Repairing damage done by other FTs

I am running into a little problem.  My freshmen and International Business majors (who have never had a foreign teacher before) are wonderful students.  They are attentive, enthusiastic, and endure my pronunciation drills with smiles.  Unfortunately, I have two groups of sophomores that were taught by last year's FTs.  All they want to do is watch movies all day... because that is all they did with the other FTs.  They literally don't believe me when I give them homework (it isn't only a spoken English course, homework is required sometimes), and some of them act like I'm punishing them when we do work in class.  It is becoming so frustrating to me!  Most of the better students have come up to me and thanked me for "being responsible for them," but there are still some kids sulking in the back who are just pissed that I took away their do nothing/watch movies time. 

I just don't know what to do anymore.  They have improved a LOT since the first week, but I think we've reached a plateau.  I'm going to keep giving a serious class, because so many of the students do enjoy it and are learning from it, but how can I make it more bearable for the kids who really should just put everyone out of their misery and change majors?

 I have the exact same problem Mimi. Previous FT is a hero to the sophomores because all she did was watch movies. What I'm doing is giving them a movie or show every month or so as long as it's relevant to the course material. Sometimes a gradeable assignment goes along with the film. For example, I recently showed select clips from The Sopranos in order to help them prepare a dialogue between a psychiatrist and their patient which was worth 5 per cent of their total grade.  This is actually encouraged by the administration, and it seems to be working out OK.

 Even at the University level students still see FT lessons as play time and expect them to be a free credit. Stick to your guns and don't worry about winning any popularity contests. On the other hand, if you can let them have fun while learning at the same time it's all the better for everyone.

Even at the University level students still see FT lessons as play time and expect them to be a free credit

Whoaa - them's fighting words around here.  The FTs' work that I have seen - between here and my previous uni - was hard and solid.  We failed students when required. Backed up by the Deans and admin. One FT was even advised NOT to accept a day trip from the wealthy friends of a students parents because it might LOOK as if they were trying to get him a pass.

Here, I fail students if they don't do the work, and when students are caught cheating in my exams I merely give the name to the office and they give them a zero. They do get chances to make up exams - but they spend the holidays sweating it out and having to explain to their families, who have given them hard-earned money (most of my students aren't wealthy).

Mimi - keep at it, concentrate on the kids who are happy to learn.  The others will either bore themselves silly and join in, or you were never going to win them anyway.

I show a movie maybe once a semester - when I am giving oral exams and I want the other students to be occupied with something that is still helping their English. Other classes to get movies - Film Appreciation classes - then EVERY movie has a work sheet with it and they have exams on techniques etc etc. Might be fun (The class was small enough to run it out of my apartment, with nibblies and drinks)- but the aim is still hard work.

The biggest 'previous FT' problem I have had here was unfriendliness.  The FT before me was universally disliked (teachers, admin, students - he even refused to go to the Christmas party) and the one who worked with me last year was similar - refused to go to his own good-bye party! Took a long time for the other teachers to talk to me, took ages before the admin people would sit and chat with me or share jokes etc.  It didn't take so long for the students to figure I was more fun!

Lotus Eater I am talking about what I generally see to be student's perceptions. For many of them the notion that FT lessons are "real classes" hasn't sunk into their little heads yet. I'm certainly not calling into question the work ethic of foreign teachers ALTHOUGH I think we can all agree far too many foreign teachers cruise through the year showing movies and playing games, thereby perpetuating the stereotype of foreign teacher lessons as "play time" and making things harder for the next person who wants to step in and actually teach.

 I have a friend who taught at a tier one university last year and he gave several lessons and assignments relating to public speaking and debating. The students complained to the administration that the course was too challenging and he was subsequently reprimanded and TOLD to show them TV series,movies, ect .

 Another friend working in a less reputable institution was told he could not give a grade lower than 60. As a result, he was forced to pass a student who had never even attended his class.

Agreed - student's perceptions can be highjacked by the dodgy among us.  I have found it interesting with my 'babies' (the 1st years) to ask how many of them had an FT at middle school.  Less than 10% seems to be about the mark here.  So they land here and they get me, and the other FTs who are serious about their work.  But these kids are also used to hard work - they had to be to get here, so it doesn't seem to be as much of a problem to them to be expected to do it.

was told he could not give a grade lower than 60. As a result, he was forced to pass a student who had never even attended his class.

Where I am now, the mark I give is the mark they get.  I did part-time work for the main campus last term.  When I handed in the marks I wrote why I failed any student ie attendance not doing assignment etc.  I said they could adjust the marks if necessary but I wouldn't.

I give one movie per term as homework, and one after the final exam as a reward.

If I give a fail to a student, that's what they get.

I got to admit other weird shit happens, though, like the ONLY guy I failed (for good reason) got a scholarship for being a good student. WTF? The other students were cranky about it. He was a goof off in ALL his classes.

The other foreign teacher gives out candy and watches movies regularly (about once a month I think) and is quite easy on them, but he does his job at least. At least we are trying to hold our end up. The only damage he gives is that other students think I am too strict. Soddem.

The ability to fail a college student, especially with the support of the administration, is very VERY rare in China. I've never seen it myself. At BEST the admins would see a failing grade as an opportunity to take a bribe to make it into a passing grade...

In many cases the perception of FTs as powerless paper tigers is fostered by the administration itself...Chinese unis can be very xenophobic places. I've seen cases where they would directly instruct the stus to not take those dirty scheming foreigners too seriously.

As for the grumblers in the back...who gives a rat's ass what they think?

It's not only the FTs who slack off by showing movies. I knew a very popular Chinese teacher at one university I taught at who did nothing but. The final (and only) test was for the students to write a 250-word essay on one of the movies they had watched. This teacher used to tell me that his course was supposed to be about films. I never knew whether he was kidding or not, but I did drop in on his class occasionally just to watch the movies, before I got my DVD player.

I'm quite happy that I've been told to be tough on the students. I can be kind when it comes to grading papers, but the requirements and standards are all set. If the students don't do what they're supposed to, I have to fail them.

My previous job didn't care. I had students with zeros and I know their report cards said they passed. That was just a waste of time.

With my post-grads writing I give out the marking scheme at the beginning of semester so they know where I will be putting emphasis. For my 4th years I tell them for each assignment what I will be concentrating on.

And the greater part of my marks are dedicated to originality, followed by reasoning, referencing, then way down the list - grammar, sentence structure etc.  So content, and original content way at the top.

How I award marks. I tell them first day, and before each assignment and test. However, for some reason they always assume that I use standard Chinese methods.

So they do worse than they think, except for the small proportion who take me at my word. Takes a long time. In the end, though, they are thankful.

Amazing how thankful. They are now waltzing through other English subjects, and their teachers have worse pronunciation than many of the students.

Victory is mine! 

 Turs out the very worst student Raoul and I had- a piece of soylant green               we failed with distinction  - is back this year.

  You're my hero Mimi!  give 'em hell.