A few interesting bits I've been meaning to share...
Lately, my time with one class has been spent finishing up their oral assessment. This one girl asked to see the marks that the previous teacher had given her. She was not very happy with what she saw. She told me that she and her group members had been forced to present while they were still unprepared. She had asked if they could have another go and the teacher had told her, "That's up to your new teacher." [By that time he already knew he would be leaving the school.] Well, since it was up to me, I of course gave them another chance and ended up awarding higher marks. Quite frankly, I don't know what possessed the teacher to give them such low marks in the first place. Their pronunciation was clear, they were good enough for their level, and they showed effort as well as initiative. They're learning. They're trying. What did he expect? Native speaker-like perfection? Get real. And I thought he'd been teaching for years.
Another teacher told me about this one student who (I'll say) just needs to learn at his own pace. He takes his time, and she does have the patience to cater to him. Unfortunately, she is not allowed to do so. She had offered to give him extra lessons but his mother would not allow it. She offered to lend him books for self-study and he told her that his mother would throw them away. This boy has secretly been studying locked up in his room, so afraid that his mother would find him and scold him. The only explanation my colleague could offer as to the mother's strange attitude is that his special needs has probably driven her off a mental cliff. I just call it mental. And disgraceful. If a teacher who has to cater to an average of 200 students a year can have the extra patience for a kid who just needs a little more time and attention, how difficult could it be for a mother to love her child, her own flesh and blood, just a little bit more?
Yes, they can be challenging - and believe me, I've had my fair share. This one brat in my class had the nerve to swear at me (thinking I didn't know Chinese profanity) because I caught him cheating on a test. This kid also skipped his last oral assessment but I looked though his records and saw he had gotten a pretty good score the previous year. I showed it to him and pointed out that it would be a shame if he didn't try to do as well now. He agreed, took the test, and earned a most respectable score (I had to take spontaneity into account - I didn't think he would do it there and then completely unprepared). He was very pleased, and the undeniable joy of his "Thank you, Teacher!" is still ringing in my ears - thankfully drowning out the "Ch* Ba*" he had shouted not too long before that. At one time, he completely ignored me and always sneaked out to run off with his friends. Now that he knows I care, he has yet to skip one of my classes. Well, okay, so he hasn't gotten to the point where he can prattle on about the moral values within Potato People, but at least he listened attentively while I was telling him what the story was all about. And for me, that's a pretty good start. Heck, it's even better than I had hoped for.
Is it just me or does this job just keep getting better and better?
Posts
