Job Discussion Forums

[D.O.S.]

[angrysoba]

[gaijinalways]

Yes, the Japanese students may win the award for the least demanding.

Couple of stories to back up my claim;

At a language school, a teacher went to teach an outside class at a factory and said 'hello' as he came into the classroom. No response from the students. So he decided to wait and see if anyone would say anything. And waited. 40 minutes, at break time, one of the students finally called the language school's branch office to complain.


At a university, a teacher didn't show up for 5 classes in a row. The first two he did report the lessons as cancelled to the university adninistration office, but too late to tell the students. The other three classes were not reported at all, and the university only realized that the teacher had not turned up at all that semester when a few students complained about having no teacher for 5 classes !

[valley_girl]

I normally try to shy away from making generalizations, but what the heck.

My overall impression of nationalities I have taught:

Demanding:

Russia
Saudi Arabia


Moderately Demanding:

China
Taiwan
Japan
Korea
Bangladesh
Germany


Not Demanding:

Turkey
UAE
Kuwait
Angola

[Cleopatra]

tedkarma is absolutely right when he describes how infuriating Saudi students can be in thier attempts to 'bargain' exam results. I have taken to tell them that we are not in the suk and that my grades are non-negotiable. The comment about students arguing over 1/10 of a point may be an exaggeration, but if so, it is only a slight one. Students don't seem to realise that, even if they do annoy you so much that you back down over the grading, what they'll gain from the extra 1/10 of a point is surely outweighed by how badly disposed towards them you may be in the future!

That said, though, I generally find Saudi students pleasant to teach, the good ones at any rate. Yes, there is sometimes that tendency to treat you as just another of their many servants, but the better Saudi students are respectful, bright and a lot of fun!

In my experience (and with the obvious proviso that we are talking gross generalisations here) I have found Czech students pretty tough going. Yes, they are intelligent, hard-working, and usually good language learners, but I have found them to be unresponsive to the point of being sullen, with a strange aversion to answering the most straightforward of questions. In contrast, I have found Poles, though often initially reserved, to be much more open, friendly and far more willing to enter into interesting discussions.

[Cleopatra]

tedkarma is absolutely right when he describes how infuriating Saudi students can be in their attempts to 'bargain' exam results. I have taken to telling them that we are not in the suk and that my grades are non-negotiable. The comment about students arguing over 1/10 of a point may be an exaggeration, but if so, it is only a slight one. Students don't seem to realise that, even if they do annoy you so much that you back down over the grading, what they'll gain from the extra 1/10 of a point is surely outweighed by how badly disposed towards them you may be in the future!

That said, though, I generally find Saudi students pleasant to teach, the good ones at any rate. Yes, there is sometimes that tendency to treat you as just another of their many servants, but the better Saudi students are respectful, bright and a lot of fun!

In my experience (and with the obvious proviso that we are talking gross generalisations here) I have found Czech students pretty tough going. Yes, they are intelligent, hard-working, and usually good language learners, but I have found them to be unresponsive to the point of being sullen, with a strange aversion to answering the most straightforward of questions. In contrast, I have found Poles, though often initially reserved, to be much more open, friendly and far more willing to enter into interesting discussions.

[D.O.S.]

I think this thread is very important.

EFL is complicated and requires intelligent discussion.

It's shows that the likes of Glenski and PaulH, who have only taught in ONE COUNTRY, lack depth and insight.

In my opinion, unless a newbie is on their way straight to Narita, glenski and paulah should be IGNORED.

[paulmanser]

Are poles demanding?

[D.O.S.]

In my opinion these "Japan experts" such as glenski and paulh could barely survive a week teaching in another country.

It, at least for me, puts their whinges into perspective.

[Justin Trullinger]

From what I've read here, Glenski and PaulH have been extremely helpful and informative to a lot of Newbies-

We're all limited by a national perspective, unless we've really taught EVERYWHERE. It does mean that all our comments should be taken with a grain of salt- it DOES NOT mean we should be ignored.

I would rank myself as useful on the following:

Ecuador: Probably the most knowledgeable, helpful, useful TEFLer now living for info about Quito. If not, at least a good source amongst those who post here.

Spain: I knew her well, but left 3 years ago. Many things have changed, like salaries, rents, and immigration law enforcement. I can help here, but may be out of date.

Italy, Poland, England, the US: Been there and done that. But so long ago that practically nothing remains the same. Have some funny stories, but unless you need amusing anectdotes, my knowledge of these places is pretty dated.

So, if I offer advice about teaching in China, I should be ignored? Or maybe the advice should be carefully considered and taken for what it's worth?

Justin

PS- In my experience, which might not be worth anything, Poles aren't especially demanding. Pretty middle of the road...

[paulmanser]

That is a relief.

As a newbie it wouldn't be nice to be in the spot light of demanding students. At least not to start off with.

Target country = Poland, Torun.

[asromacalcio]

Italian teenagers. Noisy and excitable. All the stuff you learn to do on your CELTA course goes out of the window from the first minute of your first lesson.

[koldijk]

The Germans weren't too bad...

The worst thing that happened was when a non-student told me that the Americans bombed his village.

Which I thought was ok because a) I'm not American and b) My father's "village" was Rotterdam...

TSCHUESS GERMANY

[Pollux]

[sultansofping]