My first week: The school, the children and Teacher's Day!

Entrance to the school.

Today is officially 'Teacher's Day' in China. The school celebrated it on Friday and it was very surreal!

But first - my new 'job' here in China; teaching English to children. 

Inside the school entrance

I work at JuCheng Primary school, but under Bond Educational Group (sounds complicated and I'm confused as well.) It's a private school, with some children boarding during the week. The uniform is very simple. All boys and girls wear orange shorts and white polo shirt with the logo and some have a red neckerchief. Classes have 45-50 children, although for most of them they are split and I'll teach 40 mins one half and 40 mins the other.

The roundabout inside the school entrance

I've been assigned Grade 1, 2 and 3. Age ranges 6-9 years old so perfect for me ;). I teach for 15 hours each week and the rest of the time I either observe other lessons or I'm planning my own. The children here work very long hours and a lot is expected of them. I work late on Thursdays teaching Grade 3 and as I was leaving at 8pm I saw Grade 1 leaving a classroom! They do get a nap at lunch time, but even so I can see some of them struggling.

I made spiders with Grade 1

Speaking of Grade 1, some of them started this year without English names (all children who learn English have English names).  Myself and the other interns went to meet them and suddenly we were asked to come up with names that sound similar to their Chinese names (nothing sounds like their Chinese names!) Well, that was a lot of responsibility - naming a child and only being given a few seconds to do it! The first one I panicked and said my sister's name, so now there is a child named Lucy! 

This is the office I work in 

School so far has been quite up and down. The children are lovely and so polite. Getting used to the way things work is hard (especially when I think I could do it better!) but then I'm here to learn and adapt to a different culture so I'm just getting on with it!

 The rules in the school are extremely different to back in the UK. Children often come up and hug us (which after only 3 days makes us all feel pretty good about ourselves). Teachers always have their phones out and I sometimes find I’m being filmed whilst teaching! They also take pictures of the children freely – often to remember their seating arrangements! They didn’t care when I had my camera out taking pictures of the school either. 

And oddly, adolescent students frequently ‘friend’ their teachers on social media (the popular app here is called WeChat) and I’ve been told that it’s perfectly acceptable. The only advice I was given concerning the use of my phone was ‘try not to answer calls in class’. That won't be a problem, I’m not popular enough for phone calls!

There are also no restrictions on foods I can bring in. One morning someone brought the most amazing dumplings in a peanut sauce (they really were tasty!) Pretty much anything goes.

Some of the classrooms have the most up to date technology I have seen, others have nothing! The most impressive are the touch board with built in computer and speakers, so all I need is my USB stick with whatever pictures and videos I have for my lesson. But then I’m sometimes in the rooms with nothing and I have to carry pictures, flashcards and other items. 

Which leads me on to my next point; the school is huge! So huge that I have to climb up and down 4 flight of stairs between lessons with all my stuff. And it’s all open plan so the heat makes it unbearable! By the time I have finished two forty minute lessons I’m drenched in sweat and have to cool off in the office!

The guillotine!

Part of the reason I’m so hot is that during my teaching hours I have to keep my tattoos covered. Here in China it isn’t acceptable to have them on show if you’re a teacher. So whilst I’m stood in front of the class I have to roll down my sleeves and I wear trousers all day. What we wear doesn’t matter too much – I’m in jeans, trainers and a light shirt every day. I have to admit that I have only seen one Chinese person with tattoos since being here and no tattoo shops. It's obviously just not in their culture.

There are also limited resources. In our office we have one small domestic printer (like the one you’d have at home) and it only prints black and white. I’ve resorted to making flashcards by hand in the evenings whilst watching movies. Also, China is very strict with what websites you can access so something as simple as a YouTube video can be tricky. Thankfully I have a special way of downloading them but generally teachers can’t use them. The guillotine is something from the dark ages and despite being incredibly sharp, it does not work so well. I now use scissors and do my best to cut a straight line!

Despite melting during every lesson, I’m enjoying working with the children. They are so sweet and most of them remember my name, although it’s more ‘Anna’ than ‘Hannah'. First lesson, how to pronounce 'H'! Generally they just call us ‘teacher’, and often we hear ‘Hello teacher’ as we walk through the school. As they learn my name I hear 'Hello teacher Hannah' more and more.

So far there has been a lot of work and pressure to do well. There have been stressful times but generally the first week went well so I'll just keep plodding along. In 3 weeks we have a week off so I'm just aiming for that!

The parents are nice as well. Earlier this week it was raining heavily as I walking in (and I’m the numpty who didn’t have an umbrella – but I have one now!) I was getting soaked and a parent stood next to me and forced me to share her umbrella. She obviously couldn’t speak a word of English but we walked in together. I thanked her and she replied ‘bu ke qi’ which I recognised as ‘you’re welcome’. I was so happy as that was the first time I’ve understood anyone out here!

As I said earlier, today is Teacher's Day. A whole day dedicated to the wonderful work that teachers do. Classes were cancelled Friday afternoon and we were invited to a celebration at the school. All staff lined up (as if we were students) and walked into the hall. As we did, some parents were lined up either side applauding us and giving us all flowers! We then sat down at a table with drinks and snacks and watched as the teachers and parents put on performances. I have no idea what any of it meant; there was singing, poetry, dancing and other things... I just clapped when everyone else clapped and showed support for the teachers I work with. It was also a perfect opportunity to take a picture of the 'foreign team' (I have spent some time thinking of how to ask them for a photo!)

From left to right: Wendy, Taz, Rachel, Alyson and Daisy

Rachel is from America and Alyson is from England. They are my fellow interns and we share an apartment together. Wendy and Daisy tell us what we're doing well, and what needs improving! They also go into our lessons to help manage the children - especially as we can't always communicate what we want them to do! Taz is from England (Maidenhead no less!) and has been a teacher out here for at least 10 years. He works at the school during the week and then goes to Bond on the weekends (there is quite a shortage of foreign English teachers). He's been absolutely amazing to us. He's the guy to go to for anything and he knows everyone and everything. This week he got us chocolate powder, tea and coffee! Taz helps us with everything whether it be teaching, food, medicine or just knowing which bus to get if we want to go out! He's also the one who brought us dumplings!

We had 'Hot pot'. Very strange way of eating but yummy!

Today we had lunch with all the English teachers - including the Chinese ones. I know it seems very strange to a lot of people back home that I'm here teaching English when there are almost fluent speakers already teaching them. Well, part of it is for pronunciation, but it also means the children have no choice to learn as I can't understand them when they use Mandarin or Cantonese. They are not allowed to use Chinese in class except in an emergency (hence the co-teacher). To give them their credit, they pick it up very quick. The children here are such hard workers I'm sure they're going to rule the world one day!

Happy Teacher's Day!