Job Discussion Forums

[sbettinson]

Ok,

So, as of late, there seems to be quite a lot of negativity thrown around this forum. This I know seems to be the natural order of things as people like to report on the bad but we often here less of the good.

Today I had a pretty good lesson and spent some of the time talking about my family and the thing that all teenagers want to know about the teacher - the girlfriend. So, I took some pictures and wrote some info to hand out because we were studying that topic in class. The kids really warmed to it and asked me lots of questions. It's times like these when you feel that your job is very rewarding and interesting.

Following the lesson I tried to think about my most memorable moment in teaching during my time here and decided it has to be this one:

Last year I subbed for a friend of mine at his school for 2 weeks. One of his classes was very small and only had about 7 students. They were at a fairly basic level but pretty smart. One kid in the class had a particular problem in that he just didn't speak and hadn't for nearly 2 years. I have no idea what caused it and apparently he didn't even talk to his parents. It was pretty serious though from what I gathered. Why he was in English school I will never know but I suppose he can learn writing etc. Anyway, I am losing track.

When it came to games he wouldn't join in and just sat at the back by himself while the rest of the kids had fun. I thought this was totally ridiculous and wondered how I could get him to join in. After a few failed attempts I found that if I asked him something he could write the answer down, draw a picture or if it was a math question he could use his fingers to show me the answer.

One day I decided to play a card game (find the matching pairs.) We were doing a review lesson of everything and I got the kids around a big table. I decided that I would make everyone do a mixture of things in the same way that I communicated with the quiet kid and it worked really well. Kids wrote answers on the board, showed me their fingers etc. The kid joined in and played the game with us. The teaching assistant in the room was absolutely astounded because she had never seen him join in before.

Without sounding too tacky that made my heart glow and I felt that I had actually made a difference which I think is what teaching is really about.

Does anyone else have a defining moment in their teaching experience here they would like to share?

I would certainly look forward to reading it.

Shaun

[SanChong]

Great idea for a thread, Shaun!

My favorite aspect of teaching is fairly general:

It may sound simple, but I really enjoy making the kids think. I don't think it's something they are commonly asked to do in their Chinese school. I decided to spend 5 minutes at the end of every class asking the kids about their life. I really tried as hard as I could to make them answer, and told them about myself to encourage them. It took well over a month before they felt fully comfortable sharing their real feelings, thoughts, opinions and dreams with the class. However, after awhile, they were sharing a waterfall of their thoughts and ideas.

I started doing themed questions with them. For example, "Tell me one thing you would change about Taiwan?"; "What is your favorite thing about your family?" What would you change about your family?" "How would you make THIS school better?" "What parts of Western culture do you like?" "Which parts do you not like?" "What are your favorite parts of the way I teach?" "What would you have me improve?" "What do you want to be when you grow up?" How do you feel about China?" .... and so on each class period.

This became their favorite part of the class (and mine). It took a really long time, but I truly believe that I've helped these kids to not only learn English, but to THINK. It's nothing that I specifically did. I just gave them a comfortable avenue to reach their own potential.

There are frustrating days as well. Sometimes the class would go horribly. Every job has that. However, I can't think of a better way to impact so many lives...

[DirtGuy]

Hey, guys, this is great stuff and I hope others will also contribute. You are correct, Shaun. There really is just too much negativity on this site. If everyone took some time once in a while to share even a small success, we would all benefit.

My contribution is from a class of all girls aged 13-17 at a high level winter break camp. We had some time to kill and had to come up with another skit or something for the "graduation." I talked about how Americans are goal oriented and explained what that meant. How we get a goal and then break it down into smaller, more achievable, goals leading to the big one. It took a LONG time and lots of explaining/personal examples to get the point across. You all know how it is when these kids finally "get" something. They run with it. Anyway, the exercise was a lot of fun and I got as much out of it as did they. Hearing their diverse range of goals was so great I incorporated into the ceremony the next day. Of all the stuff I had to do in the class, this was the one thing I am most proud of and it was totally unplanned.

Hope this helps someone else out there and I look forward to hearing more success stories.

DirtGuy

[kuberkat]

TESOL is no easy trade, and in Taiwan there are so many additional factors to contend with, that it is easy to get sucked into the negative reports. So good on you, Shaun and other posters, for finding the good stuff. For the record!

The moment a student opens up for the first time, the day nobody wants to leave your class, and even bumping into a student who is surprised to see that teachers also inhabit the real world, all these things make this profession worthwhile.

What we do can matter.

[dangerousapple]

I call it "waking up". It's that moment when a kid feels comfortable enough to stop repeating the class material, and start actually speaking his mind. it's a magical moment. And when an entire class gets there, it's pure joy. Best job in the world.