I first became aware of the enormous language gap in China three weeks into my first year, when I taught English at a public high school in northern Jiangsu. One afternoon, feeling slightly homesick, I hopped into a taxi with a simple mission: to go to McDonalds. Being completely unable to speak Chinese at that point, I was fairly confident that the word “McDonalds” would be international enough for my driver to understand.
Alas, when I said the magic word, he gave me a blank stare and shook his head. I then proceeded to draw the golden arches on a piece of paper, hoping my driver would at least recognize an international symbol. No luck. We drove around in circles for …
Teaching ESL at a university in China is a good gig: low hours, long holidays, weekends and more than enough money to survive on.
If you’ve chosen this route you’ll find that most universities (and agents on their behalf) are very happy to offer basic terms, conditions and vague information to hurry you through signing a contract and securing you for a year.
There’s still a high level of incompetency in the hiring of ESL teachers across the board and I can’t help but think that we (ESL teachers!) are at least part of the problem. Go to any forum these days and you’ll be able to read the stories of digruntled teachers who got more than they bargained for, and you …
Recall the old expression: teachers are to act in loco parentis. This means, if my high school Latin still serves me, that during school hours the teachers are responsible for assuming the role of parents in the lives of their students. Yet as anyone knows, this doesn’t really work. As teenagers, the last things we needed were extra parents. What we needed, and wanted, were independent adult figures to help us guide our way through those trying years and prepare us for adulthood. Oh, and teach us a practical thing or two while they were at it.
In Chinese high schools, various factors add a few wrinkles to the common theme. For Senior Grade 3 students, their lives revolve around passing …
The scene should be familiar to all who have lived in China for awhile: You’re out at a cafe or bar with a group of friends, having a beer and a few laughs (or is that a few beers and a laugh?). A Chinese man, or woman, approaches your table and asks to speak. He (or she) will explain that they’re desperate to learn English and would like one of you to be his tutor. Sometimes, they’ll just want to sit and listen but invariably use the opportunity to ask you the usual questions (Where are you from?). Feeling impatient, the foreigners typically ignore the intruder or in some cases ask him to leave. Face is lost, and there’s no …
Chinese skills that develop so quickly it’s like they’re on steroids. Reading essays that provide a glimpse into this strange country. Blossoming friendships with students named Gorge, Pudding, and Glenn Chestnut.
Oh, the glamorous life I led in my head before I actually started teaching.
If you’re like me or several of my friends, and your newfound teaching gig in China is the first time you’ve stepped in front of the classroom, you’ve probably gotten your hands on a copy of Peter Hessler’s Rivertown. While I would suggest this beautifully written book as good background reading, it only does a somewhat decent job preparing you for what lays ahead.
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Anyone that’s taught for more than 10 minutes in China’s public school system will attest to how craptastic the supplied text books are.
Chinese-produced pablum that bears the name of prominent Western universities in hopes that no one will notice that the content is blander than a bowl of zhou.
A recent Southern Weekend article reveals the dirty underside of the Chinese text book market and the seedy monopolies it has created.
From ESWN’s translation:
The supervisory government department publishes a list of “recommended books” in order to “purify the books used for teaching in elementary and secondary schools and to guarantee that they use excellent, authentic publications. This way, the students do not become harmed by poor-quality contraband books and audiotapes.” …
Some of you may have heard about the ambitious, big-in-heart, project my friend Tom has been devoting every waking hour to - The Library Project.
When I wrote about it at its inception last November, I admit, I didn’t have half the vision towards it that Tom so obviously does.
I thought it would be a small local charity in north-eastern China, and a really nice thing to do. But Tom saw things differently, and continues to do so. He saw, rightfully, that these libraries are a real opportunity to make a difference, and bring positive change to poverty-stricken areas.
In the intervening months he has expanded what was then supplying just two Dalian orphanages with books into what he plans …
In my first post here at Lost Laowai, I wrote about a student of mine who calls herself Nazi. She is, in most ways, a pleasant girl who studies hard and takes responsibility for her class. Despite bureaucratic tendencies, she hardly seems totalitarian.
But a lot of friends, both online and off, told me I couldn’t let the year pass without telling her to change her name, and they’re right. So, with the semester ending next week, I decided it was time to have that little talk:
Me: I think you should change your English name.
Nazi: But my Chinese name is ….娜 (that’s all I’ll include here)
Me: You know what the word means?
Nazi: (saying it in Chinese): It was Hitler’s party.
Me: …
I’ve just added a brand-spankin’-new feature to Lost Laowai - A China Jobs Board! And like most job boards, it features jobs. Neat eh?
Though initially most jobs will very likely be of the ESL nature, it’s by no means limited to such, and all businesses looking for laowai to fill positions in their company are welcome to post.
Companies, schools, learning centres, etc., are able to post an unlimited number of listings for free, but are required to register (also free). Visitors don’t need to register to browse the jobs, but why not register and join our growing community. Check out the Lost Laowai main page for more of what we have to offer.
So, if you know of …
Time and again, I find the things I enjoy most about my job have little to do with teaching and everything to do with the absurdities I confront in the classroom. I wonder sometimes if this makes me a poor educator, but I don’t linger on it. My students have no books, their teacher has no experience, the class has no goal and the university has no clue.
I have a new class on Mondays; it was thrust upon me last week by the mysterious administrators who run my English Department. I think I met some of them at a banquet in December, but they were plastered on baijiu and singing, while I was gorging on free food and avoiding …
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