Today I gave out two final exams...and am happy to report that I have actually worked hard all day, and have completely marked OB, plus have the grades input.
One very negative aspect of the day was the "apparent collective exam writing" that happened. I had been warned numerous times about the cheating in Chinese Universities and Colleges....but I don't think you can truly get it until you experience it for yourself. It is just to hard to describe/put into words. The other teachers are as puzzled as I am as to how/why etc., but think that it just may be part of the "whole collective culture thing" (and that the student's don't think of it in the same way we do????). This "all for one" attitude is a positive in some cases......for example, in group work, you really can see the whole class looking out for the weaker students...however, this is much tougher to take during a test.
They are also good enough at cheating (and it "feels" like 90% of them are in on it) that I think it would be tough to technically prove unless you video taped the whole exam, analyzed it and broke it down. The bottom line is that I think you get exams done by committee (of course there are exceptions...and of course, as you would expect, they are mostly the strong student's). They are such nice kids, they all come to class, seem engaged and try hard....and so I guess you just have to keep that in mind so that you do not hate them after an exam. (I also note that for those student's that I was "fairly certain" were cheating, I put a "ch" on the top of the exam when they handed them in, and marked their tests VERY VERY tough.......the "honest ones", got more leniency.
Hate to quit a post on such a downer comment...so on the positive side, today I was also interviewed for the school's "English Speaking" newspaper....and so feel like a bit of a celebrity!
...I thought the article/topic would be about Canada....and maybe more about Medicine Hat College, however.....much to my surprise.....the main topic of the article was Canadian FASHION!
OK......even I realize how funny this is! Of all the things I (pretend to) know about, I do KNOW that I have zero fashion taste, and a very poor sense of what is "stylish" (case in point, when looking for gifts for people, Heather said that I should try and find stuff in "rich colours"......and said it like I would know what that means????)
....HOWEVER, having said this, the next time I get bugged about my lack of fashion sense and what I am wearing....I can now legitimately ask, how many of you have had your "take on current fashion" published in a newspaper article????? The student's said they would send me a copy of the article. It will be in English, and I promise to attach it to the blog to a) to prove that I can now be thought of as a fashion expert and b) because it will likely be pretty funny! (I sure hope that these nice young student's do NOT show it to any potential newspaper employer's if they are trying to get a job).
They asked me questions like what do Canadian College Students wear?......my detailed response was that I think they mostly wear jeans and t-shirts, and that a lot of the boys wear baseball caps?
They asked what the fashion center of Canada was....I said I thought it might be Ottawa? (I have no idea, I do know it is not Medicine Hat)
....the really bad part is that it actually went downhill from there...because they said stuff like they felt music was part of style and fashion....and what were kids listening to now? (I said I was really not to sure - I think maybe Lady Gaga?)....and how do student's wear their hair (I said young girl's seem to like ponytails...and that in Jordyn's and Anna's case, they like bad hair extensions!.....hahaha (good one!)....just kidding, I did not say the Jordyn and Anna part.
After the hair question, I kind of started using "the no comment"/I have no idea. I told them over and over that I was really the wrong person to ask, but they were determined to write down something! Anyway...always glad to be of absolutely zero help to young student's working on a school project!
Well, it is 5pm in Qinhuangdao, and it is (still) hot and muggy...which means I am (still/always) sweating buckets...therefore, going to go jump in the shower before heading out to dinner!
No comments:
Post a Comment