Upstaged by sub teacher

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
1

So I have a big problem and could use some advice.

About two months ago, because of a change in schedules, one of my classes was taken over by a sub while I finished teaching another class. Both classes were mine, but one followed the other on the same night. Then the school changed all classes to start at the same time which meant one of my classes had to be taught by another teacher for about six weeks. I am taking it back next week.

By the way, I teach adults and most of the students are in their early 20s.

The problem is the sub teacher is some miracle worker, superstar media teacher who does not use traditional methods. While I was teaching this class the students were pretty happy learning almost exclusively from the book, but from what I have been hearing they absolutely love this sub teacher because he rarely teaches from the book. I don’t know if he uses other means and teaches the same objectives the book requires, but I do know that he has been shooting videos and doing voice recordings of the students and then setting up drama days and having them act out situations where they use English etc. and the students love him.

I have grave concerns about taking over this class next week. I know that I will be compared to him and may not receive a favorable rating. Fair enough. I think any innovation in the classroom is a good thing. But because this is my class then I may be forced to try to change my style to something less traditional that equals the sub’s methods. At the moment I teach a pretty solid lesson based on the book and haven’t had any complaints from other classes. I have been told to stick pretty close to the book.

I like doing optional games and activities sometimes but there is a lot to teach in two hours and I have been told that I have to teach all the lessons before I start teaching supplemental material.

Then I hear this guy has been teaching almost exclusively supplemental material. There is no way he has been following the book from what I have been hearing.

Even though I get relatively high ratings from the students every three months, I feel that I have been set up to look pretty normal compared to this sub teacher. The students were practically putting a crown on his head the other day as class was finishing and there I was in the office looking on like a deer caught in the headlights as I watched this unfold.

Any advice here on what I might do next week to smoothen the transition from his teaching methods to mine? I guess the other thing that kind of angers me about this is the administration pretty much knew what was going on but didn’t hold him back despite the fact that is was technically not his class and that I would be taking it back soon.

Now I hear that last night they had this big send off for him because it was his “last class” but it was not the last class of the course by a long shot. I am going to have to go in there and teach as if they have been learning the material all along and assume they are the same students they were before. But there does not sound like there will be any continuity here and I have been totally screwed.

Should I just tell them to let him keep the class? I am really at a loss here. This is the first time in my career that this has happened.

2

I would suggest waiting to see if the students are “caught up” to the correct location in the study material before you make judgements about if the teacher deserves a more favourable rating (:

3

call News of the World and get some dirt on him (photos of him in bed with another man’s goat etc.). When in doubt stoop to dirty tricks I always say.

4

Could there be an opportunity for professional growth here for you? Or would that be stretching it?

I’m thinking what would I do in that situation… my first reaction would be to feel threatened and worry what that would do to my ratings with the students. But right after that initial fight-or-flight reaction I would consider talking to the ‘competition’ openly, first to find out if they are really teaching the students or just using cheap ticks to entertain and impress them. If the former turns out to be true, I would ask them to share in order to possibly incorporate some of their successful methods into mine.
I’m a business training and workshop facilitator, so I can very much relate to the situation above. I’ve found that I’ve progressed the most when I was humble. It’s damn hard though, Ego is a tough bastard.

Whatever you do, try to take fear out of the process. It will block you from finding the best solution and the students will smell it.

5

[quote=“tash”]Could there be an opportunity for professional growth here for you? Or would that be stretching it?

I’m thinking what would I do in that situation… my first reaction would be to feel threatened and worry what that would do to my ratings with the students. But right after that initial fight-or-flight reaction I would consider talking to the ‘competition’ openly, first to find out if they are really teaching the students or just using cheap ticks to entertain and impress them. If the former turns out to be true, I would ask them to share in order to possibly incorporate some of their successful methods into mine.
I’m a business training and workshop facilitator, so I can very much relate to the situation above. I’ve found that I’ve progressed the most when I was humble. It’s damn hard though, Ego is a tough bastard.

Whatever you do, try to take fear out of the process. It will block you from finding the best solution and the students will smell it.[/quote]

Tash you are bang on the money. I just had a chat with my supervisor and she more or less said the same things. But I also had your thoughts in the back of my mind. I am always looking for new teaching methods and activities but it is easy to get complacent. Then some young buck comes along and blows you out of the water and it’s a real wake up call. :notworthy:

I think the best thing to do here is not to copy the things he was doing but to bring in a few activities I’ve been thinking of using but haven’t had the chance. I do feel, however, that my straight-ahead approach is effective with this material and despite any new age teaching methods this sub has usesd, there is no substitute for clarity.

And let me also repeat that I am not intimidated by fellow teachers being innovative with their students while I do my own thing. I just don’t appreciate the way this thing played out because it almost forces me to make changes to a style that I have been fine tuning since I arrived at this school seven months ago. The material is very academic for a bushiban and I’ve had to think of many ways to make it interesting already.

Now I will have to start fresh but as you said, professional growth opportunities are a good thing. :discodance:

6

Excellent! :slight_smile:

7

I agree but hasten to add that they really aren’t “your” students, but in fact, the clients of the business that employs you. I find it helps to keep that perspective in the back of one’s mind as well. It is your class however, and your ratings will indicate how well you’ve adapted to this challenge if the clients still choose your product over the others available.

Good luck.

8

You might consider asking yourself what the students bought when they paid their money. Did they buy nose to the grindstone sessions, or did they just buy undefined English classes? What does the school think it has sold them?

If they, and the school, are genuinely committed to learning whatever is in the book then it’s fair to use the book as the benchmark against which you measure their progress. Are they able to do everything they should be able to do at this point in the course? If so, there are two possibilities:

  • the sub really is doing something amazing
  • the book is just repeating stuff they already knew anyway

If they’re not able to do everything they should be able to do at this point in the course, then it’s possible that all the edutainment is to blame. It’s also possible that the students wouldn’t have got it even if the sub had followed the book. How are they with the material you were teaching previously?

But what if they’re not genuinely committed to the book?

Now you have to face the deep dark truth about teaching adults in Taiwan: For most, the book is just revision but in many cases they’re just repeating the same mistakes they were making previously, so it’s not really revision. No actual learning is taking place. Probably, they don’t really care, they never really expected to make any progress, and in any case they’re not qualified to have an informed opinion about what is really useful for them. They just know that the sub’s class was more fun.

Fun, incidentally, can mean that it gives them the appearence of making progress after many years of spinning their wheels. It’s a good feeling, even if it’s only the appearance of progress and no actual improvement is taking place.

This is not to say that the sub isn’t genuinely helping the students. Maybe they really have improved in some way. I can’t offer an opinion on that, because I don’t know what those particular students need. Maybe they need confidence-building activities that help them develop more fluency. Maybe they need more knowledges. Who am I to say? Did they buy confidence and fluency, or did they buy knowledges?

The first question to ask yourself is what the students want, and the second is what they need. Then you can assess how well you and the sub are performing, and reach a conclusion about what changes should be made.

9

Man up and admit that you are impressed by the enthusiasm that the other teacher managed to generate. Tell them that you will attempt to duplicate it, in your own way, and with their help. They’ll be eager to talk about it so give them a chance.

Then upstage HIM by bringing music into the mix. It’ll have to be stuff that is written without too much slang and all that so go with something like…

youtube.com/watch?v=Gx-tRNv-w7E

[i]Introduce it as a story first, without the video. Just tell them about this guy who was happy as a kid and got suckered into going square and ended up wondering what the fuck life was all about. Use all the "able’ words in your story (have the translations into pinyin on a srcap of paper in case you get really stuck) and recycle all the words that seems newish in questions about “their” life. Don’t get bogged down with them struggling to make sentences. Short answers are good enough. Try to use lines from the song in your interactions. When it’s decided that everybody knows the vocab and is familiar with the issues play the song with no sound and work through the lyrics (you doing the melody), line by line. Get THEM to sing along BEFORE they hear the artists version and THEN play the song again and at a good loud volume.

Let them tape record this entire process so they can listen later to all the funny, silly crap that happened in class. Keep the atmosphere light. [/i]

The stuff in italics above is almost precisely what I did today. Worked a charm.

“Making” videos is another issue altogether. Too much can go seriously wrong there, like discovering that the vainest one in class isn’t photogenic at all or a million other things. I wouldn’t advise it myself.

10

wonder, please keep us informed about how it goes.

You have my best wishes - I can imagine your disappointment at having students salute the sub right next to you. But both you and your supervisor seem like sensible people and while you might dread the first class back, this too will pass. I’ve no way of judging the value of the sub but it goes without saying that their are teachers who dryly teach the book, those who just have fun with the students, and those who manage to get through the material and have fun. We should all, of course, be opting for the latter state.

A nice incentive for you to mix things up and try new methods. You are wise to see the value in the experience.

11

yeah Wonder, it takes solid guts to start this thread. Best wishes!

12

This is how I’d try to look at it. I am always looking for different ways to add to my repertoire.

It’s pretty natural to want to be well-liked by our clients, and worry about being replaced by someone the clients may like better, but at the end of the day, I recognize that I can’t be all things to all people. If another trainer better fits the needs and interests of the client, so be it. I do my best and hope that there are enough clients who like the way I work to keep me busy.

13

After my last vacation, I returned to my classes and the students were not happy. It turns out that their sub, let’s call him “Teacher Jackass”, literally only played games evey class and gave BAGS of candies to the kids. They didn’t even open a book for two weeks. I asked the administration why it was allowed to happen and they said, “The kids were really happy!” Sure, they were happy, but they only learned how to throw a sticky ball and draw pictures. :no-no:

14

THAT, is the bottom line: keep the customer happy. We would like to think we are teachers, and we certainly are in a position to help people with their language ability, but at the end of the day, it’s all about a happy customer.

15

THAT, is the bottom line: keep the customer happy. We would like to think we are teachers, and we certainly are in a position to help people with their language ability, but at the end of the day, it’s all about a happy customer.[/quote]

Exactly. You are a product to be sold. And the customer has more than a few options. SIng, dance, fricken fly if you have to, but keep the kids happy. Oh, and pass everyone on oral tests.

The best training my former life gave me for the local kids market was when the DUS (Drama Undergrad Society) invited the immensely talented Kirk Miles to give a 6 hour seminar. I learned everything I needed to know in Kirk’s “school”.

16

THAT, is the bottom line: keep the customer happy. We would like to think we are teachers, and we certainly are in a position to help people with their language ability, but at the end of the day, it’s all about a happy customer.[/quote]
Especially when dealing with children. I had to go back and teach what the sub should have already taught them because all of the kids would have failed their test. That would have made the parents angry. Sometimes, it’s a lose/lose situation.

17

THAT, is the bottom line: keep the customer happy. We would like to think we are teachers, and we certainly are in a position to help people with their language ability, but at the end of the day, it’s all about a happy customer.[/quote]
Especially when dealing with children. I had to go back and teach what the sub should have already taught them because all of the kids would have failed their test. That would have made the parents angry. Sometimes, it’s a lose/lose situation.[/quote]

Granted, I only taught kidz for a little more than a year way back when, but after the Dragon Lady made me choose a kid to fail after they had all passed becuz the “course” would lose face, I decided to pass everyone all the time. You had to be a real space cadet to fail my class.

The flipside was, when I strangled myself with a tie at Wall Street, I was the hardest trainer to get past. Adults want it to be tough, kidz just wanna have fun and not lose face. Make it so and u’ll be number 1.

18

Keeping the client happy applies equally to adults as it does to children, although WHAT keeps them happy may be different. (Don’t think too much…)

19

Keeping the client happy applies equally to adults as it does to children, although WHAT keeps them happy may be different. (Don’t think too much…)[/quote]
Of course it does. I meant that keeping children happy is slightly more about having fun/entertaining.

20

With adults you have to do a very good job every time, which can get a bit draining after a while. With kids it’s easy to drift through the odd lesson now and again. It just isn’t possible to waltz into an adult lesson hungover and unprepared.

It’s just a case of doing the best you can, caring about the students, and continually striving to improve. After that, if the punters choose to vote with their feet there isn’t much you can do. The OP sounds like s/he is dedicated about doing all these things, so there isn’t much more advice anyone can give IMO.