Teaching in a foreign country is very different from teaching in most western cultures. Most people believe teaching everywhere is the same thing as long as you follow some simple steps, which in most cases is true.
Some of these similarities are:
1) Love Being a Teacher: You should enjoy the art of teaching students.
If you don't enjoy your job, well then your students won't enjoy learning whatever your teaching them. Not only does this make it hard for you to get up every day for work, but it will also transfer to your students who will think learning is boring, since you think teaching is boring.
2) Working Over-Time: Be willing to put in extra time and effort into your lessons.
Most teachers aren't paid to create lesson plans or make their classes fun, so we have to give up our own free time in order to make our classes successful. Most times this involves teachers spending money out of their own pocket to pay for needed supplies that the school doesn't provide under a tight budget.
3) Always Smile: No matter what kind of day/week you've had, be happy inside the classroom.
I like to think of teaching in a classroom as my happy bubble. None of my students know what has happened and neither do they care (not to be insensitive but it's true they are kids). I leave my worries and anger at the door so that I can teach and have some much needed fun.
4) Lesson Planning: Know what you're teaching.
This seems like a duh! step but a lot of times teachers don't do either enough preparation or any preparation for their lessons. No preparation results in what I call brain farts. A brain fart is when your mind either draws a blank or you make a simple mistake. Don't get me wrong we have brain farts whether we plan or not, but there are considerably less of them if you plan accordingly. In our lesson plans we also have to have activities that keep the students interested in that topic.
5) Discipline: Know how to control your class.
If you have naughty students, then you should punish them. I'm not talking about the guillotine, but come up with creative ways to tell the students if they don't pay attention then they will suffer the consequences. And honestly you can't "really discipline a student, let alone talk to them for too long without a parent freaking out nowadays.
6) Time Management: Knowing when to continue and when to cut it short.
If you plan your classes then you know how long it is and how much time you need to spend on what. We have an IPA system: Introduction, Practice then Activate. The first two are self-explanatory, but the third one, Activate, is where the students use the language with each other. Activate is the hardest step I believe, because you have students who don't want to talk or who just don't listen so it complicates the Activation process.
7) Quantity of Pay - Low / Quality of Teaching - High: We are expected to work miracles yet be paid less than some people who clean toilets.
Sadly we are not paid as much as we should be. We put our hearts into every class and we
aren't usually rewarded by our student's success and growth. The lower we are paid the lower quality our teaching will become because our life becomes hard to manage outside the classroom. With so many rules and regulations nowadays teachers cannot get too close to their students. This teacher-student relationship used to be quite a unique one, but because of others mistakes and poor judgements todays teacher cannot give quality time and help to students in need.
Now I do all these things mentioned above, just like the majority of western teachers, but being a foreign teacher is a little different. Here are some of those differences:
1) Love Being a Teacher:
Sadly most people who work in foreign countries become a teacher so that they can see the world and travel. Most come in with no experience or certification and still get paid the same as you who worked longer and harder. Then to top it off you get to hear them complain about the differences of the culture, the pay, the hours, the need to do lesson plans, the terrible students and to top it all off how much they dislike teaching. These guys are teachers... Makes your heart break, especially when you love your job.
2) Working Over-Time:
It's nice hear because we can say no to working over-time when it comes to teaching hours, but we can't say no to Office Hours. Each teacher is required to be in the school three hours a week, to be available for workshops and/or lesson planning. Most of the time I use my Office Hours to do my lesson planning, but sadly it seems I spend more time answering questions/getting problems solved than actually doing anything for my own classes (as a Senior Teacher it's my job). Because of these facts, I usually bring my work home. I also choose to grade my higher levels homework and their vocabulary quizzes because I know the CT's (Chinese Teachers) get paid even less than me and do a lot more than me.
But don't work so much that you make yourself sick, trust me I've been there and done that!
3) Always Smile:
When you smile, the students will automatically smile back. These smiles will make your day and the students day; it doesn't matter how old they are. If you go into a classroom angry, you will get no responses or enthusiasm from the students. If you go into with a big hello or a smile students will naturally be likely to respond to questions or even difficult tasks.
Little rewards for the students also brighten their day; a piece of candy for good students makes even the worst students become like classwork robots. (You can also do a sticker board if you have your own classroom, if not have them keep the stickers in their school book and at the end of the month the top three students get a reward).
4) Lesson Planning:
Each lesson we create should use the IPA method, which is normal (although perhaps it is called something different wherever you are). Yet as a foreign teacher (FT for short) we also have to add in a considerable amount of time for activities and especially games. Being a foreign teacher we must be fun. If we are not fun we get bad reviews from the students, who then tell their parents how boring the class is and then the parents complain to management. If you are boring in a foreign classroom, and you don't play games (or even interesting enough games) or make your students laugh, you are considered a bad teacher. It's funny for me because originally I thought I was hired to teach these kids and make sure they know how to pass tests, but I learned I am there mainly for fun. It was quite a switch in thinking and at first I thought it was horrible, then as time went on I learned more about my students daily lives. They literally spend all their time learning. They maybe have one day off, but if not they are enrolled in other extra-curricular schools. They don't have time to have fun, so in a way these kids are deprived of fun. That's where us "cool" (my students call me this a lot) FT's come in, we bring in fun for them. They learn the material and I reward them with a game. I incorporate the learned material into the game by asking them questions, getting them to make sentences and/or getting them to ask me and/or ask their opponent.
5) Discipline:
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| See? LOL Joking! |
As a teacher I was always frightened of over-stepping my student-teacher relationship, even the simple act of comforting a student while in crisis seemed like a NO-NO. Yet here it is quite different. Students love individual attention and they parents want their kids to have it as well. The first couple of days teacher were quite scary for me because all these students would run up to me and want to sit in my lap, hug me, hold my hand... But my western brain said, "NO! It's illegal!" At the time I was probably overreacting, but in my defense it is always better to be safe than sorry. As I saw my fellow teachers interact with their on students: picking them up, swinging them around, throwing balls at them and even bouncing them on their knees, I realized that here it is different. I am still awkward with hugs and stuff, but interacting with the kids has become easier. Now in response to discipline, most public school Chinese teachers can beat their students (not senseless, of course, but some punches and pretty hard book smacking... Usually stuff that would result in a legal interference in western schools). I have seen these beatings only a handful of times and it's not good at all. In private schools there aren't anything close to that, unless you have a really bad parent. Most times it's light taps to the head with a book or a poke to the stomach, just to get their attention. Most students enjoy the light disciplines because a) it makes them and other students laugh and b) they get attention and c) it doesn't involve getting hurt, dancing, writing sentences or calling their parents.
6) Time Management:
As I said earlier FT's have to play a game, if not one game then most times it's two games especially for the younger classes. This means if you have a class time of 30 minutes and every child has to play at least once and you have 10 students, your game should be at least 15 minutes long. So basically, 15 minutes to review/teach them the lesson and then the last half play the game. I mean honestly, it's not because we are lazy foreigners; it's what the the parents, the students and Aston want from us.
7) Quantity of Pay - Low / Quality of Teaching - High:
Being a teacher in most western countries doesn't pay very well, especially if you have other bills to pay, a family or if you want nice things. Most of us can do without nice things, but sometimes bad things happen and large sums of money aren't at all common when you're a teacher. Teachers put in a lot of overtime work, which usually goes unnoticed by students, parents and even management. In a foreign country being a teacher is a little easier. We are paid a good amount (although most schools will pay you the average salary aka the lowest salary possible (6,000 rmb per month not including housing bills/taxes) to keep as much money as they can, whereas other schools pay really nice salaries ranging anywhere from 10,000-25,000 rmb a month).
Most schools will provide free housing (with everything inside), a contract completion bonus (6000 rmb), sign-up bonuses (25-50 rmb) for each kid, no holiday taken bonus (3,000 rmb), airfare (usually only half of it) and two paid holidays if you want them (two weeks). Some schools will even provide free internet, but again all of this depends on the school itself. Starting salary for a beginning teacher is 6,000 rmb or about $978 depending on how much the dollar is worth at that time. If you only got paid $978 a month in America you would probably still be living with your parents or leaning on someone else to help you. But in China, 6,000 rmb is a lot of money. A good job for a Chinese here pays about 3,000 rmb a month and they live decent lives. The amount of money we get allows us foreigners to not only teach, but also the opportunity to travel (we get two paid vacations each one week long). So, if you plan on living in China for a time, you could save up a lot of money if you don't overindulge, but I like indulging myself here and there. I mean we only live once, right? If you work hard and you build up a good relationship with your school you can ask for more money, most times if you are re-signing your contract for another year you will get your request as long as it is within reason, of course.
I have been in Hefei just over two months now and I am still getting into the rhythm of things. My schedule has become pretty consistent since the new teachers arrived in early October, and thankfully my schedule became marginally lighter.
I quite enjoy my new school and my classes, so much so that I wouldn't want to switch any of them if I had the opportunity presented to me. Usually there is always one class that you despise, but more often than not I enjoy all my students even when they aren't on their best behavior. I have a 28 hour contract so I only get two days off every week, which does kind of suck, especially if I want to travel anywhere. I'm the busiest foreigner in Hefei and I have the most classes on my schedule. Sometimes it's nice being popular, but sometimes it's not!
My days off are Monday and Tuesday and this is when I get to catch up on sleep, go grocery shopping, do laundry, play with my cats and perhaps if time allows go somewhere nearby. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings I teach at a local public elementary school where I teach grades 4 and 5. These students are all very lovely children, they are kind and are happy when I come to school. Their good attitudes make teaching so early in the morning seem less like a chore and more like a gift. With these students I am reminded daily that I love being a foreign English teacher. For Halloween I had the students create Halloween themed posters and the best drawings would receive a chocolate bar. So here are some of the best:
On Wednesday afternoon I teach at another elementary school, but this class is grade 2. This is an English school so the students are taught English and Chinese simultaneously. They also use technology to teach the lessons. The technology isn't very good and most of the lessons are too advanced for grade 2 to rally be doing, but I can do nothing about that. Grade 2 children are usually quite rambunctious and noisy so I am often beat after this class. I asked these kids to draw for Halloween as well. Only one student turned in a picture:
On Thursday afternoon I usually have a promotional class. I work at Aston 1 school, but I often do promotions for Aston 3 school which is kind of frustrating because I am doing all the work to get students that I won't ever be teaching. I have done so many promo's and demo classes that teaching these things have become like second nature to me. Most times the kids just are interested because you are a foreigner not because you speak English, so you are the new toy in a way. I enjoy working with all the Chinese teachers from the schools because they always seem really interested in me and getting to know me.
On Friday afternoon I have, what Aston calls, Office Hours. Usually Office Hours consist of three hours that you spend in the office either doing lesson planning (the usual) or having workshops (these are used to help teaching skills and sharing games). Then in the evening I have one class that lasts 30 minutes. This class is called a VIP Class because the parent pays extra money (a lot of money) to have their child taught alone.
When I first heard I had this class I was quite nervous and I was told the mother preferred that her son had a male teacher over a female teacher (usually it's the opposite). I was excited because I thought, well if she hates me then I don't have to teach the class and if she likes me that means I am a good teacher. I was also told that during our first class the mother and her English professor sister would observe me. That news made me quite nervous. After the class I was told that I did great and that she wanted me to teach her son. The class recently finished it's grade and the boy (Mark) and his mother resigned for another VIP class with me, but now they want me to teach for a whole hour.
Saturday and Sunday are the busy days. Starting at 8am and going till 5:45pm. Last week I got really sick on Friday night. I couldn't hold anything down, so I knew I had gotten my first case of major food poisoning (honestly I was surprised it took this long to happen). For foreigners, Friday night is the worst time to get sick because it's the beginning of the long weekend, which is our main work days. I ended up going to the hospital Saturday morning and I spent most of the day with IV's in me. I rested up on Sunday because I knew I wouldn't be able to teach let alone make to school without losing it. When you miss classes and no one fills in, the FT will have to at some point try to make up those classes missed since the student paid for Foreigner Time not just Chinese Time. Missing the classes and not making them up also means you lose a lot of money, which comes back to haunt you when you get your next pay check.
I recently went to a big hospital to see about getting some really important medicine that I haven't really had enough of for about 8 months. The consultation doctor I saw spoke very good English, but she was also like 9 months pregnant and about to pop.
They wanted to keep me in the hospital to regulate my insulin down quickly, but I told them I wasn't comfortable with that because A) I don't like hospitals in America and I certainly won't like them in China, B) Hardly anyone speaks English, C) I have to WORK! D) I have no one to stay with me and finally E) I don't speak Chinese, so if I needed help how the hell would I communicate with anyone. It's true that foreigners get preferential treatment, but still hospitals make me so stressed. I convinced them I could regulate it by myself, and honestly I have done it two times before when money or my location became a problem for me to get my medicine. I spent so much money on medicine and supplies that day, it was quite depressing. I am required to go back to the hospital once every month to check my levels and order me new insulin to use.
Now it has been a week since my illness and I am a thousand times better. Most people don't get excited going into work and I don't get excited going there, but once I arrive I am happy because I know I am good at what I do. I don't get any complaints I usually just get compliments from parents, students and my fellow teachers, which is totally awesome to hear.
My cats Aerrie and Tiffa have both been very helpful during my illness and were quite happy to follow my lead of being lazy and just sleeping and resting during my sick days. They are such great and funny cats.
Fall is moving in quickly here in Hefei, but luckily it is going to be a much milder winter than in Xianyang, my old city. The leaves are starting to change and the air is becoming colder with every day that passes. I actually enjoy winter more so than the heat of summer, sometimes I wish we could have the beauty of summer with the temperature of winter. What a lovely thought!
Well its been one month since I arrived in Hefei, Anhui and so far so good. Teaching is like second nature now, so a lot of the planning I do for my classes aren't needed as much as before. I enjoy all my classes a lot and my schedule is perfect. I love my job, I don't think I say that enough, even to myself. I haven't done much in the way of fun, but I've just now gotten my first holiday vacation. I was originally given 5 days off, but due to another teachers laziness and the schools lack of communication, I worked for one extra day (yay overtime pay!).
I always set high goals for myself during holidays, meaning I plan every day out to a T. I usually stray from the plan because I like sleeping and/or I found something else to do. Tuesday I went to Swan Lake, which is very beautiful. It even has a fake beach, but too bad the water is like toxic (yet I did see some swimmers!). This trip took all day and I got a lot of exercise by walking through the whole park and around the lake.
The next day I received a text saying it would be great if I could take out the new foreigners for dinner since they had just arrived yesterday. My plan for that day was to visit the Hefei Botanical Garden, which is quite far, so I crossed that plan out. I did some research and asked around to see where I could buy a kitten. It's lonely here in Hefei, especially at night, so I really wanted a cat for myself. I am a nurturer by nature and I have always had cats in my life, I mean for god's sake my nickname is Kat, so I wanted a cat.
I found an open street market and looked around. The open market had quite a variety of animals, cats, dogs, turtles, fish, guinea pigs, hamsters, bunnies, birds and even a porcupine. Many of them were so cute and I wanted to take them all home, but I couldn't. I was a foreigner, so I knew most of the prices they offered me would be higher than normal, but I didn't care. There were some kittens, but they looked older and I wanted a baby.
Then I found Tiffa, buried underneath some other cats, sleeping. I told the man I wanted this one and he fished out a bag to put Tiffa into and I said to wait. I know the animals here aren't treated with compassion or kindness, usually, but I refused to put my cat into a bag to carry home. I bought a carrier two stalls down and put Tiffa in it. I didn't try to bargain the price down for Tiffa, 50rmb ($8) because I knew she is worth so much more. I believe Tiffa is Tortoiseshell cat, beautiful coloring. She is sweet and such a baby. She loves to sleep on my face and neck at night. She hates cages, probably because she has always been in one. She loves to play and she is a natural at using a litter box.
I went out to dinner with our new teachers who just arrived on Oct. 1st. Late arrival teachers are difficult because everything has already begun and training has already been completed. Of course, since the teachers are new not only to China, but to teaching as well they need training. Usually a manger would train the teachers, but our manager is on vacation, so as Senior Teacher it falls to me. I'm actually not upset I have to do this because I know I am good at this type of thing. I'm a meticulous planner and I know how to show others how to do things. The teachers are from South Africa, two girls and a boy. One has experience teaching, whereas the others do not. I met them for dinner and we had a blast. So far I have never met a South African that I didn't like which is still true. I train them this weekend for 5 hours at two different locations, in order to train them properly as each school has different teaching methods. Hopefully my training will show them the seriousness of teaching and that this isn't just a paid vacation (not saying they are this way just that a lot of people who come here believe it's just a joy ride and that teaching is a joke, which is disrespectful).
When traveling or even working in a new place there are processes to go through in order to become more comfortable. So that's what I have been doing. I always try to keep myself busy because if I'm not then I get stir crazy or just watch TV/sleep all day. Deciding to go to a new place/job is always difficult because no matter where you were before you always compare the two and you realize the stuff you took for granted before, but you also realize some other things that weren't great their as well. In life we always compare and it drives me crazy when other people do it, but I find myself doing it quite often.
I like being a foreign teacher and I enjoy working hard, but there are always some foreigners who come to teach for the wrong reasons; cheap country, booze, partying, laziness, etc. It's hard talking to people who don't enjoy teaching or the place where they are working. It's also hard trying to work with others who are so lazy and take advantage, not only of the school, but of their co-workers as well. Everyone has those days where everything is going wrong and they lash out, even I have those days, but in the end I don't hate this country and I don't hate the people. It's hard listening to others talk so badly about China when, in fact, they chose to come here. Again I love my job, so I get defensive when others talk badly about it.
I also love getting paid for my work, so I can't wait for pay day (7,300rmb/$1,192 + overtime pay! - electricity, water and internet ;-;). This will be my first time paid in Hefei and my largest pay in China.
I have been in Hefei, Anhui, China for 4 days and so far I have liked what I've seen and eaten, which I guess is a really good thing. I remember when I first got to Xianyang, I was scared and didn't know anything or anyone. At least here I have a friend and I am a lot more tolerant towards Chinese society and cultural quirks. This city is a lot larger than the one I was in before, so it's always busy (reminds me of LA when I see the crazy-ass traffic) and of course a lot more complicated. Yet there are also definitely a lot more things to do here in the ways of food, shopping, movies, bars/KTV, sports, close traveling, sightseeing and meeting new people.
On arrival we had an apartment set up, but it was missing a few things; closet, sofa and
internet (also food but that's quite normal when you go to a new place). The apartment is quite nice and new; we are on the 9th floor (elevator baby! Yes!). I got my own room, with a balcony view of the Anhui University soccer field and it even has a desk (its bigger than my last room) and I even got my own closet on the third day! Our living room is nice, although it is usually hot there even with the ceiling fan turned on, and the couch adds a nice personal touch to it. We have a kitchen table, water dispenser and a fridge. Our laundry room is also attached to my balcony and it has a nice high-tech washer (high-tech for China to say the least). Our bathroom is very clean and pretty! Our kitchen (which I believe I will be the only one using) is also very beautiful and clean; I plan to keep it that way to! We got internet by the third day, so after that we were happy.
The school, I should say schools because we have 4 in this city, are in a big mess. The four schools are located in different parts of the city (the schools have expanded too quickly and don't seem to be making as much money as they should). School 1 has 600 students enrolled (my school in Xianyang has over 1,000 and is approximately the same size area wise), School 2 has 300 students, School 3 has 100 students and is mainly an Electronic Whiteboard school (this is the one I mainly want to teach at), and School 4 has only 60 students. So far there are eight teachers for the four schools: Me (with 25 hours), Eric (with 15 hours), Hope (an American guy who has worked here before), David (a regional fill-in teacher here for another 3-4 months), a part-time teacher (only works one day a week, can we say useless!) and 3 South Africans (Boyfriend/Girlfriend and mother who want to live/teach together and who have never been to China --> these are the ones we are worried about the most because if one doesn't like the school then they all don't)... So literally we have 6 full-time teachers (We're going to be busy!). We were also supposed to have another teacher coming in from America, but because of lack of communication from the school he decided to go to another place in China.
Problems like these are so silly, but very common in China if no one is told what to do and
how to do it (usually it is just the Chinese management telling us what they need and want, but not really addressing the real problems). In America if someone did stuff like this they would be fired, but here it is quite different. The schools themselves, at least 1 and 2 need redecorating and some remodeling done to attract new clients. The schools have told us they wish to increase enrollment, but we realize we can't even focus on that because of all the other underlying issues and the fact that we don't have enough teachers to increase enrollment right now even if we tried!
It seems as though within the last couple months the schools relationships with its foreign teachers has completed dissipated. No one knows the real reasons why because it seems everyone has a different side to their story, so it makes it very confusing to understand anything. Yet there are a few things you can easily see that need to change in order to make new foreigners want to stay, such as:
1) Communication - the lack of communication and timely/courteous communication is really bad here, if we can somehow fix it or improve it then a lot of minor and major problems would be solved.
2) Timeliness - Don't be late, especially an hour late and don't expect someone to be on time when you give them shitty directions in a city they have never been to or been given a map.
3) Maps - We can follow maps, it makes it easier for us to travel and find things with these.
4) Schedules - As foreigners and especially as teachers we need a schedule in order to understand what we are expected to do every week.
5) 24 Hour Notice - Unless it is an absolute emergency, give us some notice - at least a day notice.
6) Have a Plan of Action - Don't drag us everywhere all day because you didn't call ahead of time and make sure of everything!
7) Friendliness - Foreigners like to be treated with friendliness because we came to China to experience good things, not someone just telling me to "Go, Stay, Sit, Wait!" without saying please or sounding sincere. The nicer you are the nicer and happier we are.
Luckily I am not the manager, although my friend is, and thank god he is up for the challenge
this school will bring us in the next year. I am the Senior Teacher, so demo-classes and open houses will be mostly me, but honestly I am comfortable with those things. Hopefully we can fix a lot of these problems with meetings and team-building exercises, it will take time and I know this. The school realizes it's not doing so well and that their relationships with foreigners aren't stable, so I believe they are willing to change or else their school will likely fail in the coming years as many Aston schools are already doing slowly but surely. There is a lot of work to be done.
I believe having a challenge builds you up, keeps you on your toes and raises your ability to adapt and take on anything that is thrown at you --> Like Po in Kung Fu Panda 2 when he catches the fireworks cannon ball and throws it back at them (that is how I see myself).
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| SKADOOSH!!!! |
If you plan your classes then you know how long it is and how much time you need to spend on what. We have an IPA system: Introduction, Practice then Activate. The first two are self-explanatory, but the third one, Activate, is where the students use the language with each other. Activate is the hardest step I believe, because you have students who don't want to talk or who just don't listen so it complicates the Activation process.
2) Working Over-Time:
3) Always Smile:
Each lesson we create should use the IPA method, which is normal (although perhaps it is called something different wherever you are). Yet as a foreign teacher (FT for short) we also have to add in a considerable amount of time for activities and especially games. Being a foreign teacher we must be fun. If we are not fun we get bad reviews from the students, who then tell their parents how boring the class is and then the parents complain to management. If you are boring in a foreign classroom, and you don't play games (or even interesting enough games) or make your students laugh, you are considered a bad teacher. It's funny for me because originally I thought I was hired to teach these kids and make sure they know how to pass tests, but I learned I am there mainly for fun. It was quite a switch in thinking and at first I thought it was horrible, then as time went on I learned more about my students daily lives. They literally spend all their time learning. They maybe have one day off, but if not they are enrolled in other extra-curricular schools. They don't have time to have fun, so in a way these kids are deprived of fun. That's where us "cool" (my students call me this a lot) FT's come in, we bring in fun for them. They learn the material and I reward them with a game. I incorporate the learned material into the game by asking them questions, getting them to make sentences and/or getting them to ask me and/or ask their opponent.
