Cram School Frustrations

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
1

Does anyone else think it’s downright stupid that cram schools think the ideal foreign teacher should be a foreigner teaching English the “Taiwanese way”, only with more facial expressions and the lack of a screwed up Taiwanese accent that makes “she is” sound like “jizz”?

I’ve never ran a cram school before, but the way I see it, schools should hire foreign teachers for their proper pronunciation and unique methods of teaching and interacting with the kids. Isn’t that the whole point, to create a Western atmosphere in a place that’s 99% Taiwanese? So it boggles my mind that the school wants us to teach exactly like the Chinese teachers.

I run my classes in a way that encourages students to speak as much English as possible. Even the very young beginners can combine their limited vocabulary with gestures and what not to communicate something to me. “Daniel didn’t wash his hands after he went to the bathroom.” “I was riding my bike when I fell off and scraped my knee.” Anything. As long as they’re talking I’ll be happy.

Everyone knows that the main reason why so many Taiwanese people have crappy English is the education system. They learn a bunch of textbook junk that isn’t useful at all in the real world, so they grow up being afraid of even saying hello to a foreigner on the street. I don’t care if your English is broken; we can work on that later. The important thing is being able to get across what you want to say.

The school, however, touts mechanical repetition and rote memorization. “Say ‘apple’ 3 times. Good. Now spell it 3 times. Excellent! Now say it 3 times again. A A A? Ah ah ah! P P P? Pah pah pah! Apple! Apple! Apple!”

Honestly, how is that going to help the students speak better English? I explained to my boss that if I feel my students know the words already, I won’t make them repeat it 30 times in one class because it’s a waste of time. As a teacher, my job is to teach kids what the words mean and how to use them. Once they understand, it’s up to them to go home and practice until perfect. If the Chinese teachers want to waste time holding their hands until they can all spell out a certain word in a split second, that’s their prerogative, but there’s no point in me doing the same.

My boss responded in a typical manner, saying how it’s important for the students to memorize the answers cold so they can score well on their tests, which is more important than fully understanding what they’re saying. Blah blah blah.

So is this one of those things that I’m just going to have to suck up and get used to?

On a side note: At my school, the Chinese teachers routinely evaluate the foreign teachers’ performance and inform our boss, who’ll believe whatever they say. But foreign teachers never get to evaluate Chinese teachers’ performance, some of whom are pretty horrible. Aren’t we all supposed to be equals here? Total BS.

2

I think the question you’d encounter when fighting the (broken) buxiban system is “If we don’t teach this way, then how will we teach?”
Those who run the buxibans rarely have any sort of applied linguistics training. I’ve never met one who’s familiar with current linguistics research or theory (you’d think that since this is their business they’d show at least a passing interest). Couple that with teachers who have no teaching or linguistics background, and yeah, you’re going to have an industry of the the blind leading the blind and less than satisfactory results.
But why should your boss listen to you? In a society that relies heavily on authority, you might do better if you did your own research on second language acquisition theories, and presented that to your boss (if his English is good enough). Show him why he’s doing his students a disservice, and show him a better way. Then, if you manage to convince him, be prepared to build your own curriculum without pay for countless hours of your free time. Then try to implement it and see if it works.
Or perhaps research another curriculum and present that to your boss? but chances are that if it’s quality it’ll be more expensive. Since money is the bottom line, it’ll be a hard sell.
When it comes to English education, Taiwan is MORE INTERESTED IN THE ILLUSION OF QUALITY THAN IN QUALITY ITSELF.
it’s been said a million times before, but really they just want a white face to parade in front of the parents.

I survived by finding a job teaching adults where the managers leave me alone and I’m allowed to implement different teaching techniques based on my own research. Before I found this job though, I just focused on trying to bring as much fun to the kid’s lives as I could. God knows they needed it, and as far as I can tell, the key to learning a language thoroughly is tons of exposure. If that’s a priority for your kids they’ll seek it out. If not, they’ll speak mediocre English and the world will keep turning. Do your best, enjoy the little rascals, or if it drives you too crazy, find another job.

Good luck.

3

You make happy. Sing song. OK?*

*this one’s for Gao Bohan

4

[quote=“Amasashi”]Does anyone else think it’s downright stupid that cram schools think the ideal foreign teacher should be a foreigner teaching English the “Taiwanese way”, only with more facial expressions and the lack of a screwed up Taiwanese accent that makes “she is” sound like “jizz”?

I’ve never ran a cram school before, but the way I see it, schools should hire foreign teachers for their proper pronunciation and unique methods of teaching and interacting with the kids. Isn’t that the whole point, to create a Western atmosphere in a place that’s 99% Taiwanese? So it boggles my mind that the school wants us to teach exactly like the Chinese teachers.

I run my classes in a way that encourages students to speak as much English as possible. Even the very young beginners can combine their limited vocabulary with gestures and what not to communicate something to me. “Daniel didn’t wash his hands after he went to the bathroom.” “I was riding my bike when I fell off and scraped my knee.” Anything. As long as they’re talking I’ll be happy.

Everyone knows that the main reason why so many Taiwanese people have crappy English is the education system. They learn a bunch of textbook junk that isn’t useful at all in the real world, so they grow up being afraid of even saying hello to a foreigner on the street. I don’t care if your English is broken; we can work on that later. The important thing is being able to get across what you want to say.

The school, however, touts mechanical repetition and rote memorization. “Say ‘apple’ 3 times. Good. Now spell it 3 times. Excellent! Now say it 3 times again. A A A? Ah ah ah! P P P? Pah pah pah! Apple! Apple! Apple!”

Honestly, how is that going to help the students speak better English? I explained to my boss that if I feel my students know the words already, I won’t make them repeat it 30 times in one class because it’s a waste of time. As a teacher, my job is to teach kids what the words mean and how to use them. Once they understand, it’s up to them to go home and practice until perfect. If the Chinese teachers want to waste time holding their hands until they can all spell out a certain word in a split second, that’s their prerogative, but there’s no point in me doing the same.

My boss responded in a typical manner, saying how it’s important for the students to memorize the answers cold so they can score well on their tests, which is more important than fully understanding what they’re saying. Blah blah blah.

So is this one of those things that I’m just going to have to suck up and get used to?

On a side note: At my school, the Chinese teachers routinely evaluate the foreign teachers’ performance and inform our boss, who’ll believe whatever they say. But foreign teachers never get to evaluate Chinese teachers’ performance, some of whom are pretty horrible. Aren’t we all supposed to be equals here? Total BS.[/quote]

Consider it a learning experience on life. It reminds me of when I worked at ALV English camp and the management was contentiously be informed of our actions by the TAs. The TAs (university students) had no idea about teaching and were telling the management if we were doing a good job or not.

Even better is when they complained that I did not teach the lesson in the book but it was just a copied article from the internet that the TAs (university students) couldn’t read themselves.

5

You know it’s not limited to English education.

6

You’re missing the point. The reason someone opens a cram school in Taiwan is to make money, not to impart English knowledge. The reason they open an English cram school is that there is sufficient demand and sufficient money behind that demand.

If it were the case that teaching that led to proficiency also led to good test scores on Taiwanese standardized tests (or, worse, school-written tests) or even made the customers (the parents, not the children) happy, they would do proficiency-based teaching in a heartbeat. But it doesn’t. Keeping the customers happy is Job #1. That’s how you get repeat business. The tests are Engrish and the parents have no clue. And there is a never-ending supply of fresh-off-the-boat, know-nothing-at-all-about-teaching young native English speakers without employment in their home countries who are happy (at least at first) to take up the sticky ball and the flash cards. And once that one burns out, there are three more right behind. “One foreigner is much like any other…”

7

[quote=“ironlady”]You’re missing the point. The reason someone opens a cram school in Taiwan is to make money, not to impart English knowledge. The reason they open an English cram school is that there is sufficient demand and sufficient money behind that demand.

If it were the case that teaching that led to proficiency also led to good test scores on Taiwanese standardized tests (or, worse, school-written tests) or even made the customers (the parents, not the children) happy, they would do proficiency-based teaching in a heartbeat. But it doesn’t. Keeping the customers happy is Job #1. That’s how you get repeat business. The tests are Engrish and the parents have no clue. And there is a never-ending supply of fresh-off-the-boat, know-nothing-at-all-about-teaching young native English speakers without employment in their home countries who are happy (at least at first) to take up the sticky ball and the flash cards. And once that one burns out, there are three more right behind. “One foreigner is much like any other…”[/quote]

Not to mention that if you actually indicated that you know anything about teaching you would probably be perceived as a threat/trouble and not given a job anyways.

8

Exactly.

Give the customers what they want, and in Taiwan they have a very specific view of what they want. First you’d have to convince the customers that the method you advocate is better, which in Taiwan means improved test scores, then customers will demand that kind of training.

9

Exactly.

Give the customers what they want, and in Taiwan they have a very specific view of what they want. First you’d have to convince the customers that the method you advocate is better, which in Taiwan means improved test scores, then customers will demand that kind of training.[/quote]

In spite of all the great (but frustrating!) cram schools in Taiwan, its students have traditionally not done well on internationally-respected English proficiency exams. Fortunately, there’s the GEPT, the peas and corn pizza of English tests, to teach to.

Can’t meet the challenge? Lower the bar!

10

You must be really new to teaching in Taiwan. these are common frustrations that have been discussed at length endlessly.

ironlady mentioned a few of the reasons why but missed a few. Buxibans are a business first as she mentions but a lot of times those in charge (both ownership and management) have no educational experience or credentials. And then they hire foreign teachers (and Taiwanese) that have very little teaching experience. They start recruiting students and a curriculum is put in last. Because they don’t really know what they are doing they either copy a curriculum from another buxiban or blindly pick books off the shelf at the bookstore. I’ve subbed at a few schools and I’ve been thoroughly confused at how they put the curriculum together (particularly the reader).

And the reason that the white foreigner (and not the fluent non-white or even local teacher) gets hired isn’t for pronounciation or interacting with the students. It’s because the parents want a white faced teacher. If they were truly interested in your teaching abilities then they would require that you had a degree in education (or at least a TEFL cert). But that isn’t really important.

Oh. And welcome to teaching in Taiwan. If you try to make sense of a completely illogical system you will end up embittered and hate it (like some forumosans imo).

11

Best thread ever!

12

[quote]The school, however, touts mechanical repetition and rote memorization. “Say ‘apple’ 3 times. Good. Now spell it 3 times. Excellent! Now say it 3 times again. A A A? Ah ah ah! P P P? Pah pah pah! Apple! Apple! Apple!”
[/quote]
Agghhhhh!!! You are reminding me of the way I am being forced to teach. Is it possible to escape. Chinese teachers will tell you that you are not pronuncing English words correctly when they know maybe two thirds of the language :raspberry: .

[quote]NonTocareLeTete wrote:
When it comes to English education, Taiwan is MORE INTERESTED IN THE ILLUSION OF QUALITY THAN IN QUALITY ITSELF.[/quote]
I couldn’t have said it better myself.

13

Teaching happily in Buxibans is easy…go in, do what the boss says, leave–that’s it.Big thing is-- Don’t think about it and if you are looking for fulfillment look for another more lucrative job in another industry or focus on bigger goals (mine being Chinese and Grad school)

14

What if what the boss says isn’t clear? Or if the you do what the boss says and students are still complaining and the boss says it is because you aren’t really doing what they are saying :ponder: ?

15

That may work in your school but that does not work in a lot of schools. Bosses complain and contradict themselves every week due to which parent is complaining that week.

16

That may work if you are here for the short term but it doesn’t work for long termers.

17

If you do this long term… you’re living a profoundly inauthentic life, in my opinion.

This thread seems like a good place to share my cram school experience. Why not? Perhaps some of you can give me constructive input!

The most fulfilling classes I teach, are the ones where I have been given a solid, flexible curriculum by the school, and then allowed a lot of control, free reign in my methods. Believe it or not, these classes, which I presently find rewarding, take place at a ubiquitous chain school. These classes are also ones which I teach exclusively, without much intervention. I suppose it is relevant that I also work at a small school, where the parents are ‘on my side’, and everyone is generally quite laid back.

As an aside, in the eight months or so that I’ve been here, the students in these classes have developed a great deal, and I feel that in part this can be attributed to various attempts at applying methods discussed here on this forum.

Even if you’re working in a chain cram school, I believe that you can still actually teach in many of your classes if you put your mind to it. This does require an independent effort towards discovering what you can do in the classroom, beyond relying on the repetitive games and rote drilling which seem to be the staple methodology of most chain cram schools catering to children.

At the very same cram school, I have classes where the curriculum and content is forced on me, and the mold of each lesson is too rigid to modify. Some of these classes are fantastic, and the students are a delight to work with. The good ones have all had an experienced Taiwanese teacher for at least a year, teachers whom I would go so far as to say are professional and highly competent.

However… while several of these classes are really great, more of them are absolutely terrible. Many of the students in these classes are too old for the material, or their command of English isn’t strong enough for the material. This, paired with large class sizes, makes them anything but fulfilling, rewarding, meaningful, or interesting.

Where the age/content disparity is a problem, the material is all the school has for their ability level, so there’s no alternative, and 13 year old students are stuck with ‘Dick and Jane’, if you will. I have one upper-beginner class where student age ranges from 8 to 14.

Where the poor kids can’t handle the content, or even begin to understand it, the students have been ‘graduated’ from each previous level, and seem content to grind along through a linear curriculum which overwhelmed them a year or two ago, and is several orders of magnitude worse for them now. Here, I suppose the problem is the same; the school only has one curriculum template for each ability level, making a repeat or ‘demotion’ highly undesirable for the parents, who already paid to have their child pushed through a year and a half ago (and also undesirable for the poor kid, who was probably bored enough of it the first time through).

These classes are total bullshit. I do my best for them, I really do. But consistently, I find myself standing at the front of the classroom, consumed by the feeling that these students are not getting their money’s worth, are learning almost nothing, and are effectively just keeping chairs warm for two hours. The lack of motivation is sometimes tangible. I really feel for them, but within the constraints forced on me, there is literally almost nothing I can do. So, I try my best, and sometimes a new idea works.

These classes continue to exist, because the school is making a lot of money from them, and the parents don’t know any better.

Teaching the ‘bad’ classes, I know that long-term, there is no way I can continue working for a chain cram school. At some point, I just won’t be able to take myself seriously for doing it.

That said, it is possible, it really is, for chain school classes to be effective and rewarding. Unfortunately, when a school is run as a corporation, with profit as its primary drive, I don’t see this being common unless the market begins to demand it.

Sorry for the really long post.

18

Bushiban teachers are the burger flippers of Asia.

Would you like fries with that?

19

[quote=“Homey”]buxiban teachers are the burger flippers of Asia.

Would you like fries with that?[/quote]

Good one. Teaching at a buxiban takes about as much skill as working at McDonalds.

20

That may work if you are here for the short term but it doesn’t work for long termers.[/quote]

This is why long-term ESL’ers are crazy. What James said is absolutely true. When the boss changes their mind the next day/week/month you simply have to say ‘oh, ok’. If you try to talk logic to the boss or make sense of the whole situation then you’ll end up bitching endlessly on an internet forum about how stupid your buxiban is when in fact it’s not unlike 90% of the buxiban in Taiwan. If you want to do more with teaching like so many of the long winded whiny teachers here proclaim then you are in the wrong place.