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Post by Arlis on Jul 6, 2005 21:35:34 GMT 7
Hey Nate,
Umm, did you say most of the old hands from your school are going or ALL of the teachers are going? Speaking of re-inventing the wheel, why not talk with whoever is staying and try to get them to give the new teachers a break by showing them some of the sights. You don't need to pull an all-nighter writing down everything then if you can get them to do half your work.
If there's no-one staying, or the others aren't too friendly, then any info about what to expect after the 3month and 6 month mark would be a GOD-SEND. I experienced this last year when all the teachers were new. The year was a mess. Half the teachers quit by Semester 2. This was from a school which didn't have a single teacher resign mid-year for nearly a decade. Horrible... horrible... year.
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Post by acjade on Jul 6, 2005 21:46:46 GMT 7
The year was a mess. Half the teachers quit by Semester 2. This was from a school which didn't have a single teacher resign mid-year for nearly a decade. Horrible... horrible... year. What happened? |
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Post by Nate M on Jul 6, 2005 22:06:55 GMT 7
Everyone's going to be new, to my knowledge. That's because the school's relationship with Western companies and institutions, which brings them relatively cheap teachers, also means that there's a lot of 6 month contracts with round-trip airfares. I think barbie is coming back, but not until February.
By the way, I've already written the guide, and it was pretty much finished when the thread started. Besides, even if there were going to be teachers here, the primary reason for this, (at least originally), was to leave lesson plans for the next newbie teachers, and perhaps eventually build up a library of resources that everyone at the school could use.
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Post by Arlis on Jul 6, 2005 22:54:56 GMT 7
Nate: Nice idea, Nate! Do include/explain that your guide is only for lesson plans or put some other general stuff in there. And only include your contact address if you want the hottest babes discerning educators to get in contact with you regarding the 'lack' of material in it. It will always be lacking, no matter how hard you tried. Academic Jade: Well, the uni I'm in only gets 4 teachers per year anyway, but they lost the contract with a christian group from the states which supplies them with 2 teachers every year during 2003-2004. The other 2 teachers did not stay. It seemed that their main support beam were the 2 experienced teachers who knew the ins, outs, goods, and horrors of it all (one had been here for 5 years, the other for 2 years). Enter 4 brand new teachers (well, only 1 person had never taught in a classroom before - me) for 2004-2005. Suffice to say, because the other foreign teacher (who had been here for 5 years) was here for so long, nearly everyone just left us alone - utterly alone. The teacher did leave a book of material on what to expect and her e-mail address just in case. As I was the first to arrive, I became the campus expert by default  The other teacher left lesson plans and places to go to eat and shop. Which was fine for the first few weeks or so. However, we quickly realized that the management had completely left as alone and what we really needed were direction and management (where in China do you find those anyway?) Well, we 'made' the wrong plans and taught students 'wrong' topics according to the exams the college set. "What do you mean all the students are taking a written english exam based on what I taught. I didn't teach them anything about writing! No-one told me I had to teach them to write! I taught them oral english! What? You have this test every year? Bugger! Well no one told me!!!"  And so forth. After a semester of what felt like winging it and no clue at all what we were doing (plus a myriad of other stuff which I won't bore you with right now) 2 of the teachers quit at the start of Semester 2. Another was hired to replace 1 of them. He quit after a month...  12 years (this year) of English teaching at this university and a total of 4 teachers have quit mid-year (so I've been told by a distraught FAO). 3 of them this past year. The only other foreigner that stayed turned crazy (see arrgggh - hand me a bat). Or was that me? Anyways... |
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Post by MK on Jul 6, 2005 23:05:45 GMT 7
Please allow me to be the voice of cynicism:
Hahahahaha
Wait, I just saw this:
hahahahaha.
Sorry, I had a bad experience with a FAO twice.
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Ruth
SuperDuperMegaBarfly 
God's provisions are strategically placed along the path of your obedience.
Posts: 3,915
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Post by Ruth on Jul 7, 2005 10:57:25 GMT 7
My predecessor was the first foreign teacher ever in this school. He and his wife left before my husband and I arrived. We inherited the flat they had stayed in. They left a notebook in the desk drawer telling us all kinds of useful things about the flat - such as how to run the washing machine, how to keep two stones on the floater thing in the toilet so it would drop when necessary, to keep the drains in the bathroom closed (boy were they right about that one - pewie).
The Chinese English teachers here were so helpful to us and still are. They are the ones who taught us where and how to shop. We have menus translated into English from a few of the close restaurants. That would be useful stuff for us to leave behind if we ever move on.
It's a good idea, Nate. The folks who follow you will be (or should be) deeply grateful.
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