Job Discussion Forums

[kev7161]

I was going to put this as a poll, but decided against. Many of us either have problems currently or have had problems in the past with a school or two. What would you say is the main problem in your school (or perhaps in Chinese schools, in general)? Can you narrow it down to just one? How about the top three reasons? Sadly, I have several from which I could choose, but I'd have to say the lack of (timely) communication.

I realize that the language barrier can be an obstacle, but I think that is just too convenient of an excuse. I and the other foreign teachers have complained loudly about not being told things and then we sort of find out about them . . . sometimes AFTER the fact! My most recent example (of many) is this: Tomorrow I have one class - - last period of the day. The class I am to teach tomorrow I also taught today. I said, "Tomorrow we will . . . blah, blah, blah." One of my students said, "We won't have your class tomorrow. It's parent's day and we will have a meeting with the parents." Mind you, this is the day before our holiday begins, so I'm not TOO surprised. However, just yesterday, I spoke with a Chinese English teacher and he too informed me that parents would be here tomorrow (this I already knew) and they would be visiting classes and watching the teachers and so on. Not once did he mention about the last two or three periods of the day being canceled. Of course, he doesn't have my schedule memorized and it's not really his responsibility, but it seems like a fellow teacher could say, "Oh, by the way, if you have any classes tomorrow afternoon . . . Did you know this already?" Why are students telling me these things instead of my supervisors (and this student wouldn't have known to mention it if I hadn't mentioned my plans for our next class)?

This teacher I talked to yesterday IS the teacher that translates for me when I have to see my non-English-speaking director, so it kinda is his responsibility. So, there you have it: My number one problem of my school is "Lack of Communication." What's yours?

[Songbird]

Yes, a severe lack of communication exists at my school (uni) as well- it's them vs us (FT's). The other FT's and I are getting around this issue (slowly) by getting together every Friday night to have a dinner meeting with our co-teachers. The faculty has a meeting Thursday nights, and as we can't be bothered to sit through a CCP indoctrination session (and lack of Chinese ability) the co-teachers relay all the issues, upcoming things etc to us, so we try and stay as far ahead as we can. It's worked pretty well so far and we've become closer to the co-teachers and have better working relationships with each other. Prodding your students for info also helps- I just wished the uni would PLAN their sports week BEFORE semester starts so I can actually plan my lessons ! I only found out 2 weeks ago (which was quite good, given that the other teachers found out 2 DAYS ago that it's on Thursday) and I had exams this week to do- major chaos rearranging classes and venues!

Of course, this sort of thing would only really work if you get on well with your other FT's. We get on brilliantly round here, we actually meet up at least 2-3 times a week and phone each other for ideas etc. I'm in a pretty crappy work situation but I really couldn't ask for better FT's to work with!

[englishgibson]

Kev I must agree with you on that COMMUNICATION issue. I have been in teaching in China for a while and the lack of communication is THE PROBLEM.
However the sources of the lack of communication might differ between the public schools and the private language schools. The public schools for example have to work sometimes under pressure from the governemnt�s SHORT NOTICES that give their management staff a hard time to organize themselves, on the other hand the private centers� employers need to exercise certain degree of flexibility due to the changes in the business.
Kev, I am sure it must have been tough �seeing your students giving you your next day�s schedule change�. It�s happened to many of us and it will happen again. Teachers spend time preparing their lessons to be told half an hour before the class that it has been cancelled (hey, students to that class won�t come, because they�ve known from the day before).
In my opinion, just about the worst case of a lack of communication or call it a communication failure is when you get a course to teach that NOBODY knows what the EXPECTATIONS of the course are. We had a few courses when I was a Director of Studies with EF English First Huizhou (Guangdong), and those courses where with a middle school�s students. After we had finished almost the whole course with them, the students and their parents complained that the course did not help the students public school�s exams. The EF courses do not teach Chinese students how to pass their public school exams, since they have their own academic materials and their communicative approach. Well, the EF Huizhou�s Marketing Manager forgot to mention that, when he was selling the courses in that middle school. I had to present the EF product in a rather untimely fashion. I would put this problem into that lack of COMMUNICATION problems.
Cheers and Beers

[ekirving]

Whilst timely notification of class cancellations, rescheduling, etc., would be highly appreciated by the FTs at my school I can think of a more important issue.

Rather than quibble about the time at which information is given, I would much rather have confidence in the veracity of what I was being told. My school has told so many lies to all of the FTs who work for them that none of us have any confidence in anything they say.

In an explosive incident, some weeks ago, I confronted my supervisor on a spate of lies she had told me recently. This confrontation ended with me unequivocally establishing that she had lied, but somehow the issue had changed from 'Stop lying to me!' into how unbelievably rude I was for making an issue about being lied to. The director my school and the head of studies both refused to ever speak to me again, and whilst this made it harder for them to lie to me I'm still being fed lies through the office imbecile that they use to communicate with me.

[go_ABs]

I hate being treated in cotton wool. My gf and I are the first foreign teachers at this private school, and our headmaster is overly protective. We had to really fight to get an apartment outside the school, to stop our teaching assistants wanting to come with us whenever we go out (they still keep an eye on us), and to have a semblance of independence.

This is the number one problem directly related to me, but the school's biggest problem is probably unpredictable student numbers. It's a private school, after all. Of course, this affects me, too, but I can cope.

I'm grateful after reading everyone else's posts that our headmaster is always willing to talk. Our problem is the reverse, I guess: too friendly and communicative.

[tofuman]

"In an explosive incident, some weeks ago, I confronted my supervisor on a spate of lies she had told me recently. This confrontation ended with me unequivocally establishing that she had lied, but somehow the issue had changed from 'Stop lying to me!' into how unbelievably rude I was for making an issue about being lied to. The director my school and the head of studies both refused to ever speak to me again, and whilst this made it harder for them to lie to me I'm still being fed lies through the office imbecile that they use to communicate with me."

Similar experience here, ABS. You are not alone

[ChinaMovieMagic]

ekirving wrote:
>>This confrontation ended with me unequivocally establishing that she had lied, but somehow the issue had changed from 'Stop lying to me!' into how unbelievably rude I was for making an issue about being lied to. The director my school and the head of studies both refused to ever speak to me again, and whilst this made it harder for them to lie to me I'm still being fed lies through the office imbecile that they use to communicate with me.<<

Yes, many of us would say that's a familiar dynamic.

Have you come across the "Dealing with Difficult People" approach?
Key elements are:
(1)understanding the inner thought processes of "difficult people""---including liars, imbeciles, rude people etc.
(2)effective strategies for dealing with such 'difficult people" so you can achieve your goals

If/when this happens again, at another school, do you think from this experience you've figured out a different way to play your cards?

This sort of dynamic happens frequently in international trade negotiations with Chinese.

Remember, Lonely Planet advises "In China, if you get angry, you lose." Regardless of the fact that the other party is a liar, imbecile etc. "Rudeness"/loss of self-control/causing loss of face can be a major No-No here.

Finally, a few relevant questions from a British Council article on Reflective Teaching, posted on pg. 9 of the China Job-Related thread; "Promoting Change...":

Reflective teaching is a cyclical process, because once you start to implement changes, then the reflective and evaluative cycle begins again.

What are you doing?
Why are you doing it?
How effective is it?
How are the students responding?
How can you do it better?

As a result of your reflection you may decide to do something in a different way, or you may just decide that what are you are doing is the best way. And that is what professional development is all about.

[tofuman]

"Remember, Lonely Planet advises "In China, if you get angry, you lose." Regardless of the fact that the other party is a liar, imbecile etc. "Rudeness"/loss of self-control/causing loss of face can be a major No-No here."

Frankly, CMM, I expect the opening up of China to the Western countries will ultimately lead to war. Once the language barrier comes down and we really understand each other, the niceties will go by the way and it will be on.

For now, China panders to the West, prompted by the basest of motives, the love of money. China barely averted being carved up by Western powers after the Boxer Rebellion. The enormity of the task prevented it from happening. I don't believe that Western powers will play the face game with China in the future. The British refused during the Opium wars, and emphasized their disdain at the point of a gun..

I don't play it here in my little world, either. I simply refuse to lie, to deceive, to become like them in order to preserve their face. Figuratively, I don't mind grinding their face in the dirt to make my point. Especially not when indifference, disdain, and condescension characterize their dealings with me.

I've never worked with people who, in certain respects, have so little honor or integrity from a Western perspective. And I worked with what could be considered the dregs of Western society. Interestingly, military historians who have documented the relations between the West and the KMT, echo similar sentiments, for instance the biographer of General Stillwell.

Perhaps Lonely Planet is correct in saying I'll lose, but when you've got nothing, what is there to lose?

[ChinaMovieMagic]

Tofuman:

[GeminiTiger]

"freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose"
`JJ

[tofuman]

Actually, it was Dylan who penned those words. He is still touring in his sixties. I do plan on leaving this "scene." Already setting up a hopefully better situation for next term. I decided to ride this out because I do have a better opportunity for next year and the fact that I wasn't concerned about preserving the hypocricy that you call face enabled me to alter circumstances here to the point that it is not so bad presently. But I had to fight like a tiger in order to get to this point and the only way I could have preserved their face was to lose mine.

And this battle went to the Provincial FAO. My first contact with him brought his assurance that it would be taken care of. It wasn't. He responded to my next call by saying, "That's your problem." "Really?" said I, "Then tell me one reason then why I should complete my contract?"

That resulted in an asinine face saving offer from the local CCP member liasion. My response, "Look, I don't need this job. I don't need the money. I don't need the grief. Now either fix the problem or I leave. I'm not like you. I have choices." The matter was resolved to the point that I can live with it for a few more months. I also told him that I doubted that he even believed the nonsense that his superiors told him to tell me and advised him to leave his job before he became like them.

The FTs who worry about the "face" of their employers are the ones who are going to end up drinking themselves to sleep every night.

When I go to sleep, I think about a beautiful lady that loves me, my ocean kayak, and Baja.

[tarzaninchina]

The Dean (of the English Department).

Two words says it all here. I've never seen anyone impede the implementation of quality education like the Dean of English Dept. here has.

[Roger]

Re the communication problem: while I have experienced this in virtually every school in China I don't consider it the biggest problem (any more). Why? It is generally entrenched in the Chinese people: no timetables are avaialbe for trains and buses in most parts of this country (I managed to buy a few on the public market from peddlars). This shows one thing: the rulers don't want to establish rules publicly; they prefer dealing with peopple and issues on a case-by-case basis. You will find communication prblems just about anywhere - book a hotel room, and the receptionist will possibly not know which rooms are free until the floor attendant has gone to the trouble of calling her (seen multiple times - with travellers waiting impatiently at the reception desk and the receptionist unable to make the effort of calling the floor attendants one after the other! The receptionist might even "lie" to you "no room today" - which is not, strictly speaking, a "lie"!).
As for schools, they have an academic calendar. In some schools they hand out a copy to each teacher; I have asked my FAO and got a Chinese-language week plan (you need to be able to decipher some Chinese!).
THus, holidays are set almost in stone a year before! IT is the way they get communicated to FTs that riles some: the whole nation hasn't seen to it that those national holidays that have been added to the previous number of public holidays have become permanent fixtures on the annual timetable; each year they still muddle through by arranging make-up classes. All it would take to find a peaceful solution to our and their recurrent troubles is to plan those make-up lessons in advance and to enter them in their academic calendars!

The bigtgest, and purely school-related problem I can identify is the lack of uniformity and continuity. One would think that schools have to deliver the same packages every year; thus it should be possible to plan on who they need for which subject(s). One would also assume that exams are nationally standardised. Nada! It's a muddling through every year and even from day to day. That's, from my perspective, China's biggest letdown for its students as well as for teachers!

[tom selleck]

I sometimes get kinda' tired of "old China hands" advising "If you get angry, you lose in this country". The powers that be in this country came up with the brain wave that they would import "foreign experts" en masse to teach them what the they can't do themselves.

We have to get used to spitting all over the place, kami kaze drivers constantly using their horns, driving on the sidewalk, "Ni kan Laowei!", staring, inability to plan beyond the next five minutes, zero communicative ability, an inablility to admit to a mistake....................

We're human. Sometimes it's logical to get pissed off.

Just by coming here, we had to get used to them.

They can get used to us a little, too.

[ChinaMovieMagic]

Tom Selleck: