Job Discussion Forums

[adamsmith]

Had a situation in my class today. A group of the male students decided that they could use a liquid lunch before coming to their uni class today. Then with the liquid courage thought that they could have a little payback and be aggressive in the class. After being disuptive, I asked them to leave but then came out the old line. "I paid my money so you can't kick me out", when all I wanted was for him to go home and sleep it off. He would not leave - so I did. The chinese staff at the school would not do anything either, they just looked at him and let him stay.

The question I have for you all is: What do you do in situations like this??

[jammish]

This happened in CHina? Are you sure?

Chinese students drinking at lunchtime? Having fun? Are you sure you didn't teleport to another country by mistake?

[eslstudies]

It's getting that way.
We had a boy's dorm building opposite our apartment. One particular room [happened they were my "students"] were up carousing - or rather they slept, then got up and started - at around 2 am. Their conversations, singing, dropped bottles, caused some problems until we kept ringing the nightwatch to deal with it.
They either slept in class or didn't turn up. One had to leave class often to throw up.
Finally, they got seperated to different dorm rooms. They never took it personally, even though they knew I'd kicked up the fuss.

So yeah, Adam's tale sounds genuine to me. Hard stuff is cheap, and its everywhere, including college shops, where I saw students buying it.
Teachers buying it? That, I can understand.

btw Adam, your economic theories sound good to me.

[sultansofping]

[jammish]

[latefordinner]

The Chinese teachers have their own way of dealing with this problem. Just continue lecturing as usual, and in 5 minutes the drunkards will be asleep as usual. At the end of the course they will cheat as usual and get As as usual. Why the foreign teacher would want students to be awake in class is beyond comprehension.

[upchuckles]

RLOL - Let em' sleep! Or confiscate the beer and drink it later with your Chinese friends..

[tw]

I would've reported the student to the department head. Then again, I doubt any of my students would have the nerve to try that on me -- that's how strict I am with them. Are these graduating students, i.e. is this their final term? Those are usually the worst bunch. I had an incident at the end of last term when a male student swore at me, then threw piles of exam papers I'd taken to the classroom from another exam at me -- all after I'd made a mark on his and his female classmate's exam papers, then telling the female classmate that I MIGHT fail them for possibly cheating in the exam (what they were doing was rather suspicious).

The result? I reported to the dean who apologized again and again, and the male student was expelled -- a full semester before he was to graduate with a paid-for degree.

[7969]

[adamsmith]

TW, yes they are graduating students. The problem with them is that the class is not even an english class, but a business course. I am very strict with them, but they have major attitude problem and the local staff just wont do anything. The course ends on thursday and they have there final exam - (it is an intensive course) so the student is not graduating because I wont give the trouble maker his exam. I am waiting to find out what the dean of the program is going to do, but so far all their other teachers have been trying to apologize for the little emporor, to no avail.

One advantage I have is that I can fail the students, so they wont get their foreign degree - but the chinese uni will probably still give them a chinese degree.

[Paul Barufaldi]

About three weeks ago, at a major midddle school here in a Beijing, I caught a Senior Grade One student passing an open Bacardi Breezer to another student during my class.

Naturally, I took it away. Not a sip had been taken, so I'm guessing they were flirting with their curiousity. But still, during classtime? I would have been expelled from my high school for such behaviour!

I took the bottle outside and emptied the contents onto the ground. I reentered the classroom to a chorus of "That's not yours!" and "You owe him money!"

For the first time ever, I completely lost it on a middle school class. (They also had no discipline whatsoever) I yelled, I berated, I gave them a real taste of my anger. Their tune quickly changed from indignation (drawn from ignorance) to shame. They started begging me not to tell their regular class teacher, with lots of promises about how they'd start behaving in class.

In the end, I told my boss but not their class teacher. Sadly, I don't think the school would care anyway. They've worn down their regular teachers to the point where they don't enforce discipline. Many of them even let the students sleep in class!

[jeffinflorida]

When I worked at the university there were 3 or 4 students drinking and smoking and playing cards in one of the classrooms during the day.

I kicked them out, took their names, reported it to the dean. He didn't care and actually looked pissed that i bothered him for something so small...

[tw]

[abusalam4]

[gugelhupf]

You handled it perfectly well. The student was preventing you from doing your job. He refused to leave so you had no option but to abandon the class.
You paid your money, boy? Go ask for a refund...