How does one foreign teacher make a difference in China?
After a few years teaching English in China I, like many others, felt like I could offer so much to my students. They were eager to learn and had a thirst for experiencing western culture. Many of my students dream of studying abroad and look to me for help in realizing this dream.
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My teaching experience in Jiangxi
I came to Jiang Xi a few weeks ago to help a school down here start a new SAT and TOEFL training program for a small class of students. The school contacted us very suddenly with an immediate need for teachers. My first impression was one of excitement and enthusiasm. The school was one of the best in Jiang Xi and the students numbered over ten thousand. “This school might actually be somewhat organized” I thought, “This will be a great chance to reach out to students who have no exposure to anything outside China.”
Getting Around Town (classroom activity, 40-50 minutes)
This activity fits well into any unit involving giving directions, transportation and/or city places.
You will need pictures of common things found in a city (e.g. post office, bank, library, apartments, super market, central park, etc.). At the beginning of class hold up the pictures and make sure everyone knows what the places are.
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Shopping In The Classroom (Activity)
This activity can be inserted into any shopping unit.
You will need to prepare lots of props for this activity. The props should come from things you, as well as the students bring into class. I’ve found that it works best if you surround the shopping activity around clothing items. There is a lot of versatility and choices that way.
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Teach Your Students These 14 Words!
These words make all the difference because they are supposed to contain the twenty most useful prefixes, the fourteen most important roots, and are to be found in an estimated 100,000 words of an unabridged dictionary.
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The Sentence Auction (classroom activity, 30-40 minutes)
Before class you will need to prepare 10-15 sentences utilizing whatever grammar and/or vocabulary you have been studying in class. Some of the sentences will need to be correct and some incorrect. Don’t make any errors that are drastically obvious. My advice is to write 3 sentences with common grammatical mistakes (e.g. wrong tense usage), write 3 with very minor mistakes (e.g. slight misspelling of one word), and write 8-10 sentences that are correct. If you have access to a projector put the sentences on a ppt. If not you will have to write them on the board, which will add about 5-10 minutes to the class. Read more
Blog Roundup – November 14, 2008
Teaching & Education News
Enjoy English – An introduction of a new weekly publication for ESL teachers in China.
Want to be a great ESL teacher? Become a great trainer first.
Universities in the west have been accepting record numbers of Chinese students every year. Are all of these students really qualified? Some Chinese students in the UK got the boot!
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A Chinese teacher’s impression of foreign ESL teachers
Today I sat down with a long time director of international programs at a local Beijing school – lets call her Ms. Wang. The school has been employing foreign teachers for the past 7 years. In that time Ms. Wang has seen foreigners come and go and has worked closely with all of them. I asked her to give me an honest general impression she has of foreign teachers in Beijing. She did me one better and wrote down all her thoughts. Read more
How to transfer your Z visa to another school?
This question could very well arise given a number of different situations. Maybe you want to quit your job or maybe you got a yearlong visa in the middle of the semester. Either way, you need to transfer your visa to whatever school hires you next. You simply can’t just start working at a new school with a visa issued by your old school. For starters, the old school likely already cancelled your visa. If something bad happens to you or you break the law the school that issued your visa could potentially get in trouble, especially if you are not currently working there.
Blog Roundup – November 6, 2008
Teaching
Not satisfied with your classes and how students are acting? Getting board with teaching them? This teacher certainly is.
Get some good advice on what to do when teaching English in China stops being fun.
Have you ever experienced carrying heavy English books from your home country back to China? This teacher has some advice on how to order English books while in China.