Someone tell me why

On my first day, I was given my schedule, and saw I had 5 phonetics classes. I mentally went over our e-mail conversations, and couldn't recall ever claiming any knowledge of phonetics, so I explained that I, like almost every native speaker, wasn't familiar with phonetics, and was woefully ill-equipped to teach such a class to a group that probably had a decent grasp of the subject. They were skeptical, but eventually seemed to accept that natives don't use the phonetic alphabet. I was told to just help them work on pronunciation.

I then focused on visa issues, not getting paid, etc.

Today I was toldthat myplan to give them an oral final exam wasunacceptable. They need to have a written final, and it must involve translating wordsinto phonetic symbols as well as the opposite, and marking stresses and intonations. Further, the final exam must account for at least 60% of their final grade. I cannot grade on a curve, with me taking the test and using that as an A (Almost every student would have well over 100% my way. I never do this stuff). If I refused to do this, I would be dismissed andthey would take the test anyway, and I would forfeit my airfare money (which might lead to litigation).

So, they are pretty happy, as I've been outwitted and lost an argument, something that hasn't happened much.

Of course, I was not told that I can't give an oral exam as well, and make that count for 80% of the final exam. So tomorrow and Friday the students will be told what the school wants, and given a choice of taking a final that day which is most of their final exam grade, which in turn is most of their final grade. I'm 99.9% sure it will be unanimous we do it my way, and my boss will be kept in the dark.

Last week, I endured an unpleasant lunch in order to help my superiors save face in front of their boss, masking my dislike for the school and not airing my long list of complaints. This week, they are willing to see 200 students have their grades suffer in order to exert some sort of control over me, as far as I can tell purely to stroke their own egos.

There are times I can't wait for July.

I was also told to go next week for a singing competition in Guangzhou. This does entail skipping a day of class, right before finals when i should be reviewing. My immediate response was to say I was going home to sleep. It's difficult to argue that its important I go to class when I am sick and need the rest while telling me I need to skip the same class the next week to entertain some VIPs. As they were unwilling to grant me the day off, it has been decided I will not be wasting a day of my life on that crap.

I'll be spending tomorrow with some students, who wantedto hike in the hills near school. I thought it was about 5, turns out to maybe be 50. I dolike them, and I'm happy to donate time to this group. They were worried I'd be lonely on Christmas. Sweet kids. I might see others at night, but they sound like a fun afternoon