Me? A Foreign Teacher?

My first weekend as a real teacher came so quickly I hardly even believe it happened, and I lived it.  My schedule is not bad as I have Monday through Wednesday off every week.  Thursday's I will either be doing promotional gigs for the school in the afternoon or teaching English Corner which is a review day for kids who wish to review material before going to their regular English classes on the weekend.  Friday's I have my Office Hours starting at 2pm going to about 5pm then I have a class at 5:30 or 6:30 for about an hour.  Saturday's are my longest days as I have eight classes and only an hour break to get lunch; Sunday's are a lot easier as I have two 2 hour breaks, but the downfall to Sunday is I have two upper-level classes back to back which means two hours for both classes.

The classes are created by level of English you can speak, so Jungle Gym 1-4 are for little children basically learning their English names (all the kids get English names; I got to name a kid and I named him Coal, it was super exciting, but some of the English names are weird, like Dragon/Tiger/Whisteria/ Kiki (for a boy) and a lot of them names are repetitive so I will have like David 1-3 or Katie 1 & 2).  Then there are classes called PC1-3 (where the parents come in with their children and monitor them, I have a PC1 class and it's very nerve-racking to have the parents watching your every move), these classes are only 30 minutes long for the FT (FT = Foreign Teacher = ME and CT = Chinese Teacher) but the poor CT's have an entire hour with them.  Then the levels move into C1-C6, which all vary in ages and skill level, obviously the higher the level the more English skills you have, usually these classes are an hour long for the FT I have a C1 class, two C2 classes, one C3A, two C3B's, two C4A's, one C4B, two C5's,(sometimes the classes are placed into half sections so C3A/C3B and C4A/C4B because the books material proved to challenging for some students so they split the book in half) .  C7-C10, I believe, is where the FT teaches for two hours, but the CT is there to provide help/ translation as a last resort if needed (I have one C7, and one C8).  Now the C11-C15 classes is where the FT is all alone, no CT, so its two hours of just you and the kids, ranging from 12-18 (I have one C11 class, and I have 18 students).

Now, there are some perks to being a Western Teacher in a foreign country, which include: you get a nicely sized apartment, you get paid a nice amount every month, get to feel like a rock-star wherever you go (everyone stares at you), everyone wants their children to say hi to you, everyone wants to take pictures of you, everyone watches the things you buy (and they look at that thing afterward as well), usually, but not always, people respect you and don't push you, and when being a teacher people automatically respect you.  It's weird how I was sitting in my class, watching my students in C11 write in their notebooks about what they really wanted to learn from this English class, the thought struck me that I used to be just like them only a short period of time ago; writing frantically, filling in the questionnaire as quick as possible.  I used to be a student, but now I am a real teacher.  I smiled to myself, remembering all my many teachers I have had and what I liked about them because that is what I want to be.  I want my students to like me, but also respect me, I want them to learn things from me that will help them succeed, I want to enable them to be comfortable in a classroom where they can ask me any question.  For some teachers this comes naturally for me, I'm still so young that I have no idea what works and what doesn't work.  As an example: my C8 class right before my C11 class had just begun and I was watching the kids write away, one girl go finished and asked me: "Why are you smiling so much?" This question threw me off as I was smiling because one I was trying to figure out how to make a game out of grammar points and two because I am finally a teacher, so when asked this question I said "Because I enjoy teaching." She repeated her question so I became stubborn and playfully frowned at her whenever I looked her way.  After ten minutes she asks me another question, as she finished before the others, she said, "I like your pretty ass." Again I was taken aback and I asked her to repeat and then she said, "I like your pretty blue ass." That's when I realized she was pronouncing eyes like ass.  I said thank you to her and continued to teach.  It's moment's like those where you think of teacher to student boundaries.  Being careful about your words and phrasing is important as a teacher, and making the kids repeat their questions can save you a lot of confusion later on.

Other perks to working at an English school with other foreigner's is that you get to experience many different personalities and cultures besides your own.  As the only American and the youngest FT out of the two schools in our city, I'm treated very nicely and sort of like a little sister.  So far I have met, British, Scottish, Canadian, European, and South African people, which is a delight.  Every couple of days we go out to eat/drink together as a group, chillax at someone's flat and/or do some Karaoke TV (KTV).  Everyone is super friendly, especially the Chinese Teachers who also sometimes join us for an afternoon (I swear everyone of them has at least 10 pictures of me, I was nearly rendered blind that night).

Food is everywhere and it's cheap so most of the time we just go out to eat, the street vendors aren't the cleanest, but $7 yuan for two noodles bowls with meat and a fruit beer is amazingly cheap (equals to about $1 USD).  Fruit is also cheap here, but if you don't speak Chinese it can prove difficult, not the getting what you want across, just the simple fact that everyone stops to watch you buy something or stops to help translate (it makes you feel under pressure).  They sell huge walnuts here, which are delicious and pomegranate season is coming soon so I'm super stoked about that.  Bakeries are hard to find in smaller cities, but luckily we have three within walking distance (not a big sweets fan, but I even bought something because most food is either salty or sour or spicy here so it's a nice change for the taste buds).

Night markets are the best thing ever, one because you can bargain prices and two because they literally have everything you could ever want to posses.  Not joking: You need a turtle? It's across the street.  You need a snake, hamster, scorpion, tarantula, desert lizard or a water snake? It's down the road.  My roommie is allergic to furry pets so I told him when I have enough money I want to get a turtle or a lizard for the apartment.

China is awesome, but it also has its bad points.  Smelly bathrooms (as they don't have a good sewer system here most of the toilets are squat toilets which people, especially females have trouble aiming correctly), all the meat smells the same (a spicy musty smell on the street, which you can never escape), access to facebook and most reports on the internet are blocked (China is very restrictive to what it's people can and cannot access, although with VPN's and other free codes I don't see why China still insists on it), Wifi is illegal in places of non-business (I still haven't figured out why but we got wifi in our apartment), people stare at you all the time (sometimes it's nice to be looked at, but to be stared at for long periods of time while you're eating is unpleasant) and lastly it takes a long time for anything to get done unless you get mad and in someone's face (also unpleasant as it isn't very professional, but sometimes it needs to be done in order to get the urgency of the matter across).


I'm enjoying my experience here, as is my roommate.  I still can't believe that I am a teacher living in China!!!