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Tutoring & Teaching Tales from China............

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ttwjr32:
Paul,

that was a great story. and as you said just one of the fun times you can have teaching here in China. i was a little curious
as im sure the others are. what chinese lessons will she give you hahahahaha .

when im tutoring we do a lot of unconventional things that are just as much fun for me as it is for them and i must say it
is a great experience from the 30 years of corporate work that i did. just like you said

Scott,

the bejing aquarium is a great half day of fun and i recomend it when you arrive along with the obvious other sites here. but if you can
go to the old hutongs that is by far a real treat with the locals who live there. go to the ones that arent as much for tourists and you 
will experience a wonderful day and meet many people just sitting around eating,talking,playing chess and they all want to talk with you
and feed you fruits. an absolutely wonderful day if you can do it and have the time. far better than the obvious tourist traps.

Martin:
That was a great story Paul.  I would love to hear more of your adventures.

ttwjr32:
besides some of the wonderful stories i think Paul would also attest to this, the best thing about teaching here is that
kids want to learn and work hard to learn everything they can. its very rewarding to see your efforts to teach them taken
well and they respect you for trying to make their lives better. i find this very positive and makes you go all out for your kids.

they are not there because they have to  its because they want to!!!!!!

Paul Todd:
Ted is right to mention the point about their willingness to learn,

My first day at University and I walk into a class of 30 students aged 18/19 not too sure what to expect. I've agonised over a lesson plan for hours the previous day so I am well prepared but it does nothing to calm my nerves. Plus there is the head of department sitting in for my 1.5 hour class. I have a strict set of rules to abide by and even in my contract it says that I can only teach what is in the curriculum. Every week I'm given the page numbers of the course book I must teach and the topics for discussion. All very Chinese and as dull as ditch water, if you let it be.
.
I'm faced with the problem of how to assess my students level of English as it's no good speaking to a class when they don't have a clue what your saying. I need to find this out fast and on an individual basis too if possable, and learning there names might not be a bad idea as well. I know there going to be curious about me as will be the head of the department,so I have come up with a plan that I think will fit the bill. Problem is it will take all of the lesson and I won't be following the guidelines. Start as we mean to go on I say!

I introduce myself and ask the students to write 5 questions they would  like to ask me down in their notebooks. I give them 5 minutes to do this. I'm struck immediately by the fact that I tell them what I require them to do and instantly all there heads go down and they begin work. Not like back home were you would be faced by a bunch of smart arsed teenagers not interested in learning at all.

That done I get the nearest student to come up to the front of the class and write their name on the white board, this has got the students interested as they are all thinking I'm going to go round the class getting them to ask me questions,but that's not going to happen. I explain to the student that he is going to be me, and that he will take 5 questions from the class in turn and do his best to answer them from my perspective.Then the next student will come up until everyone has had a turn. For a right answer they will get a green tick next to their name and for a wrong answer a big fat X. So there is an element of competition involved.

The questions start tamely enough and the answers the same. I encourage them to have fun and soon when someone asks how old I am it's answered by... 87, to howls of laughter and even the head of department is getting involved. I let it drop that I'm married to a Chinese lady and after the look of shock passes the questions get much more interesting and the poor student who's turn it is to play me has to answer very carefully as I'm standing right next to them. This of course just encourages the other students to ask them the trickiest of questions and it all spirals nicely out of control,well almost anyway.!

This lets me learn a huge amount in a short time, who are the outgoing types, what their level of English is, their names and how far I can push things! They also learn a lot about me too. After class the head of department says I've done a good job and doesn't mention the fact that I have not followed the guidelines at all. In fact I think she had a thoroughly enjoyable time even joining in with some questions of her own. It may sound like I was playing around and in truth I was, but for 1.5 hours I had 30 students asking and answering questions on many subjects in English and doing it enthusiastically. It is a fantastic icebreaker and it set the tone for all my following lessons.

Rhonald:
 :) Paul you are totally High Class , A+ on that first assignment.

Now class.....dismissed  8)

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