Hello, Ms. Jenny here...Of all the things that are challenging here in China, I did not think that teaching would be the most difficult. I knew I would have difficulty with the food, and the language, and even the loneliness from feeling, and actually being, so far away from home and family.But I'm realizing now that my new career is the most challenging aspect of my time here in China.
Let me begin by saying that last week, I did not have to teach at all! Well, initially I was first told that I would have to teach on Tuesday and Friday only. It was not until I got prepared on Tuesday, dressed, then biked over to my school and showed up to teach that I was casually told I was not needed today. With a smile they said I had a holiday. Grrr...
When the same thing happened on Friday I bit my tongue and just accepted that this is not a communication problem; it is just how it is here in China. From another casual broken English explanation, this time it was because of exams and then there was also a “Tomb Sweeping” holiday that my students had a few days off to celebrate.
So they decided to let me know about it when they could(?)..Sigh...
Sean also had a few days off as well, and the same communication issue happened to him too, but we did relax about it and ended up taking a few trips to some local towns, Nanjing and Suzhou. I will talk about them in another blog.
During our few days off I took some time and prepared a few good lessons for my students. I came up with a game called “The Alphabet Challenge” which is fashioned after the board game, Scrabble. The alphabet is written up on the board and points are awarded according to the first letter of the word used by the students and the amount of letters in a word. As soon as a letter is used it can't be used again so I felt like this game would be a good way to get my class enthusiastic and perhaps creative about English - I think I went overboard.
They went fanatical!
I chose to split the class into two teams... the Chinese are very competitive. And I mean competitive! And no matter how many times I explained that I only wanted one person from each team up at the board to write a word - they would not (maybe could not) listen! It was Mayhem!
They were as driven as I have ever seen them. I think that I even saw a few elbows. Lets just say, it was not how I pictured the class would play out, but it sure was fun to watch. Sean and I discussed the progression (or sheer loss of control - 55 Chinese students yelling and pushing is loud!!) of our classes during lunch and even after making a few adjustments, I am still finding myself being attacked by word hungry (point hungry) students.
I will bring my camera with me tomorrow and take a video of a class as they attack the board like hyenas on a lion’s carcass. Like I said, it sure is fun to watch.
“Are they learning anything?” you may ask... yes, I think so. We do review the words that are written and correct any spelling mistakes and I also give them new words to think about.
At least I am not hearing “This is boring!”.
Next week, I have decided to bring in the lyrics to some American songs by bands such as ColdPlay, Avril Lavigne and Back Street Boys. I will bring in the music and we will sing songs together while reading the lyrics on the overhead. Yes, I will sing with my class. This is something that every teacher is expected to do, the students absolutely love to sing, and I have put it off until now. I did sing a song (by myself) in our English Club two weeks ago. I sang Desperado and Sean sang a song by Stone Temple Pilots (of all groups!). They loved it...at least they clapped and cheered like they did.
Until next time... Keep smiling! :)
