How so? In what way was I dictatorial?are we, perhaps, trying to be aloof, magisterial and a little dictatorial?
I have a TEFL Cert, although it hasn't helped me at all with my teaching.I have the distinct impression you are a Chinese person, at least, you are someone from relatively outside the TEFL field.
Do you know how hard laboring under typical Chinese classroom conditions can be?
I've been teaching in China for about 3 years now, so I have an idea of what most teachers go through.
I highly disagree, and this Sounds like Moral Relativism.There simply is no proven method that fits all sizes, nationalities and circumstances.
Moral Relativism rests on the belief that values are subjective. It is holds the belief that there is no objective morality. That there is no such thing as right and wrong, good or evil. Only if moral systems are just made up and supported only by personal or social bias can moral judgments of ethical systems be wasted. Moral Relativism cannot and does not accept the possibility that an objective moral system exists. If it did, you could evaluate other ethical systems meaningfully.
Here, I couldn't agree with you more. There should not be more than 35 students per class.But as a long-term China-based TEFL'er, I must say China is not even endeavouring to make the plight of its teachers any easier.
Class sizes, for instance, are no discussion topic anywhere here. Apparently, the powers-that-be and even parents feel if one can teach one student one must also succeed with a class of 60, 90 or more!
If your teaching whole language non-sense, or word memorization it is.These students are ill-prepared for a real-life situation in which their acquired English might be of vital importance: when a native English speaking person gives them instructions, they sit passively, staring at their books, or talk to each other.
Don't tell me this is our fault.
See Phonetic Support
They should learn, first thing, to be a little more interested in the first place. And more polite. When someone is talking, you listen, full stop. You simply don't start your private conversation that's most likely totally unrelated to the subject the teacher is talking about.
Blaming students for a lack of motivation is a cop out. When the teacher is speaking the students should be listening, however most students cannot understand what the teacher is saying unless the teacher knows enough of the native language to translate.
See Teaching and Learning with Phonics
I don't agree with Chinese students and parents that making classroom activities MORE INTERESTING is my duty, mine alone. I hold that students must learn to be interested in things that may not necessarily revolve around their own narrow focus.
And I hold it to be the teachers job to keep the children interested. How can the students learn anything related to English when they don't have the proper code/tools to decipher letters into sounds?
more moral relativism? So everyone's idea's and methods are correct. So everyone is right. How is one to judge/decipher which method is best, when one has no objective values or methodsLearning a second language to a very large extent means acquiring a second culture. Western culture has niches in which the individual person learns to use their own resources, intellectual, psychological, spiritual and others.
Very TrueWe learn individually. Only the truly dedicated and interested can succeed under such circumstances.
Time constraints are also an issue. Also if the teacher doesn't have their own classroom it makes it more difficult. Most students also learn at a faster pace than the teacher is teaching, however in public schools this is impossible.We all learn to excel at one subject or another, usually at several ones. This is only possible if classrooms are not overcrowded. Crowdedness leads to a lowering of the common denominators.
Having students read aloud together is a mistake the Chinese teachers make. Students should be reading aloud individually, so that teachers can assess and correct pronunciation mistakes.Chinese classrooms also tend to be extremely noisy. How can Chinese study, learn, think, when others are making such a din? Whenever I enter a classroom before 8 am., students would be practicing speaking aloud (reading aloud) for pronunciation's sake.
Agreed.English, of course. First of all - i deem this activism as totally wasteful - I have never seen such reading aloud anywhere in the world. Yet, the pronunciation of the same students is often incomprehensible. no wonder - how can they correct their own pronunciation errors if they never model it along a native speaker's?
Yes, Chinese teachers idea's of students learning English is very subjective and arbitrary. That won't change until China's underlying philosophy of collectivism changes.But, and that's the most important here: who can mull things over when all classmates are producing such a noise? This definitely is not conducive to meaningful learning. The result is a mere grazing of the surface of what's supposed to be acquired.
Chinese schools also are curiously unconcerned about objectives. I have yet to come across a school that defines the goals to be attained in any subject! Not only that - teachers are left to their own devices, and have not option but to learn to get along with their charges lest they complain about the teacher. Thus, an English teacher has to be "friends" with his or her students - literally. In not a few cases, the relationship between a teacher and students simply is unhygienic (read "unethical").
I'm also forced to grade on some kind of a curve. But now I give multiple quizzes throughout the term instead of just a midterm or a final. My quizzes are usually focused on Phonetics, or actual dictation of words we have covered and used in class, and this term I'm planning on basing 1-2 quizzes on actual reading. This also allows me to skip the final at the end of the term, which is good because I'd rather not be rushed into giving them a grade.I feel our Chinese employers ought to empower us, and respect our input. We alone can assess Chinese' English proficiency, fluency and competency. In too many cases, our Chinese colleagues give their Chinese English students far too generous grades!
I'm with you on this 100%, except for Conversation classes, however, ought to be about using what has already been acquired. Not about learning moreGenerally, Chinese treat languages not so much as languages but as yet more academic subjects; they memorize and learn, but they don't really acquire and internalize them. They seldom attain practically relevant English skills. they consider it "knowledge", and in any class they attend, they think they must be given more items to "take home".
Conversation classes, however, ought to be about using what has already been acquired. Not about learning yet more!
Word Memorization is what Linda Schrock Taylor refers to as Word Guessing Illiterates