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sui jin
Joined: 08 Feb 2008
Posts: 184
Location: near the yangtze
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 Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 7:12 am Post subject: |
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I think, in any city, #1 school may be the best , but other numbers (like # are not ranked, but just designate different schools in different districts (?); anyway it doesn't mean yours will be a sink school.
Shared accommodation could be fun , if you are sociable and easy going , but you might want more privacy, especially if your daughter will visit often.
In my experience, good , quiet accommodation is vital to having a resonable time here. I have known fellow teachers jump ship mid-contract because of constant (unresolved) problems with their accommodation. |
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Jymmkat
Joined: 22 Aug 2013
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 10:01 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you for the advice so far it is appreciated, but I do have two other questions. Does anyone have any experience dealing with Chinese middle schoolers age bracket 11 to 15 or any tips I would welcome them. I am comfortable with this age group in the Bahamas, but am told Chinese are a different breed....
In addition has anyone ever worked in this particular area before Chuzhou or at this particular school? |
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doogsville
Joined: 17 Nov 2011
Posts: 924
Location: China
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| Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 5:14 am Post subject: |
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| Jymmkat wrote: |
Thank you for the advice so far it is appreciated, but I do have two other questions. Does anyone have any experience dealing with Chinese middle schoolers age bracket 11 to 15 or any tips I would welcome them. I am comfortable with this age group in the Bahamas, but am told Chinese are a different breed....
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I've worked with this age bracket in both a middle school and a private language school. The middle school experience wasn't a lot of fun to be honest, but in retrospect it was largely because it was my first job teaching in China and I had no idea what I was doing. Expect large classes, I was teaching an average of sixty students a class. They will be jammed in like sardines in a can too, so no chance to move around. I used to bring a small ball, like a kids football, the British football not the American, and do a few games and things throwing and catching that. They had very mixed abilities, ranging from couldn't make a whole sentence to conversational, there doesn't seem to be any streaming, so every class is mixed. You'll probably be teaching 'oral' English, so lots of speaking and listening, with the Chinese teacher teaching them grammar. You need to really take control, but it sounds like you won't have a problem with that. The classes are usually about 45 to 50 minutes long, so it's not a lot of time to fill when you have so many students.
It's also worth checking if they have AV equipment, which most schools seem to do. You can make PPT's and use short audio and video clips to supplement the textbook. |
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Jymmkat
Joined: 22 Aug 2013
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 11:01 am Post subject: |
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| doogsville wrote: |
| Jymmkat wrote: |
Thank you for the advice so far it is appreciated, but I do have two other questions. Does anyone have any experience dealing with Chinese middle schoolers age bracket 11 to 15 or any tips I would welcome them. I am comfortable with this age group in the Bahamas, but am told Chinese are a different breed....
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I've worked with this age bracket in both a middle school and a private language school. The middle school experience wasn't a lot of fun to be honest, but in retrospect it was largely because it was my first job teaching in China and I had no idea what I was doing. Expect large classes, I was teaching an average of sixty students a class. They will be jammed in like sardines in a can too, so no chance to move around. I used to bring a small ball, like a kids football, the British football not the American, and do a few games and things throwing and catching that. They had very mixed abilities, ranging from couldn't make a whole sentence to conversational, there doesn't seem to be any streaming, so every class is mixed. You'll probably be teaching 'oral' English, so lots of speaking and listening, with the Chinese teacher teaching them grammar. You need to really take control, but it sounds like you won't have a problem with that. The classes are usually about 45 to 50 minutes long, so it's not a lot of time to fill when you have so many students.
It's also worth checking if they have AV equipment, which most schools seem to do. You can make PPT's and use short audio and video clips to supplement the textbook. |
 Thank you for the response, This will be my first job teaching in China as well, and the class size is "supposed" to be about 30 per class, I have dealt with that size group at this age level.
As a group were they very shy, did you find it hard to get them to speak? Some of the plans I have started to put together involve short video clips with the sound off initially to pique their interest, get them to talk about what they think is being said, followed by role play, games, etc. As China has so much "net blockage" I have to bring all of this with me to build on. If they are really shy, I will need more quirky pieces to get them to respond at the beginning. If they are not shy then I will need to trigger their interests to build rapport, at least that is what works in the Bahamas. |
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sui jin
Joined: 08 Feb 2008
Posts: 184
Location: near the yangtze
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| Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 11:31 am Post subject: |
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I would prepare for bigger class sizes , 50-60 is more usual I think.
I would also assume that AV is not available for any given class, at least until you see the situation on the ground. Starting with a quick video sounds great , until you find no AV in the classroom , or (equally likely ) it does not work properly.
Classroom layout also has a massive effect on what you can do (group work , games), as another poster says, so think whether your activities will work if the kids are sitting on fixed benches in long rows. |
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Jymmkat
Joined: 22 Aug 2013
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 1:39 pm Post subject: |
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| sui jin wrote: |
I would prepare for bigger class sizes , 50-60 is more usual I think.
I would also assume that AV is not available for any given class, at least until you see the situation on the ground. Starting with a quick video sounds great , until you find no AV in the classroom , or (equally likely ) it does not work properly.
Classroom layout also has a massive effect on what you can do (group work , games), as another poster says, so think whether your activities will work if the kids are sitting on fixed benches in long rows. |
Good points, I have some game show type formats in development, and of course bingo, etc. just hoping to get more of them a chance to talk. |
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Minnehaha1512
Joined: 26 Jan 2014
Posts: 19
Location: Oregon
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| Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Hello, just wondering how OP made out at Chuzhou No. 8 Middle School. How was it there, Jymmkat? Did everything work out? |
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