Job Discussion Forums

[go_ABs]

I teach at an extra-cirricular private primary school, and have been here since Dec 2003, with a small break over Christmas 04/05.

Most of my classes have kids who are absolute beginners, aged between 5 and 10, but mostly 5-7. I love teaching this age group, and I try my best to make my classes interesting, age-appropriate and using common usage. In this latter respect the textbook I was given (and the students' bought) is pretty crap. Nevertheless, the kids seem to enjoy the classes as well. My teaching assistant likes the way I teach, and the admin at the school is supportive.

All in all a perfect teaching post, but for one thing: the darn parents.

Here's a basic list of what they don't like:

1. I don't go through the textbook unit by unit.
2. The students are often unable to tell them what they learnt in class today.
3. The CD that comes with their textbook is all in English, and they can't find the right section to listen to if I assign them listening for homework.
4. I go too slowly.
5. I go too fast.

It's hard to respond to the parents because of the language barrier. My teaching assistant is good, but new and young, and I think gets a little verbally beaten by the parents.

My responses would be thus:

1. That's because as a foreigner I'm able to judge what is relevant and important to learn. Sometimes that's not in the textbook although I think it should be, sometimes it's one small part of the unit that I expand on. Sometimes I take a few classes over one difficult point, sometimes I do a few easy things quickly.
2. These kids are currently only in week 4. They spend 45 minutes a week in my classes, and this is the only time they speak English all week (I'm willing to bet). Despite this, this is the only complaint that gets to me.
3. I can't fix that...
4. See 1.
5. See 1.

So, about point 2; my students struggle to review the work themselves. I've thought of buying a CD for each kid and burning onto it each week a recording of me saying the target language. I canned that as too expensive. I thought of having them make flashcards for homework, but since they are absolute beginners this is quite hard to do. It also doesn't necessarily lead to speaking, but writing and colouring-in...

I worry sometimes that if they could remember enough to review at home, that they'd just end up mutilating things and developing bad habits.

I should point out that I'm happy with their progress so far, and that in class they don't seem particularly absent-minded. I usually have to prompt them and/or show word cards with a picture and the word on them.

So... (sorry for the length) any ideas?

PS And here's a poll just for kicks.

[Roger]

I know perfectly how you feel, man!
Your five-year olds master more English than their daddy and mum combined, yet Mum is calling the shots: "My son must learn 5 new words EVERY day..."

Quantitative approach.

They have forgotten the basic reasons why Chinese employers use FTs IN ADDITION to employing Chinese English teachers...

I had preschoolers in a private training centre whose parents insisted "you must teachmy child THIS book...;" "This book" was a CAMBRIDGE NEW LEARNER'S, with bad English and bad illustrations; the worst was that my kids being PRESCHOOLERS they couldn't tell an 'A' from an 'H' - thus they could not read that darn book...

In the end there is but one solution - you must walk out of this nightmare!

[go_ABs]

Cheers, Rog. Good reply.

I would walk out, except that I like everything else about it: good pay, good hours, good students, etc. Just sucky parents. It's no nightmare.

[burnsie]

Parents of this age if they are here or some other country are always critical of the teacher in all ways. Whatever you do it's not appropriate or not enough or too much.

Anyway who is the educator here, you or them? Why not have your qualifications displayed in the class or school. Make sure the staff at the school have them so they can whip them out when their is any discussion about you.

Also focus on the positive points of the student. ie little johnny here said new words to me this week. Or little johnny has become more and more confident in the last few weeks. Anwyay I am sure you get the drift.

Anyway good luck.

[Girl Scout]

I don't now how many students you have so this may not be managable.

I use communication books. Once a week, or in your case once a month, you could send home a sheet with all the lessons, page numbers, vocab, ect. (you could include the track no. on the cd) I also add comments about problems or behavior. My kids get it signed by the parents and return it to me. Communicating with the parents will give them an idea wht is happening even if their children can not or will not tell.

I applaud you on getting through a poor book. That has always been my weakness. I give little attention to the books parents have paid for and spend to much of my time teaching the kids to communicate.

[go_ABs]

Yeah, but part of the problem is that the CD is all in English. So I can try to assign listening homework - ie listen to part 3, unit 4 - but the kids can't FIND the right part to listen to.

At the end of every class I give a handout with what we learnt today in English and Chinese, the games / activities we did, and their homework for the coming week. The parents sign the handout at the bottom to verify they did the homework.

[Girl Scout]

You didn't say what the book was so I couldn't look it up to find out more about it. You could try doing the CD is class and assigning the book for at home review. I'm sorry I don't know how close the book matches the CD.

You said you only see the kids 45min/week. I see my kids 5 days a week for 2 hours at a shot. I finally set aside two days a week 30-40 min. blocks for only the book. The bad news is I succumbed to the evils of memorization. I got the kids to memorize the poems and some other short passages. That got both the parents and my boss off my back.

I do not advocate memorization, however it sure makes the parents happy.

Do not go through the book unit by unit. You have to be able to build upon what they already know. The book does not know what the children are capable of, only you do.

Tell me what the book is and I'll find out more about it. Then maybe I'll be able to think of something practical. Until you find a solution you're comfortable with do not change your teaching practices.

[go_ABs]

GS, the book is Cambridge Young Learners English (Pre-starters). There are other books in the series: Starters, Flyers, etc. None are quite as bad as the first.

The CD matches the book quite closely, which is unfortunate because the book uses a lot of what I consider non-standard English, and lots of variations within a sets structure. For example, in the unit with the question "What's in the bag?" it has on the next page the question "What's in your bag?". The 'your' is a change that is beyond "pre-starters".

I'm not really considering caving to parental requests, though I wish I could do something about making reviewing at home easier.

Cheers,

[mandu]

i can relate to that man
i teach 3 classes in the morning and 2 in the afternoon,i have one very good k1 class because the chinese English teacher is very good,she speaks English to the children as much as she can(she reviews everything.

i teach nursery class Iam in the class from 10.30 to 11.10 thats pretty much the only English they get. the children dont remember much English.the teachers dont review what they have learnt.

i do the best i can in my kindergarten.but i can only do so much it should also be up to the parents to review at home with there children.or there should be a chinese English teacher who can speak with the children in English most of the day.

i also have to teach a reading class it is a challenge.i teach 5 k2 students how to read a story book.but of course i can only do what can during the lesson.but shouldent be up to the parents to review at home with there children.


most parents where i work cant speak English.what do you.i care about what i do,i enjoy teaching nursery and k1 children.I like to know how Iam doing somtimes but that never happens.

bit of a ramble thee

[go_ABs]

[mandu]

hey the last part of my post

i hit the wrong button on the computer and it shut down,(a bit of a ramble)

go_ABs i start teaching at 9am and finsh at 11.10am I teach K1 from 9am to 10am,10.05 -10.25 parents and there children,10.30-11.10 nursery class.

at the moment we are getting ready for graduation so every day is singing all the songs from the book,graduation speech,flash cards from the book.

teaching time in the afternoon 3pm to 5pm

[Girl Scout]

I couldn't find a copy of the book. I managed to find some of the Cambridge seris but not the pre-starters.

They have a web site which I assume you have already checked out.

My last idea to help you was to ask my 5 y/o how they reveiw at home. Unfortunately you are not going to like the answer.

Mommy and Daddy help them memorize each page.

I did get some other useful ideas out of them though. They like songs. My books do not have songs. I make up my own. For their vocab. and phonics I use familar tunes and create my own words. Once the kids get the general idea I get them to add new words and either keep the song going with a new verse or change the words in the current version.

I understand that there are already songs with your book. You could change the words in the song to reflect what you want them to currently practice.

The other thing they liked are pictures and words families. They found it easier to remember new words with a picture and could remember how to say it if they could relate it to a word they could already say clearly.

I hope you tape idea works out o.k. for you. Sorry I don't have any really good ideas.