Teaching

Some of you have asked me how teaching is going. Before I tell you about it, there are some things that you should know about my classes:

1. I arrived after the school started so I have almost all freshmen classes.

2. The day before I taught I met my teaching partner (local teacher who speaks English) and she told me that two of my classes had really bad English.

3. I’ve a class called “Business English Writing” that they have no idea what they want me to teach them…so far 5 classes…each one has been very different from the others.

4. When I asked my students what they wanted out of class: watch movies, sing songs, play games.

I really do have two classes with bad English. That was my first two classes I ever taught, and it was really discouraging the first time. Those two classes are “Oral English” so all I have to do is talk for 4 hours in the morning. Sounds easy, until you actually try it. I’ve also learned that teacher must have amazing stamina! I never knew that teaching would leave me absolutely drained at the end of the day!

The Good:

I’ve now started to get the hang of teaching Oral English and rather enjoy it. I think in about 4 months I might actually be good at it. I have 4 classes of it, and by the end of the last class I could tell you the story that I’ve just told to all my classes.

The students on a whole are much more respectful to the teacher. I think that if I could yell at them in Chinese they would be very respectful…maybe next year. The last class that I had a problem with I gave a pop quiz to. After that everyone listened very intently, I don’t expect to have many more problems with them.

The Bad:

All 6 of my classes are mostly girls, about 95% to give you a number. Being a guy that leaves me really stretching for examples to explain things. Like trying to explain to girls what it is like to have butterflies in the stomach…Just couldn’t relate that one well.

I did come late so all of my classes have had different teachers. The problem is that each teacher teaches different, so they are all at different spots. If I knew much about teaching/schooling theory I’d really explain the issue, but alas I didn’t take any of those classes.

The Conclusion:
I expect in about 4 months I will know and understand what I am doing. I think it will be a trying and growing time, but all in all, I expect it to be enjoyable.