Job Discussion Forums

[vikdk]

a couple of years ago there was a big thing about organised cheating in these exams, reported both on the TV and newspapers - in one area all the exam results were suspended. Maybe it's been made very tough to cheat now - but in this kind of field - finding a way around regulations - china is a world leader

[Gorm]

Lots of info, thanks. I guess it's going to be a matter of picking the school for the benefits/money or simply for the location because I can't choose both. I'll get 1000-2000RMB less per mo in Nanjing than in the other cities. Does anyone have any photos of these cities or know where I could find some? I've searched far and wide online, but to no avail. I'm also looking at Jiujiang City.

I was reading Wenzhou and Hanzhou had quite a bit of nightlife, but I was sure Wenzhou was basically a business-oriented city...the position there seems good at least. I don't want to be bored to death tho -- 12hr work weeks and enough free time to get depressed or lonely...

Nanjing is my 1st choice anyway...

[xinpu]

Gorm,

Nanjing is a good choice, not too big but big enough to have plenty to do (as far as any Chinese city has 'plenty to do'). However I would re-iterate what previous poster's have said - which university you will be teaching at will dramatically effect your experience.

For example a good administration, competent FAO, (at least) semi-motivated students and conviniently located accomodation will make a BIG difference.

How to determine this? ...find out where the school is located, how many other foreign teachers they have / have had plus are the students english majors (makes a big difference in my book). If the FAO can provide these details pronptly and with no fuss you may be able to tick 'competent FAO' from the list as well.

Oh...Nanjing , yep hot in summer and pretty chilly in winter too.

[Roger]

[poopsicola]

A poster wrote:

[quote]It would seem you are misinformed!
I must admit I am not familiar with ENTRANCE EXAMS at universities[/quote]

If you are not familiar with the National Entrance Exam, how to you know I am misinformed?

What I have written about the administration of the National Entrance exam is perfectly accurate. In what particular am I misinformed?

It is foolish to attribute to the National Exam processes the cheating that is rife in lower-level universities.

[no_exit]

I think you guys are talking about two different exams. The college entrance exam, The Gao Kao, is virtually cheat-proof. Did any of you see the stories about kids putting these little cheating devices in their ears and having to go to the hospital to get them removed? Kids don't generally cheat on these per se, but as another poster mentioned, bribing can occur. The bribery I've heard of usually involves paying for points -- all you need are some connections and corrupt school officials and it is certainly possible.

However, at the high school and college level, actual cheating is rampant, there's certainly denying that.

[vikdk]

I'm talking about the national entrance exam - and finding a corrupt official is the most effective way of cheating this one

[Brian Caulfield]

Teach in middle schools first and then you will have a better understanding of your students in universities. Middle schools are the best if you want to see results from your work . The problem is the classes are too large to do TPR work which the students need to improve their listening . Also headmasters think that the good teacher runs a teacher centered classroom where the students are passive . I like teaching beginners but they tended to abuse me with too many classes . I never knew from day to day who I would be teaching . In my experience in Korea and China is that there is very little difference in ability between the middle school student and the unversity student . The only diffenence I found is the middle school student is more enthusiastic towards learning Englishy .

[vikdk]

tonight on cctv news channel a report on cheating in the national emtrance exam - students in callaboration with teachers were getting others to take exam for them - the teachers falsifying the identityy of the false examinees. This was in Sichuan, but we couldn't make out if it was this year or last years exam - the report focused on schools which were trying to boost reputation by trying to swindle their way to higher pass rates - like I said china leads the world in this kinda stuff

[Roger]

And then there is the trick of paying a student to sit one's exam. THis is such a tried and tested method it actually guarantees a lucrative full-time job for those who passed.

What remains to be seen is the entrance exams: are they so tough to pass, or are they less demanding than the school-leaving exams? As said before, the whole corpus of "education" is based on memorised facts and data - if you pass the school-leaving exam you ought to pass the school-entering exam to the next higher level!

[poopsicola]

AS for the National Exam, the gao kao, how could you possibly get someone to take the exam for you unless it was an identical twin? After all, supervisors are provided with a photo of each student in their room - on a sheet showing all faces in the room arranged according to the very places to which the students have been allocated. Each student is equipped with an exam entrance card and the photo there must match both the supervisors' sheet of photos, the student's actual face plus, in many cases, the student's PSB issued ID card.

As for paying someone to look the other way, how would one know prior to the exam who to pay? And you'd be paying two different people from two different schools, one from the home school, one from another school in the district. Since students don't know which exam room to which they have been allocated until a day or so before the exam, you'd have your job cut off determining which teachers had been allocated to that room, locating both of them, attempting a bribe and hoping both succumbed. Then you could introduce your ring in.

As for all the stories about ear pieces via which answers might be received, one must ask how anyone outside the exam room would know the questions given that the papers are in PSB custody until an hour before the exam and that papers are not opened in the exam room until 5 minutes prior to the start of writing. One would have to suppose PSB collusion in cheating with everyone involved keeping their mouth shut since, as is known, at the national level, several papers are prepared in case there is a whiff of scandal about the pre-release of papers. A hint of scandal and the paper would be changed pronto.

As for ear-pieces and other clever devices, I guess they'd have to be made of plastic to evade the metal detectors at exam room doors.

There have been isolated attempts at skulduggery in the National Exam in recent years - not many it seems. And those who are caught end in the slammer with their deeds well-publicised.

Sometimes I think foreigners, accustomed to the in-house nonsense that goes on in low-level places, assume that all examining processes in China are riddled with corruption. I doubt that this is so. There is certainly lots of hanky-panky relating to the actual allocation of university places - but as for the processes involved in the administration of the Gao Kao, security is certainly tighter here than in many western equivalents I have seen.

[Brian Caulfield]

Fellow pedagogues , we are English teachers and English is an art . What is the danger if someone cheats ? Roger says they will get the good job. I afraid that any good employer will spot the fake faster than Roger can make 100 postings . You can't cheat a good teacher who does regular assessments of their students .

[lf_aristotle69]

[lf_aristotle69]

[Roger]

[quote="lfMy destination choices include:

Nanjing
Wenzhou
Xianning
Hangzhou

[/quote]

[/quote]

Of the four towns I too would shortlist Nanjing and Hangzhou because both of them are noted for historic and/or tourist sights and sites; also they are within manageable travelling distance to each other and to other important Yangtse River Delta towns such as Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Yangzhou.

As for WENZHOU, I would give it a miss; it's a fiarly big urban dot of a very industrial vocation! Not much to do and to see there! (If you care to source cheap NIKE knockoffs, then Wenzhou might be your place, of course...).

And I don't know Xianning.