My Teachers Day Present

[Decurso]

Next weekend Handan City is having a "Teaching Show".As hard as it is to believe,schools here are starting to realize that Chinese teaching methods are not working.Better late than never.As such,the city government has invited the top private schools in the city to participate in an exhibition of English teaching.40 students...no books...and no Chinese teachers.

I was intimidated at first...I am afterall representing my school and my boss is not a man to displease.Furthermore,this is my first teaching job.The idea of "performing" with real teachers in front of career educators makes me feel like a fraud by comparison.

But as a warmup I taught last night with no TA and the entire Chinese school staff watching.The group is one of the most difficult bunches I have ever taught and is usually one of my least favorite classes in my workweek.They talk in Chinese throughout the class,ignore me and look to the TA for translations and generally behave like spoiled rich private school students.But last night they were literally all ears...and they understood everything I taught.God bless 'em...I could've hugged the lot of them.

It's ironic that this is Teachers Day.It's the first time I've felt like a real educator since I've been here...as opposed to a sideshow whose job is to model pronunciation and entertain.I've been with this group for 3.5 months and they have gone from barely speaking English to being able to understand a native speaker for 90 minutes with no translation.To have a hand in that...wow.I've heard many teachers talk about how good it feels to change peoples lives for the better...but before last night I had no idea.

Happy Teachers Day everybody!!!

[George61]

Yep. If they really try, they can understand what they are being taught. But most of the time the majority don't try.

[con's fly is open]

Decurso, I do declare you've got the teaching virus.

I wish Teaching day was later in the school year: I'd get more presents.

Everybody complains about the educational system. I have to think some reform is on the way; but what a huge beast to overhaul! They must be quite overwhelmed at the prospect.

[Decurso]

connell said:

Decurso, I do declare you've got the teaching virus.

Yup...this is what I came here for.So glad I finally found it.I used to refer to this class as my "hell class".At this point I adore the lot of them.

BTW...I hope everyone had a good teachers day.I was wined and dined like a rock star.Labour Day sucks compared to Teachers Day...if you're a teacher that is.And for the first time...I REALLY feel like a teacher.

[Ruth]

Hang on to that moment, Decurso. It's great that you had such a wonderful class and such a boost of self-validation and confidence.

I'm wondering if it had anything to do with the absence of a TA during the lesson? Without a crutch (or interference), the kids shone and you shone.

[Decurso]

Bang on Ruth.A large part of my reason for coming here was to gain teaching experience.But most of my classes have robbed me of that.Con had a good thread where someone(I forget who) suggested job security is the reason Chinese teachers feel the need to open their mouths 50 times an hour.I have one girl who starts translating 5 words into a sentence!She only makes things worse.There's two of us talking and the students don't understand either of us.What she should be doing is keeping her beak shut and making everyone pays attention.

A lot of classes(including the one mentioned in the original post) never even look at me...they just look at the Chinese teacher knowing they'll get a translation .I sometimes wonder why I'm even there.Fortunately my regular gal has learned to wait for me to tell her when to translate.

Anyways,I'm actually looking forward to this show.Never mind that it's brownie points with the boss...I've complained for months that translation is the least effective means of language learning.Having successfully demonstrated that already in front of my school I look forward to showing the whole city.Time to put my money where my mouth is.

[Ruth]

I'm pulling for you. Get out there and show them how it's done!

Any chance your school will let you teach without an assistant from now on?

[Wolf]

Heh. I had one job in China (part time) where I had an assistant. She translated everything I said; meaning there was no need for any actual English in the class. I told her as an aside only to translate when it seemed the students might need the help.

So she translated that.

At my job now, often I'll be the one doing the translating - into English - when the local teachers give instructions (being able to understand classroom instructions in English is a useful skill for students.)

[George61]

Picked up my TD present today....5 litres cooking oil....1 box biscuits...1 box milk..and 1 box of something I haven't opened yet, so I don't know what it is.

[con's fly is open]

wolf said:

I told her as an aside only to translate when it seemed the students might need the help.

So she translated that.

I'm facing the opposite problem: I can't translate much of anything, since none of us teachers know a speck of Japanese or Finnish. It's a helluva challenge. I've gotten soft.

[Ruth]

That's where your talent in charades comes in, Con. Pictures, real objects, actions, hand over hand guidance are all useful too.

Last weekend I started teaching a class of 3rd to 5th graders at a newly opened private school/health club deal. 9 kids and me alone in the room. It was great! I was prepared and they all had some English - ie at least knew the alphabet. It's going to keep me on my toes though. No one there speaks English. One of the co-owners is a PE teacher at our high school. I have to talk to her through an interpreter. But she's not even on site when I teach. Her business partner is. There are things we need to discuss outside of class, like all the kids coming with the workbook, and I'll have to find a way to deal with that. But they leave me alone to teach. Hope I wowed them enough for the first two classes that the kids and parents are happy.

[Decurso]

ruth said:

Any chance your school will let you teach without an assistant from now on?

Not likely to happen in the near future.But you never know...the Chinese teachers are paid by the lesson.If the school thought it could save money by keeping the Chinese Teachers out of foreign teachers lessons...they may well do it.

I'm not opposed to having a Chinese teacher in the classroom.But their job should be to monitor the students behavior and translate only the most complicated instructions.The problem Con is describing is a bi-product of the Chinese system.We get used to translators and we become "soft" in our abilities to use other means of communication.It's bad for the students..and it hurts us as teachers.

As the teaching show...let's just say it's pretty easy to tell it 's being organized by the Chinese.I asked about getting the school to photocopy some materials for my lesson and they said,"No,we're using a book."OK....which book?Don't know.The FTS here(all 3 of us) agree that there's a 50/50 chance it won't happen.TIFC.

[Lotus Eater]

I think I have been lucky at both of the places I have worked. Previous place had not had a FT teach mainstream subjects in English before, so allowed me to create and run the whole program So I wrote the textbook for them.

This place tells me - go to the bookshop, pick out the books you want, we will reimburse you for them - and then they have organised the students to photocopy the sections I want to use, as the books have way more material than I will be able to cover.

No teaching assistant to make my life miserable either!

[Ruth]

40 students...no books...and no Chinese teachers.

and they said,"No,we're using a book."OK....which book?Don't know.

Shenme? WTF?

Oh yeah, TIFC. Good luck Decurso.

[amewupp]

Well, I work for a Japanese school here, so no Teachers Day for me. But today made up for it. It was just one of those perfect teaching days that make you say, "oh yeah, this is why I'm here!" The kids were just really with it today and a couple that had been struggling all of a sudden "got it" ;D

After the last couple of weeks being rather frustrated with my job, today was a great boost, ya know?!

Oh, and good luck this weekend, Decurso.

[Ruth]

Great to hear amewupp. We all need days like that occasionally to keep us going.

Those 'light bulb' moments, when you can see the understanding appear on the students' faces, are awesome.
From to

[Mr Nobody]

Yeah. Had two meaningful conversations this week with students on two separate occassions. One on the importance of history to understanding the future. the other that nothing is perfect.

Wow. And the students were saying this with terrible English, succeeded in making it work.