What to expect from teaching different age groups

One question that will be put to all of our applicants during their initial phone interview with me will be what ages do you feel most comfortable teaching? For some of our more experienced teachers who apply they probably will have a general idea based on their previous jobs. However if you’re one of our many teachers who have had no formal training or experience in a classroom it can be a little difficult to know which ages would suit you best. For this reason I have written a little bit about my experiences of teaching varying ages in China to hopefully assist our applicants in their decision. Unsurprisingly many schools will be attracted to applicants who display flexibility and are comfortable with all ages but there is no harm in telling us your initial preference before we put you forward for interviews.

Our associate schools range from kindergartens all the way up to Universities although it’s worth noting that many high schools (ages 15-18) tend not to hire foreign English teachers and rely on their Chinese staff to teach the syllabus. I have been asked previously which age group would be the most challenging to teach and truthfully there isn’t really a right answer that I can give as it will usually depend on the teacher’s attributes.  There are however different challenges and enjoyments posed by all ages in China. At a University for example often means that the teacher will have a lot more preparation to do for the classes and provide plenty of material so it can mean a lot more marking and work to do in the evenings away from school. However the upside is there is more opportunity to be friends with your students, play sport with them and even eat lunch/dinner together. The fact that all of my university students were so friendly meant that I settled into my job really well. Contrastingly teaching kindergarten will mean very little preparation as each class may mean only learning one or two knew words and practising them over and over again. It can be a little repetitive however creativity is an important aspect of working with the younger children as its vital not to lose their attention so thinking of a wide variety of games, using props and not being too worried about making a fool of yourself by singing songs can all contribute to an enjoyable classroom atmosphere. When teaching younger children, although you are not going to be friends with your students the structure of your schools and the fact you have co-teachers mean you will be able to become friends with your Chinese colleagues very easily and they’re always keen to show you around the city when you arrive.

As I have been in China for a while and have gained good experience with most age groups, I can honestly say I enjoyed elements of teaching them all. Like I mentioned previously if you are teaching the younger children you have definitely got to be prepared to sing songs and make a fool of yourself from time to time so if that doesn’t sound like something you’d like to do I’d suggest opting for the older children as there is no escaping the singing. One thing I would say about Chinese children compared with English children for example which is not in any way a criticism is that they don’t grow up as quickly as Children in England which although took some getting used to. When I used to teach 13-14 year olds they seemed young in terms of their hobbies and the way they behaved so if you want to get away from having to discipline your student’s universities would be a better option.  If you are working with younger age groups there can also be a problem with communication as the student’s English skills are understandably not that great, however your Chinese co-workers will always be on hand to help translate your ideas across to the students and many schools provide a co-teacher to be in the room with you to assist with your class which is a huge help. There is no escaping how cute and fun it is to be around Chinese children and even though I hated the singing I would always look back on my time teaching the youngest children as my favourite.

 

Duped into performing

Many schools will put on performances at various times of the year. Typically these performances come in the form of children singing, dancing or reciting speeches in English (exactly as dull as it sounds). On occasion however the school will try and jazz up the performance by introducing some foreign flavour, something that is invariably bad news for the English teachers. More than once I have been caught up in some kind of Halloween/New Year/Christmas performance both acting, dancing and singing. I should probably mention as well that not only am I terrible at all three but that I have a particular dislike for performing in front of crowds (something that tends to manifest in a beet-red face and nervous sweating). Despite these obvious flaws in my performing repertoire, again and again the school is quite happy for me to take part.
 

The easy route would be to politely decline to take part in the show, however this can be difficult for two reasons. The first is that often the school will not really have anyone else that fits the role (i.e. they want a foreign Father Christmas) which means that they can be quite insistent in asking you. Maintaining a firm line in the face of this can be difficult particularly as it makes you seem like a massive killjoy – after a while it is easier to just cave in. The other problem is that often you’re unaware of what you’re being asked; a polite request to help out with the students’ performance at lunch soon morphs into three months rehearsal for an all singing all dancing ensemble act to be performed in front of the school and an array of visiting teachers. This genuinely happened to me, only after the first couple of rehearsals did I realise the scope of the performance and my role in it – by that point I was already involved and couldn’t really back out.

Throughout numerous rehearsals I maintained the mantra that none of my friends or family would know and that my embarrassment would at least be confined to China. Of course though the school made posters that went up on their website, filmed the whole thing then distributed some quite professional looking dvds of the performance to the entire school – as well as all the other foreign teachers. Naturally everyone at home eventually caught wind of it – at least someone enjoyed the performance.

If this cloud does have a silver lining it is that I care less and less about making an absolute fool out of myself. All I need to do now is find out a way of monetising that and I’m golden.

 

 

Weddings

It sounds pretty mad but I’d say if you teach in China on a 10 month contract it’s a pretty safe bet you will attend at least one Chinese wedding. I managed 3 during my first year and in total have been to 6 compared with only 2 that I’ve attended in England. If you are working at a primary school it’s likely that most of your colleagues will be women between the ages of 25-35, if any of the them have boyfriends there will be plans to get married imminently and they usually invite everyone from work, it’s a great experience and certainly something you’ll remember.

My advice would be to ask around before you go because I embarrassingly wore a suit to the first wedding I went to, the only other person that was wearing a suit was the groom. The best man had a Brazilian football shirt on which gives you an idea of the dress code. It’s not a particularly formal occasion and usually begins in the morning with the groom going to the bride’s parents house to pick his soon to be wife up…literally that is. The tradition is to carry the bride to the car from her house without her feet touching the ground; there are usually fireworks and banger being set off throughout. In my apartment complex I once saw a very weedy guy struggling to carrying a pretty large bride however the Chinese are not ones to shy away from tradition so 3 men carried her down to the car, I’m sure she felt great. There seems to be some sort of handing over ceremony at the bride’s house where the groom must make a list of promises to his new parents in law to how he will take care of their daughter. This is usually turned into a humorous speech before the groom must perform various tasks set by the bride (usually singing or press ups) after all this the groom will give his in laws money. Then the bride is carried out to the car and they drive off to the ceremony, usually in the function room of a hotel or restaurant.

Not all Chinese weddings parties are particularly bothered by making it a private event as I have been to restaurants before just to have dinner and been sat at a table in the middle of a wedding . There was also a bus load of tourists there happy as Larry right smack in the middle of it talking loudly over the ceremony, not a hint of embarrassment.

The bride and groom usually employ somebody to film the journey from their house to the reception. The cameraman acrobatically hanging out of the car behind with his video camera whilst its moving…Wuhan isn’t exactly picturesque so imagine somebody filming you driving around the M25 and you get an idea to what the video might be like. Chinese people can be very cheesy when it comes to romance which is quite sweet and lovely compared to cynical view of many in England although I did go to one wedding which was opened by the groom singing a love song to the bride whilst walking down the aisle towards her, he cried from start to finish. Bit much.  After a short ceremony of around 30 minutes there is a dinner for all of the guests, which is great but then unfortunately that’s it. There’s no disco, party or anything like that. Once people have shovelled in their food their off home meaning the actual wedding lasts around 2 hours. It’s traditional to give the happy couple money in a red packet rather than a gift and if you’re going to a wedding of somebody who you know from work 100RMB would suffice which is around £10, maybe more for a better friend.

Well worth going!! Enjoy!!