Job Discussion Forums

[roadwalker]

[Non Sequitur]

Great responses guys.
Just what I'd hoped for.
NS

[3701 W.119th]

Good thread.

I've only been here for about a month, and I work at a private centre, teaching adults (what our uni friends would call a 'language mill').

At a private centre, you'll be expected to be at the office 40 hours per week, at least, (basically just like you would in the UK/America/'West', in a regular job). This might actually a good thing for new teachers, I think. You'll have lots of time to plan and adapt lessons, talk with and learn from experienced teachers, and reflect on your own lessons. I tend to switch-off when I go home, so being in an office environment definitely helps me focus. This is personal preference.

You'll need to sort out an apartment within the first few weeks. Your centre should put you up in a hotel in the interim, and you'll have a local Chinese teacher help you find a home, and take care of all the paperwork. No problem. They'll also set up a bank account for you, and get you a sim card. Wee buns.

If you are teaching at a university? In many ways, I'm envious. Sounds like a nice first gig. Just turn up in China, and have your apartment and bills and stuff taken care of. 16 classes a week? No office hours? Great! However, you might be thrown in front of a massive class of somewhat ambivalent students, with little or no structure or support. Good luck with that. I'd like to teach college/university level in China, perhaps in a year or two - give me time to study - but I feel like I need to learn to teach first. A (good) private centre seems to be best for this, as a noob.

You'll find people in the teachers room that moan about China. From what I can tell, they've either been in China too long, or just have no business being teachers. Maybe both? You'll also find some funny, bright, adventurous, thoughtful, hard working teachers, who genuinely care about their students. This is the crowd you should align yourself with.

Loud noises, pushing and jostling, seemingly round-the-clock construction, insane traffic, spitting, smoking everywhere, oppressively hot and humid days, locals staring at big fat white men (me), etc.? Would these things annoy you to the point of serious concern? Then just don't come here. Things in China are different. It's a different culture. Embrace it. We have so many similarities as people, essentially, but in many ways it's a different world. Personally, I've found most of the locals I've met to be wonderfully warm, welcoming, curious, and considerate.

Please don't come here and moan about how things are different from 'back home'. You're a guest in their country, so behave like one. Nobody forced you to come here. If you don't like it, then go home. Nobody's stopping you.

[jackflash]

Great advice, everyone! It's very much appreciated. I'll be arriving in a couple of weeks for my first gig at a university. Pollution and food sanitation are concerns, but my biggest worry is failing as a teacher. My CELTA training and volunteer experience only prepped me for 20 or so students. Classes of 60+ sound not only intimidating but difficult to manage. It's going to be a learning curve for sure. Still, I'm excited to start

[Non Sequitur]

There are a number of sites selling (and giving away) resources for large classes.
I've said this many times but the job that gets you to China, isn't likely to be the job that keeps you here.
A least downside/20 hour/uni gig will give you a good intro to life in China.
Time enough to go for the big bucks for your second and subsequent contracts.
Do a few privates on a Saturday to see if you like the extra hours. Although uni + privates gives you a commuting issue which you wouldn't have if you worked fulltime at a mill.
Best of luck to those starting their first job on 1 September!

[JoeKing]

[roadwalker]

[3701 W.119th]

Just to echo some of roadwalker's great advice there, I wouldn't worry too much about failing as a teacher if you've taken your CELTA and done well. It certainly doesn't make you a teacher, but it's a stronger grounding than many out here have. I'd never taught before completing the CELTA in March this year, but it definitely gives you the confidence to plan a lesson, and then to stand up and deliver it. It's a hard job, but you'll ease into it. I'm getting more and more sure of myself every day, with every class. It's a process.

Some of your students will seem like they don't want to be there. As a newbie, I'm not sure how to deal with this. Does this differ from a private centre to a college setting? My feeling at the moment is, just let these people be. I don't see why I should waste much time cajoling these students when the rest (majority) of my class are engaged and want to learn. You pays your money you takes your choice. Maybe this is a different in uni/college teaching?

It's quite normal for you to feel anxious at this stage. Focus on your students, plan well, be yourself. You'll be fine.

I've found my students to be incredibly curious about my hometown, family, beliefs, culture etc. How does it compare to China? What is your opinion of China?

The food is fantastic. There are safety concerns, sure. The Chinese themselves are very aware of this. My favourite meal back home is a battered sausage supper, so I can't take the moral high ground. Pollution is also an issue for many of my students, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Then again, I smoke 40 cigarettes a day, so air quality isn't a huge deal for me.

[Listerine]

1)-Make sure to overprepare when planning your lessons at first. Until you can gauge student numbers, levels etc. you won't know 100% what will succeed and what will bomb. There's very few worse feelings than being a new ESL teacher and running out of work midway through class because the stuff you'd planned to last 20 minutes for example shat the bed after 2.
Later on as teaching becomes more second nature you'll be able to "wing" the dead spots of the class anyhow.
To start for a 1.5 hour class I'd at least prepare at least what I think will work for 2 or 2.5 hours. You can always use the remainder the next time.

2)-Learn how to say "no". But do so politely enough to avoid the other person losing face. Often they will know you are B.Sing them, but be thankful that you allowed them to back off without making them look small.

It sounds obvious, but it sometimes feels like the boundaries of acceptable things for people here to ask you to do is a lot wider than back home.
Chinese can be some of the loveliest and some of the nastiest people on the planet. You'll get lots of friendly offers from nerdy students, potential suitors - whatever - to a degree that is sometimes akin to a dog trying to hump your leg - especially when you are new. You might not want to eat headlice soup every day, have a "cola" party in their rank-smelling dormitory, or visit their hometown on the weekend. Always have an apologetic excuse prepared when one of the darlings approaches after class "Excuse me teacher......" Unless you want, and then all is cool. Be warned most students after a couple of rejections likely won't ask you to do anything again, so try not to burn too many bridges.

On the flip side Chinese people can be very financially mercenary. Private school bosses, dishonest FAOs frequently trying to see what they can get you to do for free. You're likely not obliged to appear on "Laowai Let's Chinese!!" on CCTV346 at your boss' behest. "Sorry Mrs Hu - I already have train tickets to Qingdao that weekend." will succeed better than "This isn't in my contract - how dare you ask me to do extra work that isn't in my contract!?!" In contrast to the nice students too once the nasty folk recognize you as an easy mark be prepared to be the go-to teacher to host every English corner, fill in for free for lung cancer addled Aussie Ron's sick days, judge every meaningful and diligent speaking competition the school ever hosts and sing your country's national anthem in front of 5,000 people at the annual university sport's day. Again some people (usually vegans) love doing this sort of stuff, and say yes to every opportunity that comes their way and appear to be having a good time doing so, but for every one of those there are 10 that grumble and moan their way through some unpaid Saturday-6am-start-chore. Learn to politely sugarcoat "no" from the start and you'll largely be left alone while meek mama's boy Mike gets shafted.

[likwid_777]

[JamesD]

[wangdaning]

[likwid_777]

[Guerciotti]

[Azile]

A couple things our teachers use at our University that are useful from classes as low as 18 to classes upwards of 60:

1) Playing cards...no I do not mean playing cards with them. First class they bring a deck of cards with them and gives one to every student. Then on a PPT (because chinese uni students love ppts) and through verbal instruction they are told to glue a photo of themselves, their english name, chinese name, student number, class name and course name on it and bring it next class...as an assignment that is part of their participation marks.

So second class, you collect all the cards...everyone who did it, gets some marks towards their participation score of the course.

Now you have a deck of cards which is that class. Highly useful. Want to call on random students, shuffle and draw. Want to make groups fast, divide up the cards into groups, call out the first card name, hand the group to the student, voila, you have groups prearranged and random. Want to take attendance easy, go through the deck calling out the names, those who are "here" go in one pile, those absent in another, record the missing students later. The more you find ways and use those playing cards, the faster you learn their names to their picture. Want to easily record participation marks during the semester, just use a permanent marker and put a dot on their card as you roll along.

2) Research into TBLL Task Based Language Learning. I really cant detail into it, but it is easy to research into this method and it works wonders with large groups of students, promotes more naturalized conversation, gives the students a feeling of actually achieving goals rather than what most oral english classes feel to them.

3) Spend the first ten minutes of a class warming them up by taking roll call, discussing simple relatable things like "I had dumplings for lunch, what did (random student) have, and explain slowly to them what "we" are going to be doing this class and attempting to achieve.

4) Be aware and beware of these two cycles:
Students think oral english is too easy and a waste of time ~> Students are unresponsive in class ~> Teacher thinks they are pitching the level too high ~> Teacher oversimplifies the content

And
Pressure felt by Foreign Teacher to be "fun" ~> Foreign Teacher responds by being "fun" ~> Evidence that Foreign Teachers ARE "fun" ~> Construction of Foreign Teachers as "fun"

5) The textbook is so you can assign the students who also have bought the book exercises and practice outside of the class. I would have them always bring the book so you can instruct them as to what to work on and do by next class, but using the book as a basis for teaching is (in my opinion) a waste of class time and generally the books are really garbage anyhow.

6) Prepare a lesson plan for each class or at least have a plan in your head worked out. Dont wing it or freestyle, it just makes things more frustrating and less productive for you and your students.