Teaching, Learning and saying Goodbye

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I don't have much to say this week, in fact I'm still awaiting photos from my last blog. However I am coming to the end of the summer term, my classes have finished and my exams have been given. The students are now sitting their end of year exams, the school is silent and the mood in the office is one of excitement. The whole school feels electric with impending holidays, no more will we all have to drag ourselves out of bed at 6am, sit half asleep at our computers until the coffee (or green tea) works its magic. My only remaining duties here at school are writing up the exam results and making sure they get to the right teacher. This past weekend also marked the end of my time with Chris and Eric, who flew to Cambodia on Sunday and from there will be travelling back to the US, with various stops along the way.

I'm in awe that the past 5 months have gone so quickly, it barely feels like yesterday that I stepped into the office for the first time, that I stood nervously in front of my first class. I was completely different then, I felt inexperienced, too young, overwhelmed. Now though I am filled with confidence, I no longer worry about what my lessons are like, if they are fun or insightful. I've learnt in a short space of time so much about teaching, about how to listen to the students, how to manage the classroom. I'd like to use this weeks blog to sum up my feelings about teaching here in China about what I've learnt and how the students have taught me too.

Pantomime

Sometimes teaching here is a little bit of a pantomime. Many students lack the vocabulary skills, or understanding, so a lot of the time I am a clown, a mime, pulling faces, exaggerating actions, jumping around the classroom. It can be extremely tiring, but also provides me and students alike with lots of laughter.

Dance Monkey Dance

As an EFL/ESL/Foreign teacher you hold only face value. Your teaching is not particularly important. I wasn't given a syllabus or any information about their level of English. The majority of the time you are a novelty toy to be pulled out of the closet at convenient times, you are important as a status symbol and you are there to 'dance monkey, dance!'.


Large class sizes suck!

Teaching 40 students of varying levels is almost impossible in an oral English classroom. You have to follow a middle road, which can leave both the advanced students and the less able students frustrated. Chinese teachers teach by rote, which means many know what to say but don't understand when it can be said and why. Keeping track of your advanced students and pushing them further while being open to help the less able is difficult and requires, practice, patience and perserverence.

Loud Noises!

Chinese students like to talk, only problem is in China there is no such thing as inside voices. Noise levels in classrooms can be insane. Getting the students not to speak Chinese and only speak English is difficult and again can require an enormous amount of patience, or nicotine in my case! This needs to be established early in the game, 'NO CHINESE!'

Hardwork doesn't always pay off.

The children here work extremely hard, they have an enormous amount of pressure, parental, educational, extracurricular. Many take classes over the weekend and their free time is spent mostly doing homework. Making classes easy and enjoyable can take time but is worth the light hearted atmosphere in the classroom. These students don't need to work hard in your classroom, as long as they speak as much English as possible, both you and they will be happy.

Right, it's my first week off so I'm going to chill out, start organising my travels ahead and I will update y'all soon.
TTFN

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