I haven’t updated this blog for more than a month and based on how things look like at the moment, posts will be scarce for the following months.

Remember when I told you that I have 10 groups each week? Well, that changed on the second week of this month. I now have 15 groups. One of my colleagues is at an early stage of pregnancy and because she is experiencing some difficulties, her doctor advised her not to work. Her classes are now divided between me and another teacher.

I think, 15 groups a week is not a big problem. I can handle all of these groups smoothly if they were of the same program (level) but they aren’t. These 15 groups are scattered in five different programs. I could, of course, still do 15 groups in five different programs easily if the groups in each program were in the same lesson.  So it would be like preparing 5 lesson plans and 5 set of props each week but then again, that is not the case. The groups in each program are not in the same lesson. Some are in just in second lesson of Unit 2, others are in another lesson in another unit, and etc. In short, I always have to prepare 15 lessons plans and 15 sets of props each week.

Our learning center badly needs new teachers but the problem is; the next teacher training course will only be in the summer of this year so even if there were applicants now, they won’t be able to teach until the first school semester (September 2010).  By right, I could refuse to accept the additional classes but I don’t have the heart to do that to my head teacher. If I won’t accept these classes, there’s no choice for the learning center but to let these classes go.

I am now in my third week of this unbelievable stressful work load and surprisingly, I am able to cope with it. By “cope” I mean, I am able to prepare my lesson plans and deliver them properly, I am able to prepare the props needed in each lesson, I am never late, and I am never absent from any of my classes. But my “coping” doesn’t extend to housework and blogging.  Gosh! Our flat looks like a bomb just detonated in it and I can’t even begin to think of the pile of clothes waiting to be ironed! I could go on and on about how I am lacking time for other things but this blog is supposed to be about the joy of teaching and not the woes of a housewife or the frustrations of a blogger so I will stop now.

I do love to teach even if it means that I have to stay up all night preparing props and lesson plans but sometimes I wish that things were a little bit less taxing.

I would, of course, quote my source if I could remember where I got it but unfortunately, I can only be sure that it is from one of the innumerable blogs I came across with. I normally take note of nicely written, powerful, amusing, or interesting lines from the blogs, books, magazine, and newspapers I read and while going through my notes, I found this:

With the preponderance of rotten kids these days, I don’t think that teaching is such an ideal profession anymore.

The one who wrote this has a point. I am not sure if she (or he) is writing this in a teacher’s point of view but the part where she says that teaching is not an ideal profession is a part I can agree with. The part where she says that rotten kids are preponderant these days is also true but there are still nice kids so that sort of even things out. Having rotten kids is hardly the reason why teaching is not ideal.

Why is teaching not an ideal profession?

For one thing, it is noble and that explains it all. I think we could see it better if we put ourselves into the shoes of those teachers teaching in public schools in poor countries. Those who still, even under extremely difficult situation, practice this profession.

How many teachers have decent salaries? How many teachers have decent classrooms? How many teachers teach appropriate number of children in one class? How many teachers have access to necessary teaching materials? How many teachers have a manageable number of working hours per week? How many teachers have the chance of availing further education?

Not a lot.

If you are a teacher who has all these, consider yourself very lucky. I could understand if you’ll say that teaching is indeed ideal. But if you are not, then you have my (and others’) respect for pursuing this profession.  Not all of us can be as noble as Efren Piñaflorida but I believe, and I think a lot would agree, that by being in this profession and by trying hard to make the best out of what we have, we are, in our own rights, noble.

Photo courtesy of cnn.com

When I was younger, I often hear older people say “kids are different these days”  and that always connotes something negative. Now that I am an adult, I also have the same opinion on children of today– they are quite different from how we were. And yes, I also mean that in a negative way.

Back then, when a child did something bad and teacher says “I want to talk to your parents,” it is enough to make that particular child feel guilty or make him/her think about all the punishments the parents/teachers could do to him/her. Then the child will try to behave better to sort of even out what he’s done.

So if my generation is worse than my mother’s generation and the generation after my generation is worse than mine, then that could only mean that  the behavior of children humankind (because they will be adults later) is deteriorating. Why is this so? It is because the times change.  Many would blame it to popular culture and media but I don’t like to go into that now.

I have a class in a private Volkschule (primary school) here in Austria. I go there once a week to give them extra English lessons. In one of our lessons, two of the six boys started fighting out of the blue. It turned out that these two kids have a long history of previous fights and of not liking each other in general.  It wasn’t easy but I manage to break up the fight and then I told them, with all the calmness that I could muster, that what they did is wrong. I also told them that I would like to speak to their parents. To my surprise, none of them seemed to care. One of them even suggested that he’ll call his mother immediately.

After the class, I managed to have a word with their mothers. I talked to them separately and I am really disappointed on how these mothers see their kids’ behavior. Both mothers claimed that it could not have been the fault of their kid. They told me a lot of things that made me further conclude that they (the mothers) also don’t like each other.

I honestly don’t give  importance on who started the fight or whose fault it is because it was obviously both of them. It is bad enough that these kids don’t care what they do in front of a teacher but parents who don’t let their kids take responsibilities for their (kids’) actions could only mean worse. Parents like these are not helping in the positive development of their childrens’ personality.

I am not saying that they should beat their kids until they’re blue or that they make use of grounding or any other form of punishments. I just wanted them to talk to their kids and explain that they did something wrong and that they shouldn’t do it again.

The role of teachers in children’s development is great and some would even claim that the teachers have more influence on children than parents actually have. Still, we could all agree that parents have influence on their children and no matter how big or small that is, it shouldn’t be taken for granted. Parents letting their children take responsibility for their actions is directly teaching them discipline, respect and responsibility.

Based on this experience, I hope that these two particular mothers and other parents like them could learn some sense on how to use their influence on their kids.

Many Filipinos, although they had an English subject at school, still can’t really express themselves in English. I think the reason to this is because they didn’t have the chance or were not encouraged to talk in English.

Give an ordinary Filipino an English text and he will be able to read and comprehend all of it but if you ask him to tell you in English what’s his opinion on something, he will most likely have a difficulty expressing himself.

Why is this so?

It is because Filipinos don’t have the chance to use English in their speech.  Or if they do, they just put English words in Filipino sentences.

We started learning English at a very early age. Most of the school subjects are taught in English. Most of the textbooks are in English. We watch a lot of TV programs and movies in English. We are exposed to songs with English texts. But that’s about it. We don’t converse to each other in English so our English skills go as far as comprehending English texts and understanding spoken English. When it comes to expressing ourselves in English, most of us hesitate.

Of course, we’ve come a long way and compared to other countries who have their own language (not English), we are definitely more advance with our English. Philippines recognizes both Filipino and English as the country’s official languages but most of us still can’t claim to be native speakers of English or Filipino-English bilinguals.

When being asked, I always say that English is my second language. In China, admitting that means you are waiving your chance of getting a better teaching job so I can’t blame those Filipino teachers in China who claim to be native speakers even if they obviously confuse their p’s with their f’s (no offense but we have to admit that this is true).

Anyway, I always tell myself that the fact that they asked, means they can’t really tell if I am a native speaker or not and that’s good.

I was busy.

That’s so lame but that’s true.

Teaching again after a two-year break is not easy and I am working hard to get my mojo back.

Back then lesson planning was much much more simple. I needed not to try so hard to whack my brain for class activities to do. Now, I have to exert a great deal amount of effort in inventing class activities or adopting old ones and making props or finding ways on how to work with available teaching props.

Making two lesson plans with the needed props now takes me a whole day and it is really frustrating because I know that the time for lesson planning and prop making is the time I don’t get paid for.

Right now I am trying to simplify some things to reduce the work I need to do and the time I have to spend and the following sites have been a great help to me.

Sparkle Box

Picture Book

Kiz Club

Mes-English

I am sure that there are a lot of helpful sites out there but so far, these are the ones I find most useful. I hope that these sites could help you with your teaching too.

I admit I am not good with names.

During my practicum in the Philippines and during my one year teaching stint in China, I didn’t bother remembering the names of all my pupils. Having 50 children in a class and having at least four classes a day made it almost impossible to remember everybody. I believe it is but normal for a teacher who is in similar situation not to remember each pupil in her/his class.

Back in the Philippines, I was able to remember some names and usually they belong to the best and the worst pupils. I don’t play favorites or undesirables but those who stand out in the class i.e.; those who are probably too weird, too smart, too slow, etc. for my taste, usually find a way to my long term memory.

In China, it was simply IMPOSSIBLE. First and foremost, they have Chinese names that are too difficult to pronounce and remember. And if they decided to adopt English names (solely for the English teacher’s benefit or it could also be because they can’t have their Chinese names mispronounced over and over again), be prepared to have five Marys, about seven Johns, nine Adams, and 15 Lucys in the class. Also, I don’t know it if just me or it’s a common phenomena to all foreign teachers in China, but it’s like all Chinese children look alike. Imagine going in a classroom and doubting whether you already had this class or not because you look at their faces and they just look like those who were in your previous class but you are definitely in a different classroom. Get it? This happened to me a lot of times in China.

Here in Austria, not remembering ALL of your pupils’ names is a CRIME. Having a minimal number of pupils in a class, teachers here are sort of expected to remember each pupil—not for life but at least for the whole school year.

The biggest class I have is the one with nine pupils and although I know based from experience—not just with pupils but also with acquaintances— that I am bad with names, I haven’t yet failed to remember my pupils’ names. This could be because of their minimal number but I think the biggest factor there is the fact that kids here look so different from each other. Some have blond hair, some have green eyes, etc. The diversity is just so wide. And also, some names are quite striking for me—Birgit, Chonger, Hani, Karin, Jens (Yens), Walter (Val-ter), Georg (Gay-org). Names like those are not too easy to forget.

Being a non-native English speaker who is teaching English, I always have to worry about my pronunciation and my grammar. I often find myself stopping in the middle of a sentence because I am not sure what grammatical rule to follow. In short, I am not sure how to say things the right way (grammatically speaking).

True I got this job only after a thorough interview and an intensive training. In a private school in Austria that goes to say something but I still cannot relax. I want to be better in English especially because I am teaching it so I make sure that I do something every day to further improve my English skills. Among these things is reading.

I read a lot.

As child, I learned the love of reading from my friends who would come to school and talk about the latest Nancy Drew or Sweet Valley High book. Naturally, I didn’t like to be left behind so I also borrowed their books and read them at home. Unlike my friends, I grew up in a simple working class family and although me and my sisters were encouraged to do well at school, the love of reading and writing were not really given importance. In fact I can’t remember receiving a book as a gift. We were given things we need—like school supplies and clothing but books… hmm—the only books that were lying around the house were our public school textbooks.

Now I have stacks of books to read and other than that, there are several blogs I follow. I allot at least an hour each day to read. Although the influence of reading (English texts) on my English skills is not immediately evident, I know that it helps a lot.

I also like to write.

But unlike reading, I can’t write every day because I find it difficult to do so. Sure I can express what I mean in written words but not as beautifully as I want them to be expressed. My English writing skill is very limited but I am also working to improve it.

Living in a German speaking country means that 90% of what’s shown on TV and on cinema is dubbed in German. In a way, this helps me improve my German skills (which I also need to work on) so I don’t mind but if I have the chance, I watch films in English.

And I talk in English—at home and at work.

My colleagues, although their English are really good, are also non-native English speakers like me and my husband but nonetheless, talking in English to them, understanding them and being understood by them perfectly build up a certain level of confidence.

Then of course, I am still studying English when I have the time. I check my reference books when I am in doubt. I review grammar rules and learn new ones.

I hope that someday (if not sometime soon), I’ll reach that level where I can say that my English skills are more than good enough.

It looks like I am going to get another five groups in addition to the five groups assigned to me last week. That means 10 hours teaching time each week. Not bad. And compared to the 20 hours per week I got back in China, 10 hours should be like a walk in the park.

But it is not.

Those 10 hours of teaching mean an additional 30 hours (or more) for preparation (remember: we are BIG on props). So although 10 hours is not a full load yet, I think I have more than I can handle for now. I’ll see how I get by with these 10 groups and if I change my mind in the future, I’ll accept more. But… I don’t think I will.

More loads mean more money but a one has to be careful because more teaching loads could result to a poor quality of teaching. I know most teachers strive to give the best to their pupils but teachers are also humans, they have their limits too and for me a teaching time of 10 hours per week is my limit.

In China, WHITE English native speakers are always preferred, WHITE non-native speakers come next, then non-white teachers (native speakers or not) come last.  Filipino teachers and other non-white teachers are usually the ones dispatched to teach in far flung places where no white English native speakers would like to go.  White teachers are also paid more. In short, your color is also important in getting a decent teaching job in China. This prejudice had somehow left a complex in me that when I got a teaching job here in Austria, I doubted whether I would be accepted by my pupils’ parents or not.

Native speakers are also preferred here in Austria but they don’t care about your color. Prominent language schools like Berlitz and Goethe Institute hire native speakers regardless of their race. I think that is about fair.

The learning center where I work at is however, special. Sure, they would be happy if you’re a native speaker but you should also meet the other requirement. Fluency in English and the ability to teach well are given more importance than simply having English as mother tongue.

Honestly speaking I was terrified that the parents won’t like me because I am not an English native speaker and I didn’t learn how to speak English in recognized English speaking countries (like all of my co-teachers).

As a rule, the learning center where I work at conducts trial lessons where in parents can observe a particular teacher teach their children. If they like the lesson (and the teacher) they will enroll their kids. If they’re still interested but don’t like the teacher, they will request for another trial lesson with a different teacher.

I’ve been doing trial lessons all week in addition to regular lessons and I am glad that the parents are happy with the way I teach. Not one moment in all of my trails lessons did I feel that the parents are disappointed because I am a non-native speaker or because I am brown. Two mothers even asked me if I also do private tutoring.

So far, the parents I met are quite nice. And my pupils? My pupils are just so cute! I made hundreds of mental pictures of their curious faces looking at me while their tiny bodies imitate all my moves.  All things considered, I enjoyed the first week of the school even if it was really stressful and right now… I am sincerely looking forward to the second week.

Most of the states here in Austria started the school year a week earlier but in Styria (where I live and work) today is the official opening day of schools. The learning center where I work (not a regular school) is open since last week but only to accommodate parents and new pupils who would like to enroll to our courses. Today is the start of our regular lessons.

At the moment, I am assigned to handle 5 groups. Two groups of children ages 2-3, one group of children ages 4-5, another group of children ages 5-6, and one group of children ages 9-10. I haven’t met them all yet but the ones I did are just so sweet and cute.

So five different lesson plans each week. Not a lot… BUT… you see… the learning center where I work for is BIG ON PROPS. Lesson planning is easy but preparing the props could be time consuming and frustrating because you know that you’re not going to be paid for the hours you spend on making props. Of course there are available teaching materials in the learning center I could use but most of them don’t work for me. Maybe someday I’d learn how to work with those available props but right now, I’ll stick with my own props.

This morning, I prepared a simple game for one of my classes to help them revise vocabularies they’ve learned last semester. I spent hours in the internet looking for appropriate props but I ended up making my own “Picture Bingo” because although there are a lot of printable bingo games in the internet, I haven’t found the perfect one.

I had scanned the children’s workbook then used the images to make bingo cards using Microsoft Excel. Right after printing the bingo cards, I laminated them so they’ll survive a few lessons. That was a lot of work for one simple classroom game.

My co-teachers told me that the first year is the most difficult but right after that, I’ll be okay. I think so too. Right now, I see to it that every teaching/learning material I make or buy is reusable so I don’t have to spend time making them again in the future.