Teaching English
We taught oral English more like teaching how to have a conversation and pronouncing words correctly. We really wanted them to THINK, ACT and SPEAK only English while in the class. Rules like NO CHINESE weren't popular at first (actually not really sure if they were ever popular), but we believe having learned other languages you really need to get in the mode of the language you are trying to learn. We really wanted to focus on topics that our students really wanted to learn about, and in turn, because it was their ideas they really enjoyed the lessons (we think, never really sure). Our students were all English majors (NOT because the choose English, they were assigned to be English majors many of them told us).
Like any class making sure you really set good ground roles to start, and watch out for those darn cellphones in class. If you let them, the'll be on those things all day long. We found being strict upfront developed more respect all through out the year, and more learning done by the students.
But because English was their main focus this definitely helped because they were interested in learning the language plus the majority of them already knew a lot of English (some didn't have the same excitement, I think its that whole assigning them to major thing....yeah, I'd have a hard time with that too, heck I had a hard enough time with the one I choose). Having good lessons plans really helps develop basis By simply doing a google search for "Teaching English in China Lesson Plans" (or something to that effect) you can pull a bunch of different lesson plans to generate ideas for your daily lessons.
Michelle had received her Bachelor's degree in Education and has taught at a public school, private school, charter school and a university in China. She knew what it is like to teach to a variety of students, and that really helped us. By far, teaching to university students in China was the most fun and least stressful. They were so incredibly respectful and wanted to be your friend even after school hours. Many times we would even have students walking us home, just to talk and ask about life outside of China.
Tutoring
We also did a little tutoring for some of our students and other students in the city as an extra way to make some money (or even do some deals. We traded for meals, fruit, or even Chinese lessons). Just depends on what you want to do, we did it all and loved it all too. Some of them can't afford the tutoring lessons so that's where you can work out a trade, or just volunteer some time too. Here was our rate for doing some tutoring for pay while we were there.
Normally it will be half hour deals (but can do one hour too). Here are the example of what we did what that equaled at that time in our currency:
50 Yuan = $7.35 (half hour)
100 Yuan = $14.70 (hour)
40 Yuan = $5.88 (half hour)
80 Yuan = $11.76 (hour)
We would have them prepay for the lessons either in person or they would transfer money into our Chinese bank account. The more lessons they paid for (over three or four) they will get a small discount per lesson. Of course these were just the average rates we did and there can be really rate you want to set, but these seemed about right to charge when we were there. Good luck if you do plan on doing some tutoring, it can be very rewarding and a little more time to get to know a new friend.
Like any class making sure you really set good ground roles to start, and watch out for those darn cellphones in class. If you let them, the'll be on those things all day long. We found being strict upfront developed more respect all through out the year, and more learning done by the students.
But because English was their main focus this definitely helped because they were interested in learning the language plus the majority of them already knew a lot of English (some didn't have the same excitement, I think its that whole assigning them to major thing....yeah, I'd have a hard time with that too, heck I had a hard enough time with the one I choose). Having good lessons plans really helps develop basis By simply doing a google search for "Teaching English in China Lesson Plans" (or something to that effect) you can pull a bunch of different lesson plans to generate ideas for your daily lessons.
Michelle had received her Bachelor's degree in Education and has taught at a public school, private school, charter school and a university in China. She knew what it is like to teach to a variety of students, and that really helped us. By far, teaching to university students in China was the most fun and least stressful. They were so incredibly respectful and wanted to be your friend even after school hours. Many times we would even have students walking us home, just to talk and ask about life outside of China.
Tutoring
We also did a little tutoring for some of our students and other students in the city as an extra way to make some money (or even do some deals. We traded for meals, fruit, or even Chinese lessons). Just depends on what you want to do, we did it all and loved it all too. Some of them can't afford the tutoring lessons so that's where you can work out a trade, or just volunteer some time too. Here was our rate for doing some tutoring for pay while we were there.
Normally it will be half hour deals (but can do one hour too). Here are the example of what we did what that equaled at that time in our currency:
50 Yuan = $7.35 (half hour)
100 Yuan = $14.70 (hour)
40 Yuan = $5.88 (half hour)
80 Yuan = $11.76 (hour)
We would have them prepay for the lessons either in person or they would transfer money into our Chinese bank account. The more lessons they paid for (over three or four) they will get a small discount per lesson. Of course these were just the average rates we did and there can be really rate you want to set, but these seemed about right to charge when we were there. Good luck if you do plan on doing some tutoring, it can be very rewarding and a little more time to get to know a new friend.
|
|
|
Below are photos of all of Ben's students from his five classes. He took photos of each of them to get to know them better and keep a list of their names with photos in his binder. This also has helped to keep in contact with all of them for the future too.
Ask soon you will find out, all of them have English names, really helps us English speakers out, but many of them liked to change their English names and it can become confusing very quick. So what we did was keep photos with names and all contact info connected with the photos. We also took full class photos just to keep track of who was in which class. In this building they had their own little computer screens with headphones (not every classroom had this kind of stuff, in fact many did not have this type of classroom).
Our students were so great!! We loved the opportunity to teach each and everyone of them, mostly for the blessing of teaching so many that were hungry to learn. We have been teaching before at other schools, and its so much more rewarding teaching those that want to learn and are excited to ask so many questions. We still continue to this day to keep in contact with our students. We enjoy hearing about their lives and where all of them are working after their University experience.
Ask soon you will find out, all of them have English names, really helps us English speakers out, but many of them liked to change their English names and it can become confusing very quick. So what we did was keep photos with names and all contact info connected with the photos. We also took full class photos just to keep track of who was in which class. In this building they had their own little computer screens with headphones (not every classroom had this kind of stuff, in fact many did not have this type of classroom).
Our students were so great!! We loved the opportunity to teach each and everyone of them, mostly for the blessing of teaching so many that were hungry to learn. We have been teaching before at other schools, and its so much more rewarding teaching those that want to learn and are excited to ask so many questions. We still continue to this day to keep in contact with our students. We enjoy hearing about their lives and where all of them are working after their University experience.
