First class in Xi'an

OK. That was pretty amazing.  Just taught my first class.  I’d better tell the whole story.  They made signs saying “Simon’s English party”.  There was other stuff too, but they didn’t tell me.  I went yesterday with two of the other staff (Chinese) and waved these signs outside the local high school just as the students came out of the gate.  There was a big crowd of parents also.  Some of them spoke to the people with me.  It has to be the most primal aspect of the teaching profession – waving a sign in order to round up students and create interest in the school.

I kept wondering about my assignment – how many students?  How old? What is there level?  Took a while to realize that they don’t know until the students actually show up.  Since the high school is a top level private school and I don’t see any other Caucasian people around (let alone qualified teachers) I think our small language school is using my rather obvious physical presence to lend credibility to their school.  I feel good about it because, in addition to looking like a teacher I actually am a teacher.  Its also humbling – I need to market myself in order to have students.

An interesting aside to this might be that Western teachers sometimes suffer from a sense of entitlement.  To boil it down to basics, if the families don’t want us we are out of a job.  But Canadian public education obscures this simplicity.  Our schools are everywhere, they’ve always been there and they mostly do a good job.  In modern times schools have come under much scrutiny and I’m not sure if the teaching profession has handled it in the best way.  We are quick to defend our rights, but slow to engage in face-to-face public relations.  Another way to say this is to point out that teachers’ salaries have remained virtually stagnant for 20 years or so.  The work of a teacher was more highly valued in 1990 than it is today.  Teachers complain, but as a profession we do not market ourselves well.

So I prepared plenty of material for adaptation based on who shows up.  There was actually a man on the street holding one of the ‘Simon’s Party’ signs.  I must get a copy of the video, because I’m curious about what he was saying.

At 7:30 Simon’s party began.  There were about 10-12 students and 8-9 parents in the classroom.  I was briefly introduced in Mandarin and then off we go!  I began with a warm-up game and progressed to self-introductions.  OMG!  I selected 2 of the noisiest 12 year old boys to demonstrate an introductory conversation.  They tested me right away – went totally off topic and made everyone laugh.  It took three run throughs and much patience to get them on track.  What I liked about this was that parents watched the whole thing so they could see how I managed it.  (after all, 12 year old boys are my specialty.)  Then the class practiced in twos and it went very well.

The class was planned for 2 hours, most parents were expecting one hour and we went for 1 and a half.  I showed them pictures of Canada and family.  They were extremely attentive, but I had little success in getting them to talk about the photos.  Interestingly this worked very well with one or two students, but seemed to quieten them down in the larger group.

I walked home with one of the students who is in the dorm right next door to me.  As I talked to him I realized that my concept of relationship with students is totally unfamiliar in this population.  Their pleased about my presence, but they really don’t know quite what to make of it.  The potential in the situation is intriguing.

I remain convinced that my ideas of how to teach ESL conversation are sound.  Maybe the principle will work:  if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door.

Photos related to this post will have to wait.