[quote=“wipt”]This isn’t exactly on topic, but what the hell! What’s the worst that could happen?
Had a guy come in this morning for an interview–fake degree. Caught him in the first five minutes.
I came home and went online to check on some teachers and saw something like this:
r u looking 4 a good t-cher? I’m the one you’re looking 4. gr8t with kids. thnx 4 your time. x-a-lent teacher.
Maybe I’m anal, maybe old-fashioned, but if you can’t punctuate, capitalize or spell–are you really serious about getting a job? I know that teaching English is a joke to some people, but this crap isn’t even funny; it’s depressing![/quote]
Oh! You think that’s bad? The same damned thing happened to me this morning!!
I once went to an interview at what I thought was a decent school. 10 mundane questions later I was told that a 30 000 nt deposit was required. Do u have any questions? I was asked. If you were in your car traveling the speed of light,would anything happen if you turned on the head lights? I asked. How would I know the laoban replyed. I stood up and said…forget it, I don’t wanna work for u then. And left him with a very blank look on his face.
Maybe the laoban could tell by looking at you that you didn’t give a damn about punctuation.
Which leads me on to something else entirely. Punctuality.
If you schedule a demo, don’t show up late. If you schedule an interview–likewise.
And if you come to do a demo, don’t wear your f##king clownsuit!
A guy called in today at the time he was supposed to show up for an interview. He asked if we’d actually set the interview for 11:00. He couldn’t remember. F##king idiot! On top of that, he said he was desperately seeking employment. I should have told him what I really thought. Instead, I asked for his number and didn’t write it down. If he’s reading this, then this is for him: KEEP TRACK OF YOUR OWN DAMN APPOINTMENTS! And if you’re truly desperate for work, do better than a late phone call. A**hole!
He may be desperate, but it has nothing to do with seeking employment.
Hey Wipt. With stories like that, it makes me wonder why there is so much competition for jobs these days. :loco:
Maybe the competition is for the interview…? I dunno. But I agree with your two points in both posts. :bravo:[/quote]
Actually it shouldn’t make you wonder why there is so much competition for jobs. The truth is that some of the people who show up for the interviews are worse than those that don’t show up.
Wipt: How do you know what the people who don’t show up are like? I’m going to start selling invisible fish as I’m sure there’s a market here in Taiwan.
I know what they’re like precisely because they don’t show up. They are unrealiable and irresponsible. Is this point lost on you?
How hard is it to make a phone call to let someone know that you won’t show up? If you think that that reveals nothing about a person then try it when you have some spare time. I mean waiting around for someone who has made an appointment, someone you’ve asked to contact you if something comes up and they can’t make it.
I have a much higher opinion of people who actually call–many of them do–to let you now that they won’t show up for whatever reason.
About the fish–doesn’t make sense. Try another because it doesn’t apply in this case.
If I was interviewing people I too would be utterly frustrated with people who don’t show up. However there are often good reasons people don’t show however common courtesy to let the interviewer know you’re not going show is always a plus. (I’ve been guilty of not doing this)
I’d hate to be a buxiban manager here in Taiwan for numerous reasons I have seen that it takes a certain kind of person to do a good job without ruining the reputation of the school.
I should add that I think this a stupid question. People who don’t show up are like, uh…, let me think about it, uh…PEOPLE WHO DON’T SHOW UP!
What the hell do you think about people that don’t show up? You like them, I presume?
[/quote]
Sure! If it’s out of general bad manners that they don’t show up, they are probably saving you a bit of time and possibly a lot of future frustration later.
[quote=“Rubicon Bojador”]If a boss doesn’t ask to see a brief demo, that rings alarm bells right there. Since they obviously either
a) don’t really care how well you teach, they just need a white face to fill space, any white face will do
or
b) are looking for a Ken & Barbie (you know the type) and are judging a “good” teacher solely by their looks. Sadly, in Taiwan, your personal appearance (preferably blonde, blue-eyed, perky, and female) trumps actual teaching ability far too often.[/quote]
My school never runs demos when hiring teachers, and as a black woman, I can assure you that it’s not because they are looking for a white face.
If a school has high standards for its candidates, then their references and resumes (especially in experience and qualification) can speak themselves. Schools just need to actually follow up on those resumes. A slacker could totally pull his act together for a demo in front of the boss and turn out to be a nightmare once he gets the job. However, if the laoban were to call up his old boss and ask about his real performance on the job it would save them the time in watching him on his best behavior.
Not to say that demos can’t capture how a person can build rapport with potential students and whether or not the said person should even be around children, but getting information from someone’s past work experience could be more helpful than watching them put on a show.
[quote]
My school never runs demos when hiring teachers, and as a black woman, I can assure you that it’s not because they are looking for a white face.
If a school has high standards for its candidates, then their references and resumes (especially in experience and qualification) can speak themselves. Schools just need to actually follow up on those resumes. A slacker could totally pull his act together for a demo in front of the boss and turn out to be a nightmare once he gets the job. [/quote]
My school never does demos either. But I’m not sure if it’s the right way or not.
Right now I’m split. I can see the benefit of having potential teachers do demos, but as a teacher, I would probably be reluctant to offer one up.
What do you guys think an application by email should look like? Am I old school when I suggest that it should be addressed properly, be at least semi-formal, and be free of spelling and punctuation errors? I ask this because when I was hiring for a school a while back I got no end of emails that read:
Sounds more like a reply to a personal ad than an application for a job
Or were full of spelling errors and the like. I remember one guy even spelled the name of two of his three past employers wrong ‘Girraffee’ (sic.) and Kids Castle (sic.)
The size of a demonstration class would normally be similar to the usual class size at your school.
Starting with some simple classroom languages (stand up/sit down, raise/put down your hand, take out/put away your book or open/close your book, etc) would be a good idea. Do TPR to get them active as well as to catch their attention. Make sure each kid has a chance of every activity you do. (It’s important in every class and even more so in a demonstration since parents will probably be there watching.) After that, you will likely have 15-20 minutes left. You may pick the goal or one of the goals that your school pursues to teach such as reading skills or Q & A. If there’s no specific one in your school, go for a beginning lesson you feel like doing then. Colors, numbers or stationery should be easy enough for them and you.
It was supposed to start at 8:00 but students kept wandering in until 8:30, so the “getting to know you” routine lasted for half an hour. Way too long. Then we start in on the newspaper article the school gave us and I realize that although this is the advanced class they can’t handle this material fluently, but I decide to push on anyway and what should have been a brief lighthearted discussion turns into a 40 minute lecture on vocabulary that was way too technical for them in the first place.
Everyone is zoning out and I realize i am running out of time so i’d better get to the fun stuff quick or they’ll quit the class for sure so I just gloss over the rest of it and move on to the school’s “dating game” activity.
I tried to stimulate interest in the topic by asking who in the class is seeing someone, and what attracted you to him/her. But although this is the first thing anyone asks ME as a foreigner (do you have a taiwanese girlfriend) apparently it’s too personal to ask a roomful of taiwanese, and they start shifting around in their seats looking uncomfortable. So I quickly move on to the game. This material is easier. The students perk up a bit. But I haven’t left enough time for the dating game. It’s a MOUNTAIN of text to read, it takes 20 minutes to have everyone read it and check for comprehension. So we read and talk about it a bit but we don’t get to the discussion questions in time, so I have to save them for the next class.
