Teaching English @ New Horizon in Jilin City, China

Teaching

I knew that teaching was something that I had always wanted to try since it was a great way to travel abroad and make money. After having taught a year I can't say how thankful I am and proud of myself that I not only made it through a year of teaching but I found my calling. I love teaching.

It isn't always about playing games but I do have to say that is one of the better parts of the day. From giving out assignments, making sure every student is participating, marking homework and exams it is a very rewarding career. 

With New Horizon I was placed all around the city at different schools owned by this one company to teach an English class once a week to students on their down time (evenings and weekends) From the ages of 5 (kindergarten level) all the way up to university. I also taught business English to the employees at Petro China and to some very awesome 'medical students' which were actually doctors, dentists and specialists.

I averaged about 15-20 hours a week not including after class time, 2 hour classes with a 10 minute break in between, of about 5-45 students. I was accompanied by a Chinese Teacher Assistant (which I found out later only get paid about 30 Yuan a class) they would do the more difficult translating for me depending on the skill level of the students.

With the last school that I worked at they just tossed us teachers with little to no information about the students. This was very much the same. I was given a book to teach from (sometimes no book) a short teacher training which consists of me doing a lesson plan in front of the head management before being sent into a live classroom. If it wasn't for my star shining TAs I wouldn't have made it through the beginning of the semesters. They do their very best to make you feel welcome and try to take some of the stress off your shoulders. The unfortunate thing is that when you get a bad TA it can really ruin your day, with this company your first meeting with them are usually about 10 minutes before you start your class. There was a different TA for every single class that I taught.

My university students

My University Students

More university students

This is a picture of my Elementary Students

This was one of my favourite classes, they loved to play English games!

Some cards I obtained over the year, there were tonnes more I couldn't fit them all in one photo.

My most advance middle school class.

More university students!

Last day for my summer students, we decided to have a BBQ out of the classroom and in a park.

My Teacher Assistant Fisher and my screaming girls, don't worry Andy we know you are there.

My Medical student class, having one of those impromptu potluck.

 Students

My students are what changed my life, gave me the love for teaching. From little children dragging me out at recess to play tag and giving me apples for teacher's day to my adult students bringing home cooked meals to hold a impromptu pot luck before and after class were just some of events that made my year in China. Some of my middle school students even give me presents on our last day of classes. (little anime key chains because they knew I liked anime or something as simple as a card written in English) Without them I would have been just another traveling adventure because of their kindness I left China with one of the most beautiful feelings that I get to take with my for the rest of my life.

It is true that Chinese classes are more important than English classes so I try to provide them with something more relaxing. Through my many questions I learned from their translations so much about the daily life of a Chinese student. They go to school for about 12 hours a day usually this does include doing home work and on top of that they have extra curricular classes such as English and sports.

From my students I learned that Chinese teachers don't let them speak and that western teaching gives them a lot more freedom to be themselves. 99% of them have to wear a uniform from grade 1-12 and have stylized hair cuts,  little to no self expression allowed.

For them I was very different, free and liberal in many cases.

They work hard and just want to have fun just like all kids.

Corruption

So there is this thing I'm going to call 'red tape' for some reason with all the teachers that I have spoken with there are always some things you just can't get. For me it was ample timing when covering new classes with some history on the student's English level. I always had to just use a previous lesson plan and have it ready to be altered if it was too easy or difficult. Working on days off sometimes became a hassle and certain things just became 'well that is just the way it is'. 

A lot of the times they spoke to me like they had my best intentions at heart but there was not action to prove this was the case. Even people that have worked for a Chinese company long enough just seem to chalk up bad management; being the norm. This was something I wasn't sure I would ever be able to deal with long term.

Something as simple as getting a reference letter from the headmaster (which was promised because I asked about it when I was hired for my future teaching endeavors) was never taken care of. I even sent emails that were ignored at the end. Why he didn't provide me with this piece of paper, who knows?

By the end I was aware that it’s quantity, not quality.