After giving myself a few months to get settled, make some friends, learn some Chinese, and travel a bit, I decided it was time to join the working world again. Ideally, I wanted a part-time teaching position that would allow me to
travel with Aaron for work sometimes and play tour guide for all of our
American guests (hint,hint!) I had considered possibly subbing at
international schools and/or tutoring English free-lance. My first
tutoring gig was with 2 Chinese brothers, 39 and 32 years old, who said
they wanted to learn business English. I quickly realized they needed
to learn English before we moved onto business English! I went to
their apartment two nights a week for a couple weeks, but decided
working nights didn't mesh with Aaron's work schedule or my social
calendar! They were super friendly, eager to learn, and it was a great
experience though! I found that most people wanted tutors nights and
weekends, so I crossed that option off the list. I had a few interviews
with international schools and was put on their sub lists, but they are
typically about an hour outside the heart of the city, wouldn't be
consistent, and knowing myself, when I got a call at 5am I'd probably
hit ignore and roll over! Also, I figured that I can teach American kids in
the states, but while we are here I want the full experience of teaching the
local kids. So... my ears were open for other part-time teaching
options. The day I got home from my trip to Cambodia, my fellow-Tennessean friend Andrea emailed me with info about an opening
she heard about. Although it was full-time, I decided it wouldn't hurt
to hear the details, and went for an interview that night.
Here is what I found out.... Shane English School was hired by the
government to staff the native English speaking teachers at most of the
public schools in Changning district (an area of town 5 minutes from our
place). Each primary school would have one foreign teacher to teach
English to all 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. While many of the native
speakers that they hire to teach are not licensed or experienced
teachers, my school in particular was looking for someone with both of
those qualifications, which is why it was the only school they hadn't
staffed yet. Known as a "famous" primary school in Shanghai, many
parents go through a lottery system to get their child in and transport
them across town themselves. I was told that in China, the more "famous"
the school, the more money the government gives them, so it has nicer
facilities, more technology, and better teachers. On top of that, I would have a total of 24 classes (8 of each grade level) and they would
be 35 minutes each. Do the math... that's only 14 hours of teaching a
week! 40 hour/week job minus 14 hours of teaching = 26 hours of
planning. Excuse me?!?! 26 hours a week of planning?? If teachers in the
U.S. had that they could actually have lives!!!!! This job was sounding
better by the minute, and although the pay isn't ideal, with the great
location, schedule, and the experience alone, I decided to take it! I
committed to teaching through December.
The day after my interview I jumped in for the last day of the 3 day
training with the 12 other people hired to teach at the other schools in
the district. I was delighted to see that the majority of them were
around my age, new to Shanghai as well, and super fun and friendly!
There is one other gal from the U.S. (a Minnesotan!), and a handful from
the U.K., New Zealand, and Canada. While we all teach at different
schools, we will get together once a month for a meeting to share ideas
and issues, and the group has already organized a few non-work get-togethers and functions too. The Shane school provided us with a "loose"
curriculum that the government mandates and the training was vague, but
being an experienced teacher, I wasn't too worried. Some of the others
looked a bit overwhelmed though! Especially when we found out the
government will pop in for unannounced observations. The new Tennessee
evaluation system last year prepared me for that one!
The next Monday was the first day of school, and the program director
from Shane school, Kevin, was escorting me in to introduce me to the
headmaster (principal) since she, and almost everyone else in the
school, doesn't speak English. They spoke back and forth for a few
minutes and then Kevin translated that the main thing she wanted to tell
me was to give the students a worksheet in every class. Say what?!? The
evil, time-wasting worksheet that American teachers are
frowned upon for using? This was going to be interesting! Next Kevin introduced me
to Lilies, the head teacher in the English department, and only Chinese
English teacher that actually knows enough English to have a
conversation. Since the office for the 8 Chinese English teachers on the
4th floor was already full, she showed me to my office down the hall
from them, that I would be sharing with an older Chinese male science
teacher named Zhu (who doesn't know a word of English except "hello" and
"bye bye"). He is friendly and almost never in the office since his
classroom is attached, so I practically have an office to myself. I was
relieved to see that although the classrooms do not, the offices have
AirCon ( it's not called AC in China), which is lucky since most schools
don't have it at all!
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| Check out my fancy digs! With a few plants, frames, maybe a bulletin board and a little TLC I think I can warm it right up! |
Then Lilies showed me the canteen where I could
pick up my breakfast and lunch each day. Different food is prepared for
the teachers than the students and it is free! More on that later!
Then she showed me a classroom and how to hook up my laptop to the projector.
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| All of the classrooms look exactly the same with only one bulletin board along the back wall where student work in displayed. |
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| All of the classrooms already have a "stage" at the front board, much like the one I built for my classroom in the U.S.! I assume it is because the teachers are too short to reach the top of the board though! ;) |
Finally, Lilies told me that since it was the first day of school, I
wouldn't have any classes and could "have a rest" in my office all day. (The Chinese love to have rests!)
Perfect. Time to start planning!
Each week I plan 3 lessons.... One for each grade level, and then teach
each of those lessons to 8 classes. The students are taught English
everyday by a Chinese English teacher, but in addition I come to their
class once a week to expose them to a native accent, Western culture,
and more oral dialogue practice. With only 35 minute classes, a wide
range of English abilities, and many dialogue topics, stories, songs,
and proverbs to cover, I was a little overwhelmed with how to best fit
it all in effectively. In training we were told to build each lesson
using a PowerPoint and we submit those to our director each week. With
750 students total that I only see once a week for 35 minutes, I am not
required to take grades, but each student gets a special Shane English
School stamp card and I choose the top 5 students in each class to give a
stamp to. (At first I thought they wouldn't care about a silly stamp, but they
beg for them and get very disappointed if I don't pick them!)
As I sat in my office planning away throughout Monday, many
announcements were made, in Chinese of course, and I hoped if they were
saying that a typhoon was coming or to evacuate the building that
someone would think to tell the foreign girl in the office on the 4th
floor what was going on! In addition to the bewildering announcements, I
was serenaded by a variety of cheerful Asian music playing through the
intercom speakers at different times in the day. Then a pleasant
Chinese woman's voice started counting from 1 to 8 over and over again
in Chinese. I could only imagine what the students were doing down in
their classrooms to these 8 counts! I didn't see many other teachers or
students since I was huddled up on the 4th floor all day, but the few
that I did see definitely gave me a double take. I was anxious to see
how they would respond to me. I would soon find out...
Tuesday was my first day teaching. To say I was nervous is a huge
understatement. My first week's lesson plan included introducing myself,
having the kids make name tags, and practicing common classroom
phrases. My PowerPoint was ready to go, now all I had to do was find the
right classrooms, figure out how to hook my laptop up to the projector,
and make the kids love me! Easy right? As I entered each classroom the
kids literally "Oohed" and "Ahhed", whispered, and giggled. Usually a
few students in each class that knew better English would crowd around
me and ask me questions and stare intently at my "big round eyes" and
"golden hair". Some kids even started talking to me in Chinese. Sorry
kiddos- English only in Mrs. Beavers' class! As I showed the students a
picture of my entire family, they all gasped! With the one-child rule
in China and their short, petite builds, they couldn't believe the size
of my family both in numbers and height! I showed them where I came
from, what I like to do, and of course Stella, who they begged to meet!
So far so good. Next up... name tags. I was amazed at the ease in which they precisely folded their paper to create their pop-up name tags. Have of my class in the U.S. would have folded it the wrong way and crooked! Almost all of the kids had already
chosen their English names. I'm not sure if their parents or teachers
helped them, or what kind of list of English names they chose from, but
in each class there are at least 3 kids named Jerry, Candy, and Lily.
Some of the other popular names are Coco, Tommy, and Vivian. The more
unique ones... Fire Dragon, God, and.... King Dick. I nicknamed him
"king" for obvious reasons! While going over common classroom phrases
like "take out a pencil" , "raise your hand" , "stand up", etc. I was
surprised at how much English many of the students already knew. Some of
them also take English classes after school and on weekends, and it is
obvious who those students are! Much like my classes at Smyrna
Elementary, I realized I was dealing with a broad spectrum of English
abilities!
After the first week, I had met all 24 of my classes, and only about 3
of them were on my naughty list. Because their Chinese classes are very
intense and the teachers very strict, I was warned that they often see
their English class with their foreign teacher as a slack-off class
where they can get away with acting up. Well they haven't had Mrs.
Beavers yet! Try me kiddos. Try me! ;)
I learned a lot during my first week. There are drastic differences
between Chinese and American public schools! Probably the most shocking
to me was the teaching style. During their Chinese classes, the students
sit, listen, and write. As I walk down the hallway it shocks me at the
quietness and intensity of their classes. American teachers are
encouraged to teach interactive, engaging lessons that involve partner
and group work, games, and fun! I have seen the effectiveness of this
and consider it my teaching style. I began to worry how the students and
teachers would react to my lessons. On the other hand, between their 35
minute classes, students (and teachers) are given 10 to 15 minute
breaks where they literally turn the school into a jungle gym. Teachers
disappear to their offices, there is no supervision, and the kids, run,
yell, wrestle, slam doors, jump rope, and climb up and down every inch
of the building. (and usually a few of them play some lovely background
music to the chaos on the piano in the lobby!) Since I have classes on
the first, second, and third floor and my office is on the fourth, I am
constantly caught in the crossfire of this madness! It is pure chaos and
every bit of my American teacher brain wants to blow a whistle and make
them all walk quietly in a single file line down hallway!
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| Lil musicians ;) |
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| Chaos between classes! |
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| The kids are allowed to go outside (again.. unsupervised) between classes and jump rope, climb on the jungle gym, and run. Every once in a while I go out to make sure there are no broken bones!! |
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I'm just
waiting for the day when they run into me with my lunch tray or trip me
down the stairs! In all fairness, this is the only chance the kids
really have to play, since they have classes after school and hours of
homework every night. I guess I will just have to get used to it!
On the contrary, the majority of the kids are very orderly in the classroom, keep their supplies very neat and orderly, and have better handwriting than most American adults I know!
Another difference is the focus on daily exercises. I found out what
they twice daily 8-counts on the intercom are for... eye exercises! For
each 8 count the students massage a different area of their face around
their eyes. It's a form of ancient Chinese medicine that they take very
seriously. Before 2 of my classes everyday I have to monitor the class's
eye exercises, and students who don't do them properly get their name
written on the board!
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| Twice daily eye exercises (which also involves massaging different areas of their face!) |
Once a day, they also do a dance/exercise routine!
The same music plays everyday at 1:39 and the students stand next to
their desks and do their choreographed routine involving swinging their
arms, rolling their necks, and twisting their hips. It's pretty
adorable!
Besides the actual education part, there are some other quirks I have had to adjust to as well.
1. Five floors and no elevator. I just might finally get those buns of steel I've always wanted!
2. Chinese food. It is great that the school provides decent meals for
the teachers, and luckily I'm not too picky, but there have been a few
things I was too nervous to try. After I asked everyday for a week what
the food was called that I was about to eat, the lunch lady started
automatically telling me. She points to each item on the tray and says
its Chinese name and I repeat. I may not know a lot of Chinese, but I
will know food names!! Here are some of the typical entrees...
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| Tofu knots |
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| Beef, spinach, bamboo shoots, and rice |
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| Breakfast... pork and noodles in soup, rice wrapped in dough, and a pastry! |
3. The most difficult difference for me to adjust to have been the lack of Adult interaction. With an office practically to myself, the
only time I see other teachers is in the halls, when I take over their
classes, and if I go to the main office to print. Many of the teachers
that don't speak English at least smile or make eye contact with me, but
a few are as cold as ice. One In particular I am a little scared of,
but I've noticed she acts that way around other teachers as well. My
goal is to make her smile by Christmas.;) Even the English teachers that
sit in the back of some of my classes as my "teachers assistant" (who
are their to translate if needed, but just sit and play on their phones)
aren't conversational enough to talk to. Being the people person that I
am, my saving grace has been a new science teacher named Kevin. He just
transferred from another school and speaks great English. He pops into
my office at least once a day to chat and practice his English, and now
he has started helping me with Chinese too!
It's now been 4 weeks and every week has gotten easier. The teachers and students have openly accepted my different teaching style and many teachers have even complimented me and asked me to tutor their children after school! I have started
figuring out the most effective ways to make my short time with each
class worth while, more teachers have warmed up to me, the trouble
makers know I mean business, and the kids love me! Now instead of
walking down the hall and almost getting knocked over by the rowdy kids,
I am usually swarmed by a crowd of them wanting to hug me and practice
their English! ;)
I'm so glad that I decided to teach at a local school for a while. While there have definitely been some changed to adapt to, It has
been a great experience already and I hope it will make me a better
teacher!
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| Some of my treats from students on Chinese Teacher's Day ;) |
