By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .
Sign up with Google
Sign up with Facebook
anonymous
Q: What is a typical Subject Teaching experience in China?
This question is about native english speakers hired to teach subjects (typically AP, SAT prep, or A-level) in English to Chinese students.
So a bit of background. My company sent me to teach AP Courses in a school in a small, rich city. They billed me as an "experienced foreign teacher" when in actuality I never taught these topics in America and had very limited teaching experience.
Since I've never taught these topics before, I make some mistakes on the board. I also am constantly fighting against my company and colleagues' desire to pose extremely difficult problems (far beyond what is needed to pass the AP exam). My coworkers quickly decided I was incompetent and avoid me if possible. The students hate me, too. Because I assign them more homework (I'm the only foreign teacher who is teaching an AP subject here), because I make mistakes, and because at first I couldn't consistently use easy english, my students immediately decided they didn't like me and refuse to do anything I ask, including the homework.
The students at this school are actually really bad. They aren't very smart and have extremely limited English. Most of them have no work ethic at all. Even before I showed up, there was a pattern where half of the Senior 1 students would not come back for Senior 2, and half of the senior 2 would not come back for senior 3, so that our school only has 11 Senior 3 kids this year. Senior 3 is actually sent to a different school because of this.
Additionally, this cohort of Senior 2 (I only teach senior 2) is extra bad for some reason. Last year, this school had 3 female teachers who got pregnant and quit, and had 4 foreign teachers quit during the year. This is remarkable because there are only 3 foreign teacher positions at this school! No foreign teachers came back to this school from last year. Nobody from my company wants to teach at this school. In fact, my company wanted to send some Chinese teachers from different schools to come "help" me, and many of them refused. The one that did eventually come refuses to communicate with me or even provide me with copies of the homework she gives out.
Naturally, my company didn't tell me any of the bad things about the school. They expect me to get all of these students to get 5s on both of the AP topics that I'm teaching.
I'm wondering whether my experience is an unusual one for subject teaching. Am I going to get in big trouble when my students don't pass the AP exam?
I've had a hellish experience this year. I think that a person with less mental fortitude, in my position, would have pulled a night run and gotten the hell out of there. In addition to my work problems, i got involved with a really psycho Chinese girl and had a messy break up complete with accusations of abuse and her (false) claims that I got her pregnant. Furthermore one of the two foreign teachers here is a extreme right-winger who talks about nothing but Mises, Hayek, and Ayn Rand. Since I'm rather liberal we immediately became enemies. He's actually doing everything he can to undermine me, and he has made sure that I'm not invited to any of the vacations that my coworkers from other schools organize, meaning I'm completely socially isolated.
I'm just asking how typical this is. Is this the normal experience for a foreign teacher here?
12 years 3 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
A typical subject would be current events. Just pick any current event that is relative to the teaching and use that. Current events in govt, schools and education etc.,
Hello!
The company you work for sounds very similar to mine. I suspect your experience is very common and lots of people have had the same experiences.
The strange (and by all accounts popular) system of having foreign teachers teaching AP, A Level or IB courses is full of stressful and confusing situations. I have found it disappointing to learn that the education and qualifications we teach are not as important as the money the parents pay and the image the foreign teachers project.
I have heard a variety of stories of teachers in similar positions such as:
- Entire staff leaving a school after being treated badly.
- Teacher's being shouted at and threatened in corridors outside classrooms.
- Admin staff hiding behind doors and eavesdropping on conversations.
- Visa's and certificates being mishandled and forged.
I hope the rest of year is not too stressful and you find a better job!
The truth is most of these schools claiming IB/AP/SAT courses have no right to teach these or any subject and any University that see's this scores that are not from an accredited off shore school will only ball up the paper and throw it in the trash. Currently there are only a handful of accredited schools out side of International Schools that are accredited. They are completely under a Western Program with no Chinese teachers and are sponsered by schools in Western Countries. New Oriental is not accredited as they say they are, it's all a ploy.
