Job Discussion Forums

[mrAndrew]

[quote="shmooj"] Put your feet up on the desk and see if they are still there by chapter two.

What would they do about the shoe bottoms directed at them? I remember being warned not to do so in SE Asia, does this go for Japan too?

[Roger]

It's high time my kids learnt to become interactive, developed a pulse! These girls are ladies aged from 19 to 23, and the name of the school officially contains the phrase "Women's college".
Told them that I enjoyed teaching five-year olds a lot BETTER because they at least would act, react and make my lessons enjoyable for BOTH sides!
OK, some of these young ladies do help a lot, but the majority are lifeless, comatose. DOn't even have any clue as to what they are going to be up against upon graduation in 9 months...
So, first question:
"Alright, ladies, what are we going to do today? Remember, I told you last Friday what we are going to do on this very Friday..."
Silence. The fans are making the biggest noise overhead. Some cars can also be heard from the nearby highway. Not a sound from those 45 souls packed into my class.
"You!"
The girl thus finger-pointed looked genuinely shocked. She pointed to her nose, asking "me????????" "Yes, YOU!" I barked.
She stood up. "Can you repeat your question, please?"
No, I wouldn't. I have been through this scenario a couple of hundred times before. It never fails to be replayed in class.
I let her stand, 44 others are still sitting, increasingly uncomfortably as I walk down the aisle looking for my next victim. "you!" Another girl stands up, not having listened to my question. Shame on her as well - she joins the first one as a standing testament to their own silliness. They are not dumb, but they have got the wrong ideas on teaching and learning! This is MY CLASS, and here we are not doing things in a communitarian way!
No. 4 finally is a girl that answers my question:
"We are going to learn how to write a job application today!"
The whole class repeats in chorus:
"We are going to learn how to write a job application today!"

The three girls can sit down again. The textbook they have is called "Business English", and it has a collection of business-like dialogues, all of which are highly useless, irrelevant, abstract - and are followed by a translated version. What would any Chinese teacher do with these girls who are supposed to learn how to do business with English speakers? None of them has any practical experience working in an office.
Next, I ask them, "who has paper and pen?"
No answer.
"Alright, those who have paper and pen, stand up!"
Nobody moves. I repeat my question. I see one girl unpacking her paper and notebook. "you," I say. She stands up. "...and you," I say, pointing to another one. Then three more stand up on their own, I raise my thumb in a sign of approval. Finally, 42 students are standing. "You have no pen and paper?"
Three girls look down at their desks, embarrassed. "No problem, you are going to be our secretaries," and I push them to the black board.
We then go through a job advertisement. I have several classified sections of a newspaper and hand them out.
The "secretaries" now list the "requirements" for job applicants for given jobs, then what the companies have to offer.
They learn in one period how to write a convincing job advertisement for a teacher, a secretary and a saleswoman.
What's more important, the more I push them to take part, the more they enjoy it. It is the old-fashioned reward-or-punish system! It works, because I promise them to give them "100 fen" (points) if they compose a very good job advert.
If I had it my way, I would teach them to use their limbs first thing - physical exercises until their arms drop off their shoulders!
It only is their Chinese teachers who inculcate in them a totally passive, group-orientated attitude.

[richard ame]

Hi
Reading the op I was thinking of the contrast in behaviour of other similar students (asian) . Turkish kids are a lot different from what other posters have written about they literally dive out the door once the lesson finishes me go out first,, not on your life ! Reading a novel might interest them though especially during the break maybe something about Kemal Mustafa he always helps me out when the going gets tough .

[leeroy]

Roger, you're a hard b*stard!

[yaramaz]

Turkish kids run screaming and shouting from the room, bursting forth with such vehemence that you'd think it was a riot or prison break... I've nearly been trampled on more than one occasion..

[shmooj]