Job Discussion Forums

[Mister Al]

Leon Purvis wrote

[Brian Caulfield]

The students always say I am very strict when I get my evaluations . This is because I pull papers when they cheat or plagarize. I don't fail them but give them one mark lower than the lowest . I just don't want to waste time marking the paper . It tells me nothing about what I need to teach them if it is copied work so why mark it ? I have been teaching farmers kids mostly . They are honest and try hard . They lack confidence in general but are bright kids . They will get jobs because they understand work .
I try to keep my average around 83% no matter how weak they are . I am just an oral English teacher , so as long as the pecking order is right there are no problems

[lostinasia]

[Songbird]

2 things-

1. First lesson, give out card and for homework get each student to get a passport sized photo & stick in the corner, along with their English and Chinese names. Perhaps also what they want to learn in your particular class. This makes it loads easier to remember names and put names to 200+ faces.

2. Also in the first lesson, get each class monitor to write out a copy of their class timetable. That way you can shuffle classes if you wish depending on when both you and them are free (I have 1 class I will need to do this with) and also if you are sick and need to cancel, you can see easily when to reschedule a class rather than chasing after them. I always keep a copy of each class's timetable in the back of my diary, makes it handy for me.

Oh yeah, and ALWAYS get the class monitor's phone numbers (preferably mobile)- SO much easier to get hold of them (department office is useless!)!

[arioch36]

Worldly wrote

[arioch36]

Songbird

[Worldly]

[Lobster]

<rant on>

Like Anda, I'm a teacher trainer, and we encounter perhaps a different set of classroom issues. Of course, I also tend to put in a bit of time in public high schools to keep my edge, but we get to see another angle on the system through work at the teachers' colleges.

I agree with the other posters that it's best to keep in mind that, although we are used to teaching using western methodologies, our students are not familiar with them, and they should be adapted to get the best results based on student needs and approaches. It's nice to think about what may be the most progressive and acceptable practices developed back home, but the integration into a foreign system on a piecemeal basis is not, in my opinion, the best tactic. The ideal of having a completely student-centred classroom environment rests on the ability of students to take initiative for learning. How does this fit in with what you know about the Chinese learner?

Many FTs come here with the idea that the education system needs to be reformed, but by that they think it needs to follow a course similar to that of their home country's. After all these years, what changes have actually taken place due to their efforts? Why have these efforts been so ineffective?

Education is one of the cornerstones of culture. Every nation educates to produce the type of future citizens it wants and needs. OK, so most of you have probably already given this some thought. When I read threads such as the long-running "Promoting change in China's Classrooms", it makes me just want to shake my head at the sheer blindness to the role of an FT in China and a type of stubborn individual cultural/pedagogical attitude that evokes images of a video crusader or Don Quixote jousting with windmills. What do your students really need, good communicative language skills or high marks on some nit-picking and perhaps error-ridden examination? If you chose the former, you're going to be one sad puppy at day's end.

Now, in the classroom, control is perhaps one of the critical factors for a successful course. Allow me to refer you to this site for some assistance and understanding:

www.disciplinehelp.com

There have been some good ideas and some strange ideas given on this thread. Getting to know the students, and having them prepare a "class passport" is one that I also use. The little booklet has a picture, English and Chinese names, contact info and ideas about learning and also includes a personal pledge to try to work hard. If you want to take it a step further, you may also have a place for assignment and test/quiz results, comments and other outcomes; sort of a running report card.

At the start of each class, I stand outside the door in the hallway and greet the students as they enter the classroom. As they enter, I will ask them whether they have their materials, have completed their assignments, or just how they feel that day. I am a strict disciplinarian, but I never get angry. You'd be surprised at how much students will accept if you discipline with affection and humour, and how little they can accept anger or rejection. Hey, all of us have to be there when we'd rather be elsewhere, but I'm the only one who's getting paid for the time. With 1 RMB purchasing about as much as $1 back home, who could be angry at getting even 150 an hour? Before you go throwing books or mobile phones out the window, take a deep breath and count to three. When you let it out again, make it a laugh.

<rant off>

RED

[arioch36]

So Worldly, how long in China? In the classroom? I left my Pyche ed grad course partly because of the stupidity of what some of their teachings were. Too much PC crap designed to be published in journals real teachers never use, never successful in the classroom. The famed educator Dewey (of the Dewey Decimal Sysytem) was a total failure as a teacher and administrator.


Wordly writes

[arioch36]

[arioch36]

www.disciplinehelp.com

I didn't find this to applicable to classroom problems in China. A lot of the problem is just years of training of going to the classroom and doing nothing. That's why I like teaching Grade 1 freshman at college. I can instill in them good learning habits. As of this day I can still say that every freshman college student I have had has graduated. By grade three, forget it. You can help them a little, but their bad habits have become so ingrained, and they know they can do anything and still graduate

Of course at this site they don't mention the truth, that what America does to its problem boy is zonk him out with speed (ie Ritalin), despite long term effects. But their words sound nice

[Lobster]

I think there's a lot of truth in what you said about the applicability of theory in the classroom, particularly the Chinese classroom. I mentioned the discipine website because it appears that many people who teach here have absolutely no theoretical knowledge of teaching and have difficulty with classroom control, which leads to a poor learning environment and a frustrated teacher. They really want to be perceived as a friend and then can't maintain order. It should be remembered that behind every behaviour, there's a person with issues in their life. I feel that a successful teacher has developed a deep understanding of the human condition and think about students' lives outside the classroom. I personally confiscate contraband materials, use them as a discussion point, and have the transgressor make a case for their return at class end.

RED

[vikuk]