Job Discussion Forums

[Ariadne]

I encourage my students to write short, perfect sentences. The Chinese English teachers want the students to write long, flowery sentences... even if tense and number are all mixed up. Do any of you encounter the same problem?

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[Guerciotti]

[SahanRiddhi]

[dean_a_jones]

[LongShiKong]

If you're blessed with a big computer screen in class, let MSWord show them their mistakes...better yet, with free trial versions of writer's software that does even a better job, ...and best yet, type in a sample of their Chinese teacher's writing or type in something they've written (correctly) but which has been 'corrected' by their Chinese English teacher.

Another way to convince them something like "I go first." for 我先走。" (wo xian zou) is Chenglish is to Google it and the correct translation and let them compare # of hits and the context by which Googled instances of "I go first." are actually used.

[nomad-ish]

private school, not a college/uni for me.

-i follow the curriculums i've been given
-i mark everyday (either workbooks for some quizzes)
-i try to supplement the mind-numbingly boring curriculum with activities/games/video clips/songs
-in my club activities, i will show full-class videos occasionally though

other than that, my school expects the standard stuff out of me, ie. on time, formal dress mon-thurs, no rocking of the boat, etc. if no parents or students complain about me and i finish the curriculum, i'm golden

[Miajiayou]

Thanks so much for your input, everyone. I guess "punishment" was the wrong word, but I am suffering a bit. The school just doesn't care what I do in my classes and loads me up accordingly, but the students DO care. It is all well and good for the school to tell me to play games or show movies, but they aren't the ones that have to be in my classes each day, looking at all of the students' faces.

I think it is just the way the cards fell at my particular school, but the students seem to trust the foreign teachers more than the Chinese teachers.

Now, before someone says so, I'm not new at this. I've also been at schools where my students would actually try to trick me into making a mistake in order to confirm their Chinese teachers' superiority. I know how it normally works, but I get a totally different vibe from these kids.

I just feel a lot of pressure from the students and zero support from the administration at this particular school. I hate feeling like I'm not completing my work.

[igorG]

Many employers on mainland China provide "ZERO" support for their FTs. They often assign their puppets to serve, protect and control you.

[Miajiayou]

[MisterButtkins]

[Miles Smiles]

[snacksturbo]

In any writing class i have had to teach i used a 25 point scale. I didn't mark the papers, but i did read them all. The areas i used were Grammar, coherence, and the like. This varied to the writing task. I would give them a mark from 1-5 in each focus area.Then at the start of each class i would hand them back out for them to see their scores in a specific area. Their task was to find as many mistakes as possible on their own, and ask me for help if they feel they cannot understand why they were given a score. I use each task of writing as an ongoing project. They may have to correct it several times. This instills the idea of writing several drafts before calling a project finished.
It really works well, and keeps me from using a red pen everyday. The students get the idea very quickly to go over their work before they present it to me. Now we all know the students are busy people and they will plagiarize. This is just something you have to deal with within the confines of the culture, but never accept it. I give a writing task every two weeks, this can quickly become a massive amount of work for me and them if i allow them to keep trying or handing in substandard work.
You will find you have two types, those that dont care what mark they get, and those that do and go to a lot of trouble to make it right. The latter are the ones i focus my attentions on, which normally is only half or less of the class. The others wont correct and i enter the mark. I hope this system helps you and also serves the students needs.

[Miajiayou]

I only want the administration to support me in the choices I make for my classes. I had a great plan for a writing class this year, and was told to scrap it and teach from a horrible textbook. When I tried to strike a balance between the two, it didn't work. They don't seem to understand why I don't want to just teach the text, as it would be much "easier." Yeah, easier, but terribly boring (for both me and the students).