.

jeffinflorida · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:57 am Post subject:

I was doing some side teaching through an English school and agreed to teach 2nd grade.

The pay was pretty good, 600 rmb for 3 hours of teaching and paid in cash at the end of the classes, and the school was not far away.

The bad part, these children were totally uncivilized - I could imagine that I was in the South Bronx. The kids didn't listen; they were fighting with each other, running around the room, AND throwing things at me.

To make matters worse the Pretty Chinese Female teachers did absolutely nothing to help me - they just sat in the back the room expressionless.

tgb · Joined: 12 Jun 2003 Posts: 76 Location: GZ

In my first ever class I played Ring of Roses with the children. It’s a fairly easy rhyme and dance for the children to pick up (they were only 4-5 years) but one boy fell over another and fell on his face. As the tears rolled down his face and the blood streamed from his nose I was asked in no uncertain terms to not play such rough games with the kids again. I was very embarrassed at the time. Now, after a few more years of kindy, I am more philosophical. Children will fall down, they will hurt themselves no matter how careful you are so i take care and don't sweat it like the Chinese teachers do.

mondrian · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 2:42 am Post subject: