After teaching at a private school briefly in Thailand, I'm considering teaching at a private school or 3rd-tier IS in China since I don't have a license or experience. I heard students in China are much better behaved than in Thailand as students can actually fail unlike in Thailand, they take education alot more seriously, and actually respect foreign teachers instead of seeing them as clowns
I taught math to high school students in Thailand. The issues I had with the Thai students is that they would just constantly talk to each other during my lecture. I guess when they were confused, as instead of asking me to clarify, they would just ask each other in Thai. The Thai admin told me the students talking in class wasn't a problem and they didn't like me having the students work on math problems in class quietly on their own. The students even complained about me to admin numerous times as they thought the classes were too boring and not fun enough.
Does this sound like a problem with just Thai kids or should I expect the same problems with Chinese students?
Chinese students compared to Thai students?
Response
The third tier of IE (ISs) includes the private/independent DSs of the region.
The answer is yes, you are going to have the same problems because:
1) Asian students in DSs generally dont ask questions. Its an issue of face, they would lose face by admitting they dont know something, this coupled with their English ability would be just too embarrassing and loss of face to ask a question of the IT among their peers and risk being corrected on their English or something. This is why them talking among and between each other is common.
2) Its common practice in an Asian DS to copy. Just about every task is a group task, with the group size changing depending on the task. Individual work is something many western ISs have to work at with large host national student populations.
3) You dont understand education and teaching. I dont know what background you came from, but you basically lectured the students without understanding their level of language acquisition or in teacherese their zone of proximal development. You were probably using vocabulary they didnt understand and had to go back and forth around the room to figure out what you meant. At a certain point very quickly they just gave up, figured they were already behind and wouldnt learn anything from you, so they expected you to do the monkey dance and entertain them. Being a good/great/super max awesome/ IT isnt about being the smartest its about having a high ability to transfer knowledge. Very little in IE or DE is above year 1 in Uni, the rocket science isnt even rocket science.
4) Independent work time in Asia is essentially stealing from the view of Asian (including Thai and Chinese) cultures. They can work on their own at home on their own time. They are paying you to provide them a service for every minute that they are paying you. How would you feel if you paid for an hour long Thai massage and 30 minutes in the masseuse stopped and did nothing more than wait for your hour to run out.
5) Students can fail in Thai and Chinese DSs, the problem is the DS you were at in Thailand is likely going to be of the same type in China. "Failure" doesnt mean much when ownership or leadership controls the transcript and the only accrediting authority is the local MOE and the parents who are injecting ownerships bank account with coin. You could submit all the "Fs/Es/1s" you want and all that will happen is some secretary will bring it to someone who will change the grades. Nothings going to change at the tier of IS your marketable to.
You should expect the same because you are boring, are oblivious to any culture but your own, and dont understand teaching. That was the polite synopsis (the Forum Gnome may be along to provide you the less than polite summary, and maybe the Forum Unicorn as well [maybe; the Unicorn generally doesnt do that, but the Unicorn is also interested in keeping you from jumping in front of a train as well {everyone needs some pixie dust and rainbow every now and then}]).
The answer is yes, you are going to have the same problems because:
1) Asian students in DSs generally dont ask questions. Its an issue of face, they would lose face by admitting they dont know something, this coupled with their English ability would be just too embarrassing and loss of face to ask a question of the IT among their peers and risk being corrected on their English or something. This is why them talking among and between each other is common.
2) Its common practice in an Asian DS to copy. Just about every task is a group task, with the group size changing depending on the task. Individual work is something many western ISs have to work at with large host national student populations.
3) You dont understand education and teaching. I dont know what background you came from, but you basically lectured the students without understanding their level of language acquisition or in teacherese their zone of proximal development. You were probably using vocabulary they didnt understand and had to go back and forth around the room to figure out what you meant. At a certain point very quickly they just gave up, figured they were already behind and wouldnt learn anything from you, so they expected you to do the monkey dance and entertain them. Being a good/great/super max awesome/ IT isnt about being the smartest its about having a high ability to transfer knowledge. Very little in IE or DE is above year 1 in Uni, the rocket science isnt even rocket science.
4) Independent work time in Asia is essentially stealing from the view of Asian (including Thai and Chinese) cultures. They can work on their own at home on their own time. They are paying you to provide them a service for every minute that they are paying you. How would you feel if you paid for an hour long Thai massage and 30 minutes in the masseuse stopped and did nothing more than wait for your hour to run out.
5) Students can fail in Thai and Chinese DSs, the problem is the DS you were at in Thailand is likely going to be of the same type in China. "Failure" doesnt mean much when ownership or leadership controls the transcript and the only accrediting authority is the local MOE and the parents who are injecting ownerships bank account with coin. You could submit all the "Fs/Es/1s" you want and all that will happen is some secretary will bring it to someone who will change the grades. Nothings going to change at the tier of IS your marketable to.
You should expect the same because you are boring, are oblivious to any culture but your own, and dont understand teaching. That was the polite synopsis (the Forum Gnome may be along to provide you the less than polite summary, and maybe the Forum Unicorn as well [maybe; the Unicorn generally doesnt do that, but the Unicorn is also interested in keeping you from jumping in front of a train as well {everyone needs some pixie dust and rainbow every now and then}]).
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helloiswill
- Posts: 75
- Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:39 am
Re: Chinese students compared to Thai students?
Those sound like general student/teacher problems, not problems exclusive to Thailand. Its hard to say if the issues you experienced in Thailand will be repeated in China - I think I would need to see you teach first. I imagine whether or not you consider your you stint in China successful a couple years from now will depend on the expectations of your school. If they are cool with the rote learning style of instruction (I imagine many 3rd tier Chinese schools may be because their country's education system is rooted in that form of instruction) you might be exactly what they are looking for. That being said, expect sleeping during class, daydreaming, phone use, and you being left wondering if the students are talking about you when they speak Chinese during your lecture.
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chilagringa
- Posts: 335
- Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2011 7:19 pm
Re: Chinese students compared to Thai students?
I would agree that I doubt those are "Thai student" problems. It sounds like you need to work on both classroom management and instructional skills. I teach in a country that apparently has much worse behavior than Thailand (this is coming from teachers I know that moved here from Thailand), but I think my students are fine, because I have classroom management skills. Generally speaking half the teachers at my school complain about behavior, and the other half don't, because they know what they are doing.