First off...
I'd like to remind you all that I'm an idiot.
You see, having complained about not being able to stay logged in to livejournal, I should have remembered that I can't access anything that's f-locked. This includes my own posts. Meaning I *did* get every comment that was posted on my emotional rant-and-vent session, and I did want to reply, but I can't because I can't access the comments and post in question.
For - as I said before - I am an idiot. ^^
Needless to say, for now, I'm sending out one gigantic group hug to all of you, and I do feel one hundred percent better - more clear-headed and level. :)
Now, to lighten the mood. ^^ Yesterday, I got up at oh-dark-thirty - also known as 5:30am - to make it to the office by six, Ruthie in tow, so we could head out to Pudong (Nanhui district) for the teacher evaluations. There were ten foreigners, and it was up to us to evaluate 800+ Chinese English teachers by 6:30pm.
Well, we did it, remarkably enough, and I didn't get home until almost 9, so I'm doubly glad I brought Ruthie with me. 14 hours is too long to leave her alone, even if she CAN hold it that long. Besides, none of the teachers we evaluated ever knew she was there - she slept in her carrier for 3 hour stretches until our breaks when I'd take her for a run in the park next to the school. She had a great day, and all the evaluators spoiled her rotton with bits of bread, orange and banana slices. She was in heaven.
So yeah, in evaluating Chinese English teachers, essentially we engage them in conversation about their teaching methods and current lessons, using prompting questions to both help jog their memories, and to test their overall comprehension. Lots of these teachers come with prepared and memorized speeches, so the only way to discover their real English ability is to trip them up. Some of the great snippets from yesterday:
Mandy: "Hi, how are you?"
Teacher: "I'm thirty-five, thank you."
Mandy: "So how are you doing?"
Teacher: "Oh, I've been teaching English for ten years."
Mandy: "So what games do you play with your class?"
Teacher: "I like to play basketball, tennis and football."
Mandy: "No...I mean, what English games do you play in your classroom?"
Teacher: ".....yes."
Mandy: "Huh?"
Teacher: "Yes, I play games."
Mandy: ".....okay, moving on..."
Mandy: "So what unit are you doing right now?"
Teacher: "There are three steps I use to prepare for my classes."
Mandy: "..okaaayyy...but what unit? Unit 1? Unit 2?"
Teacher: "......There are three steps I use to prepare for my classes."
Mandy: "....right. And they are?"
Mandy: "So what do you do to get your students interested in your class?"
Teacher: "Oh yes, they are very interested."
Mandy: "Uh-huh. And when they're not, what do you do?"
Teacher: "Not what?"
Mandy: "Interested."
Teacher: "Oh yes, they are very interested."
Mandy: "So what are you teaching in class right now?"
Teacher: "I teach English."
Mandy: "Yes, but what topic are you teaching your classes?"
Teacher: *confused* "I teach English."
Mandy: "Are you teaching them animals? Colors? Numbers? Sports?"
Teacher: "I teach English."
Mandy: "Yeah, I get that. Okay, next..."
Mandy: "So you teach two grades, right?"
Teacher: "Grade 2 and Grade 3."
Mandy: "Me too! Which grade do you like best?"
Teacher: "I love my students, they are very lovely."
Mandy: "I love my kids too but sometimes I like grade 2 better - they listen more. What about you?"
Teacher: "My students are lovely and they work hard. I am a good teacher."
Mandy: *resists urge to smack head against the desk*
Mandy: You teach grade 8? How old are they?"
Teacher: "I'm fine, thank you, and you?"
Sometimes you get the teachers who memorize the speeches and big words so they can look more impressive then they are. Case in point, the CAI (which is Computer something-something - using the computer to do slide shows and Powerpoint presentations).
Teacher: "I use the CAI because I think it's important use the multi-media in the classroom."
Mandy: "What's the CAI?"
Teacher: ".....I'm sorry, I can't understand your meaning."
Mandy: "You said you use the CAI in your classroom. What's CAI?"
Teacher: "....I can't understand your meaning."
Mandy: "What's multimedia?"
Teacher: "I don't know."
Mandy: "So I figured."
We know the teachers prepared for this eval together because almost every single teacher I evaluated gave me the same phrases:
- 'arouse the students interest'
- 'use the CAI and multimedia in the classroom'
- 'There are 3 steps to use in my classroom teaching. The first is...'
I got bored after hearing about the 3-step method 25 times in a row, so I tried to switch it up.
Teacher: "There are 3 steps I follow in my teaching style. The first is--"
Mandy: *cuts her off* "What's the third?"
Teacher: *blinks* "The first it--"
Mandy: "What's the third?"
Teacher: "I can't understand your meaning."
Mandy: "You said you have three steps you follow. Tell me the third one."
Teacher: "I...the first one--"
Mandy: "Third."
Teacher: "I'm sorry, I don't know."
Mandy: *nods and marks down 'low beginner'* "Okay, go on."
Teacher: "The first step is...."
Mandy: "What are you teaching your students right now?"
Teacher: "I'm sorry, I don't know."
Mandy: "Okay...what are you doing in your class?"
Teacher: "I don't know."
Mandy: ".......right. Okay, dd you have a class on Friday?"
Teacher: "What?"
Mandy: "Did you teach last Friday? Yesterday. Did you teach a class yesterday?"
Teacher: "Oh. Yes."
Mandy: "Good. What did you teach your class yesterday?"
Teacher: "I teach English."
Mandy: "Okay, but what was the topic yesterday?"
Teacher: "I don't understand your meaning."
Mandy: "Let's try this again. Did you teach yesterday?"
Teacher: "Yes."
Mandy: "What did you teach?"
Teacher: "I teach English. I am English teacher for 13 years."
Mandy: "Which explains an awful lot about the average fluency rate among students."
Teacher: "I can't understand your meaning."
Mandy: "Right, right. Okay..."
There were tons more, but this is getting long enough, so I'll save a few tidbits to post next time. :)
You see, having complained about not being able to stay logged in to livejournal, I should have remembered that I can't access anything that's f-locked. This includes my own posts. Meaning I *did* get every comment that was posted on my emotional rant-and-vent session, and I did want to reply, but I can't because I can't access the comments and post in question.
For - as I said before - I am an idiot. ^^
Needless to say, for now, I'm sending out one gigantic group hug to all of you, and I do feel one hundred percent better - more clear-headed and level. :)
Now, to lighten the mood. ^^ Yesterday, I got up at oh-dark-thirty - also known as 5:30am - to make it to the office by six, Ruthie in tow, so we could head out to Pudong (Nanhui district) for the teacher evaluations. There were ten foreigners, and it was up to us to evaluate 800+ Chinese English teachers by 6:30pm.
Well, we did it, remarkably enough, and I didn't get home until almost 9, so I'm doubly glad I brought Ruthie with me. 14 hours is too long to leave her alone, even if she CAN hold it that long. Besides, none of the teachers we evaluated ever knew she was there - she slept in her carrier for 3 hour stretches until our breaks when I'd take her for a run in the park next to the school. She had a great day, and all the evaluators spoiled her rotton with bits of bread, orange and banana slices. She was in heaven.
So yeah, in evaluating Chinese English teachers, essentially we engage them in conversation about their teaching methods and current lessons, using prompting questions to both help jog their memories, and to test their overall comprehension. Lots of these teachers come with prepared and memorized speeches, so the only way to discover their real English ability is to trip them up. Some of the great snippets from yesterday:
Mandy: "Hi, how are you?"
Teacher: "I'm thirty-five, thank you."
Mandy: "So how are you doing?"
Teacher: "Oh, I've been teaching English for ten years."
Mandy: "So what games do you play with your class?"
Teacher: "I like to play basketball, tennis and football."
Mandy: "No...I mean, what English games do you play in your classroom?"
Teacher: ".....yes."
Mandy: "Huh?"
Teacher: "Yes, I play games."
Mandy: ".....okay, moving on..."
Mandy: "So what unit are you doing right now?"
Teacher: "There are three steps I use to prepare for my classes."
Mandy: "..okaaayyy...but what unit? Unit 1? Unit 2?"
Teacher: "......There are three steps I use to prepare for my classes."
Mandy: "....right. And they are?"
Mandy: "So what do you do to get your students interested in your class?"
Teacher: "Oh yes, they are very interested."
Mandy: "Uh-huh. And when they're not, what do you do?"
Teacher: "Not what?"
Mandy: "Interested."
Teacher: "Oh yes, they are very interested."
Mandy: "So what are you teaching in class right now?"
Teacher: "I teach English."
Mandy: "Yes, but what topic are you teaching your classes?"
Teacher: *confused* "I teach English."
Mandy: "Are you teaching them animals? Colors? Numbers? Sports?"
Teacher: "I teach English."
Mandy: "Yeah, I get that. Okay, next..."
Mandy: "So you teach two grades, right?"
Teacher: "Grade 2 and Grade 3."
Mandy: "Me too! Which grade do you like best?"
Teacher: "I love my students, they are very lovely."
Mandy: "I love my kids too but sometimes I like grade 2 better - they listen more. What about you?"
Teacher: "My students are lovely and they work hard. I am a good teacher."
Mandy: *resists urge to smack head against the desk*
Mandy: You teach grade 8? How old are they?"
Teacher: "I'm fine, thank you, and you?"
Sometimes you get the teachers who memorize the speeches and big words so they can look more impressive then they are. Case in point, the CAI (which is Computer something-something - using the computer to do slide shows and Powerpoint presentations).
Teacher: "I use the CAI because I think it's important use the multi-media in the classroom."
Mandy: "What's the CAI?"
Teacher: ".....I'm sorry, I can't understand your meaning."
Mandy: "You said you use the CAI in your classroom. What's CAI?"
Teacher: "....I can't understand your meaning."
Mandy: "What's multimedia?"
Teacher: "I don't know."
Mandy: "So I figured."
We know the teachers prepared for this eval together because almost every single teacher I evaluated gave me the same phrases:
- 'arouse the students interest'
- 'use the CAI and multimedia in the classroom'
- 'There are 3 steps to use in my classroom teaching. The first is...'
I got bored after hearing about the 3-step method 25 times in a row, so I tried to switch it up.
Teacher: "There are 3 steps I follow in my teaching style. The first is--"
Mandy: *cuts her off* "What's the third?"
Teacher: *blinks* "The first it--"
Mandy: "What's the third?"
Teacher: "I can't understand your meaning."
Mandy: "You said you have three steps you follow. Tell me the third one."
Teacher: "I...the first one--"
Mandy: "Third."
Teacher: "I'm sorry, I don't know."
Mandy: *nods and marks down 'low beginner'* "Okay, go on."
Teacher: "The first step is...."
Mandy: "What are you teaching your students right now?"
Teacher: "I'm sorry, I don't know."
Mandy: "Okay...what are you doing in your class?"
Teacher: "I don't know."
Mandy: ".......right. Okay, dd you have a class on Friday?"
Teacher: "What?"
Mandy: "Did you teach last Friday? Yesterday. Did you teach a class yesterday?"
Teacher: "Oh. Yes."
Mandy: "Good. What did you teach your class yesterday?"
Teacher: "I teach English."
Mandy: "Okay, but what was the topic yesterday?"
Teacher: "I don't understand your meaning."
Mandy: "Let's try this again. Did you teach yesterday?"
Teacher: "Yes."
Mandy: "What did you teach?"
Teacher: "I teach English. I am English teacher for 13 years."
Mandy: "Which explains an awful lot about the average fluency rate among students."
Teacher: "I can't understand your meaning."
Mandy: "Right, right. Okay..."
There were tons more, but this is getting long enough, so I'll save a few tidbits to post next time. :)