Job calls for English teacher but get fired for not teaching PE

I totally sympathize with OP, but I can’t help thinking of this.

3 Likes

Dodgeball seems like one of those activities that would seem fun for half an hour, but drive me nuts if I had to do it for hours every day.

I imagine the guy who said that looks like this:

1 Like

It was an impossible arrangement. Designing games or finding games to play, setting up and tearing down PE equipment, minding all of the kids, keeping them all occupied. They gave me a PE book to follow which was entirely in Chinese which they knew I could not read.

I insisted on an assistant which was met with great resistance but they finally agreed to provide on a temporary basis.

I taught them capoeira ginga and a few moves. I liked it and the kids liked it. The boss didn’t like it. She feared what the parents would think. She said capoeira was known as “Brazilian Devil Dancing”. I’ve never heard that before.

She said I needed to write a curriculum for PE. The job ad said all curriculum was provided and to hell if I know how write PE programs for 1st graders. I told the woman it wasn’t my job and I wasn’t doing it. I told her it was dishonest of them to hire me into such a situation as nowhere in the job ad, during the interview, or in the contract, is there any mention of teaching PE.

No time to grade papers for 40 kids.

Enormous mess.

I can’t remember if I mentioned all of this before. The kids are well behaved for the Chinese teachers but as soon as my class begins the kids start talking between themselves, run around the room, in and out of the room, paid me not attention at all. This was what the kids were accustomed to for their English class. They certainly didn’t learn that from me. I was getting the kids into line by sending notes home to parents and handing out writing assignments for hw and after class.

This was a real circus. These kids were allowed to develop these habits. The school knew this and let it go on. These kids had become animals.

With the number of kids and the number of classes taught there is no way a single teacher could handle the planning, paperwork, HW, and grading.

Opened case with labor office. Dial 1955 for foreigners. They did everything on the phone.

2 Likes

I suggested we recruit college students enrolled in sports education programs in the nearby universities. Those students would love the experience, possible class credit, and mention on their resume and the dumb axx boss of mine thought I was crazy. I told her I’d do all of the work recruiting the college sports students.

So the boss and another teacher send me an activity they designed over the weekend. They set up an obstacle course for the kids including a balance beam. The boss showed me the setup in the basement before taking me to meet with the principal about the situation. My PE class was being run by another teacher during the meeting with the principal. I insisted we go and see what was going on with the PE class they designed. The teacher was alone with the 40 kids all standing around waiting their turn to go through the course.

The balance beam was unattended and didn’t have enough mats to protect falling children. The teacher stood at the beginning of the course limiting the rate of kids going. Of course, bottleneck at the balance beam. I quickly got more mats to put around the beam and then assisted the kids across.

My point is the setup and removal of the equipment would take 30 to 45 minutes. 1 person cannot safely run a class like this.

Even though there were now 3 adults in the room, 1 kid came and told me that another kid had left the room and gone upstairs unattended. Was he the only one to escape?

Just a pitiful circumstance

1 Like

I had to ask my 7 year old daughter about the situation at her elite private school. Her school is many rungs above the school the school I was working at.

All of the PE teachers are Taiwan Ren. They all soeak Chinese. I do not speak Chinese. No secret.

There are at least 5 adults in the room as other PE classes are going on at the same time.

Is it safe?

1 Like

Times have changed, my PE classes at school consisted of boxing with no head guards, rugby taught by the Welsh biology teacher, and soccer taught by the history teacher. We also played a game called British bulldog. I guess things have been watered down a bit since the 1970s lol
And the whole time at school there was only one death on the rugby pitch, due to a collapsed diaphram, the verdict by the coroner “Horse play”.

6 Likes

:no_mouth:

1 Like

I think you have mixed up Rugby and Polo

2 Likes

LMFAO

1 Like