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anonymous
Q: Are Chinese schools realistic with their expectations about English teaching & learning?
I teach English at a Kindergarten. No teacher at this place ( abt 24 teachers) speaks English except me. I go to 6 different classes...and I spend no more than 30 minutes with each class. Parents of the children can't speak English which means the school is the kids' only opportunity to interact with the language. Is it therefore realistic for my employers to expect the kids to be able to communicate effectively using English just after 5 months of learning the language? I have argued with my employer to say if all the teachers could speak English with the kids all the time, except during Chinese lessons then the kids would acquire the language easily but with only one teacher against about 200 kids I find their demand a little unrealistic. Any one who has been thru this kind of thing before? How did u deal with it? Sometimes knowing my employer's expectations makes me feel like a failure yet I know very well without increasing their exposure to/ interaction with the new language u want them to acquire children wont get it, or it will take ages before they can get it.
12 years 6 days ago in Business & Jobs - China
In this case, it sounds like your employers' expectations are highly unreasonable. There's no chance of the kids communicating effectively without a lot of exposure to and engagement with the language.
I'd just keep a record of whatever progress your kids have made and focus on that.
Your employers will say anything to get the parents to pay the tuition. They have no expectations at all and they don't care if the students are progressing either. All they care about is that many parents pay so they can be perceived as "famous" in the eyes of the parents who haven't paid yet.
Take another look at the school and your job. 30 minutes? C'mon, surely you can see what's going here there.
There's nothing you can do so don't try. Give them what they ask for and they'll get what they deserve.
Look, the Chinese take this attitude towards absolutely everything: Just make sure it looks right, and don't worry about the quality. There's a foreigner with some kids. The parents think they're learning English. Good enough now let's break out the Baijiu.
They fuck their own country and people, hard and rough, every day. It's almost like they look for ways to ruin China and make it as bad as possible. Like China-ruining is some kind of competitive sport. Then when they see what a shithhole it is they blame us. It is a dance that they'll just keep doing forever. We just have to pray that they stay drunk enough on baijiu not to do any damage to our countries as well.
They are like us! In search of a quick and easy way to become fully proficient in just a few weeks with little or no study!
Now then, regarding your question,there is NO WAY you can possibly deliver what they want (though I suspect that they know it too). Try your best, yes, but dont kill yourself over it.
As has been said, and as you know yourself - no, it's not possible!
Tell the school that, if they give you crap.
I'll have that problem soon, when I'll be expected to get students up to a certain level, when they shouldn't have been admitted into the program in the first place, let alone passed through the last 3 semesters! (the last of which, the director over-ruled the teacher, who wanted to fail them)
I think the parents expectations are high whereas the school just wants the money.
derek:
Yup. The parents will pay whatever the school asks because it's also a way for them to brag to their friends that they are overpaying for a service.
"I can afford this so I must pay top dollar for it. Does it work? I don't care about that."
Too funny Derek, I shouldn't laugh though, it's also how I make my money. And you are correct, at first I asked for a fair price for advising and legal help, to my amazement, business never picked up, a friend of mine said charge more money. I thought this would make my business bust but again to my amazement the business went up, now I can't keep them out of my door, and they all are bragging how they can pay for the most hours when in reality, I can do legal paperwork in about an hour.
Unfortunately the problem stems from the schools admin. In some cases they do want to hold some kind of reputation and in other cases it's only a matter of profit.
All depends on the school and what their intentions are. I have found that schools that are administered and owned by former teachers are best suited for us foreigners.
They usually care more about the students and, of course, their reputation as a good school. Like all businesses, word of mouth does comes into play and in the long run everyone profits. The best thing is to find out if the owner of the school has a background in education and if they have a hands-on with everything happening in the school. What you do not want is an owner who is not present or cares of what is going on. That owner is more likely to give lower wages to his staff and that usually does not give much incentive for the employees to give their full efforts. Another way is to look in on the staff and see how they operate and witness the overall atmosphere of the place. Happy employees and happy kids tend to tell it all. Wouldn't you say?
Shining_brow:
Happy employees and distraught kids! :) If they're happy, they're passing too easily... if they're distraught, it means they know it's no easy street any more
Wait a minute. Know this.
You.Are.NOT.A.Failure.
You didn't plan this, it's not what you selected. You're in a bad position but that does not make it your fault. If you order soup and there's a fly in it, is that your fault?
your desire to change it speaks volumes about your good character. However, they likely will not change. Certainly you may state your position but don't blame yourself if they don't listen.
Have fun, make changes when you can and finish your obligation. Don't worry, they only care about appearances.
Wow this question is 39 weeks old.
