A Level Sociology

[Hannahcopacabana]

Hi All,

I have been asked to teach Sociology A Level. I already teach English from Key Stage 3 up to A Level but have zero experience of Sociology. Any tips on where I can get some training or advice in Bangkok?

Many thanks,

Hannahcopacabana

[haltes]

A sociology A level or degree of your own would be a good start.

I am surprised that they have asked you to teach what is quite a difficult subject with some very specific terms and theories without you having studied it before yourself. If you have studied education, then you should have studied the sociology of education.

The Holborn and Haralambos Sociology Themes and Perspectives textbook is a must have.

You'd better get familiar with the curriculum which as I vaguely remember should cover:

Social Stratification

Religion

Deviance

Education

Family

And a couple more that I cannot remember.

[paully]

Absolutely, Haltes has hit the nail on the head. I hope they are proposing to pay you very well for teaching such a tricky and involved subject.

The only other suggestion is to have a look at the UK exam board websites for A Level Sociology specifications, past papers, specimen materials, mark schemes etc, the main exam boards being AQA, Edexcel and OCR (google them). You need to know which board it is for starters.

Edited November 2, 2009 by paully

[Ijustwannateach]

You have *no business* teaching a subject in which you have no experience, especially if the students themselves will actually depend on your teaching to take the exam. At best, if you studied for it at least a year or so and perhaps did some practice tutoring you *might* be able to justify taking a stab at making a class of it- but from the sound of it some desperate Thai school is asking you to start this more or less right away? Strongly advise you refuse on the grounds of inability, because that would be the situation on the ground and is only fair both to you and your students.

[Scott]

Without knowing the school, it's hard to give you concrete advice. Find out what book they are using and review the curriculum. A number of schools have names for subjects which really do not reflect the content of the course. This seems to be designed to impress someone, most likely the parents. I know a school that offers a course in Creative Writing. The course is actually a handwriting class--calligraphy, with everything written being copied!

This doesn't sound like your case, but it's always worth a look. Regardless, however, it's never a good idea to be teaching a course in which you don't know the material since this will limit a teachers ability to move to the curriculum in the direction it needs to go.

Best of luck to you.

[PeaceBlondie]

One night, I rode the bus with a guy who taught social science at a unit of the famous Bangkok private S-chain prathom school. No real English language curriculum or textbook. The references to what we call 'economics' were gibberish. Nobody could help him. When I taught M1 math, the Thai math teacher said I had to teach renal equations. That's your kidney. Wangsuda explained it to me: LINEAR.

I took 6 or 7 courses in sociology (finishing in 1971). I can barely spell Emile Durkheim. It requires thinking outside a Thai box.

Don't even pretend to try.

[vrsushi]

Are there students who could even study the subject in English? I mean, "the functionalist perspective" would be pretty tough.

[culicine]

Take a look at www.cie.org.uk - the syllabus and some previous exams are there. Good luck!