Detective Steph

Exam time again. Lucky me. Unfortunately, 'exams' also means 'cheating'.

One of the other foreign teachers had a problem last year with students sending their friend to their speaking exam for them. As far as I know, that hasn't yet happened to me, largely because I know their faces pretty well by now. But it could have done.

However, last week I had two instances of cheating [or attempted cheating] which leads me to think that it could well have happened before and gone unnoticed. Ah China...

The first time, in the morning, I noticed a student who had come into the classroom and looked a bit lost. I also didn't recognise her, though this still happens after a year and a half, cos my classes are so big. Anyway, I waiting till almost everyone had gone and she came to hand in her exam paper. I asked her her English name and she didn't know - said she'd forgotten[!] She started phoning someone and I asked her who she was phoning. She said she was phoning her friend. I asked her why her friend would know her English name if she herself couldn't remember it!! Then I asked her for her student card. She didn't have it, but went to get it and brought it back. The photo didn't really look like her - she told me it was from high school. While she was away, I asked the only other remaining student if the one I suspected of being an imposter was actually from that class. She was reluctant to answer, but I told her to be honest [she's a very good and honest student] and she said that the other student wasn't. I told her I wouldn't tell anyone that she'd told me.

I then asked the imposter a couple of questions, such as 'Who was your foreign teacher last year?' [It was me, as she would have known if she'd really been in that class!] Haha. Anyway, Rick had finished supervising his half of the class by then and came in. I asked him what he thought of the photo and he also agreed it didn't look like her. He suggested I ask a Chinese person to check as well.

I marched off to the office with the imposter trailing reluctantly behind. Fortunately I met Bob, the Vice-Dean and explained everything to him. He asked the imposter her name and eventually she confessed. He phoned her friend (the one she'd been standing in for) and found out that the student in question was working in Shanghai and hadn't been able to get back in time. Now, a few of my students had this problem, because I've had to do my exams a bit early, because of going home. But they've got in touch with me and we've rearranged their exams. It would have been easy for this student to do the same!

Anyway, I left it with Bob to deal with. [On a side-note, Rick told me that a few years ago Bob sat a Japanese exam for one of his friends...]

I was quite angry about all of this, understandably, but not hugely surprised. I've encountered and heard about cheating in China a lot in the past. What I wasn't prepared for was what happened in the afternoon.

Again, I was supervising half the class. I quickly noticed a student who I was convinced was from another class. I recognised here as a hard-working student who I've helped a lot, but she was definitely from a different class. I asked her carefully 'Are you in this class?' She answered that she was. I then asked another student sitting nearby who, though she initially didn't want to answer, confirmed that the student did in fact belong to a different class! I couldn't believe it. A) that it had happened again; B) that one of my students thought I wouldn't recognise her and C) that she lied to my face! I was furious. I made the class monitor check all the other students and ranted for a bit.

The thing is, it was lucky that I spotted both cases of cheating / attempted cheating. In either case, if it had been in the classroom that Rick was supervising, he simply wouldn't have known. It could easily have happened in past exams.

Incidentally, the student involved in the second incident ran off before I had time to deal with her, but I'll catch up with her next week. The friend who had asked her to do the exam phoned me last week, crying, asking me to help her and not report her to the department. I haven't done it yet, as I haven't had chance with the long weekend, but I fully intend to do it.

Grrr.

Anyway, wishing everyone reading a happy new year for 2010 and hoping that some of my students will realise that cheating is not OK. Adios!