Teaching English is a lot of fun and a great way to travel and see the world, but don’t forget that it is a job and with this comes responsibilities and sometimes stress.
ESL
Thinking of travelling to Eastern Europe for something different? Ever thought about teaching English in Ukraine? First, an English lesson for foreigners to Ukraine. It’s not “the Ukraine” it’s “Ukraine”. Too many Westerners outside and in Ukraine make that mistake. What’s the big deal? Consider if somebody said “the Canada”, you’d correct them. Money Don’t [...]
Today is the day; the day you will walk into the classroom not as a student, but as a teacher. You palms are probably sweaty and your mind probably racing with a million thoughts about what could go wrong; Will the kids cry? Will I forget the vocabulary? Do I have all my materials? What if I don’t know what to do next? I want to tell you that all of the above will happen, but trust me, it’s all part of the experience and you will look back on those nerve-wracking moments fondly.
So, you’re a first-time English teacher, fresh off your TEFL course and you walk into a classroom in an Asian country feeling nervous, anxious and excited to teach your first kindergarten class and suddenly, a couple kids start crying and the others stare at you with fear in their eyes. What could possibly make them have such a strong reaction to your presence? Well, aside from being young and missing their parents, there is one other important thing that is out of your control, your appearance. It’s not your hairstyle, or the clothes you’re wearing either, it’s the color of your skin, the color of your hair, the shape of your body and of course, those weird sounds you make when you speak.
Africa. Just saying the name puts a massive smile on my face.
One of the reasons I love Africa so much is that the names of all the places I’ve been to there sound so phonetically pleasing…stick with me on this one folks. All the places I’ve spent time in either end in an ‘ooooh’ ‘aaaaaahhh’ or ‘eeeeeee’ which makes me smile just saying them; Kenya (ahhhhh) Nairobi (eeeeee) Kembu (oooooh) Uganda (you get the picture)… Leeds, the city I live in, just doesn’t have the same ring to it…sad face.
I’ve been to East Africa three times so far and hope to go back time and time again. Two of those visits were spent teaching English in local schools, in classrooms consisting of me, wooden desks and at least 40 amazing children…quite a challenge, but one I can’t wait to do again.
Call it a hunch. Call it intuition. Maybe some kind of creepy 6th sense. Whatever it was, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the folks at Buseok Elementary School believed in me. The privilege (burden) of educating the next generation of Koreans was placed on my shoulders. Thousands of young minds were in my care.
Actually it was more like 53. But still.
The first hint that my principal placed an inordinate amount of confidence in me as an English teacher was the sound of the door slamming shut behind me. Except for the 14 sets of beady little eyes staring back, I was alone. For the first time. In a foreign country. 12,000 miles from home. Alone. To say I was shoved into the classroom kicking and screaming would not be far from the truth.
This is to make future teachers searching on Google or anywhere else aware of what to expect from Siyuan University(西安思源学院). Some of what I tell you might even hold true for other Universities but not all. Some of what I say could be my personal views, cultural differences of how I feel compared to what is expected in the US, and other things. Your experience could be different from mine but I still think some of what I say still holds true. I apologize to the regular readers as they might not interest you unless you’re going to teach at this school or want to learn a little bit about Chinese education.Here’s a combination of my review and guide for future teachers coming to Siyuan University in Xi’an, China (西安思源学院). Sorry for the long article but there’s a lot to say after a year here. 西安思源学院审查
I flew to Xi’an, China in August 2010 to teach English part-time at Siyuan University for about 10 months. I had been to China before for one month but it was just for travel. I’m now at the end of my stay in China and about to continue my journey elsewhere. I’m going to really miss China.
I’ve mentioned it several times here of my popularity status in China and so has Stephanie but this last weekend has topped it all off. Since the warm weather is finally here, Spring sports had a big kick off at the University I teach at in Xi’an, China. I was asked to attend the Spring sports ceremony. For the days that followed, there were various sporting events including running, basketball, and even dancing. It’s much like a field day back at home when there’s no classes and everyone attends the sporting events.
A student once asked me why a wise man and a wise guy were opposites. I didn’t understand the logic of my own native language. English can be a hard language to learn. I realized this more when I started teaching it in China.
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