Job Discussion Forums

[jeffinflorida]

One of my students is named Long Dong, another Dong Dong.

Thankfully they never seem to understand why I can not say their names without cracking up...

Whenever I see Dong Dong I never call him by his English name... I just say Hey Dong Dong, Dong Dong, Dong Dong...

Yep... I'm immature...

[Adeem]

All of my students for the first two year used to call me teacher. They called me Adam outside class, but never wanted to call me that inside class. Teacher Adam was a popular one as well.

I introduced myself to the management at my new job using my Chinese name first, and since then, I have been known exclusive as 'Zeng Laoshi' or 'Teacher Zeng.' I must admit that I prefer this to any other, and at the end of the day, our chinese students are probably more comfortable addressing us thus, rather than using our first names, which I teach them are not usually used for those senior in age or position to you, unless they are personal friends.

May as well reinforce.

[kungfucowboy83]

when i worked at a private language school, i had no grading or testing duties so i felt more comfortable with them using my first name. Now i'm teaching elementary school kids the call me teacher or Mr. i never let them call me by my first name. not sure what i would do in a college

[Brian Caulfield]

I'm known as Bai LIn in my school and town. I took the name because I play Go here and in KOrea in tournaments. If they put my name on the board in English then everyone would say look the foreigner has lost all his matches.
I makes everything go smoother when everyone can say your name, even the janitor.

[PattyFlipper]

[TreKidation]

Oh please .... the clothes most "professors" wear at the university are the things I would use as rags to clean the garage floor. Men don't wear t-shirt so I'm stuck with looking at their nipples through the sweat-soaked micro-thin 20 RMB short-sleeved shirt without a tie in the summer - the same shirt is worn for a week before it's washed with water and hung in the sun to dry - leaving the stench of semester old B.O. for months to come. I'm forced to deal with the nauseating stench of cigarette smoke that has permeated every inch of their clothes. Tell me how THIS is more professional than my like-new dark, dark blue jeans with $500 cowboy boots - usually brown with matching brown belt, long sleeved casual/dress button up shirt - with a tie. Different clothes every day, non-smoker, non-drinker.

Give me a break ... I'm not one of these loser "dancing monkeys" you talk about. The fact that you mention this offensive phrase is what TRULY reinforces the stereotype you mention.

My students have never said "oh my god you look so good and smell so nice today that I'm unable to learn"

The opposite with others - I have seen it and I have done it - I've had students that left the room and I myself have left because of the wretched smells emanating from a supposed professor.

You were outraged by the (lack of) a title? Self-righteousness.

I can agree with your example ONLY in that all the judges should have been introduced with the correct title as a matter of professional equality. Keeping in mind that the great, grand, enormous majority of so-called teachers are hardly even close to being so - by an educational standard. Even being called "Teacher Peter" or whatever is no deserving to most - since I'd call a "teacher" someone that actually attended college as an education major and is a certified teacher. Just because someone is the higher authority in a classroom hardly gives them the right to be address as "teacher." Mr. or Miss, etc. would be most appropriate for most. The classroom is a different issue than the "being a judge" role.

"But I studied, I earned my degrees, I, I, I, me, me, me." Get past the titles and narcissistic barriers of demanding to be addressed by a title.

I have 4 degrees - including a significant professional degree and I have people call me by my given name - those who choose other forms of address and free to do so. Being put on a pedestal by oneself is the fatal flaw in society - "I'm more important than you are"

"Respect my authority" comes to mind.

[kev7161]

I guess age can also be a factor. I mean, when I was twenty, I wouldn't have thought twice about "just call me Kevin . . . or even Kev if you're so inclined. Just don't call me late for dinner. Ha! Ha! Are we friends now?"

But now I'm in my mid-forties and if I am so casual and buddy-buddy with my students they ARE going to think I'm their friend or their "kindly uncle who we can joke and laugh with" and perhaps can't get beyond that to respect me as their teacher. I'm not going to even pretend that all Chinese teachers get respect due to their clothing or even their title. But that title does draw an invisible line between student and teacher. Sure I can still be "kindly" toward my students, but I still have the opinion that by addressing me as "Mr.", they become more aware of what's what.

[jeffinflorida]

Some of my students are failing. Yester