Job Discussion Forums

[KingSimon]

To anyone with power

Please stop making primary school children gouge their eyes out for five minutes every day.

It's no wonder that so many Chinese wear glasses!

It serves no medical purpose, please have it stopped!

[saint57]

I was so nervous before my first lesson in China. I had to face 45 students. I had no idea what to expect. I walked into class and this silly music started to play. All the students started doing the eye exercises. I had to keep my laughter bottled up. It really helped break the ice for me.

Later on, the eye execises became annoying because I was responsible for making them do them. The only benefit of it was that it chopped five minutes off my dancing monkey routine.

That stupid song was slowly fading from my memory. Thanks for bringing back the pain.

[brsmith15]

Tell the kids that if they keep it up, they'll either become wall-eyed or cross-eyed. Then demonstrate. Ooops. Better not. Your eyes might stay that way.

[7969]

cant say it ever bothered me, but it doesnt serve any useful purpose as far as i can see. when the music did start, and all of a sudden everything else stopped but the eye rubbing, it did give me a feeling i was in the midst of some mansonian cult ritual.

[brsmith15]

-69

No, no....that's the Elks. Masons do odd and secret things with trowels! (I wonder if that's why they walk as if they have dropped hemorrhoids??)

[vikdk]

he wrote mansonian - Charles Manson family??? - now what those guys did for massage - and were not just talking about a little eye rubbing here!!!!!
What kind of music would you choose for that kind of eye tweeking session

[brsmith15]

"I Only Have Eyes For You?"
"Smoke Gets In Your Eyes?"
"Jeepers, Creepers (Where'd You Get Those Peepers)?"

[poopsicola]

Truth to tell, most students find the eye exercises time relaxing. And five minutes are not removed from lessons. Eye exercises begin 5 minutes before the scheduled start of the lesson. There are a number of "Eye exercise" tunes available. If the school uses the same tape repeatedly for years, it gets a bit tatty but the better tunes are well-constructed and nicely orchestrated.

As for your responsibility to ensure that the exercises are done, don't worry. This duty falls to the Class Monitor.

The exercises are not random rubbings and each is quite precisely targeted at specific muscles and acupuncture points. Just watch the minor adjustments to technique that a good monitor will demand!

[saint57]

Is the song available for download? I am positive that the eye song was during class time. I would never have shown up early to watch it.

[Neilhrd]

When I first came to China I too thought the eye exercises were a load of nonsense.

But it gradually dawned on me that they the class which followed the exercises had a more relaxed and constructive atmosphere than the one before. I see no evidence that the exercises are harmful to the students eyes and they do seem to reduce stress in the kids.

I also learned to make use of the time whilst the kids were doing their eye exercises to pre write things on the board for the first part of my lesson thus saving time and gaining instant attention instead of having to turn my back on the class to write during the lesson.

Not everything in the Chinese education system is stupid and sometimes we should open our minds and learn from the Chinese then maybe they will be more willing to learn from us when we have something positive to contribute.

[brsmith15]

Neil,

Thanks. I think those of us who've been here a few years get a tad jaded and your wisdom helps turn us around.

[wailing_imam]

Yes Yes!

When I first experienced a class of 18 year olds listening to that music I almost had a panic attack due internal teacher's laughter overload. What madness. The music has obviously been developed by some lunatic professor in a secret lab in Gansu, and is a sick sick nursery rhyme. However, it does mellow the boys out after their 10 minute breaks where they throw basketballs at each other's heads.

[Lobster]

The eye exercises can help you learn to count to eight in Chinese, so you should always sing along.

RED

[tw]

OK, my wife just demonstrated it to me and at first it looked rather silly. It's really nothing more than an eye massage concentrating on various pressure points around the eyes.

[lionheartuk]

the school I teach at don`t do eye exercises.