Got slammed for teaching North, South, East, and West in my kindergarten class today. Had the weather map, radar, on the whiteboard while discussing the weather. Weather is a required topic to be discussed each morning.
I get that the school doesn’t want me around any longer - no love lost - but teaching cardinal directions “is not developmentally appropriate”?
The suggestion was to use “up, down, left, right instead”.
So the kids should be allowed to say the clouds are moving to the up? To the left? To the down?
Wouldn’t it be better for the school to simply say they hate me and hand me a pink slip instead of “up, down, left, right…”? Am I retarded or what?
Tell them they will need it for earth science in school later. I teach high school and both geography and earth science are mandatory classes in high school.
Edit my point is that learning this young will be an important foundation for harder more complex content later on
My daughter goes to another “elite” private school in Taipei. She comes home and she makes fun of her teachers who speak broken English. My daughter knows better. She has told me she “feels sorry for the babies who don’t know any better”.
I’ve told the place for weeks to find someone else for my position. I explained my feelings would not be hurt at all if I were dispensed.
But, I would be the second teacher in this class to leave this year so I understand their want of my presence for the remaining weeks of the semester. Must keep up appearances.
The whole reason I am not wanted is that I - with ease and pleasure - point out how fcuked up their operation is.
Why do you assume it wasn’t a private conversation? Of course I spoke with her kindly and explained clearly my thoughts and my reasons. Well, she promptly called the office and complained that I had spoken to her about this.
I never had the “hotline” to call the office. I never knew how to use the phone in the classroom to call the office. I never needed to use the phone but she would call the office all the time !!! hahahaha.
So, if there isn’t a flashcard for the little gaffers, how are they supposed to catch on to words and ideas? I’m “helping” my wife’s acquaintance’s kids who are 6 and 8. I’m always whipping out my phone to show them pictures of things for words they ask about.
When I interviewed with the school I related the same story my daughter shared with me about the horrible English the kids were exposed to in her school by the Chinese teachers. I was hired, in part, because I was mindful of the experience of children who knew better, in other “elite” schools.
No matter, this school, along with many others, enjoys a high turnover rate of both English and Chinese teachers. As I may have mentioned above, I replaced an English teacher who could not make it through the first semester and here I am not at all against drinking till after lunch tomorrow and I have not ever done such a thing since I was a teenager.
i’ve met many people here who are dumbfounded when i use cardinal directions. that’s just how i look at maps. yeah i live just 5 blocks north of so-and-so station. puzzled looks. i don’t think it’s taiwan-specific, because i’ve some met as many foreigners who don’t get it either.
sorry about your situation though, that is ridiculous and makes no sense…