Job Discussion Forums

OutnAbout · Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 5

Greetings,

I'm planning on being in China (Shanghai or close to) this coming September. Just wondering, from those of you already in the trenches, is there anything from "back home" you wish you had brought with you? Or maybe things you did bring that have proved invaluable? To be more specific:

1. Teaching aids/material: Items of interest to your students from the western world

2. Personal items: I've read that shoes, deodorant, spices etc. are potentially hard to come by. What about clothing, toiletries, pharmacy products?

Thanks,
OutnAbout

tw · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 3898

vikdk · Joined: 25 Jun 2003 Posts: 1676

Gaffa tape (for the yanks among us - duct tape) - an invaluable all-purpose tool to block holes, hold things together and generally repair the standard work of your average modern day Chinese "craftsman". Most Chinese consumer durables will need a lashing of gaffa tape to keep 'em going, at least one time in their creaky, rusty, badly fitting lifetimes.

By the way - FT gaffa tape fans - you can now buy it at Walmart (yes newbies we have Walmart in China) - but if you don't live near one of these I'll sell it you on the black-market Cool

Voldermort · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 597

A potato masher! Go ahead and laugh, but I have been looking for 4 years now and still not found one.

Sonnet · Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 235 Location: South of the river

Yes, photos from back home are invaluable. Bring as many as you can, and multiple copies, too; ideally backed-up on CD.

As others have already said, shopping in China isn't half as hard as you might be fearing; good anti-perspirant isn't always easy to find, though.

But if you're in or near Shanghai... then there's next to nothing that you won't be able to find. Uh... a good Swiss Army knife or camping knife is massively useful to have at home, but that's true of any country, really.

vikdk · Joined: 25 Jun 2003 Posts: 1676

Lobster · Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 10:16 am Post subject:

Bring rolls of pennies and nickels and tons of one-cent and two-cent stamps in as many varieties as you can get. Great motivaters for games and good performance.

RED

OutnAbout · Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 5

Those are all good tips... thanks.

Are English magazines, ads etc. a good classroom stimulator as well?

Many of my Chinese friends and co-workers (in Canada) aren't fond of candy, but I was thinking maple syrup candies would be a big hit with the younger generation in China. I would bring some back bacon... but that might not work. Wink

Ferne · Joined: 29 Apr 2003 Posts: 177 Location: GZ

Maps!

Didn't have them the first time around but the second time around, I brought back nice large, clean maps of the US, Europe and China (because they were of most personal interest to me) and my students, no matter what age group and language level, always enjoyed me taking them on imaginary journeys across them. It was especially intriguing to watch them discover their OWN country, especially the location of their home provinces in relation to others!

Instead of magazines, I would recommend books of simply-written short stories...you can easily pass time going through a story with your students, asking questions, discussing themes, basing exercises on them or other activities without boring them with dry textbook matter (if there is a textbook in the first place). My younger students always enjoyed discussing Greek fables, and the older ones simplified authentic "curiosity" news stories from around the world. You can buy such books here in China in Chinese with English translations (the one I used was entitled "看!世界, Beyond the Horizon")...so not only can your students learn from them but you, too! However the Greek fables, I did bring from home...most 'English' folk and fairy tale books that I came across here were written in an absolutely horrendous English!

tw · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 3898

One more thing: flyers! I brought back a couple pizza flyers and the students LOVED them!

Neilhrd · Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 233 Location: Nanning, China

Gnerally speaking personal items will be the least of your problems in China.

Teaching aids are another matter. There simply aren't any. Chinese teachers never use any form of teaching aid or realia. Bring as much as you can carry. A few essentials I would recommend would be:-

a teaching clock if you are doing primary school

blu tack (This is unobtainable here but all other stationery is far easier to find and cheaper than it is in Britain.)

IPA posters (the Chinese ones always use the phonemes of Chinese not English and confuse the students completely)

Pronunciation books ("Tree or Three" and "Ship or Sheep" with tapes/CDs are essential. Importing these is banned so be careful but they are so useful they will be worth it. There are many locally made pronunciation VCDs and DVDs but most of them are rubbish and few schools have the equipment to use them anyway.

Books of photocopiable activities and games. Bring as many as you can for a variety of levels as these are impossible to find in China. Again importing them is illegal but is possible if you are careful.

Photos of as many everyday things as you can find.

Authentic magazines and novels are rarely useful. Less than 1 student in 1,000 here ever reaches the level where they can read them.

Examples of coins, banknotes, credit cards, drivers licences and stamps from your own country are always useful

A good monolingual dictionary. (These are very difficult to find here but it is important to try to break intermediate students habit of translating everything word by word and teaching them to learn new words in terms of other English they already know.)

Good children's story books can be useful in primary school. Some are available here e.g Disney and Noddy but others such as Thomas the Tank engine might work.

Don't bother with flashcards. They can be downloaded off the internet and laminators are readily available and cheap here.

I hope this helps.

Good luck.

Brian Caulfield · Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Posts: 1247 Location: China

Books and comics . I wish I could get some cheap books , magazines and comics . There is a real shortage of interesting literature for my students to read . The writing here is so sanitized that I can't tolerate looking at anything in English in China .
The problem is that it takes months for the materials to clear customs .

vikdk · Joined: 25 Jun 2003 Posts: 1676

CCTV9 is also a case study of sanitised English - Those lao wai presenters should be ..... Twisted Evil

By the way at our local uni you can now buy cheap illegaly printed English books - 10RMB/copy - some decent stuff in it as well - I'm reading Angela'a ashes at the moment by Frank McCourt (a pulitzer prize winner).

SheZook · Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 187

Mydnight · Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 5:24 am Post subject:

Real books; English only.

If you can get them, get a bunch of children's books and bring them with you. A bunch.