Teaching experiences

[crazillo]

Hello everyone,

when I first went to China in 2008, I didn't do so in order to learn Chinese. Rather, I wanted to experience something new and different between school and university life. I also wanted to find our whether teaching is something I could do my whole life. In the end, I got stuck more with China than with teaching, that's why I now study Chinese and Politics in Germany (going to Beijing next semester).

All in all, teaching has been a great experience. I went with a programme called "Teach & Travel China", consisting of a 4-week-training in Beijing with 83 participants from all continents and a placement at a Chinese school afterwards. My placement was in Shenyang and I worked at a school called 东北育才. If you guys are considering to teach in China, I'd recommend the following things:

- Contract ain't the same as in European countries. Expect to be asked to work on Christmas, to be asked to look after kids on Sunday.

- Never ever expect regularity. Don't be surprised if your kids aren't in your classroom although they should be present. And you won't necessarily get all the information you probably should.

- If you are teaching multiple classes, it will be virtually impossible to learn your student's names. I thought this was very unsatisfying, but if there is a "Helen" in every single class, what are you gonna do?

I was very happy to be working at a good school, living close to the center and having other foreign teachers at the school with me. Back then I hadn't learned any Chinese, so this definitely helped. I would like to go back and teach again with my enhanced Chinese skills right now - it would make them shut up more easily - but this is an experience everybody will take benefits from. In my case, I can now prepare uni presentations much more quickly and feel very confident about them. Also, you do need to find a lot of resources yourself as you might not be provided with any books and materials.

My personal highlight: teaching in front of all the Chinese English teachers and 150 parents, doing a presentation class about the "Olympic games". I so enjoyed this!

I think it would be very useful for people who are gonna go and teach to collect some of your experiences here!

[bud01]

very interesting post, thank you for sharing.

[aroberts42]

Hi Crazillo,

my fiancee and i are planning on going to teach English in China for the first time August, so it was really nice to read your post. What city were you in? We are just trying to figure out what city we want to be in.

[crazillo]

sorry for the late response, i was teaching in shenyang 沈阳 and can recommand that place a lot!

[MissJo]

Hi there, thanks for your post. I wish I had read it before I came to China ,

I have been teaching at a middle school now for 2 months in the province of Zhejiang. I have 12 classes every week of 50-60 15-16 year old students and God love em' they can be a handfull and a half.

The last minute information and the non-regularity of events is only now starting to be ok with me! one must have a great sense of humour and almost a buddhist cacpacity for calm to cope with it some days.

None of the advise I was given from TESOL training or University prepared me for this, and nor does it cater for the teaching style required.

I am the only foreigner in this town (of 400,000 people) and nobodys' English is great! they are mostly friendly - but I do warn any new comers to this, it can be very very lonely after a while. I have a friend coming in a months time.. thank God.

I would love to know if anyone is currently in a similar position - I teach conversational English.

On the learning Mandarin note, most of the folks here speak their own dialect, so keep correcting me when I try to speak Mandarin with them.. this is a bit frustrating. But I will persevere!!!!

ps. there really is a 'Helen' and a 'Mike' in every class LOL..

pps. I would love to hear from anybody in a similar situation.

Love to hear from you

[aroberts42]

Hi Miss Jo.

I was interested in your post and the part about how TOESL training did not train you for it. Can you explain. I have been reading lots of posts from people that say things like "throw your expectations out the window" and "I was so not prepared for this" and so on, but no real explanantions of what they mean. What is so different? What is teaching actually like? How do you prepare for classes? What is the English level of the Students? What is an average class like?

My husband and I are going in August, so I would just really know what to expect inetead of what *not* to expect.

Thanks!

[imron]

I was interested in your post and the part about how TOESL training did not train you for it

Probably because they expect you'll have more resources than just blackboard and chalk for teaching, and that you'll not be teaching 50-60 kids per class. Teaching is a whole different ball game under such circumstances.

[abcdefg]

@aroberts42 -- If you haven't already done so, you and your husband would probably enjoy reading Peter Hessler's "River Town." I know it's a bit out of date, but you would still get a feel for how unexpected life in China can be, especially small town China. It would expand your understanding and your horizons. Plus it's a very entertaining read in its own right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hessler#Books

[MissJo]

Hiya,

First let me say that I really enjoy what I do !! I am loving it here. I hope you really enjoy it too - going as a couple is an awesome bonus !!! I can only tell you of my experience, other stories I have heard are very different.

The TESOL training that I did was very grammar based and I am teaching conversational English, hence my classes need to be noisy and interactive - not so much instructional or orderly. there is no text book and most of the kids treat the class as a 'Mickey Mouse' course.

I was told by other teachers that my classes were too hard - so I dumbed everything down severely. They are taught ROTE ! they can quote specific sentences and re-use those sentences but they cannot re-format the word order and have problems with verb conjugation. (these kids have been studying English for 3 years now) as I cannot teach them grammar, I keep it simple. Some students are awesome, others cannot even read English - every class is different.

TESOL did NOT cover classroom management, after the second week I had to lay down the law !!! else I would have gone home in tears every day.

I got one of the teachers to translate in Chinese some basic classroom rules and made the kids repeat them together. A reward system was then created to retain their interest - they get 5 minutes of movie or music if they are well behaved. (Pixar short films - no language used just pictures !!! get them !!!!)

My school does not appreciate me photocopying things (600+ per week is a bit daunting for them) so work sheets and reading excersizes are out. Most games that you find on the internet do not work with classes of 60 kids either. Hangman is a huge hit, Eye Spy and Simon Says are also good.

no internet, and at many times my computer won't work - so it's just me, 60 kids and a blackboard. Improvisation is a must !!! LOL.... I go in with a little booklet of a scribbled lesson plan and hope to use a power point presentation. I create all of my classes using tips from the internet and images from google and my imagination - some are awesome, others are duds... sigh..

so I hope that helps....