Job Discussion Forums

[TexasHighway]

It happens at the end of every semester at my university. A student who I have never seen before will show up for the final exam. And this time was no different; a boy showed up for the exam even though he never attended a single class. As usual, I refused to give him the exam. I told him I cannot measure his progress in oral English if there is no progress to measure. This time there was another twist. One girl didn't show up at all. I called her at home and she said she forgot there was an exam that day. I decided to give her another chance. She agreed to come to school the next day for a makeup exam. So I went to school on my day off and again she didn't show up. I ran into one of her classmates and told him if he happened to see her, let her know she failed her exam. He said I should give her a third chance as she is a Party member and my life could become very difficult if I failed her. In spite of his warning (or perhaps, because of), I am standing firm on this one. Anyway, I was wondering if any other FTs have their own bizarre exam sagas to relate to us.

[eslstudies]

[waynehead]

I've got my first exam experience coming up next week.

I recently had one student who'd been absent from September show up for class the other day. I just ignored him. I'm not sure if he'll go for the exam or not, he doesn't stand a chance anyway.

[Mister Al]

OP, give her one last chance but try not to make this too public if you can avoid it. It's not really worth the hassle in these circumstances. If she has turned up in class enough for you to assess her progress then let her do the test. Get your 'manager' or someone else in authority to tell her that she has to turn up for the exam at x time on x date and if she fails to do so she will not be assessed and therefore fail.

[eddy-cool]

Laowai teachers have the unenviable reputation - just ask any Chinese fellow teacher! - of being too lenient, too soft, too easy to manipulate.

There is no need to give a student an extra chance since they will never say 'thank you' for your sacrificing of your own time and the humiliation to discover your student has paid zero heed to all your instructions.

[Mister Al]

It's not about getting a 'thank you'. My point was if it's gonna cause you grief then it might be easier in the long run to give her a 'final chance'. But as I said, don't make it public. If there ain't gonna be any grief later then forget about her and let her fail. I've been in the OP's situation before and I've done both. Depends on the circumstances.

[Mister Al]

Double post........

[brsmith15]

Do you use a syllabus in which you state just how a final grade will be computed? I use 10 - 20% for attendance.

[Lhenderson]

The Key To Success For Me In Asia.

Everyone gets an A.

Or an A+.

I'm super-laoshi.

[vikuk]

maybe for some students a lesson far important than learning English - is that real teachers don't kowtow to students.

Feel sorry for any FT's who have to follow on behind super-laoshi - since they'll also be expected to act the super-monkey

[TexasHighway]

eddy cool said:

[Hansen]

I taught at one of the top universities in this province. After giving the test, I was informed that no more than 5% of the students could fail the exam. This in a class of ~60 students. I was then asked to cook the scores.

Normally, 60% is passing. We were digging down into the 40's in order to limit the number of fails. I have no real issues cooking scores. No principle involved from my viewpoint. I'm here to play taiji, not reform the educational system. I routinely cook scores. Students with a bad attitude, disrespectful, those who fail the personality test, they fail my class. Smile and be nice, you'll pass, I tell them. Progress is a big plus. Cheating on the final, automatic fail. Even that's being modified. They've been cheating all their lives. Why slam them for doing something they don't even consider wrong? if given the opportunity to raise their score and they don't do it, that's wrong to their way of thinking.

One guy who never showed up in class turned up for the final and got 80%. I guess he cheated, perhaps not. I really don't know what kind of English skills he had. As a matter of principle, I planned to fail him. The head teacher told me to not record his grade. I figure she recorded it as a pass after I left the office. When I asked him why he never came to class, he said, "I couldn't find the classroom." Funny guy.

If more than a few students fail, the problem is the teacher, not the students. And if you fail too many, you will have to reexamine them on your time. That includes making another test. Save your energy to fight for better living conditions, higher pay, something that benefits you.

[tanyujie]

I've failed students before and yes, I've had to give those resit tests. I failed about 2/3 of a class at Nanjing Institute of Meteorology. The day before the resit, two students came to my apartment with a bag of green apples. At first I thought it was just a gift. But then they asked me to change their marks. I realized the apples were a bribe so I just said, "No. But thank you for the apples!"

Jada

[Ms Bean]

I THOUGHT that I had a class of 42 students for oral English.

NINETY-FIVE students showed up on the last day of class for the final presentation.

Fifty-three students flunked the class.

[TexasHighway]

Good for you, Ms Bean...you sound very responsible! I wish I could say the same for your administrators. Didn't they ever give you a class roster? And assigning 95 students to an oral class is absurd!