offensive parents

[con's fly is open]

I've had my share of poohead parents: calling out answers so their kids don't have to think for themselves, ; smacking their kids in the middle of cleass, forcing me to teach while he/she weeps openly, ; even bitching like a backseat driver/ armchair quarterback.

But thid takes the cake: teaching different drinks to a class of 7 year-olds, I started asking them "do you like juice?", to which they responded "Yes, I do" or "No, I don't." A parent yelled to my T.A. "have they learned this?" in front of the whole class! It was in Chinese, so I had no idea until after the class was over.
My authority was undermined, andI had no chance to defend myself (for the record, that constituted the third review after I had originally taught yes, I do/no, I don't.

Guess what? The pooty mother in question is a primary school teacher. Thus she's right about everythying.
Let me tell y'all about the reputation of primary school teachers: they have a high school diploma, and demand (well, drop clear hints to get) kickbacks for the front seats in their classrooms. Any kid whose parents don't fork out a little special extra will not get an education worth pursuing.
And I'm taking guff in my own classroom from a scumbag like this? I have another idea:
How about on Saturday, I take her face away? She disregarded mine. This is about who's in charge, and I'd like to see whose side the other parents come down on, the only FT in the area, or the teacher who's probably shaking them down.
m'kaying bitch.

[George61]

Yeah, go for it....rip her face off!
I tore strips off my FAO, the other week....Randy was crook and had to go to see a doctor...the bitch wouldn't help him either with getting a taxi or sending a translator with him.
I let fly at her in the corridor outside her office....one of the cleaning ladies walked past.....FAO has been really sweet to me ev er since.
Sometimes, some of them need a good foot up the arse.

[proust]

Borders on the intolerable, doesn't it?

But, unfortunately, this kind of kibitzing happens on the university level, too.

All too often, I've had Chinese teachers drop into my classroom uninvited and (at least they waited until the end of the class) offer totally unsolicited advice on how I could improve my teaching.

The topper occurred in early June when a young reporter from Shanghai Star was in my classroom to observe for a story on FE's (which never ran, of course). Even she[/i offered me a critique on my teaching methodology.

My reluctant conclusions: (1) This kind of intrusiveness is almost universal in the Middle Kingdom, or (2) I've been a piss-poor teacher for years and no one told me until I came to China.

[burlives]

proust said:

My reluctant conclusions: (1) This kind of intrusiveness is almost universal in the Middle Kingdom, or (2) I've been a piss-poor teacher for years and no one told me until I came to China.

I think it's a guanxi thing, plus a total lack of personal concern for others thing. Every Chinese will be a king if they have the chance, and the currency of kingship is ruling, giving the order, as opposed to knowing what to do and helping it to happen.

By what tool would Chinese have been taught to care for each other?

[Raoul Duke]

Show up for her class and see how wonderful everything is there. Be sure and loudly voice opinions on everything. Even Chinese schoolkids will understand fart noises.

[MK]

The first day of one class at my uni, the monitor came up to me after class and told me my teaching style was all wrong for them, and that I should contact their previous foreign teacher for some advice...I thanked her for her input, and told her that I was the teacher and I decided what to teach, end of story...we never got on after that.

[con's fly is open]

Good for you, man. Thank god my FAO stands with me- she was at least as pissed off as I was.

Saturday, Toad Woman.

[bill]

proust said:

Borders on the intolerable, doesn't it?

But, unfortunately, this kind of kibitzing happens on the university level, too.

All too often, I've had Chinese teachers drop into my classroom uninvited and (at least they waited until the end of the class) offer totally unsolicited advice on how I could improve my teaching.

The topper occurred in early June when a young reporter from Shanghai Star was in my classroom to observe for a story on FE's (which never ran, of course). Even she[/i offered me a critique on my teaching methodology.

My reluctant conclusions: (1) This kind of intrusiveness is almost universal in the Middle Kingdom, or (2) I've been a piss-poor teacher for years and no one told me until I came to China.

Proust, I hear you on this one.

You can't satisfy everyone, but in China anyone who isn't satisfied will make sure you know it!

You're teaching too fast/too slow, follow the book more/don't follow the book, use more examples of Western culture/don't idealise Western culture, blah, blah, blah.

IMO it's just not worth the aggravation for the money.

This is why I've decided to just take some part-time gigs at a few different places to make enough money to be comfortable (all 150hour) and study and network with others about business ideas.

[bill]

If anyone is in Shanghai and is looking for some part-time teaching work send me an email at [e-mail]. Everything's 150/hour or more for 2 hour blocks (I only work near subway lines too). I find that the few places I'm at have treated me very, very well.

I suspect that's because they don't control me with a Z visa.

[ChinaGurl]

Had to reply.

My Chinese boyfriend's English is REALLY good. His pronunciation isn't perfect, but it's really clear and understandable. He teaches about 50 young kids Cambridge English during the summer and on weekends while he studies. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had all learned how to correctly make the TH sounds!!

I've heard parents talk about him, saying his pronunciation isn't good. Like they'd know! I always correct them.

One parent wanted to pull their kids because his pronunciation isn't the same as they learn in school and they'll fail listening exams if they learn his pronunciation. Hey! Guess who does the listening part of the exams for the whole district? ME!!

A run-in I had with a parent left me with a bad taste in my mouth: I was doing a summer camp and this student came on the first day, didn't come on the 2nd or 3rd days, came to a special advanced class on the 4th and 5th days and withdrew on the 6th day. Her mom wanted all her money back because the first class was too basic and the 2nd was too advanced. I refunded her everything except for 5 days because that's how long the student was enrolled. When she didn't come to class, we still held class. This mother thought maybe I should give up some of my free time to tutor her daughter, since she wouldn't be able to make up the time in the basic or advanced classes. I thought that was a little presumptuous, and told her so. I told her that she was required to pay for my time whether she chose to use it or not, because that was when I was available for teaching. My school backed me up, and thought that refunding her what I did was refunding too much anyway, and the teacher ended up hanging up on my FAO and storming out of my house, muttering about her guanxi and what will everyone think of the money-hungry foreign teacher.

Sometimes Chinese people SUCK. Everyone knows what's best for everyone else and they're not afraid to tell you.

[Lager]

Was the class really too easy for the girl? It always drives me crazy with students in Asia with "teacher we did" teacher we know." OK then it shouldn't be too hard...Usually they don't know it at all...

[con's fly is open]

Some customers are never satisfied. Good on ya, CG.

Update: Toad Woman sent her husband in her place for the next 3 classes, so my guard was down when she showed on Sunday. At the end, when my TA and boss announced our vacation and the new textbook we'd soon use, TW stood up and croaked "I have some advice." Lynn glared at her for 1.5 seconds, then continued talking to the other teachers.
Sadly, I missed it entirely. But I owe Lynn flowers when I get back.

[Ruth]

Con, I'm sure you don't have any control over this or you would have exerted it already, but why are parents allowed to sit in on your classes? Especially if/when they are so disruptive? Can you make your admin understand the detrimental effect this has on the students?

I teach private lessons in my own flat. Parents usually don't stay but one mom of a really young child does and the mother of a particularly disruptive little boy came a few times and stayed (the other mother told her how bad her kid was behaving). I established early on that speaking Chinese (to translate what I am teaching) was not acceptable. Mostly they sit quietly by the door and observe. Maybe this is the exception, maybe being in my own flat makes a difference.

[con's fly is open]

Parents in the class are a double-edged sword: they know what was taught in class, so the drill the homework, and my students retain everything. Saves me a lot of reviewing. I've only got 2 more months with the little urchins, so I want to cram in everything I can.

The bad parents are, thank God, outnumbered. Now if the school would only supply the blowgun I requested.

[Ruth]

Maybe when a witchy parent 'contributes' to your class you could say something like, 'Excuse me, you are here to observe, not to participate. Please shut up now or leave the room.' Said politely and with a smile, of course.

[con's fly is open]

My thoughts exactly, Ruth, IF I catch her in the act.

[con's fly is open]

con's said:

My thoughts exactly, Ruth, IF I catch her in the act.

Screw that.
She only shows up on Sunday, so after a peaceful Saturday (boy, who I like, is squired by his quiet father), I'm always off-guard. She's been almost good...
Until today. I have 2 more classes- more tonight.