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| What is the average size of your current classes? |
| Under 30 students |
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45% |
[ 10 ] |
| 30 to 40 students |
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27% |
[ 6 ] |
| 40 to 50 students |
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9% |
[ 2 ] |
| 50 to 60 students |
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9% |
[ 2 ] |
| Over 60 students |
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9% |
[ 2 ] |
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| Total Votes : 22 |
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| Author |
Message |
living&learning
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
Posts: 245
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 Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:51 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
I would never take this type of work again. Yes, its easy and not very challenging for the teacher, but I also believe its hardly conducive to good teaching practice, offers little job satisfaction or development, and fall firmly into the 'edutainment' category.
Given the choice of less than 10 adult students grouped by ability, VS 40 teenage students grouped by major .... the choice is simple (for me) |
Concur wholeheartedly. While I do enjoy the relative ease and minimal fuss of teaching at a uni 14hours (3 days)/week, I would prefer to work with smaller groups and have more one-on-one time with them.
I'll be finishing up at my uni end of the spring semester, and setting out on my own (tutoring or small language school set up). Or perhaps join a small organization that gives a damn about its' students/customers.
Another downside to university work is dealing with the bureaucracy of an institution with 1000s of staff and ten of thousands of students - you're just a number, not a person. That said I have made some quality personal connections with students that have shown they have 'personality'. The rest are inconsequential. I also don't enjoy the haughty-taughtiness, stuffiness and disdain the local staff give off.
Lastly, I do enjoy coming up with lessons that provide some education, and some entertainment too. I have improved overall as a teacher by doing two years of uni work with big classes, and will put that to good use in my future ventures.. |
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igorG
Joined: 10 Aug 2010
Posts: 1473
Location: asia
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 5:33 am Post subject: |
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[quote="nickpellatt"]
| igorG wrote: |
| Quote: |
Now, I am wondering about the 350-400 students from above and how their semester with the FT actually ended. Was there any student evaluation whatsoever or did the students' graduation depend on the courses at all? If so, I'd be very interested to know more about it. If not, is it worth mentioning? |
There was an evaluation every 6 months. This was at Hainan College of Foreign Languages and Vocational Education. These classes mentioned above where students majoring in English Education. I think that was a common major, and is basically serves to train students for teaching in village schools etc.
Evaluation of these classes consisted of each student having to prepare a one minute speech which they would deliver to me (and the class) from the podium. Students were called by number, and were graded fairly subjectively on simple areas, content, confidence, pronunciation etc. This normally took two weeks to complete!
These were first year students BTW, I have also taught other majors in slightly different class settings too. This assessment was only for the first year students. Yes, they 'had' to pass, but as is usual ... everyone ends up passing. Anyone I failed, and I did fail people, had the mysterious re-test with a Chinese teacher and they all seemed to pass that. |
No surprise for the local educational system. Ill prepared prepare ill to be even more ill prepared then. What a snowball. How many floors to a building can you put up before it all falls? In any case, I don't suppose a FT would teach such students how to teach English. Yes, I know they all gear towards the local high school exams, and so they'll have to keep that in mind for their future students. |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 6:14 am Post subject: |
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Thanks to all who voted.
My feeling is, having seen a similar poll when I first went to PRC in '04, that average class size is coming down.
The sample size is waaay too small to draw any real conclusions though. |
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