I am teaching 4 subjects:
"Oral English" 100 students (3 groups of 32 - 35 students)
"Western Culture" 56 students
"Short novel" 98 students
"English Phonetics" 190 students
=
too many students :)
Naturally, all the student lists are only in Chinese, so the only way to identify who is who is the student ID number :)
I got classes twice a week (niiice!) and teaching is entirely up to me: no guidelines, no control, no program... only guideline I got was on scores: I must make sure I give every student at least 4 scores per term ....and trust me...that`s not easy with 190 students in class!!!
Now about scores: it`s 100% scoring system, so I`m still struggling to understand, for example, if 75 is a good score or not...
I was told that:
1) 100 is out of the question....they never give 100 scores
2) I shouldn`t give a score lower than 60
3) generally I should stick to 65-95 range
and all that in order not to appear suspicious...
Well...don`t tell anyone ;)...I just gave my first 100 this week and I feel really good about it!!! :) The guy in Western Culture course presented Einstein and Theory of relativity... and he did fantastic!!!
So generally students are nice, but real shy and scared of talking in front of the audience. Making them talk is definitely a challenge, cause Chinese education system is based on listening to what the teacher says, so it took me some time to "convince" them that Oral English class is for them to talk not for me ;))) They`re afraid to express their opinion and generally go with the flow. Really afraid to stand out or speak up in the classroom, afraid of "losing their face" which is a "big scary something" everyone here seems to be very afraid of..
All of the students wanted to know my e-mail, MSN, mobile... At first I kindly refused to give my mobile number, but then gave it to a couple of my students (not very smart of me!) who were asking for it in order to be able to invite me for competitions and events. Now everyone seems to have it and I am receiving way too many "competition judging offers".
I have agreed to be a judge like 4 times so far and at this point I feel it`s enough, cause I`m not sure I`m able to listen to more debates or presentations on EXPO (that`s going to be held in Shanghai next year)
And then SMSes not related to judging come as well:
"Hi. This is Jesse. I want to ask you a question. In your country, are parents legally responsible for their children`s crimes? What about other countries you know? Thank you for your answer."
Guess if I know who Jesse is?!:)))
And just last week I politely had to refuse one invitation to competition by phone telling I was busy that night and then in 5 minutes there comes the SMS:
"Inga, this is James. I am very excited to talk with you just now, that`s very first time to say english on the phone, maybe u can sense it and I must tell the leader the reason you cannot join us. i didn`t catch it because of the excessive excitement. I am very sorry to bother you, can you tell me one more? Incidentally, can I have Ur qq number and email address, so it`s gonna be more convenient for interaction, can u? The same, I`ll keep it secret, u can fully trust me"
...always this " I must tell my leader", "my boss wants to confirm"...even if I agree to participate...they will ask two more times to get a confirmation for boss that I`m definitely coming...
As for e-mail, gave that out to everyone, but haven`t had many incoming so far, but when students do write... it`s something :))
Dear Inga;
I'm your student at English Pronunciation class in ECUST.First,I wanna to say sorry for you.As your class defeat the purpose of the schedule of a debate,which I attended.So I was absence from your class yesterday evening.I feel guilty.I have a pray for learning English.Actuually,I hoped you would't check the presence.I just heard you checked.I know it's not good.However,I did't ask anyone to replace me. Today is one of those days.What's worse,our team lost the debate.
I will appreciate you if you can give me an oppotitunite to make up.I am really poor in my writing English,if I said sth unproperty,please forgive me.
your sincerely,
Shirley
First of all, of course I have no idea which one of my 190 phonetics students Shirley is and as she didn`t write her student ID...no way of even trying to identify her. And it`s not that she has to worry... I promised automatic exam pass for those who are present for all tests... so she will have no problem , she just has to pass the final exam...
And the other thing that shocks and starts to annoy me at this point is that the students actually fill in tests and presence for their absent friends! This is that "replacing" thing from the the e-mail above. I am starting to think it`s an official practice here in China as I have seen this happen in other classes as well.
I discovered it when I actually counted students during class and at home realized there were approximately 40 test results more than students in class!
Just last week I gave my students a test (just to fulfill the requirement of giving those scores) and during the break one student came to me and said that there was a problem: her friend filled in the test for her as she thought she wasn`t coming to class, but she did come and was late for test and now during break she wanted to find that test and fill it herself...why would she come to teacher and confess something like that after it`s done...?!
I guess there are things in Chinese education I`m not meant to understand..:))
University Campus is 40 km from central Shanghai, and depending on the time of travel it takes 30 minutes to 2 hours one way!
Teaching facilities are great!
and Chinglish fun can be ENJOYED during the breaks :)
And next week will start teaching in one more University, so about 100 students more :) Not that it actually matters at this point...400 or 500 - more students more fun;)
