Job Discussion Forums

Kootvela · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 513 Location: Lithuania

I guess I'm too tired to be willing to share. I just want them to let me do my job. That's what they pay for, anyway Wink

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:13 pm Post subject:

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

She' wants him to go halfway into the year of first grade and he's only five. That's the problem and the fact that he should have become fluent after a month of English.

I teach him daily for about 45 minutes. Daily homework is given.

I've come up with a basic curcciulum, based off of www.mes-english.com and also www.everythingpreschool.com so I'm doing sentences, vocab and some "projects" like making get well cards, count downs for Xmas, etc.

I think he's made real progress , so it really bugs me when his mom's like this. He sits and listens to a story and tries to make converstaion instead of stikcing his feet in my face.

Thanks for all the advice

Oh, and he's only been learning English for two months! The mom's impossible.

MO39 · Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:21 pm Post subject:

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

She-s studied. Not fluent or far from it. At this momemnt in time, I can-t be picky.

Kootvela · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 513 Location: Lithuania

fluffyhamster · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 7:58 pm Post subject:

One reason for possible tension between parents and teachers is the lack (or perceived lack) of quality and/or organized materials. (I know that a syllabus should always be developing and being tweaked, but even experienced teachers often don't have things sufficiently organized. It would be a bit like going to a car dealer and being assured that all those scrapheap parts will somehow be transformed into a gleaming racer). Is there too much cobbling together and not enough proper design going on in TESL? Surprised

MO39 · Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 3:03 am Post subject:

parrothead · Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 342 Location: Japan

Overly involved and demanding parents with expectations that are too high are my least favorite part of this job. My school has had mothers who have gotten upset that their 6 year old wasn't fluent after 5 months. The classes are offered, cheaply, for just 45 minutes once a week. How can that compete with near 24/7 exposure to the child's native language.

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

We speak in English.

As for not having a curicculum. I've given her a week by week layout of the theme, song, and vocab already. Every day I bring two worksheets to be done in class and two for homework.

It's more that she's unorganised, asking first for convo, then reading, then maths, then language arts.

Here's the thing that takes the cake. After two months of daily 45 lessons in English, versus four hours a day in Spanish kindergarten plus a Spanish nanny at home, the mom admits that his English is better than his Spanish, but that's still not good enough for her.

MO39 · Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 3:59 pm Post subject:

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Well, her son's five, so she can't be too young, early 30s. NOw, good news, they accepted him for first grade, so now, she'd like me to help him with his homework as well. She's been here for four months. Peru's very different than Korea, but she's not really living like the locals, her husband's in the embassy.

Kootvela · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 513 Location: Lithuania

Then she shouldn't grumble about the cost.

johnslat · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:36 pm Post subject:

Dear Kootvela,
Ah, but in my experience, at least, it's the rich (or very well-off) ones who are most often the worst complainers.