Jeez, you people work at some STRANGE schools. Lucky for me, I’ve been at the same place for 8 years, and being the only waigoren employee, pretty much dictate the way things are done.
Edit: I still get peeved at the pecking order, though. How everyone is kept in the dark about things. How the chain of command and the rankings function.
[quote=“jimipresley”]Jeez, you people work at some STRANGE schools. Lucky for me, I’ve been at the same place for 8 years, and being the only waigoren employee, pretty much dictate the way things are done.
Edit: I still get peeved at the pecking order, though. How everyone is kept in the dark about things. How the chain of command and the rankings function.[/quote]
standing up during the whole class
[quote=“Modest Mouse”]Having to work on Saturday to make up for the day(s) you missed for national a holiday.
Especially since tonight is Frinight and tomorrow is Saturday…starting with an early morning. :neutral:[/quote]
It seems every school does this, so there’s no way around it, but the idiocy of some people is just astounding.
[quote=“Sleepyhead’s personal experience…”]Me: “We should come in the Saturday before the holiday.”
Them: “Why?”
Me: “Working the Saturday afterward means we’re working eleven days out of twelve and everyone’s tired. Working the Saturday before the holiday means we work nine days out of ten, and then have a holiday before returning to normal.”
Them: “That doesn’t make any sense. Anyway, that’s not the Chinese way.”
[/quote]
No kidding it’s not.
As I’ve observed about doors, roads and sidewalks, the Chinese way is in the way.
[quote=“TomHill”]A tribute thread, to all those insane little practises which your schools deem to be sane, but which you know come from a place of utter madness.
Here are my current nominations.
-
The 24 hour photocopying rule. {snip}
-
The one week photocopying rule. {snip}
-
Signing out dictionaries. {snip}
Past or present, what are your favourite special stories?[/quote]
Judging by this and other posts in this thread, I should post my add-ons for people before they sign contracts for the next year. I’ll do it in a separate thread laters this month; remind me if I don’t, people.
There were things I insisted on getting in writing before I signed on, none of this “We’ll talk about that later” bullshit. When they say that, it means they’ll tell you what you’re going to do after it’s too late and you can’t get out of the contract. Confucianists view the employer-employee relationship as a one-way street, not a two-way street as westerners see it.
Several times I’ve had to drag out the contract to get them to pay attention to my additions, the most important of which is Anything that has a deadline must be told to me at least two weeks in advance, none of the “It’s Friday and we need it by Monday” bullshit.
I work at a science and technology university and recently had to take the TOEIC test along with everyone else in the department. I am happy to report that I scored a perfect 990, which means I will be reasonably understood by native speakers. :bravo:
What the hell does that mean?
Tee hee! Now THAT’S funny! :roflmao:
What the hell does that mean?[/quote]
It means he has outstanding passive language skills and is very good at taking tests.
Jesus Kerrrist! TomHill, we have a winner! 
sandman, it’s this retarded American multiple choice English test for EFL students, very popular round these parts because it’s easy to fiddle.
Jesus Kerrrist! TomHill, we have a winner!
sandman, it’s this retarded American multiple choice English test for EFL students, very popular round these parts because it’s easy to fiddle.[/quote]
Indeed. It is a fairly useless test that you can score reasonably well on with a vocabulary of 2400 words. Many universities, especially lower tier ones, aspire to have a set percentage of students from each department score at least 350, which supposedly denotes basic competence. I think 350 is what a chicken might score on the test. Any native speaker who managed to stay awake throughout the tedious nonsense would score a 990. It is the test of choice in Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea. I believe that in South Korea you need a score of 800 to get a job at Starbucks. Many hucksters have made a pretty penny peddling their secret TOEIC methods in Japan and Korea, but I don’t know about Taiwan.
I just posted this tidbit here because lunacy is certainly not exclusive to cram schools. If there are any other university or college teachers on here, I am sure they have a story or two as well.
A couple of years ago, under English language policies set for the civil service, many departments had to get a certain percentage of employees to A2 level of the CEF (about chicken level). The TOEIC agents in Taiwan were selling their test thus: your employees can just choose b or c and you will get A2.
The problem with multiple choice tests is that there is very little differentiation at lower levels. Without a humoungous amount of questions, it’s not easy to differentiate A1 from A2 from chance …
Not a ‘bad’ policy, just not thought up by anyone who has a clue about what they are doing.
:roflmao:
That’s so dumb it’s brilliant!
Multiple choice tests are easy, if they’re not carefully designed. Given the following question and 3 answers, I can tell you what the correct answer most likely is without even knowing the material.
Q. What characterizes a widget?
A. It is long and red.
B. It is short and blue.
C. It is short and red.
The probable answer is C. The desired characteristics are the ones that are most frequently found among the answers.
A good test designer will employ means to foil this technique, of course.
[quote=“Chris”]
Multiple choice tests are easy, if they’re not carefully designed. Given the following question and 3 answers, I can tell you what the correct answer most likely is without even knowing the material.
Q. What characterizes a widget?
A. It is long and red.
B. It is short and blue.
C. It is short and red.
The probable answer is C. The desired characteristics are the ones that are most frequently found among the answers.
A good test designer will employ means to foil this technique, of course.[/quote]
Yes, test design is difficult; a blend of statistics and linguistics. ETS are among the best in the world. It’s easy to poke fun at TOEIC (I do), but I’d like to see another statistically sound test at that level, for the markets it’s designed for, done as well. ETS also do American school tests, and used to do British school tests.
Compare it with poor quality idiocy such as GEPT and you’ll see the differences. It’s basically valid, even though it’s daft.
:roflmao:
That’s so dumb it’s brilliant![/quote]
Yeah, a flat out winning move!
[quote=“Buttercup”]The problem with multiple choice tests is that there is very little differentiation at lower levels. Without a humoungous amount of questions, it’s not easy to differentiate A1 from A2 from chance …
Not a ‘bad’ policy, just not thought up by anyone who has a clue about what they are doing.[/quote]
But TOEIC is a C level test. If you get a quarter of the answers on a C level multiple choice test, it doesn’t mean you are A1/2. It doesn’t mean anything at all.
[quote=“Charlie Phillips”][quote=“Buttercup”]The problem with multiple choice tests is that there is very little differentiation at lower levels. Without a humoungous amount of questions, it’s not easy to differentiate A1 from A2 from chance …
Not a ‘bad’ policy, just not thought up by anyone who has a clue about what they are doing.[/quote]
But TOEIC is a C level test. If you get a quarter of the answers on a C level multiple choice test, it doesn’t mean you are A1/2. It doesn’t mean anything at all.[/quote]
Yup. No differentiation at lower levels.
[quote=“Buttercup”][quote=“Charlie Phillips”][quote=“Buttercup”]The problem with multiple choice tests is that there is very little differentiation at lower levels. Without a humoungous amount of questions, it’s not easy to differentiate A1 from A2 from chance …
Not a ‘bad’ policy, just not thought up by anyone who has a clue about what they are doing.[/quote]
But TOEIC is a C level test. If you get a quarter of the answers on a C level multiple choice test, it doesn’t mean you are A1/2. It doesn’t mean anything at all.[/quote]
Yup. No differentiation at lower levels.[/quote]
right. My English comprehension gets suckier every year…hic
[quote=“Charlie Phillips”]
right. My English comprehension gets suckier every year…hic[/quote]
Oof, mine too. 