Being happy in your work

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
1

I had an interesting conversation with a colleague recently who has expressing disdain for her adult students. I use the term ‘adult’ loosely, as they are mostly college kids with no hobbies or lives outside of study, and teaching them can be a bit of a chore. They expect you to do all the work, have strange ideas about what they need to learn and how best to learn it, and seem to have nothing to talk about whatsoever other than the same old crap about how many people are in your family or what your favourite movie is.

I can’t blame her for being a little worn-down by all this. She works hard to prepare for her classes, tries to engage the students, and generally does what is expected but doesn’t get much back from the students. So I tried to cheer her up by telling her a little story about the day my life changed.

It had been a long day, lots of driving in the cold rain, lots of unenthusiastic high school kids to teach, disagreements with admin about what we should be doing, all the usual garbage that can really drag you down. I arrived for my evening class with no time to spare and was dreading the evening encounter with a bunch of apathetic brain-dead kids who expected me to have enough personality for everyone.

I stopped at the door and took a moment to compose myself. I was aware that it was going to be a bad class because I personally was not in a good state to do my job properly - which was to manage that group of people so that their expectations were adjusted appropriately so that they could be met. (This was a lesson I was learning from my old mate Tom Hill, who made a big deal about teaching being a process rather than an emotional journey.) So I mentally girded my loins, focused on what I had to do, and “put the face on” - my happy smiley teacher face that exuded the illusion that I didn’t care that I had heard the same crap a hundred times before. I didn’t care what the students said, I was going to enjoy the bloody class if it killed me. And so were they.

Three and a bit hours later, walking down the street I realised that I was a) pleasantly tired, and b) whistling. I was totally relaxed and happy with my lot in the world. I had put a lot of energy into the class, and somehow got an awful lot back. My tiredness was the feeling you get when you’ve done a fair day’s work for a fair wage, not the weariness that had been afflicting me of late. I realised that by putting my own feelings to one side and focusing on the job at hand, I had become the happy smiling teacher in real life. I slept better that night than I had done for a while and woke up feeling a lot more enthusiastic about the world.

Since then I have (by and large) been a lot more positive about my students, and learned to like them for their cooky nerdish ways and little puppy-dog eyes. I’ve also graduated into more challenging teaching, in that I have a lot of older students with different attitudes and experiences to share, which make the job more varied and fun. I’ve had to shift my expectations, but if anything I’ve become firmer in my agenda with regard to teaching. I’m more focused on the students’ problems than on my own, which makes me more successful and more popular as well as making my problems go away.

In short, charging into the classroom determined to enjoy it means that you do enjoy it. Life is what you make it, only more so.

Anyway, my whineybutt colleague looked at me in astonishment when I told her this and then asked me what drugs I was taking. Is it really so hard to understand?

2

Something I saw somewhere that always stuck with me is that a true professional ALWAYS gives 100% when doing their job, regardless of their mood etc. That just came to mind here as it sometimes does for me.

3

Go go Lola!

The best adult teaching I did was in Manchester last year, at a shitty Chinese owned buxiban. I had a ‘visa’ class. My new boss, when he hired me said something along the lines ‘we a need a professional who can deal with Chinese students. It’s an, um, challenging class.’. God, it was a drama at first. A room full of Chinese and Iranian students at IELTS Band 4 and a couple of Russians at Band 7. They hated English, England, me, the school, the immigration office and made it personally my problem. Their last teacher had walked out.

I don’t have time to right down what changed, but just started to relate to them, because I’d just come to England and was broke, cold, culture shocked, stressed and fucked off too. Field trips, well prepared lessons (other teachers didn’t bother because 'they didnt get paid for prep time or some shit like that), respect for their goals, and I just really tried to do my best. It worked, and I’m still in touch with them six months later.

I’m also still in touch with more students than staff from my old school in Taiwan!

Not showing off, just saying ‘how I get through’. When I got back to Manchester, I’d decided I didn’t want to be a teacher any more byt needed the money. That was actually the best teaching I ever did because I had no ego grasp on it; I didn’t need to ‘do well’. Like most things in life, when you let go and just enjoy something for what it is, it’s better.

4

[quote=“Buttercup”]Go go Lola!

The best adult teaching I did was in Manchester last year, at a shitty Chinese owned buxiban. I had a ‘visa’ class. My new boss, when he hired me said something along the lines ‘we a need a professional who can deal with Chinese students. It’s an, um, challenging class.’. God, it was a drama at first. A room full of Chinese and Iranian students at IELTS Band 4 and a couple of Russians at Band 7. They hated English, England, me, the school, the immigration office and made it personally my problem. Their last teacher had walked out.

I don’t have time to right down what changed…[/quote]

Let alone fucking spell it correctly!!!
:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

5

Yeah, I no. My brain is really fucked at the moment; I’m going to step in front of a bus if I’m not careful.

6

Stepping in front of a bus: the Curie cure.

Now, according to Disney, you can all be much happier at work if you’d only Whistle while you work.

personally, i’d be much happier at work if the f’in airconditioner could be turned off. i think it’s damn near time to invest in a roll of gaffer tape and close the bloody ceiling vents once again.

7

Whistle in my earshot, and I’ll ruin yer day.

Snow White had the right idea; fake own death to escape shithead father, shack up with seven guys in the woods then dump them for the rich dude, once saaaatisfied.

8

I’m grumpy, not Richie.

9

I always thought of you as a modern-day Fonzie

10

I always thought of you as a modern-day Fonzie[/quote]

Sit on it, Potsie.

11

[quote=“Buttercup”] . . .
Snow White had the right idea; fake own death to escape shithead father, shack up with seven guys in the woods then dump them for the rich dude, once saaaatisfied.[/quote]

Wow! The American/Disney version makes the STEP-MOTHER the evil one. I like your take on the whole story though.

Maybe I’ll tell my girls YOUR version tonight at bedtime. It’s a hell of a lot shorter.

12

[quote=“zender”][quote=“Buttercup”] . . .
Snow White had the right idea; fake own death to escape shithead father, shack up with seven guys in the woods then dump them for the rich dude, once saaaatisfied.[/quote]

Wow! The American/Disney version makes the STEP-MOTHER the evil one. I like your take on the whole story though.

[/quote]

He married some silly cow two years older than Snow White. Right before he bought his Ferrari and started going to Thailand ‘on business’ a lot. Stepmom got bitter because the surgery fund started drying up after the ex-wife got half the kingdom and then some, and she realised her days were numbered. That’s when the ‘mirror mirror’ shit started.

13

[quote=“Buttercup”][quote=“zender”][quote=“Buttercup”] . . .
Snow White had the right idea; fake own death to escape shithead father, shack up with seven guys in the woods then dump them for the rich dude, once saaaatisfied.[/quote]

Wow! The American/Disney version makes the STEP-MOTHER the evil one. I like your take on the whole story though.

[/quote]

He married some silly cow two years older than Snow White. Right before he bought his Ferrari and started going to Thailand ‘on business’ a lot. Stepmom got bitter because the surgery fund started drying up after the ex-wife got half the kingdom and then some, and she realised her days were numbered. That’s when the ‘mirror mirror’ shit started.[/quote]

Gee! I’m not saying the version YOUR mom told YOU was WRONG!

But it smacks of a bit of a “bitter-woman-scorned” side of events.

Maybe the man was just looking for an energetic mother for his dear dughter; maybe those business trips to Thailand took so long because, as fast as a Ferrari is, it’s a long trip to Thailand and back.

The ex-wife getting her share shows what a stand-up guy Dad was.

Anyway, your story is getting too long.

14

[quote=“zender”]
Gee! I’m not saying the version YOUR mom told YOU was WRONG![/quote]

Nah, my mother left my father; he was the bitter old woman scorned in my family. And she’s certainly not the ‘reading stories to children’ type! Just being silly and playing with the stereotypes, not ‘expressing’

15

Actually, the original fairy tale told in German-speaking lands portrayed the mother as the evil one, jealous of her daughter’s beauty even though it was she who had wished her daughter would have “skin as white as now, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony.” The mothers takes the daughter in the woods to pick flowers and abandons her. The father loved his daughter and was unaware of his wife’s wickedness and jealously. He died from sadness shortly after Snow White disappeared.

The dwarves who find Snow White force her into servitude, until she is rescued by the prince. Once Snow White becomes queen, she takes revenge on her mother by forcing her to wear fire-heated iron shoes until she finally dies from shock and torment.

The Brothers Grimm toned down the story quite a bit in their later additions, and changed the mother to the step-mother to make it less scary to children. Disney watered the story down even further.

16

[quote=“Gao Bohan”]Actually, the original fairy tale told in German-speaking lands portrayed the mother as the evil one, jealous of her daughter’s beauty even though it was she who had wished her daughter would have “skin as white as now, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony.” The mothers takes the daughter in the woods to pick flowers and abandons her. The father loved his daughter and was unaware of his wive’s wickedness and jealously. He died from sadness shortly after Snow White disappeared.

The dwarves who find Snow White force her into servitude, until she is rescued by the prince. Once Snow White becomes queen, she takes revenge on her mother by forcing her to wear fire-heated iron shoes until she finally dies from shock and torment.

The Brothers Grimm toned down the story quite a bit in their later additions, and changed the mother to the step-mother to make it less scary to children. Disney watered the story down even further.[/quote]

This was my fav story as a girl. The story book my mom read to me from showed Snow White’s mom pricking her finger, or something, but the story was as Gao haw written it. I think, other than cooking and cleaning for the dwarfs, Snow White had to endlessly spin yarn, or something. Kind a punny. Today’s popular Snow White story is very different than the one I grew up with.

Sorry; to be on topic, the teacher always sets the tone for the class–that’s his or her responsibility. And a good teacher in Taiwan will indeed manage student’s expectations and help them realize that they’re being met. The best way to have a good class, even when you feel like crap, happens to be to prepare well. I know, class prep is not popular with a lot of “teachers” in Taiwan, but it might help to think that prep is not for your students, but for you. Winging it all the time can actually get pretty stressful after a while. Being prepared helps YOU get through the class.

Of course, it also shows a level of maturity. Teachers who hate their students or classes because they’re a drag are not even taking responsibility for their own experience, much less for their student’s improvement.

17

Yup. The mother pricks her finger and the blood drops on the snow, prompting her to wish for a daughter as white as snow, lips red as blood, etc.

Yup. Dwarves of the middle ages often built villages in remote areas like forests or mountains. Most people didn’t trust them and they were frequently demonized in popular mythology. In the original story, the dwarves are Snow White’s oppressors.

18

I love reading different versions of a story to my girls (6 and 9). They have to pay attention to note the differences.

“He died from sadness shortly after Snow White disappeared.”

I love the imagery . . . “death by sadness.” My mother used to work in a retirement home, and as a home-health-aide nurse. Often when one old person died, their spouse was soon to follow.

I think since 1951, no one has officially died of old age in the US. There’s got to be something else on the death certificate. I think death by sadness would be appropriate for some.

19

[quote=“zender”]I love reading different versions of a story to my girls (6 and 9). They have to pay attention to note the differences.

“He died from sadness shortly after Snow White disappeared.”

I love the imagery . . . “death by sadness.” My mother used to work in a retirement home, and as a home-health-aide nurse. Often when one old person died, their spouse was soon to follow.

I think since 1951, no one has officially died of old age in the US. There’s got to be something else on the death certificate. I think death by sadness would be appropriate for some.[/quote]

John Cash died of a broken heart.

20

I’ll be happy in my work when HR grows a brain and a heart, loses selfishness and laziness and absurdity.