Job Discussion Forums

[lagerlout2006]

My first job here was a teachers college which fairly motivated students with a fair command of English (a lot of them anyway.) It was interesting and it felt like teaching. This time I accepted a job at a K-12 boarding school...God...There are 2 types of classes. The bad---kids talking reading and just ignoring me. More than half the class is spent tryng to keep the noise level below deafening...(Is it just me.)? There are always a few good students so I concentrate on them but often I can't hear them properly...Lately I have been sending groups of boys out..Go play basketball if you won't listen I tell them...This works actually since those who stay will speak to me... The problem is the school will cancel this when they find outll

The 2nd type class are the comatose as Roger calls tem. 18-25 students who look like they are on heavy medication...If I try hard enough I can get a word or two out of some of them...Spoken English class indeed.. I dont know which is worse..If I wanted to control "bad" kids I would do it elsewhere for real money...I like China but I swear to God I will not take another job unless it is with adults.

[tgb]

Try Kindergarten. When they're naughty...you can't really be surprised or annoyed at them because they are so young. And after meeting you once or twice they are very rarely quiet!

In fact, they often keep me from being comatose after a late night.

James

[Lanza-Armonia]

I know that Largy teaches the older children while on the other side of this 3 sides coin, I teach the cuties.

The kindy kids are so active, they just can't say enough English in a lesson. When you try and calm them down so I can listen, it usually starts them speaking Chinese so I lettum get on with it. You do of course get the 'one sole' child that has had parents telling it since birth that all foreigners are evil and the son of Hades and the like (normally these families, generations back were victims of the OPM wars and were once rich). These lickle fecker refuses to do crap, hates English and beats up all the other kids. Why I am saying this? Dunno, this just kinda feels like some kinda cheap theropy. Oh, and sorry John about the spelling mistakes. I guess I'm not as good a person as yourself.

LA (Loving Asia)

[sallyann]

Lagerlout, no it's not just you. I've taught in these places and it's a completely depressing experience. The best teacher in the world couldn't penetrate the apathy that these kids are soaked in. Some of them appear quite damaged, it makes you wonder what the hell's been happening at home. It's hard on your confidence, but all you can really do is teach to the few good students, do your best and take the money. If the management complains about anything, just tell them the truth, that you are trying as hard as you can. I think a stint in one of these rich-kids dumping grounds is a good experience for a foreign teacher, although it's hard while you're going through it. You'll get a better job in the future and you'll be able to look back and see that you learned a lot, mainly about yourself. Good luck, lighten up and try not to take it too seriously!

[gingermeggs]

Stick to Kindies, ammonia...you don't need to know how to spell! I've done all three, Kinder, Primary and Middle schools, and sure, you get the lazy buggers in the last two. I just have to think back to my High School days when we had to learn French! HA!.."us li'l ole country boys have to LEARN FRENCH!!!!!".....and we didn't. So I can understand the apathy of some. But the little kinder kids are great...can't shut them up. We got the occasional new kid bursting into tears whenever I walked into the room, but as one little girl said (in Chinese) "I'm not afraid of you anymore." Makes the day special.

[Roger]

Passiveness and talkativeness are all too common all over China; sometimes our liberal teaching encourages our students to become undisciplined.

Watch Chinese teachers in action, and you will understand why our learners are like that; I wouldn't call these procedures "teaching" but "rehearsing" or "training". Everything is done communitarianly, speaking is done in chorus.
When they are faced with us, they are not used to our approach - completely new for them. They didn't learn to think individually, and they still expect us to give them their own answers to our questions - just as Chinese teachers do.

I know how bad this is for the morale of a new teacher; this is why I have for years complained that oral English is a useless luxury for the majority of our learners.
In kindies, I have had much better results with learners because I drilled some dicsipline into them - not talking but doing things that they had to do autonomously. We did writing and drawing, and by gosh, my model class was a real model in behavikour!

[latefordinner]

I seem to get the total HUA classes about one class in 10. (HUA = Head Up his A$$) Total lack of respect (for one's self, the teachers, the class, everything) plus previous training to respond in chorus rather than as an individual equals unwillingness to take individual responsibility. So why is it that most classes have just one or two HUA kids that are manageable, and then there's always this one class that has all the problems? Could it be that sometimes the Chinese teachers actually recognise problems and this is how they try to contain them?

Today I was reviewing past present and future tenses. [Did he have his finger up his nose yesterday? Does he have his finger up his nose today? Is he going to have his finger up his nose tomorrow? Does he have his finger up his nose everyday?] The only way I could make this work (and that's being generous) was as a chorus exercise. I think we've all had our fill of training dogs to bark, but with the one class in ten I really don't know what else to do. The sad thing (for me) is that in those classes there are always a few kids who aren't lazy, just lost and slow. Sometimes I can sit after class with one or two and review past lessons, but the comprehension is so slow in coming and the mistakes are so fossilised it almost seems a waste. Sorry to rant but if I had some secret technique for turning the HUA class around I wouldn't keep it a secret.

[davis]

Hua Class!!! As in Yingyi Hua??

[NumberOneSon]

Yep, I've had those kinds of classes, so it's not just you.

It's the mix of kids combined with the fact that you can't
do much to discipline them in most cases (and they know
it).

The only real discipline they understand is from their parents.

Some are mortified of their parents for good reason, so if
you can get them to believe their parents will know about
their behavior, they might straighten up.

Usually the worst behaved are the high school boys, but
the girls can be too quiet when the boys act up. I've had
classes where only 2 people would participate.

I teach those who are interested and let the rest get screwed
at test time if they sass me and don't know as much as they
think they do. If they think their parents will get wind of a
bad grade, they get scared.

Sometimes the really young ones just don't know what
to do, so it takes some time to get them used to class
with a foreigner. I tend to go easy on them and play
"good cop" to the Chinese assistant's "bad cop", but
I have been pushed near my limits before.

Also, a lot of young Chinese kids do get physically abused
at home, so may have behavioral problems related to that.

The problem is, if you let their parents know they misbehave
in class, they could get a beating right before your very eyes,
so don't be surprised if that happens.