Things I have learnt so far about teaching (Courtney)

Mammoth post follows...perhaps make a cup of tea.

1. Teaching is really hard work! When Marcus and I decided to up and move to China, we figured we'd be living it up. Only teaching for 15 hours a week, cruising around sightseeing, eating ourselves into dumpling induced comas, daily massages...you name it. Well, it's harder than we thought! Whilst we might only be teaching 14 & 15 classes respectively each week, our week is consumed by school. Our timetables mean that we cannot go into the city during the day or do very much other than sit and wait in the apartment until next class. And living on campust, whilst it has its benefits (eg - getting things fixed, no commuting time), it does mean that you are living with your boss! And he knows where you are at all times...although that could be due to other factors as well I suppose ;-)

The kids themselves are for the most part good. We each have our fair share of ratbags, but even sometimes they aren't the problem. Sometimes it's the really smart or confident kids that are the problem, trying to answer every question, wanting to be the centre of attention. It's a minefield each class just trying to navigate the different personalities and English abilities. In one of my Thursday classes I have two boys, who in Australia may be considered as having special needs in a classroom environment. This is something that I am totally unprepared for, and whilst I try my best each week to keep them happy and entertained it can be really hard. By the time Friday night hits we are pretty much buggered.

2. Trying to keep a class of 55 teenagers interested, listening and actually participating is almost impossible, and things that work in one class are just a complete flop in another. You can never be sure of how a class will react or to what level they will participate. Class 15 is my prime example. For the most part they are my least liked class, yet sometimes they surprise me. Class 8 is the same. I spent the first 2 or 3 weeks loving Class 8, now they are on my hit list. I'm slowly, very slowly working out how to handle them, but I think I will get to the end of the year and not be much further along than I am now. The problem is seeing them only once a week. Whilst this is great for us, as in it means we only have to produce one lesson plan for each level of kids, it means that we spend literally zero one on one time with them. I can easily see how a lot of them feel like they aren't getting any attention, and therefore will often go about creating reasons to gain attention! However, having written that, a class like Class 2, which is packed to the rafters with 57 kids, to the point that I can't even walk down to the back of the room, has no attention problems. There are cheeky looking boys in that class too, so why are they a problem in some classes, yet not others? I wish I knew. Something about this class just runs well, and everything stays on track. I'm yet to pin point why. Thankfully though we do not have the problem of mp3 players and mobile phones like some schools. I think if we had to deal with that on top of standard classroom antics I would have lost it all together.

3. Speaking Chinese would be a real asset - more so if the kids didn't know we spoke Chinese! My god, they just will not speak English!!!! It is so frustrating as their English is overwhelmingly good. They claim to be "shy", yet have no hesitation in acting like the class clown! There is still a lot of Chinese being spoken in class, almost to the point where I'm considering coming to class with a set of "class rules" (number 1 being no Chinese!) but thankfully it's not directed at me. I mean in so far as the kids aren't using Chinese to be cheeky to me or rude to me. That I am thankful for. Whilst they might muck around they wont actually be rude to me, which can't be said of Western kids. I would love to have an insight though into some of the things that are said. Most of it is just general chit chat but it can be so infuriating when you are walking around the classroom only to hear "nobiog jgoihit ohbut...(teacher approaches..) yes, I'd like to order an orange juice please"...(teacher moves to next group)..ngkht thth iuehij ghug hjh..." ARRRRGGGHHH!!!!!! Do some bloody work! Last week I had about 6 - 8 boys up the back just messing around during an activity where they had to work in groups of 4. So I wandered down toward them, they were so engrossed in their conversation they didn't even have time to warn each other that I was approaching. One boy was animatedly talking about something on the back of his head. So I walked up behind him and ruffled his hair which scared the bejesus out of him. "We aren't talking about hair or appearance today, we are talking about sport!! Now if you turn over you'll see we are actually doing activity C not activity A!!" Man, if you are going to pretend to do the stuff at least be on the right page...it's like How to Fake Doing Work 101!

4. Classroom discipline. This is a tricky one, and yet another thing I was completely unprepared for, but I am slowly making progress...I think. I am not one for confrontation of any level, and I find it really difficult to approach these sorts of things. But in a packed classroom it is unavoidable and necessary - otherwise the class will descend into chaos, from which there is no return. The kids move seats every couple of weeks, yet somehow the boys up the back seemingly never move. The kids are pretty self reliant, even in class, they have monitors etc, and I think the class moving is left up to them (it's to give their eyes a break from looking at the board always in one direction). Hence, I think the bigger more bullyish of the boys somehow manage to not do terribly much moving forward, possibly more just sideways. So enivitably in every class there are a good 10 boys that really just do nothing. Nothing. Occassionally they give me the courtesy of listening, but I am getting better at talking over them, to the point that sometimes the other kids will give them a "sshhhh" because they are missing what I am saying. It is getting easier to play the role of the teacher and the one in control. I am slowly getting used to it being my classroom and not taking any crap. Just don't let them smell the fear!! Marcus doesn't have quite as many issues with the boys as he can tower over most of them!

I have devised a number of stratgies for classroom management. Barrelling on with what I am saying is just one of them. Number two is a quick, come on guys, listen up please...said in a hey, I'm just like you, we're all friends kind of tone. Number three is looking around the classroom with my teacher face on whilst one of the kids is answering a question or reading a dialogue. It's as though as soon as anyone is talking, it gives them permission to all talk. I say to them, you give your classmates the same level of attention that you give the teacher (which really isn't asking for much most days!) But having a stern look around often grabs their attention and pulls them into line, even if it is just for a minute, it's a minute won. Shows them that I am not giving my undivided attention to the person in front of me. Fourth is all about positioning. Who says I need to be at the front of the classroom? I wander all over the place, going around listening, seeing if anyone needs help, and most importantly, hovering around groups that are clearly doing nothing. Today I spent 10 full minutes standing next to two groups of boys just to make them do something. It works. Fifth is actually moving students. This has to be executed well, and cannot just be one or two students. I've taken to moving entire ROWS of students, before we begin an activity, telling them it's for their greater good so they can speak to different people. More like it's so I can break up some of the attitude groups. They don't like it, some of them wont even move until I make them. I tell them it's only going to be for the activity, then oops! I forget to tell them they can move back.

Last but not least on my classroom management is not my fave, and I've only employed it twice. Sadly, both in the same class, Class 8. You would think they would have learnt the first time. Today we are doing a lesson on ordering food. This could be stretched over weeks and weeks, there is so much to talk about with food. So we have a dialogue with a customer and a waiter. AFter a couple of kids act it out for the class, I go through any new words, explain stuff etc. Then I get them into pairs and make them read through the dialogue a couple of times, using their dictionaries if needed and asking me any questions. Today's lesson also involved them then using a menu and practising ordering food with their partner. Well it was clear from the start that a group up the back was doing nothing. So I went and hovered around. When it came time to talking, I pretended I was a waiter and I went around the class asking random people if I could take their order - did they want a drink? Or dessert? Maybe something for their friend? (I like randomly asking extra people whilst one person is talking, keeps them on their toes!) Well I went up to one of the boys who had been doing nothing and asked if I could take his order. Silence. What would you like to eat? Nothing. I point to the menu, to prompt him...How about something to drink? He wont even look at me, let alone even try and do it on the spot. I then ask him, why are you at a restaurant if you do not want to eat? The class giggles, I make him sit down. I then, as I'm walking to the next random person, tell the class that there was a good example of why they should do the activities when I give them practise time, so they wont be embarrassed in front of the class when I ask them to speak. I said that you all had plenty of time to read the dialogue and look at the menu, and also to ask me any questions about the menu or to get me to explain or answer any questions. The look on this boy's face, mortified. The good kids of the class all had looks of triumph on their faces that I would actually say something that was quite harsh...but here's hoping that the need for me to be an awful teacher are few and far between. A little bit of fear can go a long way though, just not so much that they lose all respect for you. It's a fine line!

5. When a class goes well, it really can be fun and rewarding. Take for instance the kids and gifted classes. No matter what we do, these kids eat out of the palms of our hands. They love that we are there spending time with them, they are interested and happy. Oh what a couple of years difference can make. This too can be said for the Senior kids, but not nearly as often. I have 8 senior classes, 5 junior and 1 gifted per week, and I relish the days when it's the kids. No matter what mood you are in or how tired or sick you feel, you come out of these classes with a smile on your face. I would happily teach them all week. Funny isn't it because I actually wanted to teach teenagers. I figured I could relate to them (which for the most part I can) and that we could have some really fun and interesting interactions. I had gone over in my head all of the teachers that I liked in school and whose classes I had enjoyed the most, and thought yup, I'll be just like that and they will all love me! Not so. The interactions with the kids though are fantastic. I've always been somewhat afraid to talk to children because I really don't know that many, and I'm never quite sure how to approach them, but teaching has given me a whole new outlook on children in general. And I really should stop calling them kids because they are 13 - 14 years old, but they all look so young. I have some kids in the gifted class that seriously look about 8, they are adorable.

6. The English language is incredibly hard!! Whilst we teach oral english, there are still components of grammar and pronunciation that come along with that. Even my spelling can leave a lot to be desired some days! Nothing like being put on the spot trying to spell something. I understand English and I speak it well, but far out I struggle to explain why things are the way they are! Why does the word "neighbour" sound like neighbour? I don't know!! Why should your sentence include "to be" and not just "to"...your guess is as good as mine kid! And the amazing thing about this is, the english teachers themselves speak mostly poor english. HOW do they teach grammar?? At the junior campus the other day, Marcus asked one of the teachers what the time was. In front of a clock. She couldn't answer. The teachers at this campus barely speak to us, and when they do we struggle beyond "How are you". To which they mostly answer "Fine thank you, and you?" Just like the kids do. Textbook English and nothing more. I have gotten almost all of my classes to stop saying "fine thank you". Now when I ask "How are you guys?" or "How you doing?" I get a chorus of different responses, happy, hungry, tired.

7. Oh the questions we are asked and the conversations we have. You can never guarantee what a kid is going to ask when they put their hand up or come and see you after class. And for the most part, they are never English questions. Like poor Marcus today who had a kid wanting to play hangman with him after class as she had thought of a word for him. The word was "forlorn". How the heck are you supposed to guess that?! I had a young girl a couple of weeks ago ask if I could teach her an English song for a singing competition. How do you gently let down a child with something like that? There are a lot of things I will help with but singing just isn't one of them. Even though I am constantly asked to sing. Which I am thoroughly over (thoughts run through my mind each time "I am not a performing monkey!!!!") I managed to suggest that i could get lyrics etc for her if she found a song and could help her with difficult words and what not. It can be so hard, especially as they don't realise that there are restrictions on your time as well. I had one boy at the Junior campus say we could go shopping. Sorry kiddo, but we can't, you aren't allowed to leave the school. I had another group of girls tell me that I should come to Nanjing with them on Friday. I would love to guys but I have to work, I teach lots of classes. But why can't you come???

8. Most of the time I don't feel like a teacher. Ha! Considering I'm not a teacher that probably seems pretty obvious. Mostly I feel like I'm there to entertain or act, or just as a prestige thing for the school to say hey, look how grand we are we have foreign teachers. This has its benefits too, as the senior campus don't seem to care what we teach, just that we are there. So long as they can take happy snaps of us to show around I think that is all they really worry about. Except of course for our lovable Mr Pan, who tries to get to one of our classes each week. And not to observe, oh no, to learn. He is so cute. He attended my last gifted class. Sat up the back, got a handout, did the activities, then boasted to me afterward what new words he had learnt. I'm going to miss this guy a lot when we get home.

9. Even with all of the above, teaching still sure as hell beats working for a bank. 'Nuff said!