|
|
Post by Lotus Eater on Feb 23, 2004 13:32:34 GMT 7
What mistakes do you make in teaching that you promise yourself you will not do again - but invariably, do?
I pose either/or questions when I am asking for student responses. The look of confusion is a) hilarious and b) a painful reminder that English is not their first language!
I have found giving too many options is very confusing for them. My students are university level, but in the business faculty, and so their English is a lower standard than those in the English Dep't.
|
|
|
|
Post by Raoul Duke on Feb 23, 2004 17:30:47 GMT 7
Trying to make exams cheat-proof and idiot-proof is a never-ending battle. I plug one leak and 5 more appear in its place. I'm finding that I have to be painfully exact in how I phrase instructions and questions. I'm in a situation where I don't always have to call the roll, but I've learned to always do it when I have for-credit team projects being done in class. The students will cover for their buddies who decided to sleep in that day. Sometimes even simply calling the roll isn't enough...with some groups I've had to physically stand them all at one end of the room and ask them to sit when I call their names.  |
|
|
|
Post by Gonzo Journalist on Feb 24, 2004 14:17:56 GMT 7
Walking [falling?]off the podium when I'm reading something to the class.
Telling students to turn their phones off, and then mine ringing.
Not gesturing to students in the Western way that I want them to come to the front of the room. It has a very different meaning here.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sandgropers on Feb 24, 2004 14:25:45 GMT 7
Being the nice amiable guy that I am ;D with an ego that occasionally likes to be stroked, last semester I responded to requests from students who are not in my classes to allow them to sit-in on my lessons. You all know the kind of flattery I mean...........oh you are such a wonderful teacher............your lessons are so interesting..........blah.....blah.............blah.  So I fell for it and permitted them to feel free to come to my lessons. That was last semester. Well.........the word has obviously got around because last evening I turned up for my 'oral English' class to face a packed, bulging at the seams classroom of 84 students  I was not a happy vegemite! After some reluctance on THEIR part, I managed to evict the 24 'gate-crashers'. NONE of them had had the decency to ask permission first. Lesson learnt? Henceforth, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES will I give permission for students, not on my class list, to join my classes no matter how much they may try to flatter me Cheers |
|
Roger
Upstanding Citizen
Posts: 243
|
Post by Roger on Feb 25, 2004 20:11:56 GMT 7
Me, at the end of what I consider a key statement or instruction:
"Do you understand?"
Class: "??" - "ZZZzzzz..."
Then the bell rings and I say "goody bye!"
And, of course, someone will bar my way: "Mr S., can you tell me..."
|
|
|
|
Post by Raoul Duke on Feb 25, 2004 23:13:50 GMT 7
Yup, never underestimate the power of these students to completely ignore instructions. I'm teaching this damned "Business Communications 2" class...it has a Final Project, worth about half the total grade, consisting of a team presentation, a report, a meeting, and the agenda and minutes to accompany the meeting. I've spent the last 5 weeks (of a 10-week class) carefully going over the Final Project at the beginning of every single class. I run through it step by step, carefully detailing the requirements and rules. I've backed this up with a written document with the same information. They're OK at one campus where I teach half these classes (other than repeatedly attempting to memorize the spoken parts word-for-word, which can easily be detected from 12 nautical miles away), but at the other campus (the one we've taken to calling 'Loserville') with the other half of the classes, they are persistently clueless. They keep showing up prepared for the totally wrong assignment. On grading day, the streets of Loserville are going to run red.  |
|
|
|
Post by Lotus Eater on Feb 26, 2004 12:43:52 GMT 7
My students are getting to know me well enough now to give me some clues about what I am doing right/wrong. (I have told them it is a face thing, and they gain face if they make certain I know when they don't understand!)
With some classes I am speaking too slowly, and they are happy for me to move it along, but I need to explain concepts a little more. 3rd year business majors - and my problem is I don't know what they have learned before.
1st year business majors tell me that I explain words by using examples - which have more words in them that they don't know!
Challenges challenges.
|
|
wOZfromOZ
Charter Member and Old Chum
Posts: 419
|
Post by wOZfromOZ on Feb 26, 2004 19:19:11 GMT 7
G'day! This is not a manifestation of Parkinson's disease I'm sure ...I think .....an....and.....it's not a ego thingo.......really woza... ...really!! .....and it's definately nothing to do with some kind of perceived male macho thing but have any of my male collegues fronted up to the very centre of the front of the class, made some stunning foray into the processes to be operating in the ensueing 30 minutes to find several pairs of eyes descending to below your waist. ummmmm - I do it at least twicw a month - been doing it for years and years now - going to class without doing my bloody fly up! |
|
|
|
Post by Steiner on Feb 26, 2004 19:47:43 GMT 7
wOZfromOZ, don't worry that your fly is down. I think you should be more worried about why it's all bloody.
|
|
wOZfromOZ
Charter Member and Old Chum
Posts: 419
|
Post by wOZfromOZ on Feb 26, 2004 20:45:53 GMT 7
ah Jeezzzzeee Steiner
- You supposed to be keeping this place safe .....you know for the ladies that want to come in for a drink and stuff .......... you're gunna give me a bloody reputation or what!
|
|
roaming kiwi
Barfly
Cum'ere, boy, un let ol' pappy tell ya a story.
Posts: 264
|
Post by roaming kiwi on Feb 26, 2004 21:30:54 GMT 7
I keep repeating instructions and repeat instructions in different ways I do. Poor buggers half the activity is me blathering on with the instructions. I keep being astounded by the variety and depth of ineptness emanating from from some of these kids (teacher trainess I might add). Do I set my sights too high? eg. A young lass of 20-ish swans in 10 minutes late, walks in front of me (still giving the first instruction) - no acknowledgement or apology, wanders down the back - no seats, wanders up the front - no seats, wonders, then does that wonderful pouty thing with her lips only Asian girls can do. During all this I have tried to get her attention to the point of walking up to her and standing in front of her as she walks (she scooted around as if I didn't exist), and the rest of the class is now bellowing at her in Chinese and English to acknowledge their wonderous teacher (errr, me). Duh? Anyway - I just wanted to tell her to piss off and get a chair. I get pissed off and I shouldn't.  |
|
|
|
Post by con's fly is open on Mar 1, 2004 23:14:33 GMT 7
Bless you, Woz, I'm not the only one! (See name) I allowed parents into a class. Now the precedent is set, and every class they call answers out to the students. Then they complain that their children aren't learning how to use their English outside of the textbook. Then, when I enforce the no-beaking-out-answers policy to them, they complain to the office. Does anyone know an affordable hitman in the Liaoning region?  |
|
Wolf
Charter Member and Old Chum
Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.
Posts: 1,150
|
Post by Wolf on Mar 1, 2004 23:28:46 GMT 7
Mistakes I make?
Sorry Sandgropers, but the "oh, you're so wonderful I want to sit in on your class" line doesn't work on me. Sometimes being able to spot a lie is a mixed blessing.
Okay, well ...
When I first started teaching I wasn't ready for the surprisingly low level of my students writing. They made mistakes that had nothing to do with writing in a second langauge (poor organization, lack of back up evidence for statements, etc.) I had to re-tool my writing class several times before it was of any use to my students.
What else? Well, I have banished all thought of "face" from my thinking. I've been berift of respect so often, and for so long, that I can't be bothered I can't be bothered to cater to this culturally hypersensitive offshoot of that basic human need. If it's broke, I say it's broke. If the class gets changed and I've got to scramble, I say it's not my fault. If I mix up class times (only once so far), I do say it's my fault. If the Chinese education system impresses me with how much it sucks, well, I say it sucks. In most people's eyes, that's probably a mistake.
I find that one skill I'd like to further develop is how to group students. I've gotten pretty good at getting students to do group tasks. But, I often end up with groups that have mostly strong students, and then groups that have mostly weak students. Also - and this I don't really understand - they will naturally segregate themeselves by gender: an all boys' group, and then all girls' groups. I'm calling them "boys" and "girls" even though the students I teach are for all intents and purposes adults (legally adults too, in the case of my seniors and grad students.) But when I see voluntary gender segregation like that, well, it reminds me of grade school, because that's the last time I witnessed that.
Stuff like that.
|
|
Number One Son
Up And Coming
One small wind can raise much dust
Posts: 23
|
Post by Number One Son on Mar 1, 2004 23:47:36 GMT 7
I allowed parents into a class. Huge mistake. Parents can be worse than little kids. The Chinese management at one school wanted to allow parents into an informal class I taught that was mostly speaking activities. I told them it wasn't a good idea based on past experience, but they wanted to try, so I humored them for one class. I had one mom sit ACROSS THE ROOM from her kid and keep telling him to "talk to the foreigner" during the whole time I was trying to teach. The kid WOULD TALK when he wasn't being distracted by his mom, so she was clearly inhibiting him. Mom was talking almost as loudly as I was, and in Chinese, so watching this kid get browbeaten by his mom was distracting everyone. I kept trying to get mom to be quiet, but she would not. Even other moms started telling her to keep quiet, but she wouldn't. Mom was the worst behaved person in the class. Sometimes Chinese can be so rude that it's nearly impossible to comprehend. They must think they are the only people in the world at times and seem to have absolutely no consideration for others. Even the other kids were getting annoyed with mom and her kid was doing even worse than when she wasn't around. I have seen the scene with pushy moms repeated many times. The kids usually do much better when mom is out shopping or staring blankly at a wall as she was meant to do. The kid understood what we were doing and was just trying to participate with the other kids, but mom wanted him to dominate the conversation. I had to never allow the parents to come in again. You should try doing the same. |
|
|
|
Post by Steiner on Mar 2, 2004 11:13:04 GMT 7
Sometimes Chinese can be so rude that it's nearly impossible to comprehend. They must think they are the only people in the world at times and seem to have absolutely no consideration for others. This reminds me of a story. My wife was on a flight from Los Angeles to Atlanta once, and there was a Chinese woman sitting near her. As soon as the woman boarded the plane, she stretched out across two seats, preparing to sleep. Well, another lady was supposed to sit beside the Chinese woman, so when she got to her seat she showed the Chinese woman her seat assignment and asked her to sit up so she could sit down. The Chinese woman refused. So the lady asked a flight attendant to help her out. The Chinese woman also refused to sit up and let the lady have her seat when the flight attendant asked. She was going to lay on those two seats all the way to Atlanta and was not going to move for anyone. In the end, the flight attendant found another seat for the lady whose seat was stolen. The Chinese woman was never arrested as far as I know. Oh, and her carry-on luggage was a duffel bag as big as the Chinese woman herself. I'll bet the Chinese have a lot of stories about rude Westerners, too, though. I forgot just how rude whiteys can be until I was on a boat full of them/us in Cambodia. |
|
Ruth
SuperDuperMegaBarfly 
God's provisions are strategically placed along the path of your obedience.
Posts: 3,915
|
Post by Ruth on Mar 3, 2004 8:30:38 GMT 7
Back to the thread about mistakes...
These two did not happen in class, but they happened at school, so I think they qualify:
1) Second day on the job I went to the toilet block during class break time. There are 2600 students in the school. Figure approx. half are female. 30 stalls, cubicles, squat boxes, whatever they call them (no doors). All 1300 girls were in there trying to do their business in 10 min. or less. NO, I'm not exaggerating - well, not much. Anyway, one kind girl motioned me to go ahead. They probably all wanted to watch how the new foreign teacher DID IT. Note to self: use the toilet when the kids are in class. The experience itself is unpleasant enough without an audience.
2) Teachers who are not teaching during 4th period go early to the dining hall to purchase lunch. Teachers who are teaching that period have someone else buy for them. One day I went just a tad late. Got back into the school building just as the bell rang to dismiss the students for lunch. 2600 starving students: racing down 5 flights of stairs aiming for the dining hall. Me: trying to go up the same stairs to my 3rd floor office and relative sanctuary. Talk about going against the stream.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sunaru on Mar 3, 2004 15:28:21 GMT 7
I guess the bathroom audience doesnt faze me... perhaps it stems from experiences in stateside clubs that have unisex bathrooms. There's something to be said for the confidence of a girl checking you out at a stall and starting a conversation midstream.  |
|
woza17
SuperDuperBarfly!
Posts: 2,203
|
Post by woza17 on Mar 4, 2004 18:03:09 GMT 7
Like, in the US people chat each other up while they are having a dump, very progressive.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sandgropers on Mar 6, 2004 11:45:00 GMT 7
[quote author=woza17 in the US people chat each other up while they are having a dump, very progressive.[/quote] Well they talk a load of CRAP anyway  Cheers |
|
So I fell for it and permitted them to feel free to come to my lessons.
I was not a happy vegemite! After some reluctance on THEIR part, I managed to evict the 24 'gate-crashers'. NONE of them had had the decency to ask permission first.
