Job Discussion Forums

kimo · Joined: 16 Feb 2003 Posts: 668

To Employers:

Don't ask me to give a demo lesson. I won't do it, especially to the class you want me to teach, and MOST especially, when you want me to take over a class for a departing teacher. Am I supposed to be handsome/beautiful, knowledgeable/monkey like, or even a god? Then you want me to go outside and let the class vote on me after a ten minute view! I didn't even need the job. And like I said on the phone: "sorry, sorry, sorry."

I am smart and know my material.
I am experienced in TEFL, work outside of TEFL, and life.
I can handle a classroom.
I can get my students to learn and enjoy the experience.
I have tons of evaluations to prove it.

I will meet you in an interview and show you why I am a good teacher. I'll even give you and your staff a few minutes of what I would do in the classroom. You can choose the material. But, I won't let you set me up for a popularity vote.

To you guys who just can't finish a class because you're grandfather died for the 10th time:

I won't say what I really want to say.

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 4946 Location: Blabbing

Demos don't bother me that much. I see it as a kind of job interview.

After all, the students are the customers. If they don't like the product, why should they have to buy it?

But as for foreigners who have grandparents who just keep dying?

Why can't you just be honest? "I don't like it here. I want to leave."

davis · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2004 5:06 am Post subject:

I agree with you Kimo. I don't mind doing a demo for the boss or hiring comittee. Had to do one last fall with a member of the Guangxi Education Board sitting in. He chose the topic and gave me 10 minutes to prepare. Guess I must have passed the audition because now his son is in one of my classes. But to give a demo to a class who judge you on your entertainment value? No thanks.

By the way,the demo topic was: "I have a cold"...

struelle · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 2372 Location: Shanghai

If adminstered right and combined with an interview, demos can be successful. If not, they can flop. Demos didn't work in my contract last year when we were looking for new teachers and asked them to do these lessons.

The biggest problem was the the demos were only 10 minutes apiece. The way it worked was that teacher did a brief introduction in my class, then I took over the next 30 minutes. It is very difficult to do any reliable class observation in such a short time. You need to assess: classroom management, teacher roles, rapport with students, boardwork, and lesson plan staging to name a few. 10 minutes is only time for one activity, let alone a lesson, so how can you observe accurately?

Steve

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

although they want you to add something new to their classroom, they are utterly unable to assess what you are doing; as a Westerner I TEACH IN A WAY THAT"S ALMOST EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE OF HOW Chinese teachers do their job. Can they give me a fair tribunal???
Students as jurors are even less reliable since they don't necessarily want to have extra English lessons.
The verdict is based on personal chemistry, no more.

Those trial lessons should be paid for, and I normally ask for payment, which very few schools refuse.

latefordinner · Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 973

Struelle has hit one nail on the head; a 10 minute trial will show you a few beginner's mistakes and perhaps eliminate a few obvious non-starters, but a professional evaluation takes longer. That is, of course, if the evaluator is truly capable of making a professional evlauation, something that is closer to a technicolour daydream than a certainty in our China. So a professional teacher can only be separated fromthe dross if the interviewer is willing to put forth a certain amount of time and trouble to organise a fair trial, and if the teacher given the oppotunity is willing to make a comensurate effort. That's a lot to ask someone to do for nothing. How about if I ask for a trial month's wages, and if I'm satisfied, I might or might not decide to take the job?

I believe that the money is less important than the face, but as it goes money is the easiest and commonest way of showing face. If you want to show face to a professional, pay him/her for his/her time, regardless of the outcome. Otherwise, what reason have I as a professional to think of your school as anything other than another of the lowest-of-the-low quick-kuai scam outfits? Until you find a way of answering this question, don't call me, I'll call you.