Teaching in Kindergarten: Seeking Advice

[SilviaT]

Dear all,

I have a question and would very much appreciate if somebody could help me with an advice/suggestion, etc…

I have been in China for almost two months, teaching English in kindergartens. I work at 5 (yes – five) locations and I have a real issue with the schedule and trying to figure out if there are other kindergarten teachers in a similar situation – because I feel like this is very wrong.

So, I have a curriculum, a teaching plan provided by the company and according to that teaching plan, I would have to teach the same classes 5 days per week. I have in total 27 classes in 5 kindergartens, and I see each class only once per week for 15 to 30 minutes (depending on the level).

I was hired by a company and I have the contract with them, so another problem is that any time I try to solve these issues, I can not get directly to the management of the kindergartens because they look at me as I am from another planet and the company keeps saying that the schedule will settle down at some point (after two months being here I can say that this will never happen).

The company provided me with the curriculum and weekly teaching plan and they provided the same materials to each of the five kindergartens.

The Chinese teachers have a weekly plan with the program that has to be taught in five days, but I am actually only one day with each class. Now, it looks that I can provide only 20% from the 100% required material and this is very difficult. I am trying to give more material in one lesson but teachers get upset that it is too much, if I do only what I am suppose to do for one day, I would have to ignore 80% of the material.

I feel like they use me only for advertising purposes, teaching being only a secondary element in this case.

I want to write a serious letter to the company, but before I do it, I would like to have some other opinions from kindergarten teachers/employers.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Silvia

[Charlie]

Sounds really weird. I don’t have any experience at kindergartens but this sounds highly unconventional. It might be in your best interest to find a single school that you can work at so you are building a relationship with with students and not constantly running between five different schools.

[Rick in China]

I would have to ignore 80% of the material

If that’s all you can cover within the time you’re provided with each class, I think that explaining that formally and forgetting about it, and only teaching what you can teach, is fine. They probably wont address any concern, because you’re 2nd key point here is probably accurate:

I feel like they use me only for advertising purposes, teaching being only a secondary element in this case.

I don’t know much about the situation but from kindergarten teachers I know, some liked it, but worked directly for the particular schools (like Apple or whatever). Since they don’t work through an agency I’m sure the employer had different motivations and priorities.. I would imagine working through a 3rd party means they wont really care much about what you do aside from show up on time and don’t completely suck. Also, from a ‘curriculum’ perspective, wouldn’t kindergarten mostly be playing some games with some really general basic concepts like colours, animals, etc? And more focus on child engagement, ie. get them active and not shy about yelling out in English?

Surely some actual teachers can help more, but, you should consider looking at the exit terms of your contract..because it sounds very unlikely you’ll have much impact – and suggest perhaps talking to one of the schools you work at that you like about direct employment or find a single school to work for, on being shuffled around between 5 schools regularly alone it sounds horrible.

[Al the Dead]

The teaching process itself looks ok, its one of two ways kindergartens and primary schools work. Not every school can allow itself to have a full time teacher set so they often hire substitute teachers to show for each class once a week just to get the feeling “how to do it right” to the kids (and to raise their value in kids parents eyes).

Your real problem is that you are hired by some agency. That is worst situation possible, and i would advise you to change to direct employment ASAP. It is because of that you jump between locations, have no impact on what/how you teach, etc.

[SilviaT]

Thank you all for your replies.

The problem is really the fact that the company gives teachers training and weekly plan that is irrelevant with the situation. So, as many of you pointed out, all I can do, is just teach what I can in those 15-30 minutes per week and play some games, etc… Only if the 27 leader teacher (because this is how many classes I have in those 5 kindergartens) won’t come with suggestions and pointing sometimes at the weekly plan that has nothing to do with the reality :)))

All the best and thank you again!

[Maz]

Hey Silvia,

I would just like to respond to the part of your case about Chinese teachers interfering with your lesson plan.I’ve had a similar case last semester at a primary school where the local teacher asked me to cover a particular topic. I accepted her wish, but after that it got silly with other requests all over the place and I ignored her and she stopped. This semester at a middle school, one teacher asked me to cover topics from the book, I simply told her I would try but that I had topics planned that I think would benefit the students more as a speaker, she agreed and accepted. In this case I was able to communicate directly with the teachers, but if you can’t you can do so via your employer/agent or just ignore them and do your thing 😀 I personally think a foreign English teacher at kindergarten level is pointless, the local teachers are hard working enough and have a closer relationship with the kids.

[SilviaT]

Thank you Maz,

This is exactly what I was thinking. They just have to let me do my way and ignore those weekly plans that are irrelevant with the schedule provided. But for the older kids (4-6 yo) I think I could get some good results, if I would see them more often, but as long as it’s not the case, I can do just as little as they let me 🙂

 

[Miro630]

May be I am wrong but the situation seems to me as follows:

1) If you want to teach the language so you need to do it in small groups (10 is already a lot).

2) Length and intensity of the exposure is important – ideally daily lessons with subsequent self-studying (self-studying does not apply for small children of course)

3) Up to mid intermediate level (at least) there is a strong requirement for having mutually understandable language in which teachers and students can exchange information

For majority of the English native speakers who came to China teach English and whose classes are below intermediate level (or cover kindergartens – with exception of fully English language kindergartens) this all is not fulfilled.

When you add the fact that their average salary is about double of Chinese teacher salary so one would have to question himself/herself why the China schools are willing to spend extra money to get a native speaker to do the job which the qualified local teacher would probably do better and certainly cheaper.

We then shift from the teaching to the business level.

Nothing wrong with that.

But I would dare to say that with the current China requirements for university degree and at least two years of experience I would expect that the people coming to China to do this job should be aware of it.

By this I do not want to say that there are not a lot of great foreign teachers here who do the wonderful job. But majority’s job is not that much teaching but rather assisting to the employer to earn more money.

[Ryan]

I’ll give you some “advice” that was given to me when i first arrived in China (5 years ag0) by an English teacher who had already been here 7 years.

“You are not a teacher. You are a white monkey for show” (please substitute color to match your skin tone)

Once you accept this fact and stop taking your job so seriously you can live in peace and harmony with your situation. Also don’t work for agencies they just take your money and give you shitty situations.

[Miro630]

Ryanator,

I think quite well said!

Nevertheless I would still see the value of native English speaking teachers for advanced level classes (shall the classes not have 50 students or so …).

[SilviaT]

Dear all,

Could you tell me how do I brake a contract with a company? 🙂

I am considering giving them a three months notice, so they can get enough time to find another teacher for September. Also, according to the contract, if I give a notice three months in advance, I don’t have to pay up to 5000 RMB penalty. From my part, I do my best to honor the contract it seams that they don’t really care about it.

In the contract it says that I should give them a written notice. Any idea what would be the most appropriate way to do it? I definitely can not write the letter in Chinese. )))

Here few examples:

1 – according to the contract, I should be provided free Chinese lessons  – No Chinese lesson in till now (I am working already two months).

2 – according to the contract, I should receive the salary on the 10th of the month – 10th of April it’s past, 10th of May it’s pas – No salary so far.

If I read one more time the contract, I am sure I will find other examples. :)))

Thank you very much for your time!

[Miro630]

Silvia,

If you want to stay in China so I recommend you to find another employer first and agree the conditions with them.

They will then also guide you on your further steps (including transferring of your Residence Permit).

Shall you want to leave China so no big deal.

 

In China employee can resign due to any reason with 30 days notice period (if in probational period so with 3 days notice period).

As employment contracts has to be made in Chinese so I recommend to ask some of your Chinese friends to assist you with preparing your notice in Chinese language.

[Al the Dead]

Silvia, sorry to say it but you drew a short straw. If the company you work with does not abide by the contract and delays your salary, then its obvious you are being scammed.

 

It might seem a radical advice but as soon as you wrestle your money from them by any means, i would just leave. It wont hold any aftereffects for you as even from what you said the contract has already been severely breached.

[SilviaT]

Thank you all for your advices! I really appreciate.

Now, I have to see how to deal with this situation… I am here for two months and I am not ready to leave China yet, especially thinking that because of my bad experience, I didn’t have time to enjoy the beautiful things this country can offer.

Now, I started looking for a new job and I have to find an employer willing to deal with the switch over procedure. And I know that I would need some letter of recommendation + Foreign expert certificate and to be honest, not sure if I could get it from them. 🙂

Also, I am wondering – if I just leave and go back to Canada, can I reapply from there for a new working visa with a different employer, without needing any kind of letter from current company? Just in case they don’t want to cooperate.

Just trying to look at all the possibilities.

Thank you again.

 

[dvcd]

Hello SilviaT,

I am a Chinese. What I could tell you is that <span style=”font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify;”>Ryanator </span>is correct.

People who have power in China doesn’t want you to have your own opinions, or make the process following some general rules. They just want to control all. To foreigners, you are just “white” monkeys <span style=”font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify; background-color: #fbfbfb;”> </span><span style=”font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify; background-color: #fbfbfb;”>(please substitute color to match your skin tone) </span><span style=”line-height: 1.5;”>for show, to Chinese, you are just his/her slave.</span>

[Author]

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