Job Discussion Forums

[mandarinstudent]

How do the rest of you cope with low job satisfaction? At my University..

-I know that any white face could replace me at any time
-The people in charge couldn't give 2 sh*ts what I do in the classroom
-They have a meeting every week that I have to attend, not to participate in (by the time I get there business is concluded), but to be there "just in case" another teacher has an English question
-I get books and schedules mere days before class begins, even though the Chinese teachers have their schedule over a month in advance
-On 2 occasions I have offered free or cheap (relative to the market price) services to help them out. Instead of thanks, they try to suck even more free help out of me.
-Half of the students don't give a damn

I just hate the fact that, as far as importance, I am the bottom of the barrel as far as the University goes. It doesn't matter how hard I work or what I do, I am still nothing. From what I read on this forum, it is the same everywhere in China. I'm not blaming my University. For the most part, they are very nice to me and it isn't their fault that I am not important. We foreign teachers are just here temporarily and they just need to get what they can out of us while we are here. There is no point in long term training or anything because we are just going to split anyways. I can understand their point of view.

I must admit, I didn't come to China specifically to teach. To make a long story short, I came to China after graduating college to marry a friend I had fallen in love with while completing a summer long Chinese language program in China. I thought I could find a job in Finance (my major), but found that they don't need foreign fresh graduates in China. I'm teaching out of necessity until July 2008 (its either teach and get a visa or be separated from my wife), at which point I will be returning home to get a Master's so that I can a job related to my major in China (my wife wants to live here long term). Even though teaching isn't my dream career, I am still putting forth my best efforts to teach while in this situation. What I don't understand is how people can come here specifically to teach and then stay for years and years. If someone considers them self a "professional teacher", how can they get any job satisfaction in China? ...Or is it that most teachers in China don't really care because they are just here for the "superstar status" that being white in China brings? In that case, I guess that job satisfaction doesn't matter. How do the rest of you cope with this? Lack of job satisfaction is one of the reasons making me count down the days until I get out of China.

[7969]

you can still come here and do a good job, despite the fact that you have to tell yourself that is many cases, the students and the school may not be interested in what you do and what you think. but i still show up each day and do what they pay me to do.

in my case, i've been here nearly four years now, i like the lifestyle, lots of free time, enough money to have a good life, and plenty of interesting places to go when i'm free.

if you came here expecting to see instant results in your students, and expect all of them to partake in all activities in your classroom, you'll be sorely disappointed. i know i was in the early stages. once you change your thinking from trying to achieve that, to a more relaxed mode in the classroom (focus on the ones who are keen, let the others jump in if they feel like it), then you'll begin to be more satisfied in these teaching jobs. it can be pretty good.

oh and i ran into the dean of our department the other day. first time i've met her (been here over a year now). we had a short discussion, where she did most of the talking. when she pointed out that i was welcome to praise the school and the students, she followed up with "we even welcome criticism!" i had to bite my tongue to prevent from laughing out loud... a nice enough woman anyway.

[randyj]

Several years ago a particularly outstanding professor of mine shared with our class some details of his PhD dissertation. He had based his dissertation on a survey of foreign English teachers in China. His survey involved the factors linked to satisfaction teaching in China. He wanted to determine which personal factors (age, family background, work experience, language ability, etc.) related to successful adjustment to teaching English in China. He had taught in China, and he admitted to some bias going in. The results surprised him, he said. According to his finding, the critical factor was the teacher's level of expectation. High expectations correlated with difficulty adjusting, low expectations with high levels of success.

What recommendations can be taken from this? Should we attempt to lower our expectations? Not very practical, I'm afraid. I cannot cheerfully tell a teacher who is miserable in their job to just lower their expectations and everything will be OK. Come to think of it, just ignore all my previous words.

On the other hand, a colleague of mine presents a good model for job satisfaction teaching English in China. She is a professional teacher, having taught history in junior high in the US for many years, followed by several years in Saudi Arabia, then the Peace Corps in the Philippines. She spends prodigious amounts of time preparing lessons, in addition to extra-curricular activities. For her, it's all about the students. She derives job satisfaction from the students' success. She maintains contact with many former students as they continue their studies in China or abroad.

Few of the foreign teachers here harbor any illusions about our status. Given professional courtesy and organizational efficiency, we have low expectations otherwise. I mean, we are regarded as short-term commodities. This will not change. We will not let this affect our attitudes. I think a happy teacher, whether in China or elsewhere, is one who can gain satisfaction from students in the classroom.

[lostinasia]

The fact is, on the extreme of just being a small number, people here are not professional teachers. The great majority are simply college graduates with no experience or desire to be a teacher. They are not credentialed, certified, or anything else. Nobody graduates with a degree in teaching only to dream of teacher for a few hundred dollars a month in China.

Why do you care what the department cares or doesn't care about you?

Do your job and do it well. Your students should experience a solid education. YOU decide what is to be taught and how it's taught.

I don't jump because the department tells me to and I don't go to meetings with one hour notice or change my schedule because they are unprofessional enough to not tell me.

Your experience and professionalism is what YOU make it.

Why nobody ever grasps that is beyond me.

Do the best you can do, with or without support.

It's as simple as that. The "coping" mechanism is beyond me as I see no need for it.

[jammish]

[mandarinstudent]

[arioch36]

My parents were both teachers. Many of the frustrations we have here are similar to the frustratons of teachers stateside. Students don't care, administration doesn't care, parents don't care. And I agree, sometimes the frustration is based on unreal expectations. we have all seen movies or tv shows with "super-teachers" who make an immediate difference.

Staying with a school for several years, or having the same class for two or more emesters helps, because you can see some of the differences. And regardless how the administration makes us feel (the common management/employee struggle) many find the work rewarding when we keep the eye on the prize, helping young people mature.
I imagine snickers, because based on the typical Dave post it's hard to imagine a laowai having that effect. Have you helped any students? Remember this part. This is the reward, the money a neccessity

[Sonnet]

[william wallace]

I used to drink tons of alcohol,but it was quasi-celebration too.Then when the situation kept getting unrelentingly poor, I began to mire in anger, depression and self-loathing at ever having come into....ESL. Now ? Trying not to panic, trying to hold onto either hope or fantasy, and re-enter my society once and for all.But that takes among other things-money,and that has become a rare commodity in this...the shining beacon of bureaucracy and greed- Beijing, also voted the most beautiful city in China.

[OGFT]

[SnoopBot]

[mandarinstudent]

[mandarinstudent]

[ddeubel]

When I first started teaching EFL, for years I always was burdened by "needing to be needed". I really wanted to be valued by my employer and to be constantly thought of as "the good shepherd".

Slowly, I weaned myself from this need. What I do now to cope is focus on my classroom. Making it the best learning environment possible. The rest, I let slide off me. I try day in and day out to take joys in the small moments of my teaching and especially changing from a teacher who taught "a subject" to a teacher who teaches "students" and by default, motivational psychology.

That's how I cope at work.....by baby steps, we can travel far.

DD

[mandarinstudent]