Getting Class-y

It’s a rare thing to have had the opportunity to gain an experience that you can look back on and truly say that it was the best time of your life. The summer I spent teaching in China was just that. Unparalleled, unpredictable, and most of all, unforgettable. 20 hours after landing in China, I found myself in the Zhejiang Hongda School, located in city of Haining, roughly 70 miles west of Shanghai, taking my very first class.

I’ll always remember that moment seconds before I entered the classroom to teach my very first class at 8am on Monday morning. It was as if I had just realised in that moment that I was going to be in charge of a class of 40 teenage students, none of whom I could communicate with in their first language. The feelings of apprehension, nervousness and excitement all rolled into one and rushed over me. My mind went blank and I was frozen for a few very long seconds. One deep breath was all I had time for. What I faced as I stepped into the classroom were rows and rows of desks, each set in front of an expectant student. Each and every one of them was diligent, reserved and courteous. Was this really them? I wanted to get to know the real Chinese student.

Although I was provided with teaching materials to use in my lessons, I soon discovered that as foreign teachers, our lessons were much more about engaging students to speak English confidently and sharing with them the English culture and way of life. However, to them, active contribution from students creating a lively class, rather than dictated teachings in silent classrooms was an unfamiliar concept. There were many a time when I found it challenging to rouse participation from a classroom of 40 students all staring at the work they had clearly done and yet unwilling to share out loud. Even when I called out their name in the hope of some kind of response, they’d cover their face and refuse to utter a single word. This for me was the aspect of teaching I found most difficult in China. But in time, I discovered that they were not as shy as they first made out to be. In time, they became comfortable enough to freely express themselves, and even made jokes that cracked me up.
I had freedom to structure my lessons and add my personal input. So a few days in, I decided to create a series of PowerPoint presentations each with a topic relevant to my life, such as my University, my hometown and what I typically eat in England. I described to them what it was like studying at a University in the UK, living in campus accommodation, the sites and attractions of my hometown, Birmingham, as well as the odd and wondrous foods that we consumed throughout the year.

The response I got from sharing personal anecdotes and photos was incredible. This was what unlocked their witty and inquisitive personalities. Their huge interest in my life made me feel somewhat like a celebrity. They asked endless questions and were often aghast at things which I had always considered the norm, namely the cost of University tuition fees and the amount of food we ate on Christmas Day. Yet to them, they were mindboggling facts.
As they discovered more about my life, they became ever more willing to share facts about their lives. Whilst my summers are usually spent holidaying abroad and taking time out to relax from academic work, for them, it’s another unmissable opportunity to get ahead of the crowd and cram in more studying. During the summer camp, I taught for four hours a day, six days a week. This was hardly much work compared to the seven hours of classes and self study a day, seven days a week, that my students endured. I admired their dedication in pursuit of their ambitions. They aspired to become doctors, lawyers, scientists, astronauts and even CEOs. Day after day, they kept at their endless piles of work and it never came as a surprise to me when, from time to time, I spot one or two of them resting their heads on their desks and having a snooze during class. I didn’t mind. Nor did I mind agreeing to the frequent requests for playing games. As long as they involved English. The most popular of all was Pictionary. It was the one game they never got bored of. It was also the one game that turned an ordinarily calm and subdued group of teenagers into a widely competitive and rowdy lot. The irony of it was I even had to raise my voice to settle down an overenthusiastic bunch who I had previously struggled to wrench a word out of.

The connection that I had made with my students during my short time was one of the many things that surprised me. I did not remotely comprehend the emotional attachment I had for them until my last day of teaching. As they surrounded me, showering me with gifts and demanding my signature on their shirts and books, I fought hard to hold back tears. It’s an experience like this which evokes all of your emotions, pleasant and unpleasant, that makes it truly unforgettable.

There are countless things that I have taken away from the experience. But most of all, what it taught me is to keep going even during the bleakest times. Just keep going. The sheer determination and resilience of my Chinese students instilled in me the willpower and drive towards achieving my goals. In the same way that they were driven to achieve their ambitions.

_If you would like to find out more about application process please visit : http://teach-english-in-china.co.uk/._