Wow Aaron, I am shocked to hear you are leaving after only a few months. What’s the reason for the work permits not being extended? Good news about maybe heading to Ghana in the near future and good luck with all the travels, sounds great!
Here in Ch!na things have been getting quite interesting in the schools. I have jumped on board the Ch!nese discipline bandwagon and have received instant results (not that I am that pleased with my approach) and I have been having great discussions with the kids about homework and the pressure of school.
After today’s episode in the primary school, I thought it would be best to write another blog entry seeing as though it has been a number of weeks since my last. Just this afternoon I was at my wits end with a number of students who refused to pay any attention to me so I took them through a huge speal about how their parent’s pay a fortune for them to attend here, they are wasting their classmates and my time and the disrespect shown towards my authority in the classroom, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Warnings had been given that I won’t tolerate the behavior and that two strikes means “you’re out” of the classroom. It reached that point this afternoon and I threw three kids out after seeking assistance from a fellow colleague where we almost had to drag one child out. Their actual classroom teacher who was in my colleagues classroom appeared and then had a chat to them outside. The students re-entered and apologized and we got on with the class. Time will tell if the message has gotten through. Various episodes like this have been going on the past few weeks in my middle school as well where I have thrown kids out of class. It seems the only way to get through to the students and send a message to the others about the seriousness of mucking around and the consequences that result in the behavior is through fear. Time will tell…
This leads me to my next point where I can start with an incredible observation I made today. It has taken me almost 8 weeks to notice this but there is a 13 year old student in one class who is going grey and when I mean grey I don’t mean a few grey hairs, I mean she actually has more white/grey hair than black! I wondered for a moment if it was a fashion thing but Chinese schools are conservative and realised coloured hair was not allowed. I sought clarification with her English teacher and surely enough she is going grey at 13!! Her teacher claimed that this was due to her mother not looking after her and not washing her hair. I asked if maybe it was due to pressure and stress and the teacher didn’t really respond. I have also noticed lots of kids with large portions of grey hair on their heads, even as young as 8 years old and knowing that of course grey and black do contrast, but this is such a phenomenon and confronting! Maybe all this is due to the pressure placed upon the children to succeed in a hugely competitive country such as this.
On homework; I have had many discussions with the students about homework and they have all commented on the large amounts they have to complete. As an example, the Victorian Government’s curriculum outlines state that year 3 and 4 students are expected to complete(if I remember correctly) at least 60 to 90 minutes homework a week whereas students here of the same age are expected to complete 60 to 90 minutes per night! Sunday is their free day. The contrast is staggering so sometimes I feel they almost have an excuse when they misbehave in my class when maybe they struggle to understand the fast talking laowei (foreign) teacher! You gotta give it to these kids, they work harder than what most of us did in school.
Till next time…
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
All over Red Rover
Well. this may be a bit of a shock for some of you.
Extremely unfortunately, we will not be recieving work permits and have been asked to go home. I hope I haven't done something to offend anyone. I know that I have been a little bit of a rebashi (trouble maker) but that's just to keep things interesting.
So, due to this unfortunate incident, I will be travelling through Eastern Africa a little earlier than I expected. The plan being:
To visit Egypt- ancient ruins and the red sea.
To safari through Eastern Africa- see gorrillas, Serengeti, Zanzibar, Victoria Falls, Okovango Delta, Cape Town etc.
Fly home to Melbourne from Johannesburg.
Then, after getting home, Australian Volunteers International have asked if I would be interested in a posting in Ghana. It just turns out that Ghana is the one place that I was already considering in my mind! Coincidence? I think not! So, I will need to consider it a bit more.
However, this time around I will be very prepared! I will have seeds to help me grow things, herbs and spices to help me cook, fold up shelves (ikea style) to help me store things and other little tid bits that I completely forgot about. Especially a black towel! I brought a bloody white one and every time I dry my hair it ends up red! And don't say that I should was my hair everyday because there isn't enough water!
So, Steve, I hope to continue writing this with you, but I may be contributing from Ghana instead, when the time comes.
Hope China is going well.
Extremely unfortunately, we will not be recieving work permits and have been asked to go home. I hope I haven't done something to offend anyone. I know that I have been a little bit of a rebashi (trouble maker) but that's just to keep things interesting.
So, due to this unfortunate incident, I will be travelling through Eastern Africa a little earlier than I expected. The plan being:
To visit Egypt- ancient ruins and the red sea.
To safari through Eastern Africa- see gorrillas, Serengeti, Zanzibar, Victoria Falls, Okovango Delta, Cape Town etc.
Fly home to Melbourne from Johannesburg.
Then, after getting home, Australian Volunteers International have asked if I would be interested in a posting in Ghana. It just turns out that Ghana is the one place that I was already considering in my mind! Coincidence? I think not! So, I will need to consider it a bit more.
However, this time around I will be very prepared! I will have seeds to help me grow things, herbs and spices to help me cook, fold up shelves (ikea style) to help me store things and other little tid bits that I completely forgot about. Especially a black towel! I brought a bloody white one and every time I dry my hair it ends up red! And don't say that I should was my hair everyday because there isn't enough water!
So, Steve, I hope to continue writing this with you, but I may be contributing from Ghana instead, when the time comes.
Hope China is going well.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Mixed Feelings
It’s great to see that Aaron is loving it over in Eretria! I am having mixed feelings at the moment. Being a public forum, I have to be careful in how I tread so I’ll tackle the issues lightly.
I teach at two schools, one being a middle school and the other a primary school. Both are government run (as far as I know). Both schools are situated in up and coming middle class areas of Pudong in Shanghai. The primary school runs its usual classes, however, extra classes are offered at a price, to parents and these are the ones which I and other teachers take. They usually run one period before school finishes and one or two afterwards till around 4:45pm.
I am quite enjoying the middle school as I am free to teach pretty much what I want within a loose curriculum guideline which I adhere to. The students are well behaved and generally attentive, however, due to class streaming the “lower” classes do present a challenge in trying to engage them. A teacher at the school commented to me that I was “too nice” and I needed to “make the students scared of me” to get things done. I’ll return to this later.
At the primary school it is a completely different story. Many of the students are poorly behaved, some of these incredibly bright, others who really struggle. This could be due to those finding it boring and too easy and others finding it too hard. Tackling this will be an issue for me as I wish to engage all students, however, as per usual, time is always against me and language and cultural barriers strongly exist. However, in saying this, I am finding a certain level of disrespect shown by students towards teachers in school, including myself. Although the teachers seemed to get their way on the surface through fear, many of the students run the show here.
In saying all this, it brings me to a dilemma that as a professional, I am facing. It is clear in the primary school many of the students have limited respect for me (or as it shows) and my methods of management which have worked extremely effectively in Australian school settings are often coming undone. Approaching classroom management through a strong wellbeing and holistic approach seems to be breaking down as the students do not understand such an approach and coupled with the language barriers clearly “don’t get it”. Other teachers I work with, where this is their first teaching position, comment on methods they use which in a modern western sense may seem quite old fashioned. They include, making kids stand up for periods of a time, sending them to the back of the room, making them stare at the wall, writing lines and standing in the hallway etc. All methods I have almost never used before but am wondering if I am to gain some respect within the classroom do I need to as the famous saying goes “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” and administer classroom discipline the Chinese way? Is the teacher from the middle school correct in saying I need to “make them scared” even though I have complete and almost total respect from the students in this school and enjoy wonderful classroom experiences on a daily basis.
The above methods in my eyes are only surface band aid solutions that don't work towards long term answers that fix the problems or am I still fixated in approaching classroom management from a western perspective?
If there are any teachers reading this who have taught ESL in various countries, I would love to hear from you. Any advice would be great!
p.s - It can be easy to sometimes forget I am teaching entire classrooms of one child families!
I teach at two schools, one being a middle school and the other a primary school. Both are government run (as far as I know). Both schools are situated in up and coming middle class areas of Pudong in Shanghai. The primary school runs its usual classes, however, extra classes are offered at a price, to parents and these are the ones which I and other teachers take. They usually run one period before school finishes and one or two afterwards till around 4:45pm.
I am quite enjoying the middle school as I am free to teach pretty much what I want within a loose curriculum guideline which I adhere to. The students are well behaved and generally attentive, however, due to class streaming the “lower” classes do present a challenge in trying to engage them. A teacher at the school commented to me that I was “too nice” and I needed to “make the students scared of me” to get things done. I’ll return to this later.
At the primary school it is a completely different story. Many of the students are poorly behaved, some of these incredibly bright, others who really struggle. This could be due to those finding it boring and too easy and others finding it too hard. Tackling this will be an issue for me as I wish to engage all students, however, as per usual, time is always against me and language and cultural barriers strongly exist. However, in saying this, I am finding a certain level of disrespect shown by students towards teachers in school, including myself. Although the teachers seemed to get their way on the surface through fear, many of the students run the show here.
In saying all this, it brings me to a dilemma that as a professional, I am facing. It is clear in the primary school many of the students have limited respect for me (or as it shows) and my methods of management which have worked extremely effectively in Australian school settings are often coming undone. Approaching classroom management through a strong wellbeing and holistic approach seems to be breaking down as the students do not understand such an approach and coupled with the language barriers clearly “don’t get it”. Other teachers I work with, where this is their first teaching position, comment on methods they use which in a modern western sense may seem quite old fashioned. They include, making kids stand up for periods of a time, sending them to the back of the room, making them stare at the wall, writing lines and standing in the hallway etc. All methods I have almost never used before but am wondering if I am to gain some respect within the classroom do I need to as the famous saying goes “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” and administer classroom discipline the Chinese way? Is the teacher from the middle school correct in saying I need to “make them scared” even though I have complete and almost total respect from the students in this school and enjoy wonderful classroom experiences on a daily basis.
The above methods in my eyes are only surface band aid solutions that don't work towards long term answers that fix the problems or am I still fixated in approaching classroom management from a western perspective?
If there are any teachers reading this who have taught ESL in various countries, I would love to hear from you. Any advice would be great!
p.s - It can be easy to sometimes forget I am teaching entire classrooms of one child families!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Loving it!
I have been working with the students for a bit over a week now. My Tigrinya is getting much better and I am remembering the names of all the kids. They are so great and it is a real buzz to teach them. I can kind of understand why Mathewos dedicates so much time here (besides the fact that he is an extremely dedicated teacher.
You see, if I give a good lesson, they are sure to tell you. Not only that, they give me a clap! Also, if I practice Tigrinya in class, or tell them it is home time in Tigrinya, the whole class applauds. It's pretty cool.
Not only that, at the end of each day, everyone wants to shake my hand and say good bye. I think this is a bit of a novelty for them that teachers don't necessarily entertain, but I think it's cool. They are all growing in confidence and skill everyday. There are some brilliant students amongst them.
I just want to give you a brief summary of what school is like for most Eritrean students. This doesn't include what happens at Science Club though. Teachers have a text book, as do students, perhaps one between 3. The teacher writes the learning material on the board and the students copy. From what I have seen, if they don't understand, that's their bad luck. In English, the main focus is on spelling words correctly, and using correct grammar. You rarely speak to express yourself, or explain something, you rarely speak the language at all. As such, I guess things aren't much fun, and it is hard to learn. Depsite this, there are still some good students. And despite this, there are still some great teachers. And, like I said, Science Club is NOT like this.
Now, why haven't I provided any pictures, you ask? Any visual evidence about what I have said. Well, good question and I wish I could, but there are only certain times when the internet is quick enough to upload a picture, and I'm either fast asleep (like everyone else) or can't get to a computer. However, I promise I will try and get to one before I leave Asmara and head for Barentu. Check it all out on Google Maps.
So, to summarise, I have been learning a lot from my work already. I'm not really a teacher, i'm more of a learner, and that suits me fine. It's been a great experience, so Barentu has some pretty high standards to live up to!
Steve Bolton (an imaginary friend created from my admiration for 2 kingsbury teachers according to Mr Tyas) how are things in your neck of the woods. Settled in now a bit, hey? I bet the education side is a bit different where you are.
You see, if I give a good lesson, they are sure to tell you. Not only that, they give me a clap! Also, if I practice Tigrinya in class, or tell them it is home time in Tigrinya, the whole class applauds. It's pretty cool.
Not only that, at the end of each day, everyone wants to shake my hand and say good bye. I think this is a bit of a novelty for them that teachers don't necessarily entertain, but I think it's cool. They are all growing in confidence and skill everyday. There are some brilliant students amongst them.
I just want to give you a brief summary of what school is like for most Eritrean students. This doesn't include what happens at Science Club though. Teachers have a text book, as do students, perhaps one between 3. The teacher writes the learning material on the board and the students copy. From what I have seen, if they don't understand, that's their bad luck. In English, the main focus is on spelling words correctly, and using correct grammar. You rarely speak to express yourself, or explain something, you rarely speak the language at all. As such, I guess things aren't much fun, and it is hard to learn. Depsite this, there are still some good students. And despite this, there are still some great teachers. And, like I said, Science Club is NOT like this.
Now, why haven't I provided any pictures, you ask? Any visual evidence about what I have said. Well, good question and I wish I could, but there are only certain times when the internet is quick enough to upload a picture, and I'm either fast asleep (like everyone else) or can't get to a computer. However, I promise I will try and get to one before I leave Asmara and head for Barentu. Check it all out on Google Maps.
So, to summarise, I have been learning a lot from my work already. I'm not really a teacher, i'm more of a learner, and that suits me fine. It's been a great experience, so Barentu has some pretty high standards to live up to!
Steve Bolton (an imaginary friend created from my admiration for 2 kingsbury teachers according to Mr Tyas) how are things in your neck of the woods. Settled in now a bit, hey? I bet the education side is a bit different where you are.
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