Job Discussion Forums

afireinside · Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 14 Location: GOLD COAST AUSSIE!

Hi ! Soon we are about to jump in the deep end, live in China, and try to teach English. What didnt you bring that would have been useful for teaching, such as chalk or magazines etc. Thanks! and post away . . .

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

After 2 years in Cathay I decided that I needed MY OWN MONOLINGUAL dictionary.
No school, college, university, kindergarten had any OXFORD Concise dictionary available for FTs - maybe some had them for Chinese. Their libraries are hopelessly understocked.

peggiescott · Joined: 20 Mar 2004 Posts: 162

Not sure why you posted this in the negative. But if what useful stuff we did bring is of interest. Post cards of as great a variety as you can collect. It will give you something to have the students write/talk about that they won't have already memorized.

afireinside · Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 14 Location: GOLD COAST AUSSIE!

Didnt mean to come off negative, a little scary leaving your jobs, selling up and moving to China. Nervous but very excited!

Newbs · Joined: 14 Nov 2004 Posts: 75 Location: Hangzhou, China

Blue tack, the ESL teacher's best friend can't be found over here. Use with care, when you take it off the wall paint, and some of the plaster render, will come off as well if your not careful.

Eucalyptus spray, great for removing stains, and reminding those of us from the sunburnt country of home.

Dental floss can be bought here, but it can be very hard to find.

A pictorial calendar of home.

Christmas cards with an Australian theme, depending on how long you are going to stay.

Little stickers of kangaroos, etc.

Cable ties have a thousand uses for travellers.

Sleeping bag, the jury is still out on that one.

Medications, precribed stuff, some antibiotics, headache tablets, anti-diarhhoea and vitamin pills. Again, most of this stuff can be obtained in China, but there has been a question mark placed against the authenticity of these from time to time.

amandabarrick · Joined: 30 Dec 2004 Posts: 391

If you bring anything electrical, you will need an adapter for the outlet. Trust me...
AB

ahopfe · Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 10:45 am Post subject:

Yu · Joined: 06 Mar 2003 Posts: 1219 Location: Shanghai

books in English. For teaching or for your own reading enjoyment.

tofuman · Joined: 02 Jul 2004 Posts: 937

Dental floss.
Pictures for discussion description, i.e., National Geographic,
Vaseline Petroleum Jelly if you use it for anything at home.
Good shoes that fit
Plenty of razors.

YankeeDoodleDandy · Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 3:10 pm Post subject: What to bring

Chalk , most of the chalk here seems to break very easily. postcards, pictures of your family. Pictures when you were young. Mouthwash Books to read that you have always wanted to, but haven't been able to find the time. Stickers, gifts for children and adults. Vegemite, a nice bottle of Sirah or Foster's. Bring with you or have them sent by boat, a variety of magazines,books and newspapers to share with your students. Have them sign out for your goodies so you can share with other students. In closing, don't forget to bring your smile.

limits601 · Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 3:17 pm Post subject:

Pictures of my hometown and family and friends. I wish i could show my friends here what they look like.

burnsie · Joined: 18 Aug 2004 Posts: 489 Location: Beijing

You become a cultural teacher more than just an english teacher so bring along things from the home country that you can use in teaching.

DVD's of your country would be great, things aimed at younger kids or highschool level english and just general stuff which is unique to your country.

Magazines, yes. Bring plenty of them.

dajiang · Joined: 13 May 2004 Posts: 663 Location: Guilin!

Same as limits601 above: pictures of people and places back home.

Good English novels are always good.

And come to think of it, I missed some of my more music special kinds of
music, the kind you can't buy bootlegged because it's not mainstream enough to copy it. I'll make a copy of my favourites next time.

A frisbee, couldn't get one in south of China, so had a few sent over.

Have fun,
Dajiang

nolefan · Joined: 14 Jan 2004 Posts: 1458 Location: on the run

scrabble and UNO for some easy and fun classes.

Warrina · Joined: 05 Nov 2004 Posts: 14 Location: Sydney

Depends a bit on where you're going: initially I missed blu tack but found the same thing but white at Wal Mart. Also noticed that Watson's had dental floss, but that was in a big city (Tianjin).

I would have liked tapes/CDs of children's songs and a long list of children's games and activities. Sure, a lot can be found on the net, but access can be erratic to say the least. Am compiling activities/discussion subjects for all age groups for next time. My school had a fair amount of stuff (and also a couple of monolingual dictionaries + Swan's grammar), but it became quite a challenge to come up with something new.

Agree with the postcards and photos; wish I had brought more.

My Australian hairdrier needed an adaptor, which I bought in the supermarket.

Enjoy your stay!