Job Discussion Forums

[NathanRahl]

China Pete, et tu brutai? You are against me too now huh, lol, what a shock.

Well, the online sheep mentality never ceases to amaze me. Nice little shot there with the experienced teacher comment, kinda subtle, but not, very good touch.

Of course you have had problem classes, yeah, gimmie a break you pecker head, we all have, but some of us are just more able to admit it, instead of being afraid of reprisals from fools like yourself.

I am outta here, out of this forum, out of posting here, a complete waste of my time. Those of you who frighten off the vast majority of newcomers, kiss my arse.

I think it's sad, since when I am gone you won't have much of anything to do, until the next person comes in who doe's not know any better, and stands up to the mob in here, then you'll gang up on him or her too. Sad how the biggest arse hole, or holes in this case, rule the roost.

Cowards, freaks, weirdo's, and future serial killers alike, I bid you ado, I think this site is a joke, and you are a joke. I don't know where the moderators are, likely they are the ones doing the insulting, or they just don't give a shite.

F*U*C*K all of you, at least the morons who have made my every attempt to get new info a waste of time. Your nothing more then a bunch of inconsiderate, and I must say, insecure people.

Have fun without me all, I think a bunch of fools like yourself should have no problem entertaining one another, since you have nothing of intelliegence to actually say. I wonder, who here has actually taught professionally, other then overseas I mean, hmm?

I may make a lot of typos, forgive me for being tired from working all day, yeah, you people are my number one priority, better rest up so I can make no typos on daves esl, please. However I don't go out of my way to hunt down and attack the little mistakes others make. Were I to do that here, it would be a full time job. I say who the heck are you folks to critisize anyones spelling or typing, lol. And if you really spend a lot of time editing your own posts so others won't do what you have done to me, I say, how sad, get a life. Same for hunting down and commenting on others mistakes. Communicatrion in a friendly way is fine, putting others down for no other reason then to raise yourself up is sadism, and a waste of everyones time, again, get a life losers.

I'm outta here, losers rejoice. Those of you who were kindly and polite, too bad we could not talk more, you really need to speak up though and stand up for yourselves. To the rest of you, your a bunch of cowards. Good riddance to bad rubbish, and F*U*C*K off A*S*S holes

[tw]

Holy crap! Does anyone still want to give this fine gentleman any more advices? Maybe the mods have delete one of China.Pete's posts but I certainly don't see anything wrong with his posts. If anything, China.Pete's advices have been very professional and sincere. Ai yay yay! This guy is a walking time bomb! The tiniest tick would set him off.

I REALLY question his teaching and classroom management abilities, and I am glad I hadn't posted anything in this thread so far, knowing he would have probably snapped at the smallest of small critisisms, or should that be criticisms you lingual gurus?

[GS1981]

*woah*

I don't look at the forum for a while, and this is what happens. I guess everybody just seems a little oversensitive on here, willing to pick over the least little thing, but to be honest Nathan, surely that kind of language is a little extreme.

Yes people can seem a bit insensitive and annoying on the internet: but that's a part of the fault of the medium; how on earth do you get a 'joking' tone across with text?

I think people need to use these chappies > a bit more

I do agree about the moderation though, people seem to get away with quite a lot on this site that wouldn't be tolerated elsewhere.

Anyhow, I'm sorry you've taken it so much to heart, Nathan, I guess if I had classes that were a pain to teach I'd be pretty short tempered too. Good luck, anyhow!

[Sinobear]

Too bad the cafe doesn't come with an alcohol level meter:
You're drunk, are you sure you want to post this? You've offended {insert possibly offended members here}. You post contains {x} number of spelling and grammatical errors that puts you on the level of a grade {y} student. Do you really, really, really, really want to post this?

And then, we should have up to 12 hours to delete the post in question (after the voices(s) make us agree to post it, anyhoo) - with no one being allowed to paste a quote from the drunken whinge in that 12 hour period.

'Tis pleasant to dream.

Cheers!

[Ganbei]

Nathan,don't go mate.I'm in the same boat.
Same kind of classes-jnr 3,same book,same look,same sniggers,same muttering.80 plus in a sardine can.

I am so tired ,despondent,disappointed,lost and at my wits end.I am a TESOL "teacher" and this is my first job.The Chinese teachers grunt and smirk and "my" teaching assistant goes home-hasn't been in the classroom.

I too lost it out of sheer tiredness and frustration but was then questioned by the teachers.They blamed my reaction on my lack of experience as a teacher rather than student behaviour.

I literally stayed up half the night planning what I imagined to be "great" lesson.Sullen silence and smirks was my reception. I too have a year to go,am the only foreign teacher and hate it.I especially hate it cause I don't know what to do.Your replies going back and forth could easily be mine-the classes are so similar.For me -as a new teacher just to realise that has been such a help.The suggestions offered have also given me some breathing space but yeah the music? To play it and then still get no reaction-except a smirk,well not just yet!

I feel very stressy and tired and I still haven't planned tomorrows lesson. If any experienced posters find that funny or pathetic ,so be it.

[GS1981]

I should have done more research

*hug* for Ganbei, that's a harsh deal, still I feel like this thread was quite useful, seeing as it's filled with lots of suggestions.. Has it helped much?

[tw]

Ganbei, I think you should tell us something about these lessons you've been doing and maybe we can offer you some suggestions. That is, if you are willing to accept them.

[Outsida]

[Mydnight]

I really sympathize ganbei on his/her situation. My first job was just like this: 80+ in a class, with only about 15 interested in actually learning. You can keep a class of 80 under control for a while with sheer novelity alone, say, maybe 2 or 3 months, but after that it becomes really difficult no matter what you plan. The kids are mostly concerned about passing their exams, and since the foreign teacher usually doesn't have much of an exam, the class goes to the bottom of their 'to do' list. Such classes really become an exercise in riot control more than anything else. There are some activities that you can prepare to keep them interested and help them with their pronunciation and minor things, but it's their expectation that often gets in the way of their logic; you are not the miracle cure for the poor English education curriculum. You really won't be able to help them THAT much although there is a possibility for those that take it seriously. The fact is that most foreigners in a classroom like this are basically in a lose-lose sort of situation; so much is against the teacher.

You are lucky to have actually had a teacher's aide, though, because I didn't. I was thrust in front of them without books, an aide, audio-visual equipment (not even an overhead projector was available), even chalk on the first day. That shot down any chance in hell that I could finish the lesson that I had planned. Out of 21 completely different classes, only 3 were really bad.

I usually had to ham it up and become an actor, playing a role as THE FOREIGNER, and try to work in some kind of lesson plan under that guise. It gets really old quick...

I have seldom regretted coming back and only doing free lance work. I think working in one school again for a bunch of hours a week would really do me in.

[China.Pete]

"Does anyone still want to give this fine gentleman (Nathan Rahl) any more advice? Maybe the mods have deleted one of China Pete's posts but I certainly don't see anything wrong with his posts." - TW

No deletions yet, TW. Went back and re-read my last post, which I had, apparently mistakenly, assumed was the most supportive so far. I mean, I even threw in the anecdote about the poor substitute teacher whose perceived failure in an urban classroom was viewed by the school as a minor triumph of endurance to try and cheer him up. Perhaps my first paragraph, where I referred innocuously to personal factors, may have triggered something inadvertently.

"Well, the online sheep mentality never ceases to amaze me. Nice little shot there with the experienced teacher comment; kinda subtle, but not (a) very good touch." - Nathan Rahl

My point was meant to be taken at face value. With experience, teachers get better at classroom management without necessarily appearing to try. Less experienced teachers, or those facing a new situation (like some of us), must approach the problem more self-consciously. But, speaking of sheep, why assume that one particular poster is "against me, too," as you say, simply because you may not have gotten his meaning?

"Cowards, freaks, weirdoes, and future serial killers alike, I bid you ado, I think this site is a joke, and you are a joke." - Nathan Rahl

Yes, Nathan Rahl, there are the odd flames (or unappreciated advice) that are generated on this board by a few souls whenever the OP gives a bit of extra information. But if your missive was intended as a "push-post" ( http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=push+poll&x=34&y=16 ), replete with insults, to get me to agree with the flamethrowers, it hasn't worked. Sorry to have to tell you that I'm still supportive of your presumptively sincere efforts to maintain a good learning environment in your over-sized classes.

"I am so tired, despondent, disappointed, lost and at my wits end. I am a TESOL teacher, and this is my first job." - Ganbei

Ganbei, I hope this thread is helpful for you, too.

[dajiang]

Wasted breath for the OP, but perhaps some poor souls in similar situations have picked up some useful stuff in this thread.

[Bayden]

[vikdk]

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah mods dat Nathan boy said lots of nasty type words (some of dem I aint even seen before) - you didn't do anything to him - all I said was Roger - and I got a warning and a loads of posts deleted - waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah I'm going into a corner to cry

[Steppenwolf]

Here is a suggestion of how I would run such an oversize class:

I would pair up all students, or possibly form groups of 3 or 4.
THey would have to learn to work in TEAMS.

I would then ask them to take part in a competition - winners can leave class early as a reward...

I would post a series of sentences taken from a text across the whole classroom. These sentences would narrate a short story or form part of instructions the students are familiar with. A total of 5 to 10 sentences would be enough.

So, the students' job would be to copy the sentences ACcURATELY and in the relevant order.
They would NOT BE ALLOWED to copy standing in front of the posters - they would have to walk up to them, commit to their memory, then report back to their teammates who would have to jot the text down.
THis would keep all of them busy and in compeittive mood; they would learn to replicate good English, and finally, they could practise reading it aloud or saying it aloud, and possibly make a comment on it.

Sincerely - such big classes tend to have no discipline and the FT is not respected because he or she is unable to choreograph such a class.
There are many variations possible to the scenario described above...

[vikdk]

ahhhhhhhhhhh - eureka - relegate communication in favour of competition - no need for teachers enter the ESL referee - brilliant quite brilliant - and of course all you have to do is prepair new texts ad-infinitum - I like it , and since I haven't got any better suggestions I better shut my trap
pssssssssssst - a small post script - what's the point of this game if dem students dont actually understand what they're writing - doesn't this game involve conveying a message through the processes of memorisation and repetition rather than inventing a message through production of language - just a small point