Job Discussion Forums

daCabbie · Joined: 02 Sep 2007 Posts: 244

Most of my students take three or four English classes. They have for the past five or six years. They stopped enjoying English about 3.5 years ago. If I can give them a little bit of entertainment in English than I have accomplished something none of thier other teachers are doing.

I take my students outside for games. We go to the market. We make popcorn. We laugh together. They are MY students.

You do it your way. I'll do it mine. We are both gonna end up in the same place; six feet under before too long.

Trifaro · Joined: 10 Nov 2010 Posts: 152

I sent you the PM, Great Wall.. Whenever you feel like giving me the cash next semester, let me know. Our semester ends in 3 weeks.

If you come down before 12/30, you can sleep on my couch and I'll double it to 2k if you can engage 60 stunnards.

Easy Money.

xiong20 · Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 4:22 pm Post subject: class festivities... end-o-year

I was in an almost exact same situation as you 2 years ago at a middle school where all the students boarded in and this is what I did.
There were 2 classes of about 100 students in total that I taught Oral English. All thought every foreigner celebrates Xmas and asked so many questions about how we observed it and in particular - the Xmas tree. So .......
I purchased 2 table top trees,ornaments,lights,tinsel,minature Santas, small L.E.D. Santas with the flashing lights at a cost of 3 yuan per, and 2 cans of artificial snow. Then I took everthing to the school.
First class was 8-10 and second was 10-12... they almost flipped out when they saw what I had for them. The 10-12 class knew they were next and couldn't sit still they were so excited.
The students decorated the trees,received either a minature Santa or the flashing L.E.D. Santa. They sprayed the artificial snow on the tree and the odd student. I had 2 girls write the words to Jingle Bells on the board and we turned on the tree lights and they sang their hearts out.Those trees stood for about 2 weeks with absolutely no complaints from other teachers and lots of envy from other classes. I did not care about the cost and didn't even count it up.I was the only foreign teacher at that school and we were allowed to sing if it was in English... part of the lesson you see.By the way... that was the first time I celebrated Xmas in a long time and I'm quite sure those kids will never forget that they had a Christmas tree. After their spring break and they had to prepare for exams,Oral English finished for the term. I never seen them again.Every now and then I receive an e-mail from one of them. I thoroughly enjoyed what I had done that day. So........... enjoy,too.

The Edge · Joined: 04 Sep 2010 Posts: 455 Location: China

Very good. Rolling Eyes

nickpellatt · Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 1522

Im really interested in the Trifaro Vs GWOW thing. Is anyone taking side bets and running a book?

On topic. I think it all depends on where and who you teach. Thats why my student of choice is professional adults. Its quite natural to attend social nights, or even arrange social nights, when you work with adult students.

Trifaro · Joined: 10 Nov 2010 Posts: 152

Thank GOD Guangzhou canceled all classes tomorrow and Monday because of sports.

I'm going triple - 2k plus airfare for the Great Wall if he can pacify my numbnuts. Train fare??

Any day of the week.

I'm running the book. Bet 10 to win 30. I'm not a mathetician. Double or nothing.

Miles Smiles · Joined: 07 Jun 2010 Posts: 1294 Location: Heebee Jeebee

Kiwi303 · Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:21 am Post subject:

wangdaning · Joined: 22 Jan 2008 Posts: 3154

Guerciotti · Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 3:45 am Post subject:

Trifaro · Joined: 10 Nov 2010 Posts: 152

"...entertain....."

Edutaining is different than just playing a guitar, singing songs or watching a movie. The kids have fun and actually learn something when the class is over.

As previously stated, my students aren't the cream of the crop and will probably never speak English again after our time together is over, other than "Bye Bye".

They do have to pass the CET 4 in order to graduate, so I focus on new vocabulary. Most of them have no idea what "pants" are etc... They also learn more about American culture and now know that if they ask someone in the US - "Do you have a rubber?" they'll be given something different than what they thought!

MisterButtkins · Joined: 03 Oct 2009 Posts: 1221

In my Chinese class at the university I went to in the US our Chinese TA invited the class out for dinner after classes were over. Some of the people went to a Chinese restaurant and ate dinner. Are people really suggesting that a teacher's professionalism is being sullied simply by having a get-together at the end of the year?

Another thing is that a lot of people who work in smaller towns might not have a lot of social options available to them; their students might be the only people in the town who can speak English. Is it better for the teacher to become stir-crazy? And if I need help going to the bank or buying something strange or difficult, my students are the people I ask to help me, as the FAO at my school is a lazy bitch. Am I unprofessional now?

Certainly I would agree that most university professors in the United States do not hang out with their students outside of class, but here I feel it's quite a different situation. Unlike many professors in the United States, I don't stand in front of a class of 50+ students lecturing for an hour straight before giving assignments that I have my teaching assistants grade. The classes I teach currently have between 8-20 students and I do talk to them as a friend during and after class, as I view it as part of my job to get them to have more relaxed conversations in English that are interesting to them. If a side effect of this is that I end up having dinner with some of them every once in awhile, then whatever. I've never felt that I was compromising the quality of the education my students received by doing this, and isn't that the important thing? If the Chinese teachers view me as inferior because of this, I could care less. Their opinion does not effect my current or future employment.

Kiwi303 · Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 11:42 pm Post subject:

So could you clarify this for me? How does having a picnic with your students or other social event off campus differ from the run of English Corners which mainly appear as described on this forum to be a social event on campus but out of class where english is used.

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

During my first ever summer camp here, I really bonded with my high-school aged students. Beyond classes and camp activities, we arranged times to go out to KFC together, movies, swimming, shopping . . .

When I started teaching at a high school level in Hangzhou, the same thing happened. Certainly not all my students were eager to go out with me, but some did. I'm fairly certain going out for this occasion or that in the two years that I taught there did not make them think less of me in my classrooms. To be honest, most of the kids that I did socialize with (to be clear, only very occasionally) were actually some of the most well-behaved of my students and who were mastering the language. I'm sure they were excited about getting to go out with a foreigner and they could practice their English and have an away-from-school good time. I've no doubt their parents probably encouraged these sorts of outings. Now, several years later, these kids have long graduated college (!) and I'm still in contact with a few of them.

YankeeDoodleDandy · Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:56 pm Post subject: Trifaro vs.GWoW

Trifaro Check out the book, How to Be A More Successful Language Learner by Thompson Press Book # 11 out of 19. For CET 4 For Listening If they list a height, measurement, distance or the number of stories or floors a building has, have them write it down ie Yao Ming is 2.26 meters tall A B C D Be careful of the questions Which one is NOT ? ORRRRR All of the below EXCEPT. They're trick questions < I hope this helps. YDD