http://www.china-teachers.com Teaching in China - jobs, visas and educating the masses Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:09:29 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Most standard ESL teaching contracts in China offer between a week and a month of vacation time over the winter break (January/February depending on when spring festival falls). So what do you do during this break? Some will go home, some will teach an ESL winter camp, and ... http://www.china-teachers.com/traveling-advice-over-spring-festival.html Starting a training center? Developing a new teaching method? The first thing to keep in mind is that you’re always operating under the heavy radar of the Chinese government. I’ve known a number of excellent teachers with new, great ideas for ESL training in China who “just couldn’t ... http://www.china-teachers.com/thinking-of-starting-your-own-esl-programs-in-china.html If you’ve been in China for any amount of time then you probably know well enough to bargain for just about everything. This certainly does not exclude a teaching contract. http://www.china-teachers.com/bargain-for-everything-in-china-%e2%80%93-especially-your-teaching-contract.html The semester is winding down and depending on where you’re teaching you might only have a month left. Some people are going home for the holidays but many either can’t afford it or simply don’t want to. If you’re in the latter group then are a few options ... http://www.china-teachers.com/winter-esl-camps-in-china.html This can be the most difficult question when dealing with Chinese students. For years they’ve been taught to simply memorize information and regurgitate that information on a test. There is very little room for independent thought or vivid imagination in the Chinese education system. http://www.china-teachers.com/how-do-i-stimulate-my-students%e2%80%99-imaginations.html Sure to get even the most introverted students talking! This activity is something you should only use if you already know your class quite well and have been teaching them for at least a few months. The debate works best if you have an idea of what specific kinds of ... http://www.china-teachers.com/pop-culture-debate-advanced-classroom-activity-30-40-minutes.html In this activity students will listen to a number of common answering machine messages and answer questions based on those messages. Before class you will need to prepare about 10 recorded voice messages. You can do this digitally on your computer if you have speakers to hook up to them, ... http://www.china-teachers.com/please-leave-a-message-after-the-beep-listening-activity-30-40-minutes.html The basic idea o this activity is to give a number of interesting problems or dilemmas to the students and have them come up with creative solutions. This activity is for an advanced class where students feel relatively comfortable speaking out. http://www.china-teachers.com/solve-the-problem-advanced-classroom-activity.html Whether you took a job teaching TOEFL to a class of students or one of your students approached you about getting help preparing to take the TOEFL below is some advice for teachers who are new to the game. http://www.china-teachers.com/teaching-your-first-toefl-class.html In a recent Education Counsel meeting of Beijing schools the Chinese Government asked schools to stay away from Christmas celebrations. Previously, anything western seemed to be a novelty to Chinese schools and they couldn’t get enough of it. However, it seems now that Chinese public schools will be ... http://www.china-teachers.com/you-may-want-to-watch-what-you-say-this-christmas.html