Ms. Jennifer's first day at school...

I thought I was nervous my first day as a student at High School back in the United States. That was nothing compared to the feeling I awoke with this morning. As I got ready for my first day as a Foreign Expert Oral English Teacher, I found my stomach in my throat. Sean tried to reassure me that I would be great and as I rode my bicycle over to my High School, I tried to relax and enjoy the excitement of this new experience.

I walked into my first class with butterflies as big as flying dragons in my belly. As I turned to write my name on the board, I heard the students snickering and reading my name as I wrote it. I then turned to say “Good Morning” and it was returned with a very warm “Good Morning” back to me. I was going to be fine. I went on to tell the students about me, my family, my education, and why I was here in China. They sat in their chairs eagerly waiting for each word to come from my mouth. I tried to speak slowly so that they could understand and for the most part I think that they did. I would throw in a funny statement once in awhile just to see if they would laugh and they did at all the appropriate moments, confirming to me that they understood.

I told them the few rules I had for the class such as raising their hand and only speaking English while we had class together. And then I had them introduce themselves to me and the rest of their class and to tell me a few things about themselves. After a few giggles and laughs, we went around the room one by one until all 60 had spoken. I was surprised at how good their English was and by how sweet they were to me. Most of them stated their names and ages (aged 16-18) and then went on to say a few things that they do in their spare time such as basketball (huge here), music (backstreet boys!), computer games, and of course, TV. I have violinists and pianists, badminton and ping pong players, cooks and artists, all with the desire to learn my native language.

Some of the students welcomed me to their city, some invited me to meet their family, and some want to be best friends while others told me how beautiful my smile is. I was asked how old I was by all of the classes. I am not sure why but I was honest and told them 41 and they replied with an “Ohhhhhh” and some chuckles and whispering. I don’t know if that is good or bad… doesn’t really matter, it was cute. I was asked about American students and culture and about how I am able to live here in China without knowing the language. I was even asked to sing for my first class but I replied with, “They don’t pay me enough to sing for you” which got a huge laugh but I did tell them that I would bring in some American music along with the words and that we could all sing together.

I was shocked to see how much energy these kids have. They go to school 7 days a week and from 6:30am to 10pm! Yes, I wrote that right. I cannot believe that they do it but they do. There is a 2 hour lunch and nap time in the middle of the day but still, when do they get to do homework? They have 8 other English classes during the week. They learn grammar, reading and writing. I hope to get with the other English teachers to see what they are teaching so that I can incorporate that into my lessons as well. For the most part, I think my first day went very well. I am still in shock that I am here in China teaching English. Sean and I realized that it was exactly one year ago today that we took our teaching certificate classes and became certified. If you had told me 5 years ago that I would be doing this, I would have laughed at you. One just never knows where life will take you.