Job Discussion Forums

[matador]

Just wondering if you've ever had an experience where students get rather immature and won't respond to you as a teacher? Is this normal in China? Then they complain about you...

[Alien abductee]

What kind of problems are you having? What age, gender, and level of students? What subject matter are you teaching?

[matador]

Well, just a group of (in their words...'high status') students in their mid-20s with a very 'look down their nose" at everything manner in a financial company. Their English level is okay but they think its a lot better... the iphones and silliness begins about 15 mins into each class. I do a good job but... is it a case of them not wanting to lose face in the group...? Or some hidden behaviour of Chinese students that I do not know about...? Just wondering!

The course ends soon and the pay was good. But I am curious. There seems a bit of a pack mentality/bullying attitude in the class. I think 4 or 5 of the students are great to teach. But they keep quiet. The other 10 of them seem to think its cool to be silly. Oh, and they love speaking a lot of Chinese...and only speak English when I point out to them that this is an English class.

[Alien abductee]

Never had a group like that before but I have had a few disruptive students in the past. I dealt with them in a few different ways, take them aside during a break and tell them to tone it down. Or else I might call on them more often to speak or answer a question. They usually get the point and change their attitude. Better to lay down a few ground rules at your first meeting (and enforce them), show up on time or don't come, if you want to play or talk on your phone take it outside, and so on. Could be you just ended up with a bad bunch in one group.

This year that just finished was the first year I had not a single problem with any students or any of my classes. They were really a great bunch. Other years weren't bad but there was always the occasional numnuts that got under my skin from time to time.

[mw182006]

If it's a financial company and you're not worried about rocking the boat I'd probably go up the chain to their manager. At the end of the day, the 'employees' are (likely) fking around on the company dime, and if the bigwigs care about results then they might crack the whip. Then again TIC so that could totally blow up in your face.

[wangdaning]

If it is the whole group just start moving too fast. Then, pass out a handout for them to complete, saying, as I just said...

Make sure the handout has open ended, but targeted questions.

[Bud Powell]

I've had ONE absolutely awful class.

ONE.

And it was in a two-year college that had losers for FTs for years. The students were tired of BS. They resisted me throughout the semester, though we had some good days. When the troublemakers were absent, the class went smoothly, but when they were in class, it was g*dawful heck. (There were things going on in that school that defy belief, so I won't even bother to relate them).

The "work leaders" were Chinese teachers to whom the monitor was supposed to report. The monitor rarely showed up for class. The work leaders (I believe) were at the root of the problem. Because I lived on one campus and worked on another, there were times when I'd hear the bell ring just as I walked through the gate. If I thought I would be late. I'd call a reliable student and tell him/her. There were times when The bell rang just twenty seconds before I entered, and I'd see a stampede of students rush out of the room. I found out that the "work leaders" said that they could leave if I was not in the room when the bell rang.

Then, their "work leader" told them not to show up for the final test. Perhaps a quarter of the students showed up and took the test. I announced that that was that last day of classes, have a good life, etc., and that the rest of the class failed. Twenty seconds later, a student came rushing to me with her phone. It was the person to whom I reported, an English-speaking Chinese woman who (I found out later) had zero authority over the work leaders. She told me that I had to give the VERY SAME test again to everyone. Whoever took the test that day had to show up the next week too.

To make a long story interminable: I was expected to have the test re-printed at one of the two campus' copy shops. I knew that one of the little b******s was buying the tests from the copy shop. I screwed him up. I gave a different test to the copy shop and ran off the other tests on my own printer. When I gave out the tests, there was a riot, and I walked out of the room and left the campus. The good kids caught up with me. We had lunch. I did something I never thought I was capable of: I told them a story that I intended to use on the next version of the test, and we discussed it.

The next week, before I gave out the test, I addressed the class in sort of a Strother Martin (the warden) in Cool Hand Luke-Elmer Gantry-Al Sharpton tone of voice and manner.

--- Ladees and gennulmen. What we have heah is a fail-yah to co-mun-i-cate. Where I come from--- WHAT ARE YOU LOOKIN' AT, BOY? WIPE THAT SMILE OFF YO' FACE RAT NOW!

--- Where was I? Ahem. Where I come from, you get what you give. You gave me grief, so I am givin' it back to you IN SPADES ! DO YOU UNDAH-STAND what I yam say-in' ?

I had to cool it because I was becoming the character. I was REALLY p*ssed, and I WAS the warden. I went through the entire routine sans the beating and "Shake it, boy".

When I got home, I got a call from the woman to whom I reported. Somebody called her and said that I frightened the entire class. She said that was a first-time occurrence in her book.

So yeah. Some classes are from Hoboken. You can usually blame the work leaders and the monitor for some of the problems if you teach in a public institution. At another school, none of the girls could keep their eyes open. I found out what was going on. The work leader was dissatisfied with the girls' overall performance in all classes and made them hit the soccer field at 6:00 am to do laps and push-ups until 7:00 am..

Keep your wits about you and keep your voice down. When they stop paying attention and talk or play with their phones, walk to the back of the room and fold your arms and say nothing until they sense your displeasure. Their indifference and bad behavior is learned. You must retrain them.

I DO pick up cell phones throughout the semester. Nobody has ever complained to me. One Chinese teacher said that I was brave to do that.

Go figure.

On a corporate gig, the indifference occurs because the HR manager tells them to be there even though they have a lot of work to do. All you can do is make the class as fun as possible and have them talk about themselves and their jobs. If you have a workbook, incorporate their personal experiences into the lessons.

[spiral78]

[theoriginalprankster]

What you have here is a microcosm of the bad side of the new moneyed Chinese.

I had a gig like this and walked out, literally walked out of the class and told them they were scum.

Got my release letter the next week, and picked up a gig at a very good uni with very good students. And became an IELTS examiner. And taught at the airlines. And saved a load of cash. And generally had a great time. For five years.

China's changed. So have I. We are going our separate ways (partly because I don't want to be here when the sh*t hits the fan - China's provocation of its neighbours is not going unnoticed or unpunished).

Find a new gig. Even better find a country with a soul. China aint got one.

Good luck!

[Babala]

I teach corporate so I occasionally deal with this issue. I find the higher the level, the more they think THEY know what they need. I tend to shut down the ringleader (there is usually one that likes to take the piss). They are so quick to say "this is too basic" and I point out that they may know it but cannot use it successfully.

It's usually the HR that arranges the training. Sometimes threatening them with going to the HR can work. Some companies make them pay up front for the course and only pay out if they pass the course. This is another way to get their attention. I also try to push the point that if they improve their English skills, then they can earn more money.

Sadly I find that that company students are the least motivated. The company pays so they have no incentive for improving. They seldom study, skip classes and make more excuses than any child. After almost 10 years of this, I've decided to go back to teaching uni.

[MisterButtkins]

[drjtrekker]

OP


ONLY when I make my students pay attention, put phone away, work, or wake up...besides that, NO PROBLEM!

[JoeKing]

[revilo]

I had a fairly good 10th grade class until midway thru May and they began to slack off. I began to slack off, too. The leader (a MUN participant and Xi Jinping wannabe) broought his laptop to class and looked at it more than my lesson. I didn't want to force it because he didn't do it regularly and most times he was absent and I didn't have to deal w/ his smelly ass.

Well, I had to teach a Sat. class, and everyone was there with either a cellphone or a laptop. The good lil' girl brought her laptop and I told her to put it away. She gave it to her boyfriend and I told him to close it and put it away. He refused saying, "it's not my laptop."

I had enough and I called the lead teacher to come see what kind of things the students bring to class on a Sat. The lil' rat *beep* put their things away because the teacher and her assistants wanted to ask me what the problem was in the HALLWAY!! where the students could hear the conversation! I told the teacher what the problem was and she proceeded to remove thier laptops and cellphones. Then she berated them in Chinese. The boyfriend had this glass of water in front of him, so I drank it in front of his face and I told him, "it's not my water."

When the teacher finished berating them, dumb boyfriend threw his glass in teh garbage can. He couldn't bear the thought of laowei lips touching his precious Chinese glass. God! I HATE CHINA!!!

[Bud Powell]

I confiscate cell phones. Nobody has ever criticized me. Chinese teachers often stick their heads inside my door to see my pictogram of circle with a cell phone in the middle of it and a line drawn through it laugh and make an applause gesture. After I pick up a cell phone a few times, all I have to do is point at it, and it's put away.

Eventually, they get the message that it's not cool to text in class. I allow them to use their phone dictionaries. After a few weeks things are okay as long as they don't use them to text.