Occasional Tales

School teachers and their games. I survived the observation intact in spite of only covering half of the objectives and letting the “activity” go on a little long. Somehow allowing lessons to be a little organic ist verboten, and being well prepared (just in case) is Bad Planning™. As I noted in a previous post, it seems puzzling to be told we have our own styles, but to have to conform to someone else’s whims. So long as the powers are sufficiently happy, I’m happy.

Watchin’ the defectives. One thing I’ve largely been spared is observations over the past few years, and when I did get observed, because I was unaware of the rules of the game, I failed miserably. But it seems that the boss is now having to deal with such matters, and to make it worse, his underboss was also present. How did the class go? Well, I didn’t get through all my aims, but I let the class grow organically. I’m sure, though, that I’m meant to get through all the aims or get censured for it. I know we have to get observed, but individual styles never seem to be taken into consideration in spite of being told that we all have our own ways of teaching. That’s bollocks as far as I can tell. We’re all meant to teach in the same way and sing from the same hymn sheet while we’re doing it. Apparently the trick this time was to ask follow-up questions, which I duly did. I’ll probably get asked how I knew any learning was taking place, but it was a vocabulary class with a

But not all of you. In the main, the pre-AL classes have been all right. Pre-AL α is better than pre-AL β, but only because the latter has some infantile vegetables who are the heirs to the last lot of vegetables we managed to get rid of. I also have a new Elaine. The old one spent about a year and a half looking like a rabbit, which was about to cry, caught in headlights. She then vanished, the rumour being that she’d been sent to Hong Kong for a little nip/tuck. This new one, though, has a hard, smug quality about her. You should’ve seen the look on her face when I reminded her that she’s not permitted to eat in class. I’m not sure whether it was a look of bafflement (“What did the foreigner just say?”) or a look of effrontery (“How dare you presume to give me orders, servant person!”). I think she understood, though. She’ll probably annoy me by doing adequately well in the exams. There are also some other numbskulls in pre-AL β who’ll ruin that class. Get rid of them and I th

The imperial way. I don’t like my timetable because everything seems to be beginning, middle, end this year. I have Ass 2 after lunch every time I see them. They’re turning into the Ass 2 class from two years ago. They’re not bothersome, but they are mentally inert. I wonder whether things would be better if we had an official textbook. Pre-AL 2 would be better but for five morons who are the heirs to the morons which we shed at the end of last year. It’s Terence, Hank, Nero, and Elaine all over again. On the other hand, I rather like Pre-AL 1 even although I see them at some awful times of the day and week.

But which one of us are you? In my second year in China, I knew my colleagues, but there were a couple I seldom saw above once every two weeks. They had their timetables, I had mine, and there was little overlap. Now that there are about twenty-five of us there are some colleagues whom I almost never see, and some whose names I don’t know, and some whom I almost never see and whose names I don’t know. There are also several to whom I’ve said nothing or next to nothing. Should I be concerned? I think there are too many of us for us to be a cohesive unit. I think splitting us into subject groups might have been practical, but it also sets fault lines in place. Last year the office had a mix of English teachers and scientists, which led to some weird and wonderful conversations that you wouldn’t tend to get under other circumstances. The new office may come together eventually, but I need some allies. I suspect that the place is like a school staffroom filled with peop

The end of the first week. Last year by the end of the first week, we had qualms about the pre-AL students. It might be that this year’s pre-AL students are bright, shiny and new, and so very junior middle school, but my sense of the classes overall is quite positive. With respect to the Senior 2s, I’m a little less confident. I’ve been saddled with the SL classes. I’m not totally without some decent students, but I fear the classes might be infected by that ethos of indolence which comes from their ignorance and unwillingness to put in a little effort. That’s a pity because last year’s pre-AL classes actually did much better for themselves than any of us initially predicted. But this is also very much what you get with students here. Like the rest of imperial society, there is a general reluctance to do more than the bare minimum to achieve some end.