Job Discussion Forums

[Minhang Oz]

Here's the deal. I've been in this school for nearly two years, and I've worked hard. Lessons are prepared, essays marked, I'm never late for class, and haven't missed a lesson.
Enough of the self promo. but you get the idea.
So how do you think I reacted when the school Gestapo, or "Teaching Affairs Office", reported to my FAO AND the English head that I'd finished a class 3 whole minutes early! I didn't know which class they meant, and they were unable to fill me in, but I still received a polite lecture on the evils of letting classes go early. I did point out that it was impossible to hear the bell because of the ruckus created by students swarming the corridors after being let out early by their Chinese teachers. I even suggested that I, the foreigner, was being targetted by those who resent my higher salary, though not my longer hours.

So, two years good will is gone. I won't be proofreading and extensively re-writing "urgent" English documents, or be the smiling white face at student recruitment fairs. I'll teach properly of course, but strictly to contract. And later this term I'll be asking for a release letter, when they thought they had me for at least another year.

No accusations of teddy-tossing or dummy-spitting please. I've put up with monumental disorganisation and incompetence, and witnessed massive rorting. But three minutes early! Oh my God!

[ChinaLady]

same thing happened to me.
the week after I was voted (by the students) as one of the 10 best teachers on campus. (unheard of that a foreigner - gasp, gasp - should receive this honor!).
I was 2 minutes late for class because I was walking with a student on crutches. my student in the same class. I was carrying his books.
I suspected the local party secretary (whose English was, and is, horrid) who had NEVER been chosen as a top teacher by the students.
it is called retaliation and plain "green eyes."
ah, life in the relms of education. :> :>

thought: continue with the translations for the people who treat you like a "real" person, not the people who treat you like the token "white dancing monkey." smile as you say, "I am soooo busy." the Chinese lecturers use "busy, busy" all the time when I ask for a favor. so use the culture: "busy, busy." smile, say "sorry."

best of luck.

[Steiner]

That's pretty petty of them. Sure would stir my indignation, too. By the way, Minhang, what's "rorting"? Some Aussie term I should know?

[Minhang Oz]

A rort is self-indulgence funded by the taxpayer; in our case, streams of good party member teachers going on OS trips to broaden their "knowledge", and somehow ending up in Vegas or on The Great Barrier Reef [real examples].

Modesty nearly prevents me saying that I too got a "Fantastic Teacher" award on Teachers' Day. I would have returned it, but I'd already spent the 500. Meanwhile, a nervous FAO just asked if I could attend a big forum on international education. I'm too busy. She'll have to explain that to The Pres.

[fat_chris]

China Lady,

So sorry to nitpick on this one.

I thought that the Chinese red eye disease is jealousy. What does the green eye signify?

[Roger]

Maybe I am plain lucky - this has never happened to me, yet I am not the first in class - almost never!
But I see the danger coming too.
There is this cranky attitude that students must get every minute's worth "teaching" - I did have run-ins with superiors because I rewarded outstandingly cooperative students with the right to leave class early so as to spur on the laggards! zIt worked wonderfully well, except that someone disliked the whole idea and stopped this practice! So I and students sulkily sit it out until the ring comes through.

[ChinaLady]

guess I was going on the western meaning of envy - "green eyes."
if the Chinese have red eye for envy - well, I grew up that if you had red eye or pink eye you have a really nasty disease and should get to the clinic to have said part of body swabbed and disinfected.
sorry - been here over 2 years and have never heard "red eye" to mean envy. learn something new everyday - right? thanks.
BUT - back to original dialogue. . . how do we avoid the "envy?" I even handed out moon cakes in the fall and fireworks in the spring.
one thing - I had a few students who were really, really helpful, , along with being great in English, and at the end of the term I took them to the Hard Rock in Shanghai. (I asked them to choose a western place, they chose the Hard Rock.) they had a ball - well worth the cost.
I did the same thing with the Chinese teachers who had been really super. they chose McDonalds.
this was all done in the same week so no chance to compare notes but I heard the teachers were miffed that the students went to a higher priced place. and, I did not invite the party secretary. I am not even sure who the guy is. I've seen him twice at meetings. all I know is that he is the REAL power. no degree, nothing about education in his background but he holds the sword over all of us.
just who I want to take to McDonalds? o, sure!! NOT!
"busy, busy,,,,soooo busy."

[Kurochan]

Three minutes? At my school, none of the Chinese teachers would know because they let their classes out like ten minutes early!

(Of course I'm exaggerating, but seriously, like half of the teachers at my school do this. It's a huge pain in the butt because there ends up being so much noise in the hallway. Sometimes I have to leave the classroom and tell people loitering in the hall to quiet down.)

[Egas]

Minhang Oz,

There's no rule in the book that says you should be treated fairly or rewarded for your good work. It's nice when it comes, but as a teacher it rarely does. And I've been teaching well over a decade. There's an old saying in teaching. No one notices you when you are doing a good job. It is only when you make a mistake (real or perceived) that anyone notices.

Here's my attitude to teaching and life in general. Never take criticism, or praise seriously. The truth is that most of the time they are both given with a hidden agenda behind them. The other thing is that every time you crave or bask in praise, or react negatively to criticism, you are giving your God-given power and self-esteem away to another person's (mostly worthless) opinion. The key is to be true to yourself. As long as you and the students know you are doing a good job, that's the most important thing. The rest is out of your control.

Easier said than done, I know. And certainly I'm not unfloundering before criticism. But perhaps an ideal worth aiming for.

[khmerhit]

Nice post.

MO-- sounds like you were the victim of a face increasing exercise (FIE). Face is like a commodity, but the amount in circulation is limited. You had been acquiring too much for your own good (ie getting above your supposed station) and someone used your three minute lapse as a pretext to steal face back from you and restore it to themselves, themselves being either one individual or a perceived collective -- eg the school management, the province, the Chinese people. See what i mean, or is this as clear as mud?

Someone would have been waiting for the opportunity to do it.

[Minhang Oz]

Thanks for the wise words guys. I've been teaching for 30 years, mostly in Australia, and my habits are too ingrained to change now. If I think I've been done wrong by, I don't weep, I bite. So, the stack of proofreading [read as rewriting into something intelligible] they asked me to do yesterday cost them 150 an hour; previously done as good will.
I agree with Egas on the praise thing, especially when the values and judgement of those giving the praise are at odds with my own.

[dudette]

[cheekygal]

Hmmmm
My company has been fined cause of me being late and while I was sick missing work They allowed me in kindergarten to start lessons couple of times 30 mins later than usually as i was taking a first boat from zhuhai to shenzhen which would leave Zhuhai at 8am and reach shenzhen at 9pm so i couldnt start classes at 9 and would call in advance to ask a permission to come 30 mins later. they were fine with it but then the principle decided to fine my company based on some rules which he never provided while signing the contract woith us . later on when i was getting my final salary in shenzhen, our chinese partner fined me too I was pretty upset. My boss couldn't do anything and well, I was upset with that too [practically, it's my fault and not at the same time i should have just be wise and ask more questions. may be it wouldn't happen!] But. It's not the fault of children that it happened. why should THEY suffer and get less than I am capable of giving?

I have been working as an English and French teacher for almost 9 years, [2 of them dedicated to China]. I have had lots of troubles with chinese partners my company gets to work with and with the authorities cause of my citizenship, but every time i enter the classroom, i leave everything behind , no matter how bad I feel, i keep negativism aside from the teaching process. Because, once again - I am a teacher, an educator, an example for the kids. Certainly, if my company was to stop cooperating with some kindergarten - it's a different story. But pouring my anger and negativism out on children? Never *grin*

-cheekybabe

[MyTurnNow]

MO, welcome back. Given your various experiences here and elsewhere lately you seem to have become something of a fascist magnet.

Well, just reflect upon the words of my role model, Hunter S. Thompson: "Don't take any guff from the fu*king swine."

Viva la revolucion,
MT

[Minhang Oz]

Thanks MT. Yes, we've been busy fighting Nazis, capitalist paper tigers, and just common garden variety idiots.
One of my heroes is Hunter S. Thompson's attorney. I even dress like him.
I suspect we'll meet one day soon.