A Bit of Luck

23 Feb 2012 4 Comments

by smkelly8 in expat life, Teaching EFL Tags: , , , , ,

English: Gentaur schedule

Image via Wikipedia

Any teacher will tell you the first week of school is draining. No matter how prepared and experienced you are getting used to a new schedule, learning new names and really figuring out what you want to do with a new crop of students takes a lot out of you. Things are going well, but I listen to my students and think, “Oh, dear, they’ve been learning English since they were 10 and this is how far they’ve gotten.” Or “I wonder what he’s trying to say? Is the talking about school or soup?”

I’ve got a decent schedule for teaching 24 hours a week. I’ll teach 6 hours on Monday and Wednesday and may need to be carried home those days. Tuesday I have a long morning break from 9:50 to 2pm. This week I was able to get into town and back to run some errands. Thursday I’m blessed with a free afternoon and Friday I don’t have to start till 10. Not bad.

Today I got a kind of bonus. After 2nd period ended, I ran over to the administrative office to order some copies. When I returned, I expected to see my 3rd period students. No one was there. Though class wouldn’t start for another 10 minutes in China that’s odd. I waited and waited. The bell rang and still no one was there. I called the Foreign Affairs Liaison and she said she’d look into this. Eventually, I got a call from a student with poor English. I really didn’t know what he said, but I figured there was a scheduling error. Maybe they were double booked.

In time a girl came in with a paper in Chinese that she showed me as a way to explain the problem. I really don’t get how she thought I’d be able to read it. From day one, I make it clear that I don’t speak Chinese. I guess that hasn’t sunk in. In time another student with poor English joined the girl. It seems the students’ schedule showed them as free during this period. Since some were off campus it was impossible to round everyone up.

I was glad that they weren’t somehow double booked and say in Chinese at that time, which might mean I’d have to teach Thursday afternoon. That free afternoon is rather precious. All seems well (fingers crossed) and next week we’ll hold class as my schedule shows. The pair wondered if we should make up class on Friday evening. I said that shouldn’t be necessary and if need be we’ll figure out a make up time. As I see it, it wasn’t my mistake and I was ready to go. Over the course of the semester we’re sure to cover all we need to. Down the road we can see about a make up but I think we can just let this go.

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Grading Time is Here

19 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment

by smkelly8 in Teaching EFL Tags: , ,

One of the worst conversations between students and teachers. Sadly, it’s a perennial.

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English Names

29 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment

by smkelly8 in China, culture, education, Teaching EFL

In China students typically chose to use and English name for their “English life.”

There are many choices like Emily, Vanessa, Will and Victor. Yet there are some that really give one pause. Should I tell this student that name will only give them trouble, however slight, in the US? Should I respect their right to choose?

Well, here are some of this school’s more unusual choices:

Album, Mars, Bruins, Brand, Lucifer (glad he’s not in my class), Choco, Bee/Plane (yep, the slash is part of the name), Mars, Ocean, Zero, Tone, Snaker, Mega, Ivy (a boy), Sickey (a girl), and Zero.

Well, it is easy to remember these names.

Where’s the Subject?

12 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment

by smkelly8 in Teaching EFL

Huh?

You’d hope that someone would ask the native English speakers about the sign first?

My Inbox

15 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment

by smkelly8 in bad jobs, expat life, Teaching EFL Tags: ,


I woke up this Sunday morning with all these work emails waiting for me. Mind you I had a conference call last night that lasted an hour (till after midnight here). So chaos prevails and we try to make the best of it. A huge problem is that the partnership contains so much woe and intrigue.

The second international program is getting students that the Chinese aren’t telling the American AP program about. They’re “off the books” and a poor international teacher is caught in the middle. He’s the same teacher that they got a cute Chinese teacher to plead with him to let the students buy their Art Appreciation texts with his credit card. They seems to seek out the soft touch and then take advantage.

Today it’s sunny and would be good to go to Hong Kong or even just a garden in Guangzhou, yet I can’t afford the time. We’ve learned our Program Coordinator/Lead Instructor isn’t coming back from the U.S. So we’ve got to figure out how to manage. I’m not sure “we” was the right subject. I think we’ll have some input, but the final decision won’t rest with us. Some proposed solutions are likely to just make things a lot worse. This we don’t need.

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Thank God for the Long Lunches

27 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment

by smkelly8 in bad jobs, Teaching EFL Tags: , , , , ,

In China everyone gets a long lunch break to eat and take a nap. Siesta culture in the East.

On Tuesdays I’m especially grateful for them as I teach 5 hours till lunch and then two more hours after. It’s a grind.

First I start with 2 hours facilitating an online Art Appreciation course and today we had our first Skype class. Of course, there was some confusion. The room had been set up with a new computer, but the computer wasn’t completely connected. Doing things half way is the only way I’ve seen things done here. So fixing that took some doing as the professor back in the US waited patiently.

We’ve got 48 students in this class and I’d say 7 are ready for the rigors of even a gut course, not that Art is.  Art Appreciation requires a lot of vocabulary that these students just don’t have. Economics and biology do too and some students are in those classes. How they’ll really manage 3 different courses, with no overlap is beyond me. The teacher gave a good lecture, one that I enjoyed, but the students’ eyes were so glassy. T

I’m on duty just once a week for this. I am not the teacher so I won’t be grading 48 papers written by intermediate and pre-intermediate students. I just make sure the technology works. They’re using paper forms and since the scanner was busy, they took photos of each one and mailed a massive email off to California. Some of the forms were written all in Chinese or lacked essential information like names. The poor guy at the registrar’s office. Since this is an online course it does matter that this step gets completed. The students can’t sign out to buy the book, look at the syllabus and other course information. They can’t contribute to the discussion board.

Then there’s a kerfluffle over the apartments. We’re due to move on Thursday. I was allowed to choose which apartment I wanted as I have seniority. Well, my colleague doesn’t think that’s right and now I’m told that Mr. Chen, the head honcho, wants Chris in building 53 and me in building 2. Building 53 is nearer the school, has an oven and a good view.  I’m getting worn down. The better way to go is to have standard campus housing. That way there’s no issue at all.

I’m so doubtful that Mr. Chen, whom I’ve seen once, really cares. If he did, he’d be a bit strange. There should be more important things on his mind, like the incredible challenge of finding A4 paper for the school.

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Dazed and Confused

12 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment

by smkelly8 in bad jobs, Career, essay, expat life, Teaching EFL

Yesterday after 6pm there was a flurry of work related emails. Today was our first day of class. Our placement tests indicate that many of the students probably cheated on their Chinese placement tests so the class assignments are way off. Thus our schedule was completely reworked. We won’t be team teaching, except for a few instances. Mainly we’ll be assigned to a group and teach them all 4 skills. Much simpler. Or it should be.

The emails also addressed the fact that our apartments are only half prepared and the classrooms weren’t ready. We’re teaching on a new floor that was just completed.

The director sent an email to the administrators threatening that if everything wasn’t ready by this morning we wouldn’t teach. That could be what it would take to get some action, but I believe if you don’t follow through on a threat, you lose credibility.

We wound up teaching in rooms that were dusty from the construction work, that had no wifi or projectors that worked. Even the blackboards were covered in an adhesive plastic and we couldn’t write on them. The wifi seems like a bonus, but we’re using ebooks, not paper ones. So wifi connects the students with their books. Also, none of us have class lists for a single class we’re teaching.

My first class was the Art 105, the blended learning class that I will facilitate. We’re supposed to do some prep work so the students are able to handle the vocabulary, reading and writing needed for this class. Not only didn’t we have access to the online course material, but all the wrong students were in the class. To take a college course, they must prove they have a high level of English skill. The Chinese administrators want to just fill the room and no thought has gone into the fact that if you can’t write two insightful college level essays, you’re going to fail. What’s the point of having a dozen kids audit a class they don’t understand? Is there an advantage to challenging the students who belong there with malingerers who’ll distract them?

Somehow I survived by having the students discuss and write about art. Then I had an English class that I managed to get through since the students are fairly high level.

Fourth period was mass confusion, I waited in my class for students. Some came. I began to teach. Mind you I have no print out of my schedule, which has changed twice since 9pm yesterday. I have no class lists. Then the program director comes in and says there’s been a mistake. He distributes the kids into the classes that they now belong in. No one’s left so I go to the office. I figure I’ve got a break, a well deserved one.

A bit later, Avie, a Chinese administrator is looking for me. It seems I had a class that was waiting for me in another teacher’s classroom. So I led them into my classroom and taught them. Afterward my colleague Jimmy got upset because I had erased something he wrote on my blackboard.

[categories China, expat life, bad jobs]

On culture

21 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment

by smkelly8 in culture, Teaching EFL

On culture. I’ve found a great quotation on culture and posted it on my teaching blog. Check it out.

 

From My Archives

19 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment

by smkelly8 in bad jobs, Career, expat life, KNUE, Teaching EFL Tags:

Last year it was hell getting a visa to teach in R.O.K. So many hoops to jump through and a complete nincompoop at the helm. This woman also led astray the other new teacher and her errors cost him a week’s wages and $300+ Australian.

September 12, 2010

Still NO VISA

Okay, now I’m anxious. I thought for sure the visa would be in today’s mail, if not yesterday’s. I need the passport and visa to go. I hate the idea of having to change this flight again. I have half a mind to just not go and find a different job as much as I’m tired of all this job hunting and waiting.

I’m especially put off because the department Coordinator refused to come pick me up at the bus station. We’ve gone back and forth on this request. I’ve said that I’d really appreciate some help with my bags and finding the way to a new place after being on the road so long. I’ll leave my house at 5am if not before to get on a 7am flight to San Francisco followed by an 11 hour flight to Seoul. Then I have to get a 2 hour bus to a town near my small town. That’s when I’d like to have a welcome and someone to take the reins.

Nope.

I even offered to pay the Coordinator for her time and the cab. She refused.

I suppose they just don’t do this, though every other job I’ve had does. In China and Japan several people met the new teachers and we didn’t have to touch our bags. In Korea the first time two people met me at the airport. It’s just nice to see such people and relax about a new endeavor. I really thought this young girl would be happy to make some extra money.

The thought I have is if I don’t get this help, does it mean that I won’t get other help at KNUE.
Yes, that’s exactly what the refusal meant.

Interview

20 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment

by smkelly8 in Teaching EFL, Work

From the archives in 2010:

Yesterday I had a good, informative, relaxed interview with AU– in Kuwait. By the end, I really thought it would be a fun place to work. Initially, I just applied thinking “try anything.” But the interviewer presented her school well and asked some good questions. She welcomed mine and I think we could have chatted all afternoon. I was delighted that she set up a second interview.

I did have concerns – Kuwait is really falling off the map and I doubt I’d get visitors there. It’s the desert and I’m not one for sun. Yet it seemed like the quality of life would be good and I’d love to have whatever resources I needed. Imagine!

I just finished my second interview with the AU– in Kuwait. That didn’t go as well as yesterday’s. I connected easily with Michelle, yesterday and this woman today was much more negative. It seemed more like an interrogation and though I tried to remain upbeat, I wasn’t enjoying her personality much.

She kept focusing on why I changed jobs so much. For my field, I’m rather steady given the uncertainties and low status we have. She kept asking the same questions again and again. Despite my flagging interest, I remained positive. But there were no questions about how I teach, just why I left each job and what my ultimate goal is. She kept pressing to find out why I didn’t want to return to the US. Well, that’s my preference, not some big problem. I didn’t really want to say “People are uncivil. The Tea Party Folks get to me. The politics has all gone pear-shaped.” Some EFL/ESL teachers are so parochial and seem to suspect folks like us who have a curiosity about the world. She asked me three times why I wasn’t staying in China. Each time I told her “This job here is ending. The agreement between these schools has changed and most other jobs here pay $800.”

My goal is to get out there and see if it would be a good fit. I really liked the idea of their flying me out there to check things out. Still my interest has plummeted.

I do feel my soul has taken a beating and I need to heal. Yesterday I did write six pages and today I’ll do more.

Tomorrow I interview with Cambodia. I hope you get an interview with the AU– as I’d love to compare notes.

I’m fine with returning to the US and taking some classes and moving in a new direction.

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