Wow...
wow...
I expected this teaching job would be different from any kind of job I could get in America (given my qualifications) but some things you just can't prepare for.
Here's a breakdown of the two days I've taught so far:
I get up, shower and dress, have breakfast (oatmeal) and bike over to the school (it's a much shorter commute than either of my two student-teaching jobs in the US were). I go to the building attendant and sign out an access card for my classroom, then go to my room (the room is already open, the access card is for the computer). I get out my materials (clock, notes, paper, etc.) load up my PowerPoint and wait for the straggling students to arrive (even twenty minutes early a number of students are already there).
All of my classes have at least 30 students, about 90% girls. The students in the first and third classes seem very capable and many students are participating and using English comfortably. The students in the second and fourth classes have some good speakers, but most of the students are still afraid to speak, so I need to work on getting them talking.
In all but the first class the students have asked me to say something in Chinese, and in the third and fourth classes they asked me to demonstrate some Kung Fu. Not wanting to be a hard ass I chose to give them what they asked for, but before doing any of these things I would take off my glasses to signal a "departure from normal practice". For lack of anything "useful" to say in Chinese, I sang the first two stanzas of "Beijing Welcomes You", and for Kung Fu I did Wushu Basic Stance Drill (just 10 moves).
Both of these things got a lot of applause.
And I grievously underestimated something about these students: flirting. During my teacher training I was told, unequivocally, that we teachers must never put ourselves in any situations with our students that could ever possibly be construed as romantic or suggest mutual attraction. In my inquiries about teaching in China I was told that the girl students will look at young American guys like American teenage girls look at rockstars, and will pursue them just as fervently - my sources were not exaggerating.
In every class I've had, students ask me if I have a girlfriend, they ask for my phone number, they want to know what I think of Chinese women, I even had one student suggest I wear a T-shirt next class because she thinks I'm handsome. (...not gonna lie, that was a little, uh... yeah).
When I was a student, or a teacher in America, I was not one of the popular crowd. I had several good friends, and I wasn't the victim of social discrimination, but I wasn't the kind of guy that had hoards of girls asking for my number and giggling and hiding their faces every time I smiled. Now I'm living that classical high school/college boy's dream, but honestly I don't really care for it.
Fame by its very nature is transitory, and the fame I have doesn't come from any achievement on my part, but only by virtue of having been born an American and being able to speak my native tongue. Why attach any value to it? (I've been reading a lot of Stoic philosophy, can you tell?)
After I finished my classes on Friday I went to the Teacher's Break Room in 楼 7 and sat in a massage chair for a little while - that was a nice release of physical tension. I also met a Math professor in his mid-forties whose been teaching at the University since 1990. He and I played ping-pong for almost two hours and he was whoopin' my ass. Although he did give me a number of tips about how to hold the paddle and how to swing properly, so I made a lot of progress.
This weekend we expect a large typhoon on the coast, fortunately I'm a little further inland, so it won't be getting to the university. However one of the teachers has invited me to go with her to one of the islands on Sunday. These islands are within the delta and further up-river, but still a typhoon is a typhoon, so I'm waiting to see if that trip is still a go.
My teacher, Julie, invited me to go to her house on Monday (she also invited Ben) and we'll celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节) - kind of like an early Thanksgiving.
Besides that I'm just hanging out around school - still no Internet in my room, so no pictures to show everyone, and my Chinese is still weak, so I'll practice some of that in conjunction with my lesson planning, and... that's about it.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Alive and teaching...
Today was my first official day of work: I had my class in Building (楼) 4, Room (室) 510 at 8:10, and again at 10:10.
I dressed in slacks and a gray, long-sleeve, button-down shirt, complete with glasses, a tie and hiking boots. (I like those boots, don't knock the style).
I gave the students a general outline of how and what I'm going to teach (most of it came from the meeting I had with Ben earlier this week). I stated several times that despite the fact that I'm the teacher, the class is theirs - their responsibility to do the work and speak the language - and that my role will be to help set up ways for them to practice, and to oversee that practice and correct any of their flaws - which I told them not to be ashamed of because it's how they will learn.
One thing I tried that had questionable success was to demonstrate how inefficient it would be if I was the only person that they conversed in English with. I put a few questions on the board and passed around a sheet of paper that the students could write their answers on. I admit it was pretty abstract so I don't know how many students actually understood what I was trying to impart, but they seemed to get the idea - the first class needed about an hour to finish. (I was doing other things while the paper went around).
I picked up very few of their names, regrettably, and I won't see these students again until next week - so for tomorrow's classes I think I'll give them paper to write name cards.
When I was done I went over to the Teacher's Lunch in 楼 7 and ate with a colleague who has an office near mine on the 13th floor (层).
Oh, one quick note about how I eat: I alternate left and right-hands with my chopsticks. Mostly I eat with my left, and when other people here try they usually can't do it. It's kinda cool to have a unique skill with an old tool.
I finished my day by going over to the gym and doing some Kung Fu - mostly punching the bags. First my feet got bruised from kicking, now my knuckles have lost skin from punching.
I dressed in slacks and a gray, long-sleeve, button-down shirt, complete with glasses, a tie and hiking boots. (I like those boots, don't knock the style).
I gave the students a general outline of how and what I'm going to teach (most of it came from the meeting I had with Ben earlier this week). I stated several times that despite the fact that I'm the teacher, the class is theirs - their responsibility to do the work and speak the language - and that my role will be to help set up ways for them to practice, and to oversee that practice and correct any of their flaws - which I told them not to be ashamed of because it's how they will learn.
One thing I tried that had questionable success was to demonstrate how inefficient it would be if I was the only person that they conversed in English with. I put a few questions on the board and passed around a sheet of paper that the students could write their answers on. I admit it was pretty abstract so I don't know how many students actually understood what I was trying to impart, but they seemed to get the idea - the first class needed about an hour to finish. (I was doing other things while the paper went around).
I picked up very few of their names, regrettably, and I won't see these students again until next week - so for tomorrow's classes I think I'll give them paper to write name cards.
When I was done I went over to the Teacher's Lunch in 楼 7 and ate with a colleague who has an office near mine on the 13th floor (层).
Oh, one quick note about how I eat: I alternate left and right-hands with my chopsticks. Mostly I eat with my left, and when other people here try they usually can't do it. It's kinda cool to have a unique skill with an old tool.
I finished my day by going over to the gym and doing some Kung Fu - mostly punching the bags. First my feet got bruised from kicking, now my knuckles have lost skin from punching.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Tomorrow it begins
Tomorrow morning my first class begins at 8:00 and goes until 9:50. It includes a short, 10-minute break in the middle there, but it'll still be the longest continuous teaching experience I've ever had with just one group of people.
The second class is immediately afterwards and it's just as long.
I've got a plan for how I'm going to run the class, what I'm going to say and what I'm going to have the students do, but still I feel apprehensive. (Even after being assured by ten people that I shouldn't worry).
In other news, the PIN number for the computer in my apartment still hasn't been able to get me connected, so I can't post any pictures.
Oh, and something cool happened on Monday that I forgot to mention: after working with Ben I went to a small village next to the Medical College, they were having a celebration that I got some pictures of. I don't know what it was about, but it was a nice little escape from the campus.
And the last thing I have to report is that last night I went to practice some martial arts in the PE college.
I invited my two colleagues from the US, only Will showed. The instructor wasn't around to coach us, but some of the students helped us train. I'm thinking now that maybe I should have done some more bag work without shoes back in the States - so many wheel kicks, the tops of my feet took some wicked punishment.
The second class is immediately afterwards and it's just as long.
I've got a plan for how I'm going to run the class, what I'm going to say and what I'm going to have the students do, but still I feel apprehensive. (Even after being assured by ten people that I shouldn't worry).
In other news, the PIN number for the computer in my apartment still hasn't been able to get me connected, so I can't post any pictures.
Oh, and something cool happened on Monday that I forgot to mention: after working with Ben I went to a small village next to the Medical College, they were having a celebration that I got some pictures of. I don't know what it was about, but it was a nice little escape from the campus.
And the last thing I have to report is that last night I went to practice some martial arts in the PE college.
I invited my two colleagues from the US, only Will showed. The instructor wasn't around to coach us, but some of the students helped us train. I'm thinking now that maybe I should have done some more bag work without shoes back in the States - so many wheel kicks, the tops of my feet took some wicked punishment.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Love my neighbor...
...cause he's saving my life.
My neighbor, Benjamin "Benja" Clark is an expert on foreign language teaching and he's here on a fellowship through the U.S. State Department. He's had years of experience teaching as a college adjunct in America and he's read a lot of research in this profession as well as done his own research across the whole spectrum of learning abilities (from college-level to special needs youths).
He doesn't speak Chinese, (he taught French) but the methodology and goal setting that he's been helping me with has been invaluable.
To give you some perspective on just how valuable this is let me describe the help I've received in class preparation thus far:
Since I got here I've asked professors and students alike what the average freshman already knows of English and what might be the best way to teach them in terms of useful topics and in effective second-language teaching methodologies. Just about everyone (and I mean "just about everyone") gave me one or two examples of topics discussed and said "don't worry about it". Twice now I've been handed standard textbooks after asking for general explanations of what I should teach (I now have two copies each of the student and teacher versions of the text for my class, and both the student & teacher versions of the next level beyond mine).
In all of this time no one has ever sat down and said anything like:
- "your students already know _________, so start by reviewing _______",
- "in my experience, new students need to learn _________, be sure you include that at some point",
or even just
- "students love when a teacher _______".
So to have someone with experience in methodology and second-language teaching technique come along and say:
- "these are some goals we should shoot for",
- "this is how we'll do it",
- "here are just a couple ideas about what we could do in the classroom, we'll collaborate on some more later",
...it's really nothing short of a god-send.
Oh, and a few days ago my colleague who was my Chinese teacher in America, Julie Luo, gave me a jar of homemade raspberry jam that she got from her host family. This morning I tried it on some breakfast rolls that are the Chinese equivalent of plain biscuits -
They... Were... AWESOME!
My neighbor, Benjamin "Benja" Clark is an expert on foreign language teaching and he's here on a fellowship through the U.S. State Department. He's had years of experience teaching as a college adjunct in America and he's read a lot of research in this profession as well as done his own research across the whole spectrum of learning abilities (from college-level to special needs youths).
He doesn't speak Chinese, (he taught French) but the methodology and goal setting that he's been helping me with has been invaluable.
To give you some perspective on just how valuable this is let me describe the help I've received in class preparation thus far:
Since I got here I've asked professors and students alike what the average freshman already knows of English and what might be the best way to teach them in terms of useful topics and in effective second-language teaching methodologies. Just about everyone (and I mean "just about everyone") gave me one or two examples of topics discussed and said "don't worry about it". Twice now I've been handed standard textbooks after asking for general explanations of what I should teach (I now have two copies each of the student and teacher versions of the text for my class, and both the student & teacher versions of the next level beyond mine).
In all of this time no one has ever sat down and said anything like:
- "your students already know _________, so start by reviewing _______",
- "in my experience, new students need to learn _________, be sure you include that at some point",
or even just
- "students love when a teacher _______".
So to have someone with experience in methodology and second-language teaching technique come along and say:
- "these are some goals we should shoot for",
- "this is how we'll do it",
- "here are just a couple ideas about what we could do in the classroom, we'll collaborate on some more later",
...it's really nothing short of a god-send.
Oh, and a few days ago my colleague who was my Chinese teacher in America, Julie Luo, gave me a jar of homemade raspberry jam that she got from her host family. This morning I tried it on some breakfast rolls that are the Chinese equivalent of plain biscuits -
They... Were... AWESOME!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Class Schedule
And Shelly has worked her magic again: my class schedule is here, it comes complete with textbooks for the students and the teacher (me).
Overview:
(this schedule starts next Thursday, September 11th)
- I teach 15 periods/week of Conversational English, (1 period = 45 minutes)
- These 15 periods are divided into 6 two-period classes in Oujiang College (瓯江学院), and 1 three-period class in the Foreign Language College (外语学院)
- The Oujiang classes are 8:10-9:50 and 10:10-11:50, Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays
- The Foreign Language class starts at 18:30, Tuesdays evenings
All the Oujiang classes are Freshman, the Foreign Language class is Sophomores.
And as an added bonus, I get an office: Building No. 7, Rm 1308A (I share it with the American Culture teacher).
Overview:
(this schedule starts next Thursday, September 11th)
- I teach 15 periods/week of Conversational English, (1 period = 45 minutes)
- These 15 periods are divided into 6 two-period classes in Oujiang College (瓯江学院), and 1 three-period class in the Foreign Language College (外语学院)
- The Oujiang classes are 8:10-9:50 and 10:10-11:50, Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays
- The Foreign Language class starts at 18:30, Tuesdays evenings
All the Oujiang classes are Freshman, the Foreign Language class is Sophomores.
And as an added bonus, I get an office: Building No. 7, Rm 1308A (I share it with the American Culture teacher).
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
New Apartment
Finally I'm in my permanent residence for the next year (Rm 202).
"I want to thank the people that made this moment possible:
uh, Shelly from Oujiang College who did a fantastic job of arranging for the staff to clean the room after the last teacher left it such a mess... uh, who else, oh and again Shelly for promising to get people to get me the PIN number for the computer in my new apartment... uh, props to the last tenant for leaving all his cooking-ware, although you could've left the place smelling nicer... uh, thank you Jada for helping me get a cell phone and SIM card - thank you Julie for letting me use your Internet to write all this - oh, and thanks also for the homemade jam from your host family in Oregon... uh, if I forgot anyone here's a last thank you, you know who you are..."
"...OH, and thank you to the Academy for not cutting me off in mid-speech."
"I want to thank the people that made this moment possible:
uh, Shelly from Oujiang College who did a fantastic job of arranging for the staff to clean the room after the last teacher left it such a mess... uh, who else, oh and again Shelly for promising to get people to get me the PIN number for the computer in my new apartment... uh, props to the last tenant for leaving all his cooking-ware, although you could've left the place smelling nicer... uh, thank you Jada for helping me get a cell phone and SIM card - thank you Julie for letting me use your Internet to write all this - oh, and thanks also for the homemade jam from your host family in Oregon... uh, if I forgot anyone here's a last thank you, you know who you are..."
"...OH, and thank you to the Academy for not cutting me off in mid-speech."
Friday, August 29, 2008
In a home that's not my own
The first day I got into Wenzhou (exactly one week ago) my Chinese teacher Julie Luo and her husband helped me get settled into a relatively large apartment on the first floor of Building 12 in C District near the University's North Campus. It's not an uncomfortable room, but it has no phone and no computer. These amenities (which I made sure to include in my contract) are in a room directly above me, but another resident has made it impossible for me to move in at present.
(When I first arrived it was because he was still living there, now it's because he left the room so dirty).
And today I learned that another foreign teacher is staying in a hotel because they're supposed to live in the room I'm currently staying in. So we're all in a bit of a mess because of this last teacher, but it should be cleared up soon.
Besides the room situation I've also been spending some time hanging out with some of the upper-level students. Last night I went out walking with Jada (Zhou Ling) and a friend of hers and had a fruity-flavored beverage made with chunks of gelatin, and the day before I went downtown to a huge bookstore with an English major named "Joe" and a buddy of his named "Z". We ate some rice fried with egg and meat and individual plates of noodles in a small restaurant. The food was good stuff.
I've started compiling words for all sorts of food, and so far I know words for rice, noodles, broccoli, bok choy, watermelon and bean sprouts, and I know the general words beef, chicken and pork.
Still, it'll be a while before I'm competent enough to order in a restaurant.
Most of the students are getting into campus today and tomorrow, and all the teachers have to be here for the weekend, then classes start on Monday. But since I only have freshman students (who have the compulsory military 'training' before beginning classes) I won't be teaching until September 10th at the earliest.
Aside from the obvious cultural disparities, living in this place isn't that different from living at college back in America: long way away from family, surrounded by fellow students, trying to acclimate to a new environment, not knowing what to expect but preparing nonetheless... yep, it's a college all right.
(When I first arrived it was because he was still living there, now it's because he left the room so dirty).
And today I learned that another foreign teacher is staying in a hotel because they're supposed to live in the room I'm currently staying in. So we're all in a bit of a mess because of this last teacher, but it should be cleared up soon.
Besides the room situation I've also been spending some time hanging out with some of the upper-level students. Last night I went out walking with Jada (Zhou Ling) and a friend of hers and had a fruity-flavored beverage made with chunks of gelatin, and the day before I went downtown to a huge bookstore with an English major named "Joe" and a buddy of his named "Z". We ate some rice fried with egg and meat and individual plates of noodles in a small restaurant. The food was good stuff.
I've started compiling words for all sorts of food, and so far I know words for rice, noodles, broccoli, bok choy, watermelon and bean sprouts, and I know the general words beef, chicken and pork.
Still, it'll be a while before I'm competent enough to order in a restaurant.
Most of the students are getting into campus today and tomorrow, and all the teachers have to be here for the weekend, then classes start on Monday. But since I only have freshman students (who have the compulsory military 'training' before beginning classes) I won't be teaching until September 10th at the earliest.
Aside from the obvious cultural disparities, living in this place isn't that different from living at college back in America: long way away from family, surrounded by fellow students, trying to acclimate to a new environment, not knowing what to expect but preparing nonetheless... yep, it's a college all right.
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