Teaching ESL in China - Advice from the "Handsomest Teacher in Dongwai" - Official.

Teaching ESL in China. Lesson 2. Thankful for Thanksgiving No. 2. The competition. (Is the real title of this blog)

Todays Blog is coming to you from 'The most handsome teacher in Dongwai' and one of the most popular teachers in Nanjing.  In my defence, this is because I was part of an online poll of teachers carried out by a newspaper in Nanjing and I eventually came in at joint seventh (see pic above) in a poll of 16 other teachers and that I became the 'most handsome teacher in Dongwai' (the short name of my school BTW) is simply because there were no other contestants - so I am 'handsome' by default.

Lighting Incense in Thanks at the local Buddhist Temple

Nevertheless this has been told to me number of times by staff and students around the school and they seem inordinately proud of my success. One of the many reasons to be cheerful in China. Little things matter.

This week has been Thanksgiving Week and although not being an American I still have a role in educating my students about the ways of the West as some of them will be enjoying good old American hospitality in the near future.   So this week my Grade 10 students have been immersing themselves, as much as they possibly can in the 3 x 45 minute lessons I have with them, in what the message of Thanksgiving is.

So I talked to them a bit about the general idea of Thanksgiving and showed them this little cartoon which sort of skims the surface of the genesis of the holiday.

We had a listening gap fill exercise which re-enforced vocabulary

Then generate vocabulary around the dinner and the holiday and talk about giving thanks for things.

Then I made them read a poem aloud about giving thanks.

Thanks for the fire,

That keeps me warm.

Thanks for my family,

Keep them from harm.

Thanks for the corn,

Cobs stacked in a heap,

Thanks for the squash,

And the crops that we reap.

Thanks for the grains,

They’ll feed us till spring.

Thanks for the cows,

And the milk that they bring.

Thanks for the stars,

And the sun and the moon.

Thanks for the snow,

That’s coming here soon.

Thanks for the rivers,

The lakes and the seas.

Thanks for the mountains.

Covered in trees.

Thanks for all life.

And last, but not least,

Thanks for the turkey

We’ll have at our feast.

Homework was - Write  200 words about what you are thankful for in your life.

During the second lesson they get to read what they have written. I choose them as I have mentioned by a random number generator. 

It is interesting to note the differences between these Chinese teens and kids back home. These Chinese kids write from the heart with no sense of embarrassment and shame. They write heartfelt thanks to their parents for their life, for the love they receive and for the ongoing support by their mother and fathers who they recognise work hard to get them into this expensive school. I am not so sure Western Kids would so openly write about their emotions and feelings and then read them out aloud to the whole class. I would be interested to hear what a western teacher says about this. 

So thats the second class seen too.

For the third class I wanted a bit of a sense of occasion so I found an online Thanksgiving crossword and created a Thanksgiving word search using some of the crossword answers to give them a hand because we hadn't covered all the vocabulary.  

Now Chinese students love competition and so its always great to tap into that competitive spirit and offer some prizes for the best work. And boy don't they go for it. 

My prize was a box of Dove chocolate for 1st prize (chosen so if it gets shared around the class by the winner everyone should get a piece) and two smaller tubes of M&M's for second and third prize. 

In Grade 10 class A I had one girl finish before the 45 minutes were up with a 100% score (23 crossword clues and 23 word search words to find) and in the summing up another girl handed in a 100% paper and the boy at 3rd scored 80%.  Not one of my Grade 10 Class A finished the quiz in the 45 minutes and the best score was 80%.

I also ran this competition with my two Grade 12 classes as we had done thanksgiving in the past years - with less success - no one finished the paper in 45 minutes and the winners scored around 80% (Smaller class - fewer chocolates)

But if you want to keep your students busy, keep them engaged, and have some fun and a quiet class any sort of competition in the classroom gets these kids going. 

A snapshot of teaching ESL English in a Chinese High School

A different view of the school - the boys dormitories - hanging washing. 

This semester sees my third year at this school. On the whole its okay - that's why I stay here.  The school is in Jiangning which is an 'outskirt' of Nanjing - but it won't be for long because these super Chinese cities are expanding as quickly as the Chinese economy is. Even in my short two years and counting the neighbourhood has changed with large office buildings and accommodation blocks rising into the skies.

The new buildings lit up opposite my apartment

But at the moment it's quiet, the air is cleaner than downtown. My apartment is nice and the campus is safe so Snook Doggy Dog can have it all to herself.

So what about the teaching. Maybe you are starting to think about coming to China, have an adventure and come English teaching. Why not - do it, is what I say, what can you lose?

 Top pic - some of my senior students - my third year of teaching them and below two Junior students who I have know for the same time but only taught them during my first year - but we still like each other!!

I have written elsewhere about what you need to come to China to teach but I'll briefly re-itterate it here. A degree is needed. Any degree it doesn't matter really. A TEFL course of at least 120 hours. Groupon do one for £49 - click here is also required. Or a CELTA if you want a better job and more money. And most bona fide places want two years teaching experience - but you can write your CV to match that if you have been involved in any form of training, teaching or whatever. My advice is don't come for a teaching job if they will not provide you with a Z visa - those jobs are illegal. Do not come for a teaching job, at their request on a tourist visa on the promise that they will convert it later - they will  not and you will be illegal.  Also I have heard on the expat grapevine that the Chinese government is now requiring foreigners coming here for teaching jobs to provide 'proper' criminal record checks - to weed out sex offenders and paedophiles wanting access to school kids. When I came my 'background check' was basically me writing and signing a letter stating I wasn't a criminal. (I'm not by the way).

Mid semester exams

Teaching in China.

So I'm halfway through my first semester of my third year with the school I am at right now. I currently teach 4 classes. This is made up of Grade 10 Senior A & B. These are the newbies. They only entered the school this semester.  I also teach Grade 12 Senior A & B. They were new students to the school when I first started teaching them in 2012 and I have taught them each year since that first semester.

This year I am teaching 'Oral English'.

Grade 10.
This is more difficult than it sounds.  In Grade 10 I have 61 students split between A & B (30 + 31).  I only see these classes for 3 x 45 minute classes a week. So you can imagine how difficult it is to get around every student to get them to speak, let alone teach content which will impact upon their ability to speak.

In  terms of classroom teaching aids I have a book. World Link - Developing English Fluency. You can see more about the books on the website here. But my main problem is lack of time given the number of students in each class.

Other problems stem from both the book and the classroom set up. The book comes with a CD for the listening and other stuff I haven't even had time to look at or use. Problem 1. Is that the computer in the classroom does not have a CD/DVD slot.  I tried to download the CD to my computer (Apple Macbook) so I could put it on a USB stick - but despite the instructions on the CD telling me this was possible I couldn't do it - and Im no slouch with computers.  So the solution was to buy my own portable CD/DVD drive/player. Often to no avail because just today - after writing this I went into my classroom to teach and the computer wasn't working - so all my lesson planning was down the drain and I had to teach 'on the fly' - again.

Problem 2 is if I use the book - how can I teach Oral English? As the book is meant to support the full range of English learning. And how to do it in such a short time? My solution is to work with the book on the first lesson, simply to raise a topic and to generate new vocabulary.  At the end of that lesson the students get homework - basically something which relates to the work and new vocabulary - they have to write a 250/300 'essay'.  On the second class - they have to speak what they have written ( It will have been handed in and marked by me by the time of the second class). But how to get 30 students to speak in 45 minutes.  Well, its simple you can't.  So I use a random number generator and pick the kids to speak that way. Classroom discipline has to be strong because a lot of the kids think if they are not speaking then its ok for them to stop listening, chat with neighbours, sleep and so on. I want my students to listen to and respect their schoolmate who is maybe struggling to speak - maybe they can learn something this way.

Problem 3. Is the school expects me to 'test' each class once a week. So I have three lessons, one of which has to be a test! Its frustrating because I am not sure that things get any better.  However, I do have some good speakers in my class and some bad ones I admit.  But having a test lesson each week is defeating the object - so this often slips - like today - where I will develop new vocabulary on the topic we started last week - get them to write about it next week - do the speaking and this time (Thursday) next week do the test.

 The reality of the mid-semester exams

Grade 12.

Grade 12 (A&B) is my biggest worry. This is their final year and they all expect to enter foreign universities. In their first year with me, with the confidence of youth, they all told me they wanted to go to (or their parents wanted them to go to) Harvard, Yale, Oxford or Cambridge. The sky was the limit for these pampered kids from rich backgrounds.  Now barely 20 odd weeks from leaving school I think some of these ambitions have been reined back. I'm not sure if some of them will even pass their IELTS or TOEFL English tests at the right levels to be accepted into higher education - let alone the Ivy League universities.

I technically have around 24 students in each class.  But since at least the spring/summer semester many of them have been missing from the classroom. When I ask why I'm told they are out with tutors - this is because they are and have been sitting the Cambridge A Level exams. Indeed one of the tutors used to be the Physics teacher here, but no he's set himself up as a tutor and making big money over 500,000 rmb (£50,000 approx) last semester I've been told.  So this last semester and a half I have been seeing between 6 and 12 students from Class A and around a more regular 12 students from Class B.

The changing numbers also brings with it its own challenges. Its difficult to teach classes with items that I want to run over a number of classes because I never know who is going to turn up or be missing. If I organise groups or pairs to prepare work - then the next class half the group or one of the pair is missing or students turn up unprepared for what I want to do it just causes chaos.  If I plough ahead, the students with nothing to do will chat, or sleep or disrupt the class. Note once again these students are expecting to go to a foreign university at the end of this year and still they fail to pay attention.

Todays update, I had a class at 13:30 - first class of the afternoon. I turn up - there are 5 students - three of whom have barely been in my class these last two semesters - the rest were in an A level exam - I wasn't told of course.  I had planned the 'weekly' test as I haven't done a test with this group for a while.  Then 2 of the 5 decided they needed to be elsewhere leaving three.  So I stood around like a lemon for 45 minutes - attempting to get them to converse with me. All of the final three are expecting to go to an American university at the moment their TOEFL level is around the 80/84 mark - which is pretty good as the overall TOEFL average for entering a US university is around 80 but the prestigious Universities like Yale want 100 plus and they specify scores for reading, writing and speaking and so on.

My empty classroom

I am using Book 3 of  World Link - Developing English Fluency and to be brutally honest it is useless for these students. Despite being university candidates and being at the school - a "Foreign Language School" for over nearly three years their English is abysmal. I've given up blaming myself because I know they have paid little attention to their lessons either in school or outside of the school - where, in my opinion,  they should be using and learning their English as much as possible. Even some of the  basic words, concepts and ideas are beyond them in these books.  I have tried to give them the benefit of my 20 years experience teaching and working in excellent universities in the UK (Exeter and Plymouth) but it seems to no avail.

This might seem strange as I have indicated above that these self same students are achieving TOEFL and IELTS scores which would see them gain entry to Universities worldwide. But does this mean they are good at English? Well the answer to that question, in my opinion has to be a resounding no.

They achieve these IELTS and TOEFL scores through the use of well worn tricks of the trade that are passed on through the years. The learning is all done through repetition, memory and rote learning. There is no real attempt by these students to try to speak like a native speaker which the IELTS test is premised upon. The learn to speak to pass the test at the required level, notably a 6 or a 6.5.  That the UK and other universities have cottoned onto this is no surprise. Even when I was working at Exeter Chinese students would turn up with their IELTS certificates and be barely literate in English. That over 8000 students were sent home from the US last year for plagiarism and not being up to scratch is no surprise - I wonder what the worldwide number would be?

Also this will turn into a nice little earner for the Universities who are now providing English Language Schools - at a price for their international students who turn up not being able to cut the mustard. For example a 13 week course at a London University costs around £4.500 whereas a 42 week course at a university in the South West of England costs about £9000. All extra money that these students hard pressed parents will have to find on top of International Fees and living costs.

Some idea of the cost of extra English lessons in England

Friday was parents day - gridlock prevailed outside - double parking is de-rigeur 

And for those parents or students that get out of hand, the school guards have the right equiptment 

Strangers in a strange land - Teaching ESL TEFL in China

I was walking up a street in a mountain village in Anhui Province, China. Not many foreigners get there. Indeed I think AJ, my friend and I are probably the only foreigners ever to go to this town (Four years ago Tom and Peggy - American friends came as well). We are there because AJ is married to a Chinese woman, they have a son, Titus, and grandma and grandpa live here.

 Na Na

Grandpa

Actually grandma and grandpa live outside of the actual town, even higher in the mountains, where they raise pigs and grow tea. Anyway I was out for an evening stroll with a Chinese friend walking up the street through the village.  We passed a bunch of women idly chatting, as they do, on the side of the road.  'Oh!' one exclaimed as she clapped eyes on me, 'So thats what foreigners look like. They are so hairy and so big and strong'.  As we walked away I could hear them discussing the 'laowai' (foreigner) for many minutes.

Look at the Laogai - So thats what they are like!

 Then later as we walked down the hill back to grandmas we met a guy herding his two cows back home.  We exchanged a 'good evening' and he asked where I was from. We told him I was English and he said 'Good, so you are not an enemy like the Japanese or the Americans'.

Piggies

Na na in the tea fields

Thats the thing about China, we are strangers here, even in the big cities like Nanjing you get gawked at. Mouths drop open at the very sight of you. People surreptitiously film you on their smart phones, and not so surreptitiously - just blatantly walking up to you standing next to you whilst their mate takes a picture. There must be hundreds of pictures of me all over China taken with or by random strangers. I simply don't know what they do with them. Do they show their friends? 'Hey look at this - a foreigner!' or 'Hey look at this - me standing next to a foreigner!' They all have TV, computers and smartphones, so they have seen foreigners before, but maybe just not in the flesh, so to speak.

Its because we are strangers to this culture that we often find things that are jarring or difficult to understand. This is often because we view this culture through the judgemental lenses of our own cultural values and mores. This, in the jargon of sociology, is called Ethnocentrism. This means judging an alien culture using the values of your own culture.  So for example, if we went to an African village, where the local witchdoctor has a powerful influence on that society, we might suggest that this is just backward thinking because we know (or science has disproved, or religion killed them all) that witchdoctors simply cannot summon up spirits and cast spells and so on. This is what rational thinking, science and religion in the West has taught us.  But in that village the power of the witchdoctor is very real to these people.  If we deny that we are being ethnocentric.

So every day in China we come across stuff happening which we think is inappropriate behaviour or just plainly 'wrong'.  Like the motorway toilets we encountered on our journey to the mountains. Don't worry I will not provide the photographic proof.  Ok having a ceramic hole in the ground is a popular solution all over the world - even the French do that right and they are meant to be fashionable and tres chic.  But one would think that a society that claims over 5000 years of civilisation would have come up with motorway services toilets that are little more than a trough along the floor and no doors on the cubicles!  It gets worse. At the temple we visited there was just the trough, no doors and no walls. (To be fair, our Chinese friend - a city girl - was appalled too and not just because they had been used a lot in the last few hours - you can imagine)

Even at school the cubicles, and I even hesitate to use the word 'cubicle' because it suggests walls, to the ceiling, where as here, in school, the walls are waist height, and there are no doors.  I only use these toilets for a pee. Plus I only go for a pee at the last minute before class because I personally find it uncomfortable to be hailed by one of my students with a 'Hello Teacher!' as he is crouched over the hole merrily doing his business. Neither do I want to see one of my male colleagues doing the same thing, usually enjoying a cigarette at the same time. But this, in China, is normal. One does the business and no one blinks an eye. Kids, on the street, also seem to have a free pass to have a pee when they need to everywhere and anywhere. I have seen young children held over waste bins on the metro and kids having a poo on the pavement usually onto a piece of paper or card judiciously provided by grandma and grandpa.  Of course in our eyes this is pretty disgusting but for most people here no one bats an eyelid. (Im going to contradict myself here a bit because sometimes, just sometimes, if a parent or grandparent is letting their kid have a pee or something worse on the metro, I have seen people remonstrate - so some don't let it go, so maybe attitudes are changing.)

When in Rome  - AJ and Titus - we were stuck in a traffic jam

Its the same with hawking and spitting. I have to say its usually a grandma or grandma who is hacking something up from the deepest darkest recesses of their lungs and then gobbing it out onto the pavement. But I have seen people gobbing on the floor of the restaurant. Ive had it done right next to me in a bar. And it is blooming disgusting from my point of view, but its normal here. Its what people do. I have to add their are some funny ideas about health and illness so having a good gobbing session might have its roots in some of the ideas about health. Some of the more strange ones, from our point of view, is eating a particular part of an animal is good for your particular part. So an animal heart is beneficial for your hearts health, brain for brain and so on. Ive been trying to buy elephant penis on the same basis, but no luck yet!

Another thing is when the weather is cold you can't drink cold drinks or have ice cream as its cold and you will be ill. If a girl has her period, she must not drink or eat cold things. Don't ask me, I don't know why. Recently I went to a doctor to follow up something I had checked in the UK. Here the doctor wants to do a biopsy which would mean a five day stay in hospital, in the UK its a quick outpatients procedure. There is an over compensation on all things medical and heath related - again maybe this is because its from a Western perspective, but some things are just difficult to 'get'.

On our way to the mountains we drove for about 12 hours. This was not because of the distance, usually this journey would take about six hours, but this was the start of the Golden Week holiday and everyone wants to get back to their hometown to spend it with their families. The traffic jams were horrendous and most of the traffic jams were caused by the atrocious driving of the Chinese. Most of these drivers seems to have learned their driving skills from playing Grand Theft Auto on the computer. They have no lane discipline. They do not look ahead and anticipate what is happening up front. Many of them will be on their mobile phones and some might even be using the phones or the screens in their cars to watch TV or movies - whilst driving.  Consequently people are constantly being rear-ended.  The roads are wide and flat, the average speed is low, around 100/120kph (fortunately this keeps the death toll down) but we pass smash after smash after smash. Ironically a lot of the smashes involve new cars. This is because many of the 'country boys' (and girls) who are working in the cities want to go home with evidence of their success - the new car. We can tell they are new because many of them still don't have a registration plate - that takes about 30 days to get.

Shunt

One explanation for the bad driving maybe because many of these new drivers never experienced sitting next to their dad or mum as they drove, for the simple reason is that mum and dad may have never owned a car. Car ownership is still relatively new here. So good driving skills and behaviour behind the wheel have not been passed on.  Coming down a single track mountain road after visiting the Temple the front car in our party came face to face with another pilgrim out to seek enlightenment. A stand off ensued with the usual honking of horns, gesticulating and shouting. Finally the single car submitted as our side had the greater number of vehicles waiting.  However, as soon as we got to the place where it was wide enough to pass the Chinese member of our party in the lead car, leapt out of his car and continued the yelling and gesticulating - it was full on road rage. Of course the other driver got out and took his coat off preparing for fisticuffs or kung fu or something - but it was basically handbags at dawn and it was left to the women of the party to cool the tempers down and get us on our way.

Road rage - China style

One of the most irritating things for me, and other teachers in other schools so this is not an isolated case, is the poor management skills/procedures followed by our managers. Things are constantly told to us at the last minute or even late. I have mentioned elsewhere that its not that unusual to get a call.

'Rob, where are you?'
In my apartment. Why?'
'You have a class....'

Frantically checks iPhone diary

'No I don't. My next class is tomorrow'
'Yes you have a class now - the 5th class'
'No'
'Yes, we changed the timetable didn't anyone tell you'
'No because thats your job'
'Sorry'

Runs out the door.....

Take this week for example.  We have just had a weeks holiday, as I have been outlining above. Last night (Wednesday) was the final night of the holiday at around 18:30 we got a message telling us we had to work Saturday because we have just had seven days off but the local education office likes to pull one back. Usually we have to work a Sunday to pull a day back.(Yesterday - Friday I was told that the Saturday classes were canceled because of a basketball tournament - surely one might think that the staff knew of a tournament before they organised the Saturday classes). Thats Chinese holidays for you. So regardless of the fact that you might have made plans for Saturday or even the whole weekend the school admin thinks (well they don't think, thats the problem) they can just drop these changes on us. I think this is because the Chinese staff are not much more than indentured labour. Once they are on campus they are not allowed off campus, we are.  They work godawful long hours many from around 7am to 9pm and have to be at their desk or teaching all day. If they want to/need to go off campus they have to get a paper signed by the boss allowing them off campus - the security guys on the gate do check the paper.

Often we will be requested to do something at the last minute with little regard for what we might already have in hand. So for instance their might be some random and unspecific admin task they decide they want us to do and we get told it must be done by the end of the day. One example is the lesson plans, they wanted us to write the whole semesters lesson plans and hand them in the next day! Of course we said no.  They got them but in a very stripped down form and with in a few days, not a few hours.

So if you are coming to China to teach ESL or to do something else, these are a few of the things that might seem strange to you. And most of them are just minor inconveniences that I have managed to write a blog about. Most don't happen every day and most are ignorable and do not really spoilt the adventure that is China. This is a great country and the people are really nice, so my advice is do try to meet as many Chinese people as you can and make friends with them - they will, really, show you a good time and help to make life here easier. Don't live in a bubble of expats - who bring with them their own inconveniences. Be a stranger in a strange land and enjoy those inconsistencies and jarring moment - because thats life and life is for living my friends!

Confused, bemused, mistaken, shaken but not stirred - the first week of the Chinese High School Semester

Like many other TEFL/ESL teachers across the world thats the first week of teaching done (although some of my colleagues here in Nanjing started at the beginning of August so don't assume you will have the summer off if you are coming to China, check your contract carefully).

The first week of teaching here in my school is often very confusing, although for those of us who have been here for a few years we all have become a bit desensitised to the chaotic and abstract nature of teaching in China.  What I mean is we actually started work on the 1st of September, a Tuesday.  We also worked Wednesday, but then we had a Chinese public holiday to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of WW2. So Thursday, Friday and Saturday were designated as holidays (despite the fact that Saturday is a day off anyway) but as with most Chinese holidays we had to work Sunday to pay one of the days off back. Sunday is then designated as a Friday, but we were not told that until about 9pm Saturday night - keeping up?

Grandma protecting xi jinxing from the sun whilst on parade.

We were actually given our teaching schedules a week or two ago but in the meantime things have changed so I'm now on version three. Its remained stable over the last week so Im sort of confident that its now fixed, but Im not holding my breath. (update- in the last two days two of my classes have been rescheduled because of the 'public classes' - see below) I have 14 classes over the week, my old Grade 12 Senior 3 who I have taught for the last two years and the new Grade 10 Senior 1.

We have been moved into new offices and classrooms so we have had to put up with the moving of all out stuff and sharing the room with new Chinese teacher colleagues. One never knows, in these cases, who is the stool pigeon. Who is reporting back to the admin staff if we are not at our desks for the regulation 2 hours a day office hours. Everyone is very sweet and friendly, don't get me wrong, but this is a society based upon the old communist ways where denouncing enemies of the revolution was commonplace, so its not too great a step to denouncing the lowaei (foreigner) for not being at the desk for the regulation number of hours. (Check your contract for your office hours - maybe Im a bit too paranoid!)

So not only do we have new office arraignments we have the new classrooms to get used to. In my old classroom the teacher had a big metal desk into which the computer was bolted with the screen easily visible through a glass window in the top of the desk. In the new class rooms we have a lectern and the computer is bolted into the wall and is locked behind metal doors.

Can you see whats missing? During my first year of teaching here I was teaching using the the Cambridge iGCSE at the back of the book they have a CD containing all the listening exercises and so on. Of course none of the computers had a cd/dvd slot. So I wrote a letter saying that and asking for CD/DVD slots in the computers. We got them for the start of the next years teaching. 

So now we have new computers - with no CD/DVD slots and new work books, different course with CD's/DVD's to complement the course. Of course I cannot open them on my Macbook to put the mp3's onto a usb stick, despite the readme file telling me I can.  I've had to buy an external CD/DVD drive. The keyboard and mouse are wifi and we see the desktop via the projector on the white screen.

Also, there is no separate screen that only the teacher can see as before, which meant for certain things you could arrange whats on the screen before the class got to see it. So maybe on a PPT you want to start a slideshow, without the class seeing whats coming up. So now I have to stand the class up, turn them around, sort the screen out then get them to sit down again.  Stupid waste of time. 

This is further compounded by the fact that the computer can be locked away. Only the lead Chinese teachers have the key. Or a student is delegated to have the key and the fob which unlocks the computer. This means if the computer is not on when I get in class I have to waste 5 minutes getting the thing going that is if the student who has the key actually does have the key and, crucially, is in the classroom. Otherwise we then have to hunt down the lead teacher who has the key and fob. 

Then there is the issue of lesson plans.  Although I have been given a teachers workbook for my course which says in BIG letters Lesson Plans, the school wants me to do, not one but three iterations of lesson plans. The first is the semester plan, where I have to outline what I will be doing each week. Then there is the weekly lesson plan where I have to outline what I will be doing in each lesson during each particular week. Then there is the actual daily lesson plan for each lesson. So basically I am writing the same thing 3 times. Luckily they do not insist on a daily lesson plan in the same detail as a typical ESl or CELTA lesson plan otherwise we would be spending our 2 office hours a day just writing lesson plans.

Further meaningless bureaucracy turned up at the end of the week when some bright spark decided that each teacher should observe other teachers in the classroom at least twice a week( this is now 5 times a month). This comes along with the form stating who will be observing who and when, to be filled in asap. Plus an observation feedback form where they expect us to dob in each other re the quality of our teaching.

I quote:

1. 课程内容：讲授的主要内容、授课形式等情况

(course content: the main points,teaching form, etc. )

2. 

课堂评价：课堂气氛、师生互动、教学特点/方法/效果等情况

(lecture assessment: classroom atmosphere, interaction, teaching features/methods/effectiveness ) 

3. 发现问题：发现的教学问题、管理问题等

(problems: teaching, managing and etc.)

4.  其他：其他值得注意的情况

(any other problems or issues)   

This might have been the straw that broke the camels back because even the Chinese teachers are joining our little chorus of dissent.  Obviously we are going to refuse to this. It doesn't make sense for us all to be observing each other and reporting back. That's just a recipe for bad feeling between colleagues. 

In principle I have no problem with people sitting in my lessons and observing, thats just good practice. What I don't expect is for teachers with less experience than me or without the proper training to write reports about my standard of teaching, classroom atmosphere and so on. If that is to happen then I expect to be observed by a trained, experience teacher and I will have discussed the situation prior to the event and will have some ideas of the guidelines they are looking for.  So unless this happens the above ain't gonna happen in my classroom.

On top of this on Friday I was told that sometime in the future all the teachers will be coming to one of my lessons to observe it was to be a 'public' lesson. I was asked then and there to pick a class to which they could attend. My response was, as always, teachers are always welcome in my class, so its the teachers who should pick the class they want to attend because I don't know what the other teachers schedules are, so as a group its easier for them to pick. This seemed like a new and revolutionary idea to the guy who was doing the asking/telling. 

Then today (Monday), just before lunch I was told that my 14:35 class was cancelled because of the 'public' lesson and that my class was moved to the 15:35 slot. I hasten to add the 'public' lesson is not mine so maybe my deflection tactics worked - we will see. Don't hold your breath. Things change rapidly in China one cannot be inflexible in a Chinese school. 

Live update: Tuesday. I reluctantly went to the Chinese teachers public lesson. There were 29 students plus 10, yes 10 people observing, all with little note books jotting stuff down - this included admin staff who have no teacher training at all. That 70% of the English lesson was taught in Chinese so I didn't understand much is by the by (and of course if anyone ever asked my opinion I would question why in an 'English Department' of a Foreign Language School are English lessons taught in  Chinese?  How the hell can these students switch their brains into English mode if they always have the comfort of listening to the teacher and responding in Chinese?)

We had made it clear that we were unhappy with this situation so we have had a brief meeting with the Chinese admin and talked to them about proper professional development and our disquiet about having to write reports to be handed into the bosses and indeed having reports written on us. As a compromise we are designing a pro-forma to be used in our classes with a bunch of tick boxes, further we will also try to make sure only western teachers observe the other western teachers. 

So maybe crisis averted. But as one of my Chinese colleagues stated its really all about the bosses making sure the teachers have more than enough to do during their 10 hour days in the office. They forget we are on different contracts. 

Of course new students always bring new challenges. For many students in Grade 10, my Year 1 seniors I might be the first foreign teacher they have had. So obviously they think that whats commonplace in a Chinese classroom is de rigeur for my classroom.  Don't be mislead by British TV programmes that talk about the discipline of the Chinese classroom.  I watched 'Are our Kids tough enough for Chinese School' on the BBC recently and I have to say I am stricter in my Chinese classroom than these Chinese teachers were in the British classroom.

Its a school rule that mobile phones are not allowed on campus let alone in class, but some students do have devices such as iPads/tablets which they use as translators/dictionaries. Most of the kids though do have electronic translators (but be careful these still can have games on them). But mainly its getting the students to understand that if I'm talking they are not talking. No sleeping - Chinese students do seem to like to have pillows or cushions in class which they sit there cuddling and often dozing off (mainly the boys, I might add). In my class they are banned, in fact I want them banned across the department. Because how can I police this when the Chinese teachers don't bother?  Last week I stopped one student from using one of those comfy neck cushions we might use on an airplane. The next day he had a bed pillow!

We are not so cruel here.

Grade 12 are paying attention now in the classroom, mainly because they all had their A level results and surprise surprise none of them will be going to Oxford, Cambridge, Yale or Harvard as they have been bragging about for the past two years. In fact most of them wouldn't get an offer from the poorest college/university based on their results which were mainly D's E's and ungraded. To be fair a few did get A's for maths but for those subjects that need a better standard of English, the sciences, economics and so on they were just not up to it (a handful have scraped B's and C's).

They now have just 40 weeks before they will leave this school.  So they have to sit the A levels again, and pass IELTS or TOEFL at the required levels and for some this will be a mountain to climb. And I have to be their good sherpa leading them onwards and upwards. I hope I can make a difference. 

Suitcase story: Packing my bags for China again.

I am heading back to China for what will be my fourth year teaching in that great country. Spending three weeks back home has had its highs and lows.  Catching up with my daughter, family and friends  are the obvious highs, getting fat on eating food missed over the previous 10 months is a given and the weather! Thats been a low point. Grey, rain, cold and miserable - hey welcome home!

But that time has gone already and in three days I'll be on a plane to Nanjing. So the focus of attention has to be my suitcase and what I'll be putting in it.  I've been documenting my packing for China over the past few years so those of you who might be thinking of coming to join us happy band of teachers in China might get some idea of the things you need to take.

Most of us have to abide by the weight allocations provided by the airlines we travel with. Some of us might be lucky enough to be able to buy premium tickets that allow for more weight to be carried on the plane.  Thats not for me though so most of the times I have travelled to China I have been restricted to the usual 21 or 23 kilos. Although one time, as noted in an earlier blog, Cathay Pacific did give me 30 kilos.

Obviously, as I knew I was not leaving China for good I left most of my stuff back in my apartment. There is no need to drag everything backwards and forwards if one has an ongoing contract. In most cases the school should allow you to continue to keep your stuff in your own apartment so you don't have to do that.

So when I travelled home this year I took the decision to travel light because I wanted to buy some new clothes that actually fitted me. I have written before about how difficult it is for us larger westerners to find clothes that actually fit us in China, outside of having them made to measure by your local tailor.

So coming back to the UK most of the 15 kilos I carried was made up of gifts for my daughter. I basically only bought with me a couple of shirts, a pair of trousers, underwear, a rain jacket (luckily) a tee shirt, shorts and a pair of trainers to complement the clothes I was wearing to travel.


So I have been on a bit of a spending spree. But I have been spending wisely.  My point of view when buying clothes and other stuff to take back to China with me is most of the stuff will be left there, or it only needs to last around 10 months before I come home to buy new again.  So price rather than 'quality' is at the forefront of my mind when shopping. That is not to say I am buying junk but I am looking for the best bargains I can.

So the following is my suitcase list for this the fourth year of teaching in China. Bear in mind I have lots of stuff back in China and if this is your first time you would do well to look at my earlier packing blogs  here, here and here.

This year I am flying with Lufthansa via Frankfort. Their posted weight limits are as follows:

Economy class/ Checked in baggage - 23 kilos

Carry on baggage - 1 x 8 kilos

Also allowed in the cabin: another item of carry on baggage (max 30 x 40 x 10 cms, e.g. handbag, laptop bag).

Suitcase

Clothing.

Shirts - 2 - old bought with me from China but still good.

Shirts - new - all of my new shirts have been purchased from Primark and in the main cost about £8 each.  This is cheaper than having them made in China.  The quality is good. 5 of the shirts are 'work' shirts so are more formal and 2 are casual shirts.  I will be binning some of my old shirts when I get back home.

Shoes - Leather brogues for work - purchased off Groupon.com for £39 - reduced from £149 (BTW Groupon are still selling cheap TEFL online courses)

Socks  (usual shoe length) -  14 pairs - purchased from Sports Direct

Socks (trainer style - white) 8 pairs - purchased from Sports Direct

T- shirts - V necked - 2 - £2.50 each from Primark.

England Rugby Shirt - Old - I wanted a new one for the 2015 World Cup but at £50 plus even in Sports Direct to rich for me.

Trousers - Chinos - 2 - One Khaki, One Black - for work/leisure - £8 each in Primark. Good quality, but the pockets are a little shallow so I will get those replaced by the tailor in China - cheaply. (Similar M&S chinos are around £25 each)

Polo shirt - 1 - old still good

Polo shirt - Ralph Lauren - New  - 1 - £8 in Sports Direct

Shorts - Old - Still serviceable

Swim shorts - Old - unused!!!

Underwear and socks - Old still serviceable.

Jacket - Harrington - New- from eBay - £24

STUFF

10 x Black and White Ilford Films 35mm - from e-bay (around £45) - gift
10 x 35mm colour film from the £1 shop (£10) - gift
24 x cuppa soups - taken out of cardboard boxes (2 boxes of 4 for £2 in Tesco)
16 Lemsips - £1 per box in the £1 shop
10 x underarm deodorant - £1 each in the £1 shop - sometimes difficult to find in China and often expensive when found.
Acid reflux prescription medicine - 3 x 28 tabs from Doctor - but you can buy over the counter in China (I get free prescriptions)
Anadin Extra - 36 tabs - £1 for 12 at the £1 shop
Ibuprofen Tabs - 5 x 16 tabs - 3 boxes for £1 at the £1 shop
Diarrhoea Relief tabs - 4 boxes - £1 per box at the £1 shop - just in case!
1 Beconase nasal spray (tesco own brand) - Tesco - for post cold nasal drip
1 x Olbas Oil - Tesco - good for sinuses and bronchial problems - couple of drops in boiling water and steam tubes.
1 x Vaseline Lip Therapy with Aloe Vera - Tesco
4 x Neoprene knee braces - £1 each at the £1 shop - for running
24 x prescription medicine for Migraine - cannot purchase in China (Maxalt Melt - oral Lyophilisate)
4 x Dylon Wash n Bright Sachets - £1 each in the £1 shop - I have a cold water washer in China not good with whites.
1 x 250ml Shaving oil - I don't use shaving cream which you can get in China. 250 ml lasts me a year. From eBay £7.50
1 x Lomo camera - gift
1 x Perfume - Gift - purchased off a perfume website
1 x 20 meaty strips for Snooky - Lidl
1 x Dog Toy - £1 shop
1 x Body cream - gift
1x Hand cream - gift
1 x Braces - Primark - £3
1 x Plastic Garlic press - £1 shop
2 x Tin openers - £1 shop (impossible to find in China)
2 x Anti Mosquito wipes - £1 each pound shop
2 x bottles of Pholcodeine couch medicine decanted into plastic bottles as the glass bottles are heavy.
2 x English work books - £1 each at the £1 shop
2 x 240 tea bags - PG Tips - £3 per box at Tesco (Special offer) will be emptied into plastic carrier bags to save space and weight.
1 x 600gms Marmite Tub - Around £7 from Amazon.


This currently weighs in at about 22 kilos including the heavyish plastic suitcase. I have 23 kilos allowance. Everything I have purchased has been stripped out of its packaging to save weight including the medicines (not out of the foil of course just the boxes)

Backpack.

3 x English work books (2 @ £3 and 1 @ £4) from The Works
Spare trousers  - Old.
Shorts
Waterproof jacket
Various cables
1 x paper back book
Pair of Crocs

The backpack is around 7 kilos at the moment.

'Computer Bag'

Apple Macbook
Kindle
Books x 2
Glasses (sun and computer)
Phone external chargers x 2

This bag is close to 6 kilos


Plus  I will have to carry my camera bag

This luggage is really pushing the limits of what the airline 'allows' al;though generally there is a bit of leeway.  I will reweigh every thing on Monday night prior to going to the airport and post here.


Tuesday morning weights:

Suitcase: Just over 23 kilos
Carry on bag (rucksack): Just over 8 kilos
Computer bag: Just over 6 kilos