Job Discussion Forums

[nickpellatt]

I'm keen to hear the type of teaching, class sizes and how often you see the same students in a typical university setting in China, and this interest is purely from a teaching viewpoint. I already know benefits such as long holidays etc.

Although I have never worked in a Uni, I did teach in a college for 18 months in Hainan. This was a vocational college for students who didnt pass the Uni entrance exam, and I am guessing the set up is similar?

At this college I had classes of between 20 - 50 students, the large student groups (around 50) I only saw for one 45 min lesson per week. The smaller classes of around 20 I only saw for one 90 min lesson weekly. Im guessing this is similar to Uni teaching???

These classes were not streamed according to ability, and as a result of both class size and contact time, I felt the actual 'teaching' wasnt really very satisfying, wasn't especially effective, and class sizes meant effective monitoring and addressing language points and other issues was also just so so.

Im comparing this to my more recent experience of working in a private language college teaching adults. Typical class sizes 6 - 8 students....contact time per week of 5 x 90 min lessons with the same group. This meant monitoring, language points, pronunciation issues etc could be addressed much easier (or perhaps still not at all, depending on the teacher!). Overall, I think the actual teaching experience and results were far better.

Can someone currently working in a Chinese Uni let me know what kind of teaching and contact hours you guys get, and how you feel about the teaching and students that you have? I know Uni benefits mostly outweigh training centres, but Im wondering if the training centre gig offers a better teaching experience, which is actually my priority.

[hot_water_hillbilly]

Copy your previous university experience and paste here. It's exactly the same. There is no variation in China.

[teachaus]

It can vary quite a lot in Chinese University for a couple of reasons. One is the level of the university you are teaching in and the overall quality of students you are teaching. The other is the actual subject you are responsible for teaching. My university is relatively competitive to enter and the overall level of the students is relatively high. In my University FTs are involved in teaching both Oral English and Content English classes. Some teach Undergraduate students, others teach post graduate students. The post grad classes are primarily Oral English. The Undergraduate classes are either Content Classes for English majors or Oral English for English majors or as elective classes for non-English majors. My class sizes this year ranged from 8 to 32. My universities usual maximum for undergraduate oral english classes is around 20

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[nickpellatt]

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

wherever you're happy. that's the main thing.

[bradley]

I teach each class only once, two periods at a time. The standard contract is for 14 periods a week, but I can get extra hours here so I am doing 24 now.