Foxy
- 2017-01-27
Yes, you are correct. I've said it before that they hold meetings where Titans clash and then hand down rules like they have been handed down from Mt Olympus, then Stand as resolute as a weathervane when it comes to enforcing them, lol. I get around it by giving them assignments to do in class and calling it "homework".
Trump diplomacy
- 2017-01-27
a request from the parents
Communication from Chinese public school administrators and Chinese teachers to FTs is almost always cryptic.
It is rare, and refreshing, to have an administrator directly confront a FT in a Western manner: "Why? Because I'm your boss and I say so!"
They will attribute their directives to parents or higher officials or 'policy' or even Beijing, anything to avoid personal confrontation.
If you ignore the new request for homework, you may get several more indirect prompts. If they find your behavior egregious enough they will fail to renew your contract with another lame excuse or more likely, do nothing.
I have two ex-colleagues who have taught at the same university for 5 years, consistently refusing to do any lesson-planning and always ignoring the Dean's criticism and regulations. This year at a general meeting the Dean asked them to "please not return next year". They will sign a new contract, ignore her, and she will keep moaning.
Walking into a classroom and seeing a Chinese English teacher attempting to teach phonetics while the kids were either sleeping or on their phone made me burst out laughing. When I asked her what she was trying to do she told me that it was a request from the parents. This made me laugh even more. While walking to a grade 11 class just before the break, I was stopped by my boss and told that I MUST give homework to the kids (something I have never done). When I asked why, he told me that it was a request from the parents. When I delivered the bad news to the students, they obviously asked me why I was told to give them homework, and when I said they should blame their parents, they all burst out laughing too.
Do these brain dead muppets think we are totally stupid?
There is little doubt that all schools promise parents what they can rarely deliver, but are we honestly expected to believe that Chinese parents, (who probably know no English anyway), are insisting that their kids are taught phonetics and given even more homework? It's beyond pathetic.