Beijing University of Technology - Geng Dan College (Part 3)

Third (and final) part of the wonderful teaching experience at the Geng Dan College (full Chinese name: 北京工业大学耿丹学院). Eventually I got pissed off with the school not being a school but a mere diploma mill, bought a flight tiket, and left.

The 6 months [not working] here did allow me to see a huge chunk of China, but I am still unable to wrap my head around how insanely lazy and spoiled my students were.
It was a very interesting experience, but totally unnecessary.

Have a good day!

MORE DETAIL

Hi hi!

Obviously you care more than the average viewer because you are reading... So here is some more detail.


Some people replied to this video mentioning "youthful rebellion" and the like. The rebellion argument cannot stand. If someone is interested in rebelling, please leave the classroom. That's it.

I started the course with textbooks I was given by the dean. They are actually an advanced coursebook, and the dean assured me that their English comprehension level is sufficient. That turned out to be less than true half the time, and is a failure of the school to effectively administer tests and determine who can be in which level.

A few weeks into the semester, after not having any sort of response from the students, I dropped the textbooks and started introducing more general and easier topics. eg.: "would you like an exciting or boring job? why?" No response, even when led into it. I would give them word lists and ask them to use the words to explain their stance. Nothing. Literally , no response.

I tried role playing. So in a lesson about "what makes a good policeman", I had one student act as a cop, and another as a robber. They did nothing. Didn't want to talk. Didn't want to do anything. After class the students went to the dean and told her that my classes are boring (huh!?!?!?!?! acting out robber and cop is boring? that's a full opportunity for laughs and jokes...) AND some said that I was crazy because "why are we learning about robbers"?

They are spoiled little rich kids, not adults. They expect to be entertained, not trained. They want fun, no work. Jesus Christ, I cannot express that enough.

After that we started watching movies. James Bond, Bourne Identity, Lord of War. Typical fun stuff for Chinese boys and girls. Guns and action. The movies were a great hit, UNTIL I asked them to tell me "what does so and so do?" "who is this?' "who is that?". Silence.

Movie worksheet? Wouldnt even read it after I filled in the blanks.

So I just decided to go with the original diagnosis that I am dealing with lazy stupid children. I didnt sign up for special education, I signed up for university teaching.

The University charges parents money. Everyone who pays - passes. I heard this really stupid opinion MANY times in China: "a good university has no failures, because they have good teachers who do their job right". True in a perfect world. In reality, many schools in China stop failing students because they want their enrollment to go up. This is one of the stupidest processes I have ever heard of my life. Education is no longer education.

In fact, Chinese teachers at the English Dept wouldnt fail students AT ANY POINT, because the dean would come down hard on them for being "bad teachers". That's not at all entertaining the possibility that the students are not doing their part.

A good university motivates the students by grading, and tests them to make sure they are performing well. At Geng Dan, neither were there, as no matter what the students did, they got the diploma.

Please do go to my Back to China (Part 8) video, in there in about middle of the vid you will find scenes from a different school, the Heng Shui Highschool where I spent 2002 and 2003. Totally different experience, and it is a HIGHSCHOOL! Everyone is interested in learning, asking/answering questions, repeating answers, doing work, and having fun.

That "university" is one of those things that have to be seen and experienced to be believed.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Beijing
• University
• of
• Technology
• Gengdan
• College
• 北京工业大学耿丹学院
• China
• ESL
• lazy
• retarded
• Shunyi
• Niulanshan

[gobanbango]

"dog,chicken,asshole"

I learn these three words from my dear you who looks like skateboarder , surfer or Phil Anselmo in Pantera whatever. I want to say:mightbe you are very nice gent elegant teacher and spend your own limited time in this shit college,forget about the wages,if so you are that good enough person why you upload this video to show people this bad memory in your life. everyone knows there are some kinda of good students in good colleges, why you didnot go there?

[monkeetime]

@gobanbango wtf does it matter what I look like? Even if I looked like Chairman Mao or Mother effin Theresa these punks would do fuck all. I uploaded the video not because I have some wounded memory of China, but because I wanted to show how messed up an experience can be in this system.

I happen to pretty much LOVE China (not the government, jut the land and people) but if some hammerheads are going to be hammerheads I will react. Now I know there are better schools. Live and learn.

[Judson0708]

well, I asked some of my friends in Beijing about the issue you talked about, they told me that the school you mentioned is a bad school. most of the students studying over there are not able to pass the chinese university entrance examination. they don't like to study at all. I think this happens everywhere in the world. don't push them. they are not good at study but they maybe good at something else. if you really have the passion to teach. why didn't you apply a higher level school?

[monkeetime]

@Judson0708 cool comment. The issue was that i didnt become aware of any of this until after arrival. Then, for a period of few weeks/months I thought I could still make it work, unfortunately the dean preferred the path of least resistance and insisted on not pushing them and not having any discipline. So then I left March 1st, after I packed in some good traveling time around China. As far as seeing China, it was a great success. As far as career development, this was a big waste.

[Cannafan]

Oh man.... I get your point, but your class is boring and insulting! If I was paying a huge amount of money for university level english classes (and at one point I did), I would feel insulted by you asking me to spell "dog" (and im from Mexico, we don't get insulted often ha). If you say they understood what you said, then WHY are you asking them to spell "chicken!? I don't mean to disrespect you, but you should brighten up a lil, it is part of the job to find exciting learning methods.

[monkeetime]

@Cannafan you missed the point. i had all kinds of activities planned for them, role playing exercises, q and a sessions, etc, but the lazy fuckers just refused to do any work, precisely because they felt that if they pay so much money the diploma should just be handed to them. by the time im teaching "chicken" and "dog" im simply taking the piss, making fun of them. These assholes werent there because they wanted to learn, they were there because mommy and daddy made them go.

[klramon]

I think even a middle school would be better than this scum. Right decision though to get f---k out of there.

[Sky300]

lost in translation. . . just cos you're speaking slowly in English doesn't mean they''ll automatically understand what you mean.

[goldghoti]

Oh my god, I am glad I never had to go through what you went through. I stuck to tutoring one on one when I was in Beijing and it was fine, looks like I took the right choice!

I do have my own bad experience of teaching in China though, I got screwed out of 3 weeks pay by a private school. Love China, but it's f*cked up just now, very, no morals at all, just smash and grab, smash and grab.

[doulaimi]

@fanxunpuzi, your way of thinking is strange to me. Even these big boys already had their lives arranged by their parents, knowing more English opens a way to enjoy more of life, such as watching foreign movies, enjoy imported products and culture, traveling to other countries. The assumption that those students completely lack of interest in learning English is completely false to me. Even old grandpas and grandmas in China are learning English to sell products to foreign visitors.

[doulaimi]

@fanxunpuzi, The college has the majors of International Trade, English, or Teaching Mandarin as a Foreign Language. it is unthinkable that those students would not be interested in learning English. If a teacher repeatedly teaches me like that, I would step out too. Respect is a two way traffic. Those students paid their tuition and expected a return of a decent learning experience. There are many ways to improve the way of teaching. The teacher did not even care to know those students.

[doulaimi]

@Judson0708, I doubt that those students do not like to study at all. The website of the college, gengdan.cn, shows that they have majors in International Trade, English, Teaching Mandarin to Foreigners. It has relations with several countries. They have students winning CAD competition in Beijing. The students need to find a job with skills. How could they not want to learn a skill if they feel helpful to them?

[fanxunpuzi]

And I don't think they give a damn about the "importance of English"... They are going to graduate with fake high grades, I don't think they'll ever need English in their lives, 'cause these big boys already had their lives arranged by the parents, why should they go abroad or even find a job?

[fanxunpuzi]

"they have relations with foreign universities" doesn't mean that they are good('cause there are shitty universities in 'foreign countries' too)and even they do, student shouldn't treat teachers like that. Don't get me wrong, teaching meodology is important too, but in such situation, what should you do? Play computer games with them?