If I thought teaching was going to be a big enough experience, teaching in China is something even bigger. It’s not just the sheer size of the class (up to 50 students, for 2 hours at a time) or the massive variation in the standard of the students’ English but the fact that you can’t predict how things will actually work. For one, I can’t work out the timings of the bells. So I’m just giving my classes breaks and letting them leave when it feels right. And secondly, the ‘multimedia’ system available in the classrooms we use is extremely temperamental.
As I found out in my very first class. We couldn’t get the computer to work, so I couldn’t show my powerpoint presentation or make the course VCD work so my entire lesson plan was basically void. Somehow I managed to ad-lib for 2 hours and in the second class we got the VCD working and I showed a Queen video 4 times, which they loved. It was entirely topical.
I thought the classes went alright although I think the good behaviour of the students was probably down to their initial excitement at having a foreign teacher. I get a lot of awed sighs when I walk in and one class even applauded.
It is difficult trying to start acting like a professional in an environment that feels so completely unprofessional but I think it’s probably a matter of adapting to the system. And I’m quite happy to be creative.
Here’s a photo of the studes leaving one of the teaching buildings. The umbrellas are to keep the sun off them; they really hate tanning.
It is extremely hot in Pingxiang at the moment so the classrooms themselves are exhausting enough; there isn’t any air conditioning and I had to close a few windows to stop the curtains (large strips of bin bag style material) blowing up so the students could see the screen. It is a little like teaching in a sauna, except you’re fully clothed and there are Chinese people everywhere. All part of the experience I suppose.
I couldn’t get any photos of the classroom yet as the students get way too excited about cameras and I am trying to start off as a respectable teacher. Even though I am the same age as some of them. It might not be long before I start rewarding their work with photoshoots and cranking up the karaoke. They like music.
So here’s a photo of Jav on a bus instead. There was a row of small children standing just behind me looking for a seat but as Jav put it, ‘each man for himself’.
