Reply to Job of a GP teacher in JC on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 11:21:33 GMT

Han Seo — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 11:21:33 GMT

And yes, GP teachers need an honors degree in general.

Reply to Job of a GP teacher in JC on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 11:19:44 GMT

Han Seo — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 11:19:44 GMT

Hi, I’ve been teaching GP for more than a decade. Consider the subject which requires critical thinking, writing and General knowledge of world affairs. In short, besides having knowledge in the social sciences and history and politics, you need to inculcate sound reasoning skills and is therefore a fairly big jump from O Level English.

Your difficult task is to help students bridge the gap where O level English has for a long time (until recently) been focussed on narrative prose.
The essay questions are discursive/expository in nature while the comprehension passage(s) are also the same AND involves a last question involving your examination and evaluation of the writer’s ideas (called an Application Question).

A committed GP teacher does a lot of reading for new ideas and to make sure they are up to speed with current affairs.
Above the usual CCA/marking and admin duties, you write testimonials AND vet the testimonials of other teachers AND in my college write letters of Recommendation for students who intend to study overseas(because they assume GP teachers have the wherewithal to write good ones)
The normal perception is that a GP teacher does nothing but just talk their heads off. A good one does much more. For one, you can’t fake a passion for understanding the evolution of ideas and socio-political events.

FYI, the deadlines for marking are really tight. It can be overwhelming in addition to the other admin duties and dept meetings.

Do I like what I’m doing? With a passion, especially if you spend time cultivating a good relationship with your students.

I’m curious - why the enquiry?

Reply to Job of a GP teacher in JC on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:38:47 GMT

Skyed — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:38:47 GMT

I’m a JC student and during GP lessons our teacher will usually just bring up some recent news and the class will discuss it or we might watch video then discuss. But it’s usually based on a topic eg. if the theme we are studying is like family then the video we watched was on eg. role of the family in society etc. Sometimes we have written work in class too such as essays/compre.