Hey I'm not doing too bad on this updating thing!
So let's see, what can I update about tonight...oh yeah! I know...
I usually teach the awful middle school kids on Saturdays and on every other Monday, so teaching on Saturday was nothing new. HOWEVER... I started getting calls from Emily on Thursday about how the school was going to be watching me teach and I needed to be extra prepared. She called on Friday to say the same thing, and then also told me that we needed to stay after teaching to have a meeting...great, just what I was hoping I could do at 4 pm on Saturday. But you know, you gotta do what you gotta do, right? Well, as we were all reminded about three times to not be late on Saturday, we were all EARLY, so Emily handed us a piece of paper that the school had given to her to give to the teachers. After reading this piece of paper several time AND discussing it with the other teachers, I STILL have no idea what this paper is trying to say. To make matters worse, we were offered no explanation either.... what do you think this means?
School's feedback:
1. Don't be late.
2. Preparation for lessons.
3. No teaching characteristic (can't attract students)
4. No homework, no checking, no comment.
5. Build up good relationship with students.
6. Foreign teachers are not very responsible for their teaching.
School's suggestions:
1. The Chinese teachers from the school will listen to our classes every time.
2. Every teacher (Chinese and foreign teachers) will stay in the school after finishing the class and talk about the lesson for next time.
3. Final exam.
4. Christmas activities next Saturday.
5. General comments on the exam and send out the certificates.
Right. So what do you think? We have NO CLUE. Let me point out the part that we don't understand....we understand don't be late... but here's the thing - it's not like any of us PLAN on being late. I was late twice. Once, there was an earthquake while I was en route, and traffic pretty much came to a stand still; the other time I was in a bus that was in an accident. We had to switch buses, and that slows things down. There have been two Chinese teachers who were late as well, they were stuck in traffic and were about a half an hour late. We ALL leave in enough time to get there under NORMAL circumstances, I don't understand how we are supposed to control traffic..but okay... I'll except this one. The second one, prep for lessons. You'd think this would be normal wouldn't you? But not really. We teach from a book that has the lesson plan already complete. We are told not to deviate from this lesson, the school is very strict about this. There is NOTHING TO PREPARE FOR! We speak english....we look at the words, and we are prepared. Emily has started telling us that we need to write out a lesson plan each week, for a lesson plan that is already written out. I don't understand it, but I do it. The real confusion is "no teaching characteristic (can't attract students)" and the seemingly contradicting "build up good relationship with students." And WHAT does "foreign teachers are not very responsible for their teaching" MEAN? Oh me, of my. We don't know what this means at all. We really don't know what the suggestions are saying AT ALL... including the final exam. There was no mention of a final exam to us. I'm not too keen on this idea, and I'd really like some details! Well, I thought we would hear about it during our meeting, but really, what happened was this: all the teachers were shoved into a room, Emily and a few others spoke in Chinese, Barry, Paul and I talked in English, we were reminded that we teach on Monday, told that we were to teach a Christmas song on Christmas Eve, and told to leave. WHAAA? We asked what had just happened and got no answer. This job is so weird. I don't even LIKE it that much. If I wasn't so against the students always having to re-adjust to new teachers, I would quit. It seems that people come and go all the time at this school, and it doesn't surprise me that the kids are really ill behaved. They don't have any stability! Oh psych majors, we're so weird aren't we? Well, at least I like the other teachers.... Anyway.
When we left, I had my second sighting of the child prison! I told a few people about this on IM, but it's got to be the strangest thing I've ever seen... there are about eight kids, very young, in a cage-looking on the back of a bike. They don't look unhappy, and they even waved and laughed at us when we tried to get them to smile while Paul took a picture with his cell phone. The last time I saw this I asked Emily what it was and she said that she thought it was a day care....how bizarre is that? I don't think it's abuse, they appear to be transporting the kids somewhere, and the cart thing is decorated with painted balloons and things, but it's just so WEIRD! I wish I had my camera on me! Paul took video of it to, so he said he would send it to me. Speaking of pictures, I've been looking around, and I think I will be getting a flickr account. I'll let you know. Okay! I'm talking to my sister Michelle now, so I think it's time to go! Have a great day!
I usually teach the awful middle school kids on Saturdays and on every other Monday, so teaching on Saturday was nothing new. HOWEVER... I started getting calls from Emily on Thursday about how the school was going to be watching me teach and I needed to be extra prepared. She called on Friday to say the same thing, and then also told me that we needed to stay after teaching to have a meeting...great, just what I was hoping I could do at 4 pm on Saturday. But you know, you gotta do what you gotta do, right? Well, as we were all reminded about three times to not be late on Saturday, we were all EARLY, so Emily handed us a piece of paper that the school had given to her to give to the teachers. After reading this piece of paper several time AND discussing it with the other teachers, I STILL have no idea what this paper is trying to say. To make matters worse, we were offered no explanation either.... what do you think this means?
School's feedback:
1. Don't be late.
2. Preparation for lessons.
3. No teaching characteristic (can't attract students)
4. No homework, no checking, no comment.
5. Build up good relationship with students.
6. Foreign teachers are not very responsible for their teaching.
School's suggestions:
1. The Chinese teachers from the school will listen to our classes every time.
2. Every teacher (Chinese and foreign teachers) will stay in the school after finishing the class and talk about the lesson for next time.
3. Final exam.
4. Christmas activities next Saturday.
5. General comments on the exam and send out the certificates.
Right. So what do you think? We have NO CLUE. Let me point out the part that we don't understand....we understand don't be late... but here's the thing - it's not like any of us PLAN on being late. I was late twice. Once, there was an earthquake while I was en route, and traffic pretty much came to a stand still; the other time I was in a bus that was in an accident. We had to switch buses, and that slows things down. There have been two Chinese teachers who were late as well, they were stuck in traffic and were about a half an hour late. We ALL leave in enough time to get there under NORMAL circumstances, I don't understand how we are supposed to control traffic..but okay... I'll except this one. The second one, prep for lessons. You'd think this would be normal wouldn't you? But not really. We teach from a book that has the lesson plan already complete. We are told not to deviate from this lesson, the school is very strict about this. There is NOTHING TO PREPARE FOR! We speak english....we look at the words, and we are prepared. Emily has started telling us that we need to write out a lesson plan each week, for a lesson plan that is already written out. I don't understand it, but I do it. The real confusion is "no teaching characteristic (can't attract students)" and the seemingly contradicting "build up good relationship with students." And WHAT does "foreign teachers are not very responsible for their teaching" MEAN? Oh me, of my. We don't know what this means at all. We really don't know what the suggestions are saying AT ALL... including the final exam. There was no mention of a final exam to us. I'm not too keen on this idea, and I'd really like some details! Well, I thought we would hear about it during our meeting, but really, what happened was this: all the teachers were shoved into a room, Emily and a few others spoke in Chinese, Barry, Paul and I talked in English, we were reminded that we teach on Monday, told that we were to teach a Christmas song on Christmas Eve, and told to leave. WHAAA? We asked what had just happened and got no answer. This job is so weird. I don't even LIKE it that much. If I wasn't so against the students always having to re-adjust to new teachers, I would quit. It seems that people come and go all the time at this school, and it doesn't surprise me that the kids are really ill behaved. They don't have any stability! Oh psych majors, we're so weird aren't we? Well, at least I like the other teachers.... Anyway.
When we left, I had my second sighting of the child prison! I told a few people about this on IM, but it's got to be the strangest thing I've ever seen... there are about eight kids, very young, in a cage-looking on the back of a bike. They don't look unhappy, and they even waved and laughed at us when we tried to get them to smile while Paul took a picture with his cell phone. The last time I saw this I asked Emily what it was and she said that she thought it was a day care....how bizarre is that? I don't think it's abuse, they appear to be transporting the kids somewhere, and the cart thing is decorated with painted balloons and things, but it's just so WEIRD! I wish I had my camera on me! Paul took video of it to, so he said he would send it to me. Speaking of pictures, I've been looking around, and I think I will be getting a flickr account. I'll let you know. Okay! I'm talking to my sister Michelle now, so I think it's time to go! Have a great day!