My Rant for Today

Would it be too much to ask for some reliable classroom equipment?

Each of my classrooms that I teach in have a computer with this big console thing with a projector and an overhead. The console is supposed to be able to make it so that you can project either the computer, the overhead, or the DVD player onto the big white screen. This is actually quite a nice system for a teacher if you could ever count on it to work.

First of all, the consoles are always locked and I don't have a key. So, if I ever want to use anything, I have to have a student unlock it for me (yes, the students have a key, but I don't). In some classes, the students don't even have a key so I have to send one of them to find the homeroom teacher to come in to unlock it.

Second, all the buttons on the console are in Chinese and everything on the computer is Chinese. Because I know about computers, I am able to do everything pretty much fine with that, but there are about 50 different buttons on the console and I have no clue what any of them do. So, I have to have a student come set everything up for me each time I want to use it.

Next, at any given time some or all of the equipment in any given room is broken. My main frustration lately is that the DVD players only have 3 buttons-eject, play, and stop. This is fine if you are starting a movie, but then the next day, when you want to start in the place where you left off, it's impossible to do because there isn't a fast forward button. Who makes DVD players without rewind and fast forward anyway? What good is that? So, on the second day of a movie, I am forced to play it through the computer just so I can get to the proper place. In most of my classrooms, the volume works fine when you are using the DVD player, but then it is very soft when you use the computer. Anytime I use media, I have to have a back-up plan of some sort. Many of the teachers here have given up on media altogether. But, that's hard for me, especially with an ESL class. It's so much better when you have pictures or a visual of some kind to connect to the new vocabulary.

I guess that's another negative about not having my own classroom. At least with my own classroom, I could keep up to date on the electronic situation.

I guess I should just be grateful that we even have computers and DVD players and tools like that to help our teaching. I just get frustrated with the unpredictability of it all.