Job Discussion Forums

Taylor · Joined: 24 Oct 2003 Posts: 384 Location: Texas/Taiwan

Hello Teachers,

As cell phones become more prevalent, I'm wondering if this is becoming an issue for English teachers in Taiwan.

Are schools having to make rules about this? Are kids trying to text each other during classes? What about all of the games, cameras, etc. that are on these devices?

I would love to hear how these situations are being handled at your school and in your classrooms.

Taylor
Kaohsiung (1995-2003, 2005-07)

Dr_Zoidberg · Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 11:01 am Post subject:

A few of my students have them, but there have been no problems. They keep their phones in their school bags.

Taylor · Joined: 24 Oct 2003 Posts: 384 Location: Texas/Taiwan

Thanks, Dr. Z.

If anyone else has any thoughts on this topic, I would love to hear from you!

Sincerely,

Taylor

Rooster_2006 · Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 984

modal_particle · Joined: 19 Oct 2009 Posts: 16

My master teacher used to take them out of the students' hands and put them at the front of the class. These were adults. She took them without making a scene and gave them back at the end of class without any sort of lecture. It definitely got the point across!

Rooster_2006 · Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 984

Solar Strength · Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 557 Location: Bangkok, Thailand

modal_particle · Joined: 19 Oct 2009 Posts: 16

I'm going on Sunday. I had to stop reading that other thread because it was making me nervous.

When you complete a practicum for your MATESOL degree, you teach under the supervision of another teacher. You're the student teacher and he/she is the master teacher. In my program we observed 4 days a week and taught one day week. It was probably the most helpful thing I did in my MA coursework.

Dr_Zoidberg · Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:03 am Post subject:

Taking a toy from the freakin' 10NT store for the duration of the class is guaranteed to have at least one parent standing in the front office screaming for 30 minutes.

Do take away your students' cell phones and let us know what (if any) grief you get.

Forumosa Maoman · Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 22 Location: Lotus Hill

This has never happened in my buxiban, but it has happened in at a high school that I used to teach at. If a cell phone rings because a student accidentally forgot to turn it off, I'd take it away for the rest of the class. If they made the mistake of actively USING the phone in class, I gave it to the homeroom teacher who'd return it to the students on the last day of the semester. Rotten luck for kids who got busted at the beginning of the semester. They'd beg and plead for the sim card but the homeroom teacher wouldn't budge. Love it!