Job Discussion Forums

Songbird · Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 4:01 am Post subject: Having a nervous breakdown!

Give me one good reason why I should finish these last 3 weeks in my writing class........totally lost it this morning.............

Babala · Joined: 28 Jan 2005 Posts: 1303 Location: Henan

Man did I have those days when I used to teach college. Here's some reasons why you should finish
1) You might get to meet some students you have never met before. I taught mostly freshmen but I had 2 classes of 3 year. Some of them never came to class until exams.
2) You don't want to let the students off with the excuse "but headmaster, we don't know why she left, we work so hard Crying or Very sad

"
3) The weather is getting hot, the classroom will give you some shielding from the sun
4) Just keep saying, only 3 more weeks, only 2 more weeks...

Ariadne · Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Posts: 960

1. Airfare
2. Final pay
3. Your good name and ours.

.

sigmoid · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 1276

It sounds like you're taking your job a bit too seriously. Try and relax, do something fun in class or outside of class, listen to some tunes, treat yourself to a nice meal or something, basically loosen up. We all have these types of days and then the next we wonder what the hell that was all about.

Amyway, yeah, three weeks is nothing. Finish what you've started and you'll probably feel better in the long run.

Give us some details about what made you almost lose it and perhpas people can offer some specific advice.

HANG LOOSE!

NorbertRadd · Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 11:49 am Post subject: do something you really like

Take a long walk, get some exercise, buy yourself something, get a manicure or your hair done--not being sexist, just suggesting ding something you really enjoy--go out dancing, to KTV.
Stay away from the booze because it's a depressant.
Call a friend.
Recall your happiest moment.
Pls. read my post b/c this year, mostly kept my cool, but have challenged the slackers and haven't allowed students to use my class as a study hall.

Volodiya · Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 12:10 pm Post subject:

Losing it- comes with the territory. I'm sorry, but being a language teacher is not an easy way to earn a living. It's potentially stressful from many angles.

Everytime we lose it is a chance to learn more about ourselves and the process. I'm with those who suggested you try to describe what happened, if you care to, and your reaction to what happened. You can't tell us anything that hasn't happened to us, who've been at this a while.

limits601 · Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 12:43 pm Post subject:

Just pack up and leave. I did the same a few weeks ago and im enjoying the sun and blue skies back in canada. Totally not worth being there. Go to university, get a real degree and forget the slums of Chinaaaaaaaa

Volodiya · Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 12:59 pm Post subject:

Can't agree at all, limits601. Without knowing what happened, you can't in good conscience suggest that.

dajiang · Joined: 13 May 2004 Posts: 663 Location: Guilin!

Sigmoid is right here.
Don't take things too seriously.
Try to have fun yourself, instead of expecting a lot from everyone around you. That usually works for me.

Where does your frustration come from? is it somekind of lack on the student's side? motivation? unruly? Or is it the organisation/FAO?
If people annoy me in class, I kick them out.
If the school gives me a pain I just ignore them and do what I think is best.

Just stick around for 3 little weeks, collect your pay and then enjoy the summer time. Most important thing is to keep smiling, enjoy whatever there is to enjoy, and bugger all the rest. Smile

Hope you'll feel better,
Dajiang

Songbird · Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 1:10 pm Post subject:

Man, you guys are great, I didn't expect this sort of reaction and support! Yeah, I feel ready now to tell you what happened, maybe I'm stupid for reacting the way I did......

As some of you know I'm teaching college level in the middle of a village and the students are the lowest of the low. I did protest at the beginning of the year about teaching writing due to my lack of experience, but in the end decided it would be okay. Every week I have tried something different with the students to try and improve their levels, but they seriously don't even know how to use a full stop or capital letter! And because of the amount of material we need to cover this semester I have stressed every week how important it was to attend. I also 2 weeks ago did a mid term test which I am on the home stretch for marking, but it's been a disaster, at least a third have failed, and I feel like a failure- I feel I've tried every damn thing to get skills through their thick heads but I'm wasting my time. And then, today, out of the blue, one guy comes to class- he has been to a grand total of 2 of my classes for the entire semester and expects a chance to sit the exam. Okay, I know he was sick for a couple of weeks, but he made no effort whatsoever to even look at the text or try and contact me for work (I guess Chinese don't think of this) and just spent class talking & disrupting everyone. I just lost it, burst into tears and walked out. I know, I shouldn't have, but I just couldn't help it. I *do* care about them and I want to see every last student succeed, especially after some of the stories I've heard & where they come from, they have so much promise.......

Okay, rant over. I don't blame any of you if you ignore this, but thanks for letting me vent Crying or Very sad

airfare, airfare, airfare......(btw I'm here til November!!!)

Spiderman Too · Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 1:24 pm Post subject:

Songbird

On March 27 you requested help as to ".. how to help students improve their writing", and a great deal of advice was provided. Did you heed any?

Volodiya · Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 1:25 pm Post subject:

No, no, could happen to any of us. You care, the class is difficult, progress is slow (as it almost always is), and it's hard to know what to do with difficult students.

All you've done is just illustrate the challenges of working as a teacher. But, sometimes, just once in a while, you get a little glimmer of making a difference to one of them, maybe more! That's the reward.

Songbird · Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 1:25 pm Post subject:

Norbert, *lol*, believe it or not I have never ever had a manicure in my life......must check if I'm still female......not that I'd get one around this neck of the woods! Booze would be good, which is really scary because I actually don't drink, but I can see myself becoming an alcoholic by the end of the year Shocked

!

NorbertRadd · Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 1:29 pm Post subject: 40% failed the final

448 students took my midterm.
40% failed.
I even did the test twice in class.
If they wrote 4 sentences and did the matching, they'd have passed.
I made a histogram for the dean.

This semester 300 students didn't take the final. All they had to do was write several paragraphs and give it to me in person.
I finished my grading last weekend. Only 1 paper was any good.

Songbird · Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 1:32 pm Post subject:

Spiderman, yes, I did take on board some of the advice, it was great, however, mainly only to give *me* a little variety in the everyday same ol' same ol'. I felt it did nothing for the students, maybe I'm wrong. Someone mentioned passing round papers and getting the students to proofread each others work- it sort of worked, but still had many careless mistakes I really don't think should have been there. I also tried group work and getting the group to write an essay, only each person writes a paragraph, hands it on etc (trying to get everyone to pull their weight). In some groups it worked, others just gave up and got the 1 person to write the essay out, totally killing the idea. I also tried to think of as many 'Chinglish' words and general words they get wrong in context and presented them on cardboard bits and took them to class every week. The other teachers thought I was funny running round campus with cardboard each week.

In that same thread someone also posted an excellent example of their exam they did. I certainly didn't copy it but I've decided to use that format to make marking the final exam easier, because I feel burnt out marking, no, REWRITING 221 essays from the last exam!