Stress
Work has been stressing me out lately. The teachers, especially.
The English teacher for the 8th grade kids is pregnant and leaving soon, but she's been slowly driving me insane. She's a woman who feels the need to tell me every single thing she's doing in class, even if it's the same thing we do almost every class. For example, my reading aloud from the text. She still feels the need to pull me aside and tell me that's what's happening even though it's about as obvious as saying "Hey, class is going to take place today."
She also will snap at me for the most random things. For example, during one class a few of the boys did something really ridiculous. They opened the windows to the classroom and put their bookbags out on the porch out there. I don't know why. She was furious at them, which makes sense. But then she snapped about it at me. I don't know what I did wrong since I wasn't involved. It's also not my job to punish the kids; my company states that I can't since it's not my culture. So I've never, for the past two years, punished the kids. And yet now she seems upset at me for it even though she's known me since September and knows I haven't punished them this whole time. That's her job as their real teacher. She also yelled at me for talking to the kids and appearing to be too friendly with them. Again, it's my job to be friends with the kids so they'll be willing to talk to me. I'm like an ambassador to foreigners for these kids so I have to be friendly. But she hates that and yells at me for it.
Then there's an old math teacher lady for the 9th graders who yelled at me for talking to the 9th grade kids during cleaning time. I had a bunch of 9th grade kids outside with me sweeping, and they would talk to me (always in English) as we swept. But then, for the past month, this old lady's been coming out yelling at them for talking to me. Finally the vice principal called me into his office and told me I'm not allowed to sweep outside. He was apologetic about it, but he said I should probably stay away from the 9th graders during cleaning time. So I've been out in the wood shop class with the 8th graders cleaning.
Last there's the 9th grade English teacher. She yelled at me a few days ago for the 9th graders talking to me during class while they were working on a worksheet. She particularly yelled at a few of the students who'd been talking, saying it's a really important time when they should be studying for high school entrance exams and not just chatting away. This makes sense to me, but they were the ones who'd started talking to me and it'd been an interesting question. And then about five minutes later she started talking to a bunch of the 9th grade kids seated in a different side of the room. Not about English or anything related to school whatsoever. The kid whom she'd yelled at called me over to him and said, "She's talking louder than I was." Great example to set for the kids.
So these three women are currently driving me crazy. The pregnant one is leaving by the end of February to have the kid, but the two older ladies are sticking around for an indefinite period of time. It's stressing me out at work, constantly wondering what actions I'll do that will set them off again. My job, I THOUGHT, was to get the kids to like me so they'll talk to me in English and learn to like English and possibly foreigners. These three teachers don't like me doing that, though, apparently.
I'm really frustrated.
The English teacher for the 8th grade kids is pregnant and leaving soon, but she's been slowly driving me insane. She's a woman who feels the need to tell me every single thing she's doing in class, even if it's the same thing we do almost every class. For example, my reading aloud from the text. She still feels the need to pull me aside and tell me that's what's happening even though it's about as obvious as saying "Hey, class is going to take place today."
She also will snap at me for the most random things. For example, during one class a few of the boys did something really ridiculous. They opened the windows to the classroom and put their bookbags out on the porch out there. I don't know why. She was furious at them, which makes sense. But then she snapped about it at me. I don't know what I did wrong since I wasn't involved. It's also not my job to punish the kids; my company states that I can't since it's not my culture. So I've never, for the past two years, punished the kids. And yet now she seems upset at me for it even though she's known me since September and knows I haven't punished them this whole time. That's her job as their real teacher. She also yelled at me for talking to the kids and appearing to be too friendly with them. Again, it's my job to be friends with the kids so they'll be willing to talk to me. I'm like an ambassador to foreigners for these kids so I have to be friendly. But she hates that and yells at me for it.
Then there's an old math teacher lady for the 9th graders who yelled at me for talking to the 9th grade kids during cleaning time. I had a bunch of 9th grade kids outside with me sweeping, and they would talk to me (always in English) as we swept. But then, for the past month, this old lady's been coming out yelling at them for talking to me. Finally the vice principal called me into his office and told me I'm not allowed to sweep outside. He was apologetic about it, but he said I should probably stay away from the 9th graders during cleaning time. So I've been out in the wood shop class with the 8th graders cleaning.
Last there's the 9th grade English teacher. She yelled at me a few days ago for the 9th graders talking to me during class while they were working on a worksheet. She particularly yelled at a few of the students who'd been talking, saying it's a really important time when they should be studying for high school entrance exams and not just chatting away. This makes sense to me, but they were the ones who'd started talking to me and it'd been an interesting question. And then about five minutes later she started talking to a bunch of the 9th grade kids seated in a different side of the room. Not about English or anything related to school whatsoever. The kid whom she'd yelled at called me over to him and said, "She's talking louder than I was." Great example to set for the kids.
So these three women are currently driving me crazy. The pregnant one is leaving by the end of February to have the kid, but the two older ladies are sticking around for an indefinite period of time. It's stressing me out at work, constantly wondering what actions I'll do that will set them off again. My job, I THOUGHT, was to get the kids to like me so they'll talk to me in English and learn to like English and possibly foreigners. These three teachers don't like me doing that, though, apparently.
I'm really frustrated.