"...Was it a waste of time?..."
My mom-in-law left a voice message in my cell asking me about the past event in San Francisco last weekend while she was tyring to set a date to meet us in L.A.. Later I told her, I didn't regret to spend about $600, 700 dollars (incl. 2 nights @hotel, flight tickets, public transits and basic meals) flying up to SF for that California private school job searching conference, and ended up having 2 interviews only. One school was the 2nd interview actually, another girl school I kinda like is located in Pasadena though (about 1 hr drive from my place, which means at least 2-hour commute every day... No way...).
But, it's always good to visit San Francisco. Even though it was still freezing cold (about 40~50 F/10~15C), I managed to get a massage in Chinatown, checked a few stores I've always liked, dined at "King of Thai" twice, "The Scala" French bistro for 1st day breakfast, "La French Press" for breakfast the 2nd morning, and "Boudin" for sourdough bread lunch.
Overall, it's a nice trip. But it's more like a little vocation to myself. As my step-father-in-law said: "Honey, you're entitled to it. No worries."
A few interesting observations during the forum:
- The overall candidates are younger, and well-dressed.
Maybe it's a private school thing, or because you don't need a CA teaching credential for this, most candidates are like in their early or mid 20-something. And they sure know how to dress for success. I was a bit embarrassed by my very teacher-like outfit (black cashmere cardigan+coral shirt and gray trousers+silver flats). After living in the U.S. for 5 years, and seeing how those ESL teachers dressed up, I've been very sloppy for my personal image than I used to be. And I don't know why, I just can't dress up like a "corporate" anymore. Those tailored suit (blazer and skirt), 3-inch high heels are very far away from me now. I might just donate my 1 or 2 suits to dressforsuccess.org.
2. The myth of "Chinese" teacher.
The forum is in a pretty formal setting like 50 schools tried to interview all 50-200 candidates within 8 hours. So, it's sort like speed dating, everyone gets about 20-25 mins to talk to each other and find out if they're a good fit (of course, you have to make a request to the school you're interested in first, the school can either reject, ignore or accept you, and vice versa).
At one point, I was just waiting, and reading a book outside the conference hall with a bunch of other female candidates. Then we started to chat and found out we are all language teachers at the same table. The French teacher said something to catch my attention: ".... I was laid off because the school wanted to start a new Chinese program... but later I found out that new Chinese program was discontinued because there weren't enough students enrolled in the class."
Then a Spanish teacher complained about one of her previous interview experiences:"... I was talking to that director in Spanish during the whole interview. But at the end of it, she questioned me that she's afraid my Spanish is not good enough compared to the native Spanish speakers...".
An English teacher, who looks pretty young, and recently just received her master degree said: "No school is hiring English teacher now... I heard they just want Chinese teachers...". (My O.S.: Hello? Just want Chinese teachers? That's weird... I'm here! How come I requested interviews to 7 schools in L.A. area, got 2 rejections, 1 acceptance, 4 unheard...)? She continued:" I just did an interview with a Singapore high schools, they want me so bad. I could literally just accept that job on the spot... Maybe I should really think about it... I heard they have developed the whole system of 'Singlish' now...".
And of course, we together started to attack how bad the American education system has become these days... How public school system is even worse, and the teacher was tormented by the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" policy.
Hmm... Anyway, that's why I worry so much about the future of America. Sure I'm not a citizen yet, but my husband is, and our future kids will be. I certainly don't want to send my kids to a pricy private school so he or she can get a better education. All I can do now is to devote myself to a very tiny part of this system, try my best to make some differences, and hope a better future for everyone here.
1 comment:
哈…
第一點:
等到妳明年開學開始上班了就知道了。我發現九月分學校裡的每個老師都無不費心打扮,無論男女都穿得很体面。星期五可能還可以casual點,但我從來沒穿過牛仔褲去上班過。這是ESL界所看不到的。沒辦法,這裡的學生真的很像客戶,是會看外表的。(但老師体面指數是從九月開始下降)
第二點:
美國學校体制裡的外語教育其實不是很被看重的,校方和學生常有虛應過關,有修可以畢業就好的心態。不然也不會有那個「雙語叫bilingual, 只說一種語言的叫American」的笑話。我的校長跟我們抱怨美國的外語教育: 不然你看看美國以外的國家,有哪個國家的學生不是汲汲營營要學外語,老師不是母語人士教法再死,還是要學,還會想辦法自己找資源練習。這裡的學生, 課本印得漂漂亮亮,老師還挑是native speaker,教法又得活潑有趣,學生還是懶,不肯學,有得畢業就好。編教科書的心態也是如此,儘量吸引學生注意,但是不見得內容對學生有挑戰性,只是玩一玩學個皮毛。第一二冊可能編得不錯,第三四冊亂七八糟,最後一次改版是十五年前,反正估量沒人想修到高級班。決策者也是看哪個語言好像很流行,趕快來開那個語言。
我朋友說,在私校教久了,開始在想以後是不是該把小孩送到私校去。因為妳真的會看見很多不一樣的地方,教育的品質也不是公立學校能比的。如果是我的話,我大概會考慮孩子的資質和個性,除非真的極優秀,不然免談。我的學校的家長是不在意燒錢送家裡的問題孩子來上學。我每天看著一些資質平平又不想學習的孩子,真覺 得他們去公立學校,不用做作業每天玩還比較快樂一點。
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