GS: So, can you tell us a bit about how you first got into English teaching?

JP: I first became an English teacher in China after finishing my degree at university. My first teaching post was meant to be just a break point between my undergraduate and graduate program while having the advantage of being a good opportunity for some travel abroad. However, I took a very keen liking to teaching English to Chinese students that prolonged this experience. Seeing a student progress whether at the age of 3 or 13 still gives me a sense of accomplishment unlike anything I’ve experienced before. Being able to provide the educational underpinnings and guidance for students so that in turn they can go one to have a brighter future and better career is an element of this job that interested me when I started and keeps me motivated today. After almost 3 years of teaching in China, I don’t see this career trajectory changing very much.

GS: Could you give some details about your dealings with Gold Star TEFL Recruitment?

JP: In my experience working as an English teacher in China, I’ve depended greatly on recruiters across many companies for finding posts for myself and for hiring new teachers when I happened to find myself in management positions at some schools. My experience with Gold Start TEFL Recruitment primarily dealt with finding a new teaching post for myself after spending years at a pervious school. Throughout this process, Gold Star was very professional and helpful with setting up interviews and giving many options of schools to pick from.

One of the aspects of Gold Start that I believe puts them a bit above the other recruitment companies I’ve worked with is that they are very detailed and are great at following up after interviews or contact with other schools. During my transitioning process between schools, Gold Star provided structured follow-ups and asked me for any details that would help match my experience with the correct school.

GS: What advice do you have for people about the recruitment and interview process when looking for jobs teaching in China?

JP: All the advice I have for the recruitment process is very simple. Your recruiter’s job is to help match you with the best school that fits your experience and expectations. So firstly, I suggest sitting down and making sure you know what you want and what kind of school do you see yourself in? If you have a clear vision for the position and school you want, that makes the recruiter’s job that much easier. There are so many opportunities for teachers in China that there shouldn’t be too much of an issue finding a school that is the correct fit for everyone. Communicating experience and expectations clearly is the key for developing a positive and efficient relationship between a teacher and a recruiter.

Interviews are simple as well. Be yourself and be prepared to present your abilities as a teacher. I suggest keeping a file with lesson plans for various ages of classes or difference topics. Teaching videos are good examples to keep on file that show how you manage a classroom and actual teach a lesson. However, these are sometimes difficult to attain because of proprietary materials and coursework some schools don’t want open to the public. If videos aren’t possible, be prepared to do demo classes in person at the school or online via one of the various video chat software. Online teaching demos can be tough for both the teacher and the interviewer so make sure to have something visual to present and be fairly active in the demo class.

GS: You are teaching in Guangzhou at the moment, can you tell us about your impressions of the city? What do you like most about living there?

JP: My experience in Guangzhou is quite a change from my previous city. After living in China for almost three years, I’ve grown accustomed to the environment of northern China. My previous work was done mainly in Inner Mongolia so moving to a place where bananas and mangos grow on trees right by the street is very different. Getting use to the humidity and rain has been an experience, but it is a lot better than dealing with the cold and snow up north.

Guangzhou is a much more international city. Seeing other foreigners on the streets and meeting new people is a common daily occurrence here. Eating at a lot of foreign restaurants that have food that I have missed from back home is a great experience. This international community is more diverse and exciting. I’ve enjoyed making new friends and meeting new people even in this short time. In my free time, I enjoy taking walks around my neighborhood and getting know the other local people in the area as well.
The food in Guangzhou has interesting spices and flavors that are different then the food in the north. We rarely ate seafood beside fish, but now we are enjoying many different types of tropical seafoods every week. The restaurants are very vibrant down here and are very warm and welcoming to foreigners. Other teachers in the area have had great recommendations for local places that I will for sure be checking out during my time here.

GS: Can you tell us about your favourite class at the moment?

JP: One of my 2nd grade classes is very fun and full of energy. My favorite classes to teach are when the traditional positions of the teacher and the students are kind of dropped for a few minutes and what is left is just a single group enjoying a topic and speaking with each other. For example, I was teaching animals and the various habitats that they live in with this class when we started discussing colder climates like Antarctica. We sat on that section of the class for almost 20 minutes just talking about why rabbits in Guangzhou and rabbits in Antarctica were different colors. Discussing ideas of snowy weather and camouflage (at a limited ability) in this 2nd grade class was a great experience
especially this early in the semester.

GS: Talk us through a typical day teaching English in China.

JP: One of the issues that I’ve been getting use to is teaching around 30 kids in one class. At my previous job class sizes were smaller. The biggest class was only ever around 16 students. So, a lot of my games and activities have needed to be adapted or changed. As well as, developing new games to keep students engaged in class. One of the positive things about the class size is the number of interactions the kids can have with each other has expanded exponentially from what I’ve previously been able to achieve. All the kids can have a partner for speaking activities and group work is more effective here as well. I’ve mostly been teaching the 2nd grade since coming to this school. These kids are full of energy and excited to speak English with their teachers. Speaking activities and games have been easy to in these classes because of the energy the kids have for speaking English.

GS: China is full of surprises and unexpected adventures, tell us about one you have had recently.

JP: I get lost a lot which I’m sure is something most other foreign teachers can relate too. Especially when moving and adapting to a different city. One night, I misjudged the battery on my scooter and was left a few kilometers away from my apartment right after the sun had gone down and was a bit turned around. My phone’s battery was almost dead, so I was only looking at maps intermediately to find my way back. However, I ran into some very friendly locals who helped me with my scooter and walked with me most of the way back to my apartment. My Chinese is pretty bad and their English wasn’t great either, but it ended up being a fun evening of conversation and a start of some new friendships.

This school is holding interviews for teachers now. Submit your resume to set up an interview today. 

The post Talking to Teachers – An Interview with Jerimiah Phillips appeared first on Teach English in China - Current TEFL / ESL Teaching Jobs.

Year One: Fresh off the Boat

I still didn’t really know what that entailed, even as I stepped off the plane and into my new position as Foreign Expert at Starsplendor School of English. A Training Centre, for the uninitiated, is an extracurricular language school which operates outside of regular school hours. 6-8pm on weekdays, 8am-6pm on the weekend; all day, every day during the summer. At Starsplendor, I found myself working Wednesday – Sunday (with Mondays and Tuesdays off), teaching around 18 hours a week. Each class would be 40 minutes long, with a class size of between 15-80 (!) students. Being young, naïve and new to the industry, I had no idea whether these practices were standard or not (they are not) but threw myself into the job regardless. Even as the summer hit and my workload increased exponentially (teaching anything up to 12 hours a day), I had a blast in my first teaching position.

For my second year in China, I decided to seek out a more regulated kind of school, with formal training and opportunities for career growth. I sought out the biggest name I could find in ESL, and quickly found a job working for EF Chengdu. Another franchise of training centres, this school would teach me the nuts-and-bolts of TEFL education. In addition to the training and career opportunities (I progressed to senior teacher within my first year), the workload was more stable, and the class sizes much smaller (no more than 15 per class). While training centres – certainly the big corporate ones – leave much to be desired in holiday time and wages, they provide excellent on-the-job tra

ining and consistent working hours. Still, after two years of prancing about to Baby Shark for the amusement of three-year-olds, I was left hankering for something more.

To Be, or Not to Be…

And so I sought out a middle school position in Shanghai, as grade 7 Literature Teacher. As a literature graduate and lifelong lover of reading, this would be my dream title. Additionally, I could expect a large pay bump, lowered ACH (actual teaching time), and summers off. Best of all – no more Baby Shark. Instead, I would be teaching one of my favourite stories of all time… William Shakespeare’s (abridged, graded) Hamlet!

Working as the grade 7 Literature Teacher, I currently teach sixteen classes per week (each 40 minutes long), with weekends off. Class sizes are larger than one can expect to find at most training centres – roughly 30 students per class – with a much higher emphasis on exams and test results.

I had some experience working with older children, but none of the students I had previously encountered in training centres could have prepared me for the level of English at an international school like this one. While there are still some who can barely string together a sentence, many are almost fluent; allowing me to have in-depth conversations on such wide and varied subjects as Full Metal Jacket and the John Wick franchise. “Excuse me,” I said to one particular student, who had been talking to his classmate through the entirety of my lesson. “Would you like to tell the rest of the class what you were gossiping about during your Literature lesson?” He blushed. “I was just telling him about this film I watched last night,” he said… “Friday the 13th Part Five.” As a horror fanatic myself, I didn’t have it in me to reprimand him any further.

With a higher degree of fluency also comes a rise in answering back and a greater accuracy in insulting the teacher. “Gay shirt!” shouted a student as I entered the classroom last week, wearing my brand new polo shirt, “gay purple shirt!”

A different kind of classroom requires a different kind of classroom management system, no longer relying on stickers or pretend money to reward my students for good behaviour. A class of thirty or so rowdy thirteen-year-olds is an intimidating prospect, and not for the faint of heart. Instead, incentives now include less homework on the weekends, or a movie lesson later during the term. Another advantage of teaching middle schoolers over language centre babies is that the former are usually more capable of caring about their grades than the latter. Some can’t be motivated, try as you might, but most can be persuaded to knuckle down when it comes to the crunch. Which is more than you can say for a class of overexcited six-year-olds who just want to watch Paw Patrol instead of their scheduled flashcard drill.

With school events such as mandatory exams, flag raising ceremonies and sports days a regular occurrence, there is also a higher likelihood of classes being cancelled, making the already low (compared to a training school) workload feel even lighter. Teaching in a middle school is far from an easy prospect, but it does have its distinct advantages.

… That is the Question

Having experienced both, I found myself missing some parts of one job while loving elements of the other. I miss the cuteness of a Training School audience – the lack of responsibility to only seeing them once a week, like some sort of language-teaching clown or ESL babysitter. On the other hand, I have enjoyed getting to know students that I see every day of the week – building real, lasting relationships, and enjoying the kids’ banter (even the off-colour stuff).

While working in a Training Centre was never going to be a long-term thing for me, those who thrive in the environment really thrive, with plenty of opportunities to rise through the ranks fairly quickly. For those who just want to teach – and not just ESL – the international school is the place to be; allowing for such a range of subjects as literature, science, geography, art and PE. It’s a rewarding feeling – seeing one’s students respond to something like Hamlet, watching them tackle the material and form their own opinions on one of my favourite stories. Which is more than I can say for dancing to Baby Shark.

Training Centre or Middle School? There are distinct pros and cons to both. Not least, the prospect of two months’ holiday during the summer break. Two months off work? No summer course? Getting to teach some of my favourite books and stories of all time? With benefits like those, you can insult me and my gay purple shirt all you like.

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While wages and rate of pay do vary from job to job and region to region, even a lower-paid teaching position leaves ample room to save money and lead a very comfortable life. My very first position, in an independent language school in Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, was not very well paid, but the cost of living was so low and I had such benefits that I still earned a tidy sum within a year’s contract. Enough for a month’s holiday in Thailand once my first contract was completed – unthinkable, on a comparable wage in the United Kingdom.

All Expenses Paid

Like many schools, I was provided with an apartment paid for by my school, and I was responsible only for the water, electricity and gas bills (all affordable). Even if this weren’t the case, rent in most areas of China is also very affordable, and there are extensive options available for all budgets. I currently pay around 4000rmb (roughly 450 pounds) per month for a large two-bedroom apartment in a nice district of Chengdu – over half the amount one would expect to pay for something comparable back home. Right now, I feel a world away (physically and mentally) from my first apartment back in Birmingham, England – a tiny, slug-infested (yes, slugs) one-bedroom studio where I nearly froze to death one fateful winter.

This leaves a lot of one’s paycheck for savings and consumables. My mind was blown when I bought my first can of beer for 3rmb – barely 30 pence in pound sterling. Likewise, one can eat for a king on 100rmb (about 10 pounds) a day. The cost of the average takeaway ranges from between 5 and 20rmb, depending on one’s location and taste. Of course, you could cook for yourself too, and fresh fruit and veg from the supermarket is also extremely affordable.

All this, paid for in a largely cashless society. Instead of cash and card, we use the phone apps WeChat and AliPay (connecting your bank card and passport to the app) to pay for purchases, to send and receive money. A quick scan of your QR code at the checkout, and you’re on your way. It’s a revolutionary system – easy even for us foreigners – and very quick to get the hang of.

Other travellers in Chengdu live similarly comfortable lives, and have little trouble finding their home comforts. From gym memberships to gaming (I myself am an avid PS4 fan), there’s something for everyone – and usually far more affordable than it would be back home. For those here to travel, that’s cheap too. Being on the other side of the world means that Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia are a lot closer than they otherwise might be, and airfares are much cheaper as a result. Or, at least, they would be if it weren’t for this pesky Coronavirus keeping us from leaving.

Saving Time

For myself, life in China represents an opportunity to build a savings account for the future and recoup debts from ten years working minimum wage in the UK. In addition to working full time at a Chengdu language school, China has also granted me the means of working extra with private students (1-1 lessons with diligent students in their spare time), and writing for ESL websites such as this one. In my time in China, I have also participated in voice recording jobs and have even been offered a position hosting a wine tasting evening! Putting aside the money, life in China is also good for bulking up one’s CV and trying out new things and potential career paths.

Sure, it could be made easier to transfer that money into my UK account (last time I tried, Bank of China would only transfer a measly 350rmb at a time), so I currently have to use PayPal, losing money in fees with every transfer. But for now, it gets the job done, and I feel comfortable and secure for first time in years.

All that, and the countless other opportunities for work and travel China has to offer. Money is certainly not the be-all and end-all, but it is another benefit of a career in ESL. Look ma, no slugs!

The post Money Talks: The ESL Teacher Quality of Life appeared first on Teach English in China - Current TEFL / ESL Teaching Jobs.

This, after much to-ing and fro-ing with the local government for certificates and permits. It was agreed that we would be allowed to bring our students back into school by May 15^th. The plan was to be rolled out in several steps, starting with the older, higher-level classes before inviting kindergarten students to return on May 25^th.

Back to School

And so we lined up outside the school on Friday evening, waiting to greet our students upon their return. At the door, our security guard took temperatures, recorded students’ details and had everyone sanitize their hands before being permitted entry into the school. We were under strict instructions to wear our masks at all times, and ensure that the students wore theirs too. Any slip-ups (or offs), we were told, could result in the sudden revocation of our permit and the school being abruptly closed again. A box of spare masks was duly stashed away in every classroom. Bottles of hand sanitizer in every room in the school.

My own schedule for the weekend took in a Graduation Ceremony, the administering of a paper exam, and a demo class for younger students. A relatively light schedule of events compared to my usual workload, but a lot when stacked against the usual one or two 40-minute online classes per day I have become accustomed to.

I was eased in with the exam – one of my favourite classes, and all students who I had missed during our extended time apart. As per our school’s guidelines, I was in the classroom 10 minutes early, waiting as the students were brought in, one at a time, by the Teaching Assistant. As our classrooms are relatively small and the class size only 10 students, there was no need to have them sit further apart than usual, nor even any restrictions on high-fives or classroom realia. Just leave your mask on, and wash your hands.

“Hello!” I said excitedly, as I greeted them. “Long time no see! Did you miss me?”

The class emitted a collective shrug. One girl giggled. “Your face is so fat but your mask is so small.”

With a sigh, I did away with the reset of the pleasantries and got down to setting up my classroom management system, rejected and dejected. Business as usual, then.

After that, the Graduation Ceremony. It felt strange to be holding an achievement ceremony for a class I hadn’t seen in months (although I had been teaching them the material online); doubly so as the parents entered the classroom to observe. Teaching in front of the parents can be intimidating at the best of times, let alone when their faces are all covered by masks. Teaching while wearing one is a challenge also. The exam and Graduation Ceremony were tough enough, but how would I cope with my first demo class in over five months?

Not Well.

I quickly found myself suffocating beneath my mask as I presented my demo class to the parents and students in a hot, stuffy classroom. Sweat poured down my forehead and into my eyes. I blinked frantically, trying to restore my eyesight. I gasped, midway through the fifth verse of Super Simple Songs’ Heads, Shoulders, Knees & Toes and, for a moment, thought that I might faint.

There were five students, all aged between three and eight years old, most of them new to the English Training Centre classroom. As such, I was working overtime trying to hold their attention, and struggling through the wet, stifling mask. Not even ten minutes in, and I felt as though I was being waterboarded – and with my own sweat. How were the parents reacting? I couldn’t even tell because of the masks, which made it look as though I were being observed by a squad of bored Ninjas.

Somehow, I survived, staggering out of the demo room and into the kitchen, where I quickly downed a pint of ice cold water and shoved my face in front of a portable fan, on full blast. A half-hour demo class had almost killed me – I wondered how I could possibly survive the return of my kindergarten students, whose classes last for a full hour at a time. Hopefully we will have moved past masks by then, or I might not survive the experience.

But, as with everything so far, we take things one step at a time. Just like that, my first weekend back at work was over – another step towards relative normality. Nobody knows how long this tentative return will last – but we hope to see no resurgence from the virus; no return to lockdown. All we can do is our best, one step at a time.

But after all this time, however long it lasts, it’s good to be back in the classroom. It’s about time.

The post Back in the Classroom in China after COVID-19 appeared first on Teach English in China - Current TEFL / ESL Teaching Jobs.

I work in a training centre in Guangzhou and given these unique times, my practice has also needed to evolve. My teaching and training methods are primarily offline so change has been the name of the game recently. So, here’s some lessons learnt and things you can incorporate in your practice should the time come for you to also flip your classroom.

The Learning Evolution

The word learning is often synonymous with an image of a classroom; an inherent expectation that we all need to be seated somewhere, listening to someone to acquire new knowledge. Learning has always been thought to happen in a (class)room in the presence of a teacher or trainer. This expectation of learning, its dynamic and geography is strong in China especially amongst my adult-learners. Whilst the classroom is no doubt where learning happens, alternatives to conventional learning models are gaining popularity, especially in the context of need- the mother of all invention. This virus-fuelled necessity has nudged many to skim the unease and skepticism that prefaces novelty, and fast-tracked the adoption of new modes of learning. In my case, my classrooms have been flipped.

Some of my favorite coffee shops in Tianhe, Guangzhou where my online training takes place.

So, what is the flipped classroom?

In a nut-shell, it’s a blended educational approach where students are introduced to new learning content (i.e. relevant lectures, videos, texts usually online) prior to any face-to-face encounters in order to optimise the time shared with a teacher/trainer in the classroom. The idea is that classroom time can be maximised to support learning activities such as analyzing, evaluating and creating, that are on the higher end of the learning spectrum according to Bloom’s taxonomy.

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning

This re-prioritised use of time can encourage higher-level thinking, increase varied use of interaction patterns between students and teachers, and support multiple learning styles in the classroom- learning outcomes all educators want to see. This mode of learning in essence turns me into a coach/facilitator online offering just-in-time support whilst I make the experience more student-centered.

Challenges and Tips

A lot of my students who are working professionals log in from phones or tablets, remotely or on the go in their offices, leaving me with just their voices these days. As a facilitator visual feedback is one of my primary touchpoints to adapt delivery and cater to students’ needs. So let’s assume for a majority of my classes now I lose one major sensory input of feedback- visual cues. This has required a change in my behaviours: saying more with less to increase the efficacy of my messaging, calculating whether silence is thinking time or confusion, a vigilant focus on grading my language during instruction to reduce as much confusion during activities, and asking more concept checking questions so I’m more confident of my learner’s understanding of key points. It has also meant restraining myself in making comments that aren’t critical to avoid the awkward asynchronous turn-taking when it comes to online group classes.

However, whilst one source of sensory input is lost, it has meant the one I use most- hearing, is working on overdrive. Unlike offline formats, I am able to synchronously provide hot correction without disrupting students’ pattern of thinking. For example, if there are consistent pronunciation errors during talk-time, I discreetly type word phonetics and word stresses on their screens in real time as reminders of errors during and post activity.

The platform I currently use is Zoom. As part of this package, there is an arsenal of annotation tools, and collaboration options to enhance the student experience. Creating breakout spaces for peer to peer discussions, realtime annotating to highlight errors or draw attention to elements, giving learners more control of the visual space to express themselves and so on. Embrace all of these options, but be clear on what you want them to do if you want a seamless experience. For example, at first, my adult learners were confused why breakout rooms were necessary because it inevitably causes a seconds time delay. But explaining the why and the benefits of increased talk time, was essential for buy-in and active participation moving forward.

Lessons Learnt

Flipping classes online has been a learning experience for us all. For my learners, they’re having to learn online etiquette, get familiar with new learning technologies but also a new way of learning which goes against old habits. For me as a trainer, being able to use new learning technologies, capture my learners’ attention using a variety of techniques and harness the benefits of the flipped classrooms has been great hands-on professional development adding another skill to my toolkit. In addition, an unexpected benefit of working remotely and flipping classrooms is that I get to work anywhere, with tucked-away coffee shops and parks around town being my preference. Where there is consequence, there is also opportunity, and I’m making full use of the facilities

I’ve been online training for over a month now, getting better at it day by day, but also more bold in creating interactive sessions for my learners. It’s a new skill and way of working, 2020 has brought about much change, but also some new skills. Keep learning!

The post Flipping Classrooms appeared first on Teach English in China - Current TEFL / ESL Teaching Jobs.

Mistake 1: Not Choosing an Age Group

I made this mistake before I set foot in the classroom. While applying to become a teacher, I had the opportunity to select my preferred age group. Would I prefer adults? Or high schoolers?

Middle schoolers? Younger? Full of confidence and wanting my placement to be based only on my preferred location, I left this selection blank. My choice? No preference.

Boy, do I look back on that decision with some regret! Having chosen no preference I was selected to teach in a Primary School. This came as a surprise, as I had prepared lessons for a high school level. A notion I took based on the school I was told I was placed at. Little did I know that the school you are officially with may simply be the school in charge of your placement, not the actual location you’ll be teaching at!

I spent the first week in China replanning my lessons for my new age group. This was a challenge. How do you teach students who potentially have no English at all? How can you pass on information without that medium? Thankfully I have a good level of Chinese so I have the ability to ‘cheat’ in the classroom, using Mandarin to explain things. It’s worth noting that all of my TEFL training advises against the use of Chinese. The lesson is supposed to be a fully immersive English experience. You will find after you arrive that, at times, this is simply unachievable.

Mistake 2: Making Assumptions

A second mistake I made was assuming my students would have a basic level of English. Nothing major, I simply expected them to have learned the alphabet. It sounds simple, right? As a Spoken-English teacher, the main body of their education was up to their Chinese-English teacher, not me. After completing a few lessons I was told by one of these teachers that, in fact, not only had they not yet started the alphabet, they wouldn’t be learning it until second semester! This was due to potential confusion between learning the Chinese Pinyin system and the English Alphabet.

Another assumption I made, and still make, is that my students will be able to take notes. I have occasionally asked my students to write something down, or draw something, only to be told they do not have any paper! While for their main subjects they have dedicated notebooks, none have been provided for their spoken English classes! I believe this is due to the faculty’s expectation that in my class only speaking and listening are necessary. Thus I struggle to find ways for my students to retain the information I teach them.

Mistake 3: Letting Them Move

Following the advice I received in my TEFL training; that the English classroom should be a place of combined approaches, where the students work not just individually, but also in pairs and groups, where they are encouraged to move around the room during activities, in my first lesson I attempted to do a matching activity. I created flashcards with either a number (in numerals), a colour, or the written name for that number or colour. I gave these out to the students and explained that they should find their matching partner. Sounds simple on paper, but in reality it created chaos. My room was pandemonium as students moved around at speed, all talking (and not in English!). As soon as I realised my loss of control I attempted to get them back in their seats, to no avail! For the rest of the week I avoided this activity and to this date I have yet to recreate the

experiment.

Mistake 4: Accidentally Creating Catchphrases

For my final mistake, I give you a less problematic, but more embarrassing one. I teach Grades 1 and 2, but also have just two classes of Grade 6. These are my preteens, and they require a very different approach to my youngsters. Early on with one of these classes I was struggling to regain control. These students are louder than my youngsters, so at times it’s a constant struggle to keep their attention. In my attempt to get them to be quiet I tried to shame them by comparing them to my youngsters. I said to them (in what I thought was my best Chinese) ‘You are not small children!’. I was trying to make the point that they shouldn’t behave like my youngsters, because they are older and more mature. To my dismay, this phrase ‘You are not small children!’ became one student’s way of greeting me every time we met in the halls. Now several of them use it when I enter the classroom, and anytime we pass in the school. All I can do is smile, and let the shame wash over me as I continue with my day.

The Learning Experience

As you enter the world of TEFL, be aware that it is a constant learning experience. You will make mistakes, but they will not define your teaching. Be brave, be bold, and be prepared to be unprepared!

The post Learning to Teach: Mistakes I’ve Made in TEFL appeared first on Teach English in China - Current TEFL / ESL Teaching Jobs.

We’re going to have to move online.

Fear Dot Com

And so it was with great dread that I downloaded Zoom’s online video conferencing software, and logged in for the first time. Within a week, I was back to a familiar, almost full, schedule of classes. Although the structure of the lessons seemed easier, and there would be less students than normal, I was apprehensive. Self-conscious of my stupid face and voice, and worried that I wouldn’t be able to hold my class’s attention without the usual array of high-fives, stickers and toys at my disposal.

The important thing to remember is that this is still a classroom, and to instill that sense of routine to one’s students wherever you can. Classroom management is still possible – even substituting the usual rewards with mere pictures of Ultraman and Elsa works!

Zoom has plenty of options to make your lesson engaging. The screen sharing option allows the teacher to share the contents of their desktop with the class – web browser, media player; the full works. Just remember to close any NSFW tabs, clear your browsing history and hide your naughtiest favourites before opening up Chrome for all the class to see.

Zoom also allows students to control the mouse, interact with the screen and draw/write using the ‘annotate’ function (remember to turn it off when you don’t want the students to play, unless you want toddlers scribbling all over your PPT the whole time). It’s also easy to allow for student-to-student interaction: “Dora, can you ask Rose what colour she likes?”

Students becoming distracted and hyperactive? Share a nice and active (but educational!) video to let the kids blow off steam. TPR remains essential, especially in refocusing. Zoom also comes with a nifty ‘green screen’ function which adds graphics to the background – while alternative programs such as Manycam take that to a whole other level, including filters and funky special effects. Hey look, the teacher’s in space!

After a few days of practice, I was soon able to do everything in the virtual classroom that I would in a face-to-face environment. Panic over, right? …Right?!

A Walk in the Park

As I was quick to discover, online teaching is not without its challenges.  Smaller students are going to find it difficult continuously focusing on a screen (unless your name happens to be Ryder and the rest of the class a team of pups) so it’s worth remembering that certain classes are going to be a struggle. There’s not much you can do when Mom is chasing little Aiden around the house with an iPad, begging him to listen.

The omnipresence of parents in the background makes every class feel like an Open Lesson. Consider adding a ‘Be quiet Mom and Dad’ rule, especially for those who keep prompting the kids and acting like an unwarranted TA. And a ‘no snacking’ rule, for students who want to spend the whole class munching on a bag of potato chips. It can also be distracting for everyone when one of the students is taking the class from outside, in the back garden or park.

As with any delivery system, there will inevitably be advantages and disadvantages. It was nice to see my favourite students again, after my prolonged absence from the classroom, and some – trained by years of cartoons and TV – actually became more attentive during online classes.

What a Way to Make a Living

Working from home, it’s great being able to nip away to grab a cup of coffee between classes. It also means easier access to crazy realia (I thoroughly enjoyed introducing my new puppy to the students at the end of class), and not having to adhere to uniform from the waist down can make for a refreshing sense of freedom. At the same time, it’s difficult feeling one’s work/life boundaries erode, as the home becomes an office, and one is bombarded with WeChat calls and messages, even after the working day is done.

There’s a sense, for China at least, that the worst of the Coronavirus is behind us now, and one day self-quarantine and online teaching will be but a faintly surreal memory, of no-trousers-workdays, students in the park, and that one little girl who kept throwing her poor kitten in the air during class. It’s a new skill I learned, and a new chapter to the TEFL experience. Granted, it’s not one that I asked for, but it’s an experience all the same. And isn’t that why we’re all here anyway?

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Some teachers love to teach children. I dread it. A lot. I’m not saying that children are not lovely, but I have the misfortune of being a person who gets bored extremely easily. Couple that with bad knees and a bad back, and it just isn’t for me. So, I’ve spent the 14 years of my ESL career teaching adults. The great thing about teaching adults is that they are more knowledgeable about the world, and you can cover a much wider breadth of topics with them in class.

Or so you would think.

Breaking from the norm

I work in language training schools, which typically have a class called an “English Corner.” Have you ever taught an English Corner? They are my absolute favorite type of class to teach, but I know many teachers who despise them. They teach the following topics in some form or another, on a continuous cycle: shopping, traveling, food, hobbies and a bit of business English here and there. These topics are necessary, of course, but a teacher can only go through the cycle so many times before the teacher, and likely the students, become bored.

Yet, though these topics are a bit dull, teachers continue to focus on them, and schools continue to push them, because they are safe. Language schools are businesses, and as such, they don’t want to rock the boat too much, or deal with topics that have a chance of being found controversial in class. So, this leads to teachers joining their new school, teaching the topics they’ve taught before at other schools, and then scratching their heads after a few months about what else they can do revolving around those topics; what new spin they can place on them. The teacher starts scrambling every few days to find another variation on the same topics, and thus the dislike of English Corners springs into being.

As I said earlier, I get bored easily; so, I like to consistently challenge my students with new ideas, theories and debates. I enjoy introducing topics relating to divorce, cloning, intercultural marriage, war, nuclear disarmament, etc. I relish the opportunity to introduce these topics in class, and have students dive into new ideas and theories, as well as asking some guiding questions to challenge certain ideas the students might have. Some teachers don’t like that, because they are purists when it comes to the role of being an English teacher, and believe that teachers should just stick to teaching English. I’ve never liked that idea. My own sense of logic tells me that a teacher should not only teach the language, but prepare the student for different ways of thinking when interacting with people from different cultures. Otherwise, I believe we are opening the door for the student to potentially get into hot water when traveling abroad, trying to make foreign friends or trying to do business.

That being said, there is a real concern about saying the wrong thing in class, and potentially offending the students, thus causing trouble for the school. So, how do we get around that?

Set the Framework

I was fortunate enough to have a fantastic manager that taught me this fairly early in my ESL career. He was blunt with me, and told me that I have a polarizing personality, because I tend to be very open and direct with my opinions, and this leads to students either loving or hating me, with few in the middle ground. Combine this with my habit of teaching topics that are a bit controversial to more conservative students, and it was a recipe to stir up trouble. He identified this problem, and taught me to ‘set the framework’ as a proactive measure to avoid potential issues.

Let’s break down what ‘set the framework’ means. In essence, you need to set, or reset, expectations from your first point of contact with the students. If you are new to a school, and you know you have a certain style of teaching that might surprise or challenge the students, or might just be different from what they are used to, then you let them know this early on. You don’t shock them with it in class suddenly. The same concept should be applied if you have a certain type of personality that might turn some people off, or have a specific style of humor that is hard for some people to digest. Let people know this early on, let them know what your real intention is, be open and honest about it and let them know that they can be honest with you if something you say rubs them the wrong way. People get angry when they are surprised by something that is perceived to be unpleasant, or don’t fully understand something.

By setting the framework, you are mitigating the surprise and lack of understanding. It is useful in a variety of situations, but let’s just dive into a couple that I find teachers deal with the most often.

The first regards using a new methodology, or teaching style, in class. Many students that you will teach in certain areas have grown up with a style of education that is based on rote memorization, and just following along with what the teacher says. This style of teaching is not conducive to learning a language well, but since the students have followed it for a number of years, they are extremely comfortable with it. Now, imagine that you are a teacher well trained in language acquisition techniques, and you know precisely how to help the students improve in their language abilities by leaps and bounds in a relatively short period of time. Without warning, you go into class and implement those techniques early in your tenure at your new school.

You’ve just knocked students out of their comfort zone, and they don’t understand why. What is the feedback likely to be? You’ll likely have some students running to their local teacher, study advisor or course consultant and complaining about it, and it will be the local staff member who needs to put out the sudden fire. If, during your first classroom interaction with the students, you had explained to them your methodology, and why it has been proven to work, and your genuine desire for them to improve, then that fire would likely have not popped up, because you’ve explained your methodology and taken away the element of surprise, and allowed your students the opportunity to prepare for the discomfort.

That being said, the best piece of advice I can give a teacher who is going into a new school is to talk to the local staff members about the methodology that the students have been exposed to, and the classroom rules and guidelines that are already in place. Once you’ve identified those two things, then you can consider what is different in regards to how you will conduct your class, and then have a list of items to be introduced during your initial classes, setting the expectations of the students.

Managing Expectations
The second issue is a bit trickier, because it goes beyond the students’ classroom experience, and into how they’ve previously interacted with people. You walk into your first group class in a new school. You have two dozen students looking at you with expectation and excitement. You are the new exhibit. Then, you open your mouth and tell a joke. It bombs. The students are shocked, but they recover and think it’s a one-off. Then you tell another joke later on, or exhibit a certain personality trait that the students find off-putting, or just have no experience dealing with. Now, this isn’t to say that you’ve done anything wrong, or said anything really offensive, but the students may have never encountered someone like you, with jokes or a mannerism like yours.

In your country, your mannerisms and humor might be commonplace, but what about in your new home? If, as part of your self-introduction to the students, you had explained your personality-type, mannerisms and sense of humor to the students, as well as gone on to explain that these things are common for people where you come from, and you hope the students can embrace it as part of learning a new culture along with the language, then you have effectively adjusted their expectations and minimized the initial shock potential. This will lead to few complaints, and a smoother transition into your new school. If you also explain to them that they can be open and honest with you, as you would like to be with them, then they are more likely to give you feedback directly when you do happen to accidentally step over the line.

That being said, you also need to look at it from two different situations. This first situation is when you are coming into a school that has been around for a while. In this situation, it is vitally important for you to understand that the culture of that school has already been established. The initial teachers set the tone of that school, and if, for example, they were all conservative, it will be even more difficult for students to adjust to a personality type that might be more open. When going into a new school, feel out the tone of the school, and identify what aspects of your personality or humor might conflict with that tone, and be sure to cover that when setting the initial framework with your students.

The other situation is a bit easier, because it is when you are coming into a new school, or a new branch of an existing training company. The tone hasn’t been set yet, so there is a lot more flexibility in terms of student expectations. Personally, I love this situation, as I am able to get in there and influence the tone of the school early on in order to create a more open and fun environment, where students are able to joke about anything, and have really solid conversations about a variety of topics in class. It’s still important to set the framework in this situation, but you can breathe a bit easier.

In my career, I’ve had trouble with both my humor, and introducing a new style of conducting class, but that trouble always occurred when I had failed to set the framework with new students, and then they were surprised by, or confronted with, something outside of their realm of experience or expectation.

This leads back to what I’ve already said: People only tend to get angry when they are surprised, or don’t understand something. Since learning about this from my previous manager, the problems have disappeared. I’m still the same as I’ve always been, and my topics have even probably gotten a bit more controversial, but because I set the framework when students first meet me, then they are able to open more and embrace something new, because I’ve set their expectations for it. This has lead to my English Corners having large turnouts at the schools I’ve worked at, with me having the pleasure to see many students actively growing and embracing new ways of thinking, and improving their English ability as they begin to enjoy the process.

The Pros and Cons: 25 Engaging Topics for Adult ESL Students
Throughout this article, I’ve mentioned controversial topics a number of times, and you can find 25 of those in my workbook. ‘The Pros and Cons: 25 Engaging Topics for Adult ESL Students’ deals with topics not typically covered in adult ESL classes, but does so in a way that minimizes controversy, and encourages the students to ask questions themselves, so you don’t land in hot water. The workbook is focused on getting the students to use English as a tool to do a variety of tasks revolving around those topics, as well as engaging in in-depth conversations with each other. Each unit is structured in such a way that the busy teacher can grab it and head into class with minimal preparation and stress, and each unit is also designed to maximize the amount of time students talk, thus building fluency.

You can download a free sample of The Pros and Cons: 25 Engaging Topics for Adult ESL Students from my site at www.eslppt.com/pcsample. If you like what you see, and are outside of China, you can pick up a copy from Amazon at www.amazon.com/dp/1703911911?me=ATVPDKIKX0DER.

If you are in China, you can find it at Teacher’s House at www.teachershouseshop.com/product/pros-cons.

If you prefer PowerPoints, I’ve got you covered on those too! Visit www.eslppt.com or www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Eslppt to stock up on some affordable and professional PowerPoint presentations for your adult ESL classes!

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Halloween is one of the only holidays that’s just plain fun: you dress up, you get candy, you get to pull pranks on your friends and neighbors. But sometimes Halloween gets short shrift, with more time devoted to Thanksgiving and Christmas than this kooky holiday.

I’ve gathered some easy and fun ways you can bring the Halloween spirit to your classroom this year! Remember that these are just a few suggestions: use them as a jumping off point to come up with your own classroom activities. No matter how you celebrate Halloween in your classroom, your students will have a great time.

1.  Make a Halloween mystery box

Find some old shoe boxes and cut a hole in each. Fill each box with different items and have students reach their arms in and feel what’s inside.

Possible items to include are eyeballs (peeled grapes), teeth (candy corn or popcorn kernels), faux fur, spiders’ legs (pipe cleaners), brains (wet sponge), and guts (spaghetti).

You can come up with your own ideas, too — the yuckier the better. Your kids will love getting grossed out and touching all the weird creepy “body parts” in your

Halloween mystery box!

2.  Decorate pumpkins

Decorating pumpkins is a classic activity for a reason: it’s satisfying, fun, and just the right amount goopy.

If you have older students, have students first trace where they want to cut their pumpkin. Then put out knives, newspapers, and bowls for pumpkin innards. Be sure to demonstrate safe cutting techniques and supervise students closely to avert accidents.

If you have younger students (or just don’t want a classroom full of students armed with knives), you can have your students draw or paint their pumpkins instead of carving them. Hot tip: Sharpies work well on pumpkins.

Don’t have access to pumpkins? Don’t worry. You can use felt or paper cutouts to make your own pumpkins! Precut orange ovals, green stems, and black triangles or have students cut their pumpkins out on their own.

3.  Make your own monsters

Create a lesson where students create their own monsters (or witches or ghosts or whatever else) out of construction paper and present them to the class.

Depending on your students’ language capability, you can have them write short stories about their creature creations or write three descriptive sentences about them (i.e. My monster is red. She has 4 eyes. Her tail is long and pointy).

The students can then decorate the classroom with their creatures or take them home to show their parents!

4.  Decorate the classroom

You can decorate according to a theme (and then dress up in matching costumes for bonus points), or just fill your classroom with goblins, ghosts, and witches. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you involve your students in the process and have fun with it.

Skeletons, spider webs, pumpkins, and gravestones are all classic Halloween decorations, or you can do a Charlie Brown, Willy Wonka, or other similar

theme. My old kindergarten did a Harry Potter Halloween theme! It was so fun seeing all the classrooms interpret the themes in different ways and put their own spin on it.

5.  Make witches’ brew

Combine science and fun by making a “witches’ brew” with your students in class. All you need is a little food coloring and some water, baking soda, and vinegar.

First put the water, baking soda, and food coloring together in a container, and then pour a little vinegar in and watch your brew bubble over! Be sure to do this activity somewhere it’s okay to make a mess.

You can use multiple containers with different colors of food coloring if you’d like to turn up the drama a little bit.

If you have very young students, you can forgo the fizzy reaction and just combine two different colored liquids (like red and yellow) to make a new color!

No matter what kind of experiment you do, turn up the drama by muttering an incantation or having the whole class chant a “magic spell”. The theatrics will help turn a simple experiment into some classroom magic.

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