Job Discussion Forums

[Chen_Bolin]

Okay here is the scoop, I am a newbie fresh out of school in China teaching my first time as a Oral English Teacher for preschool to grade 5. All classes are 40 min long plus I have an English corner every day which is essentially just another class filled with the top students from grade 1 to 3 rather then a place students ask questions or something. I am the first foreign teacher this school has had and I have no clue how to teach these students any practice teaching I have done was on older students who had some vocabulary where these kids have none.

I see preschool 10 times a week and every other class twice within 2 weeks (and the times I meet them are not even some classes I see once each week and some I see two days in a row and then not again for 2 weeks).

Each grade has two classes and what they know seems to be completely random for example the grade 4's do not know "nice to meet you" or "what is your name" but do know their colors and numbers but the grade 2's know "nice to meet you" and "what is your name" but do not know their colors! I have no materials except what I bring to class.

I am only 2 days in and I am running out of things to do in class because the children do not have enough vocab to play most of the games and do not have the attention span to learn Vocab.

The teachers so far are no help they just tell my translator (they do not actually speak English) that they haven't had time to teach the students anything and the textbooks (those that I have seen) are useless because the students haven't learn it yet.

So My Question (its more like begging for advice) is: What do I teach students who may or may not know nothing? how do I plan for my whole class not being able to remember 6 vocab (colors) well enough to play the activity I have planned? What games are available to play when the kids know nothing past what you can teach them with out them falling asleep (has happened)? I have 80 min of preschool tomorrow what do I teach them? What do you do in your first classes of primary school? (oh and i have tried songs and maybe its just the way I thought them but they flopped too)!

I need for advice! PLEASE PLEASE help me!

[AliceB]

Wow, that sounds like a baptism of fire - I really feel for you. How is it possible that their previous teachers 'didn't have time' to teach them anything? It sounds like you're picking up the pieces after a succession of not-very-motivated teachers.

Have you been given a syllabus to follow? If so, that would be the place to look for guidance on what to teach. You mention that the textbooks are useless, but they might at least give you some idea of what subjects are to be covered. If there's no syllabus, my instinct would be to teach the same subjects to all levels (family, food, colours, meeting people, etc), just making it a little harder for the more able classes.

With a grand total of one month's teaching under my belt, I'm not much more experienced than you are, but I can tell you what seems to work for me: I hope it helps.

The tough thing about teaching kids is that their attention span is really short, so you need to keep mixing up the activities. If you need to spend, say, 30 minutes of the class learning vocab, break it up into a succession of five-minute chunks. Start with drilling, then do some quiz-type activities (for example, you hold up flashcards of the new vocabulary and students have to shout out the word), and then some very simple games.

You mention that it's impossible to do activities because the kids don't know the vocab: well, just keep teaching the vocab until they know it. Change the activities to keep it interesting, but don't give up before they've remembered the new words. The words might seem fairly easy to you, but they aren't to a child who has never heard them before. You're not going to undo several years of bad education in a single semester, so don't worry if the kids seem to learn slowly. If you move onto a game before the kids have enough knowledge to play it, then they will just get confused.

If students know the vocab but have trouble understanding how an activity works, it's best to demonstrate it - either model it with a couple of the stronger students, or do it slowly a few times with the whole class.

It's best to have physical activities if you can. I know Chinese classrooms are usually quite cramped, but even if you don't have much space you can get kids to move a bit when they speak - for example, if you were teaching 'what is your name?' you could get the kids to stamp their feet for each word. It sounds stupid, but it does help to hold the kids' attention. You can also try to vary drilling by making them say words quietly, loudly, sadly, happily, etc.

With older kids, it can help to have an element of competition - split the class into two or more teams, and award points for correct answers. For example, when a student answers a question correctly you let him roll a die to decide how many points his team gets. (The die adds a random element to the activity, so the less able students have a chance to do well)

Don't underestimate the power of bribery. Try giving out stickers, sweeties or small items of stationery as a reward for students who participate.

And finally, if students fall asleep in class, I sneak up behind them and blow into their ear. It wakes them up and it freaks them out.

If you want any ideas for simple games and vocabulary activities, I can PM them to you - it would take up too much space to put them here. I hope things get better for you, because it sounds like you and the students are both getting an equally rough deal from the school.

[wesharris]

Woman blowing into little Ju Li's ear ='s cute.
Man blowing into little Ju Li's ear ='s pedobear?

[RonHex]

Games Games Games flash cards flash cards flash cards chants chants chants...

break up each class into 4 teams (rows work well) .. put the group names/numbers on the side of your blackboard(use this to reward the top group by drawing stars or whatever under their name)

start class the same everyday with an introduction "class begins, stand-up... good morning boys and girls" "how are you?" go through 5-10 students and ask simple questions "whats your name?" how are you? whats your favorite food? ,ect

now play a warm-up game... could be something like hangman using vocab from a previous lesson.. songs like 5little monkeys, 10little indians, ect work well with the younger kids

now get down to business.. decide 4-6 new words to teach.. make some nice flashcards before hand or draw pics on the board.

teach the words using a few different methods.. say/repeat changing your tone, volume, ect... even talk like a robot or whatever(yea yea dancing monkey but if ur teaching kids dance away)

now try a few chants.. eg. keyword=knife ... "knife, knife CHOP CHOP CHOP... ask individual students to stand and "have a try".

have each group say the chant.. decide which group is best and give them a couple stars... another good game is a group race.. each student in the group will stand and say the word 1 at a time.. you can mark the group on how fast they are.. also give points for speaking clearly.

there are a million different games you can play once you get the kids into it.. picture races, telephone, ect.. all great for large groups split into teams..

Put the different flashcards/ drawings on the board and draw hand prints under them.. invite 2 students to the front.. you say a word and the first student to slap below the picture and repeat the word is the winner(do best of 7 and give the winners group a star)

If you want to review spelling there are few games for that too... write incomplete words on the board.. eg K_if_ (knife) ask a student to complete the word then have them act as a little teacher and have the class repeat after him/her.

once all the words are done.. hand a rubber ball to each group and play hot potato... when the music stops the kids with the balls stand-up. now take a piece of paper and cover part of a word on the blackboard... first student with a ball to spell the word (just by shouting it out) is the winner.

sry for what must be terrible English.. i rushed it. Ill try to get back on later and clean it up/ add some more stuff. once you get a few good games n techniques going u can recycle the hell outta them.. keeps the kids happy and the lessons flowing

[RonHex]

just to add... having students break off into pair and practice is good stuff..

if your teaching numbers, colors, ect... have 1 students think of a number/color while the other one tries to guess which word he/she is thinking about.. then invite a student to the front and have the class try to guess... stars to the group that guess correctly..

getting the kids to draw pictures can be alot of fun too(tho maybe not that usefull) .... say you are teaching animals.. give each group 1 piece of chalk.. you yell out something like "5 dogs" the first student from each group goes to the front and draws a dog/says the word.. he then gives the chalk to the next student in the group... repeat until the first group finishes... 1 star for the fastest group 1 star for the best picture.

think about giving out some rewards to top/well behaved students.. stickers work... but what i do is print off a ton of mini 5 dollar bills.. kids collect them and buy erasers, pencils, ect from my "school store" I spend maybe 20rmb a week (for 350students)... its worth every penny

[lockedwithhim]

Good example of how and why the government requires TWO YEARS of teaching experience in order to obtain teaching credentials in China. Let alone the age, degree issues.

[7969]

[kev7161]

My advice? In a word: Phonics!

Phonics teaches the sounds of each letter individually. Phonics teaches rhyming words. Phonics teaches consonant clusters, consonant digraphs, vowel dipthongs, etc. Phonics is (or can be) repetitive, which these kids seem to need. If you can find/order a good Phonics book and can follow it reasonably well, then you may find their abilities grow. Try Amazon.com. They will ship to China:

http://www.amazon.com/Phonics-phonics-Fantastic-Practice-Signatures/dp/0153090251/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315306935&sr=8-1

A couple of websites using a google search of "Phonics ESL" - - there are plenty more out there:

http://www.english-4kids.com/phonicsheets.html

http://www.esl-galaxy.com/children.htm

http://www.funfonix.com/intro/

[Chen_Bolin]

Dear AliceB I would appreciate your input and ideas (I cant pm you because i do not have 5 posts yet). Thank you for your excellent advice, also thank you RonHex I will be sure to implement your suggestions especially the stuff about chants (for some reason all my songs have flopped so far even "head and shoulders"). I am also going to sit-in on some of the other teachers classes and see how they manage, and what they are teaching their classes.

I would also like to take this time to tell Lockedwithinhim and 7969 that their comments are unhelpful and annoying why comment on this thread at all if the only thing you have to say is that I shouldn't have signed on to my contract and laugh at me. There are going to be teachers who sign up for these jobs no matter what you say so instead of being negative and unproductive why don't you use your 2 years experience and degree and give us some advice not lord it over us. People who are on this site are here to get help from a supportive and knowledgeable community not be shutdown and ridiculed.

[zactherat]

[RonHex]

let us know how you make out... good luck

[Chen_Bolin]

Okay, the class was hell. mostly because we had no idea at what level these kids were and where to start teaching them the first class descended into chaos pretty quick (I had two 40min classes, with the same 15 preschoolers, in a row) the second class a teacher sat in and we taught them their numbers from one to ten.

Also I think that teachers who are looking in to it before they accept a contract can understand pretty well from my first post that its not necessarily a walk in the park. however I believe that for the most part those that look up this past will already be in a pickle of their own.

Lastly for those of you who are all she isn't qualified its her own fault she is waist deep in baby slobber. I was told I was teaching children 7-11 when I accepted this job that's grade 2-5. I had absolutely no Idea I would be teaching preschool until the 1st of September when I got my schedule. Now, I am here and I'm trying to roll with the punches and use the resources I got AKA you guys.

I'll say it again sometimes its not the teacher that overestimates their ability, its the school that doesn't mention that they may be teaching an age group or amount that the teacher is not prepared for (they knew that I was a brand new teacher too) and we just have to deal with it.

My other classes are just fine, its a learning experience but I am getting better and the kids are learning too. Preschool is still hell though. It is unfortunate that its the class I see the most. I will get better though and soon (hopefully) it wont be as bad as I get to know the kids and how their class usually works.

[RonHex]

I feel for ya.. doesnt matter how great of a teacher you are.. 40minutes classes with toddlers are hell.. Try to break it up into 2 15minute blocks with a break in the middle..

Do you have a cassette/cd to use when teaching a song? it makes all the difference in the world.. let them listen a couple times quietly, then have them sing a couple times before introducing some dance moves.

Is the school providing any material for the preschool classes? how about making copies?

You may want to spend a couple weeks just doing the alphabet. teach 3 letters in a 40 minute class. you can even teach a word for each letter. try using chants again..

eg. A, A, ah, ah, ah.. ah ah ah apple!

B B , b , b, b, b, b, b, b, boy!

H, H, ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha happy!

after a few lessons do an art class and have the kids make their own alphabet books.. capital/ small letter written on top of each page and a picture of an apple or whatever.

[Chen_Bolin]

THX! thats a great idea I already had them drawing pictures for the letters now I'll just collect the pictures afterward and when they have done the whole alphabet ill bind them and give it back to them Thank you for the idea.

[CJD]

i have no advice other than to say man, your job must be terrible. teaching big classes of 5-10 year old chinese kids would be awful. i tutored some kids that age, and i mostly had to talk with them in chinese to try and explain anything.