We can always improve our communication in the classroom. Here are 5 key tips when it comes to communicating with beginner level students.

1. Less is more

One of the biggest mistakes newbies make in the classroom is filling silence with speech. As a new teacher it feels natural to talk lots, but in a classroom lots of teacher-talk-time means less student-talk-time and students don’t learn another language just by listening, they need speaking practice. 
I often see new teachers make their students’ lives harder by speaking too much in the classroom. After a while, students stop listening because, well, they’re overwhelmed. It’s exhausting to have to process that much information. The solution? Speak less. Get to the point. Your students will thank you.

2. Grade your language

Beginner English learners are easily overwhelmed with new language. I’m sure anyone who’s learned another language can relate to the feeling of listening to someone using complicated vocabulary and quickly getting lost. In the classroom we need to avoid this.
Strip out the following from your speech: long multi-syllabic words, colloquialisms, most phrasal verbs, long-winded sentences. Instead of asking “OK guys, do me a solid and fetch me your homework” think about how that can be said in a simpler way. Empathy is key here. Putting yourself in your students shoes will help immensely.

3. Show AND tell

A lot of TEFL trainers advise new teachers to “show don’t tell” when explaining new concepts. This advice definitely aligns with ‘less is more’ but it doesn’t help the students acquire new language. A select few instructional words with your demonstration will go a long way to helping establish a common language for explanations. Which brings me on to:

4. Establish classroom English

This is the holy grail for a teacher of a beginner class! Having students understand language like ‘listen’, ‘write’, ‘turn to your partner’, ‘sit down’, ‘stand up’ and respond to those instructions is invaluable. Instead of it taking 5 minutes to set up a new activity it’ll take 30 seconds which of course means more time for teaching and more student practice.

5. Use a trigger

OK so this only really applies to working with young students but part of great classroom communication means getting students to listen. So use a trigger to silence them. What’s a trigger?
A trigger is a simple signal that you use to tell the kids it’s time to be quiet. It can be fingers to lips for 10 seconds. It can be a clapping pattern. The most important part of a trigger though is that the students must focus and repeat it back to you. Once they have that, use it often to maximize it’s effectiveness.

The Money

If you’re thinking about making the move to China to teach ESL, you will definitely want to consider where offers you the best salary and package of benefits. But these numbers can be deceiving and it’s hard to find out what those numbers mean when you’re on the other side of the world.

Luckily, some clever people have set up huge crowd-sourced databases of living costs all over the world, so you can understand what that salary means. The most popular of these is Numbeo which looks at obvious things like rent and utilities, but also day to day costs like food, transport, entertainment, to give you a well rounded picture of how much you would spend.

So let’s take a closer look at the numbers. Firstly, what’s the cost of living in Fuzhou compared to living back in the West? Well, using Numbeo and by choosing some ‘average’ cities in western countries you can see the potential cost saving. And yes, if you’re wondering why Albuquerque is on there it’s because I’ve been watching Better Call Saul…

You can see from this that things like transport and eating/drinking out are considerably cheaper in Fuzhou and that makes a massive difference in how much money you have in the bank.

Living Costs in Different Cities

So China is obviously a lot cheaper in terms of living costs, but are all Chinese cities equally cheap. Let’s have a look.

Fuzhou comes out of this well. The cost of living in Fuzhou is roughly 25% lower than in Shanghai and 20% lower than Beijing. These are things like the cost of a meal in a restaurant, a bottle of beer, taxi fares, bus fares, cartons of milks. All of the essentials you’ll be buying most weeks.

But I know what you’re thinking: “aren’t wages in China a lot lower too?”. Well you’re right, they are lower, but they also reflect the cost of living AND crucially the working hours.

Teachers at York work around 31 hours a week which is much less than we’d be working back in our home countries.

The final consideration for salaries is: housing. How much of your salary is spent on housing? 30%? 40%? More? What about bills and utilities?

Let’s take a look at average rent costs across the same cities.

Woah, rent in China is cheap, huh? Well… Take a look at this…

It’s the same chart, but with rent for Shanghai and Beijing on there. So you can see that rents in those cities are at least as expensive as those back home, if not more expensive. Fuzhou, by comparison, is very affordable rent-wise.

The Advantage of Free Housing

Now, lucky for our teachers, rent is not an issue. At York we provide quality housing for our teachers because in Fuzhou it’s not just the cost of day-to-day expenses, rent is cheaper in Fuzhou by a lot. So what does that mean for you? Well, it means we can provide our teachers with good-quality apartments of over 90m2. Whereas a school in Shanghai or Beijing wouldn’t be able to provide you with a similar standard of living or their apartments could be miles away from your school or worse, a dormitory (and let’s not even discuss jobs in those cities that don’t offer accommodation).

At York we spend a lot of time and effort making sure that our apartments are right for you in terms of location, size, quality and facilities (yes, that means western toilets). It’s going to be a place you call home for the next 12 months, so why jeopardise your happiness and cheap out? It would only create headaches for us all in the future.

That means that instead of spending 30% or 40% of your salary on rent, instead you can use that money for other things. So yes, the salaries are lower, but you’ll have much more money left from your wage at the end of every month.

So what does it all boil down to? How much money does the average teacher at York spend/save each month?

Save More Money by Working in China

So you’ve done the math(s) and have decided that moving to China would be a good move financially. It’s a lot cheaper than living in the West even though the salaries are slightly lower. But let’s start with a question: how much of your salary are you able to save, living in the west? 5%? 10%? 15%?

Most people will find their expenditure could look something like this:

Does that look reasonable? For comparison we asked 10 York teachers where their expenditure went in Fuzhou and here are the results:

Instantly you can see that very little is spent on housing. The only part of housing that a York teacher pays for is utility bills which is hardly anything. The big headline though is that savings and vacations take up a lot of a typical teachers outgoings, which let’s be honest, is a nice thing to spend on. This is also a conservative estimate. Some teachers have been able to save a lot more with us, it all depends on the lifestyle you choose to live.

That means that each month a teacher with a salary of 9,000RMB could take home 2,700RMB in savings every month. Over the course of a 12 month contract with York that adds up to over 32,000RMB (or almost $5,000). Quite a decent amount.

Then think about this: any money earned above that amount goes straight into savings. So if you sign up as a second year teacher (starting on 11,000RMB and going up to 13,000RMB) then you could be saving up 80,000RMB a year (almost $12,000). That pays off quite a lot of student loans, or goes some way towards a house deposit or buys you round-the-world travel for a year or longer!

And don’t forget, all of that while STILL travelling in China and Asia, doing a rewarding job and experiencing life in one of the worlds most exciting countries.

1. “Do you understand?”

This is an easy one to fall into. Explaining a new concept or activity and then asking this feels natural. The problem with this is that you’re never going to get the response you want. Some students will probably understand and will confidently answer yes and may drown out students who were going to say no. Some students may not understand but might not have the confidence to admit so, especially when the stronger students are so sure they know what’s going on. No one wants to feel stupid, right?
The result of this is half the class get it and perform the activity well, the other half don’t and need guidance on what do to. You, as the teacher, may only realise this after a few minutes, which means so much time has been wasted in the class!

Instead ask: “what do you have to do now?” or a comprehension checking question e.g. “do you have to write 3 sentences or 5?” These are getting specifics from the students and crucially, the students are telling you what they have to do.

2. “Why are you doing that?” when a student starts misbehaving

OK, huge generalisation here, but a lot of the time when a student misbehaves it’s down to something the teacher is doing- poor communication, unclear instruction, not engaging enough or no clear guidelines on behaviour. Whatever the reason, asking the above question is unlikely to garner the response you want. Instead, ask yourself that question. Why is this student misbehaving? What can I do to ensure it doesn’t happen again?

If you must ask this question, ask them at the end of the class.

3. “Helloooooooooo!”

Allow me to explain… as an English teacher (perhaps a native-speaking English teacher) one of your roles in the classroom is to be a model for the students. When working with kids, you will find that they mimic you a lot. Therefore it’s really important they get a good model from you all the time. So when entering a classroom, make sure that you give a loud, warm and friendly “Hello!” (or your greeting of choice) not a protracted, elongated “Helloooooooooooooo” which sounds very unnatural and isn’t how we speak at all!

4. Student answers the question, Teacher repeats the answer aka echoing

Another bad teaching habit, kind of…. We all know that repetition is a very important part of learning a language but mindless (and boring) repetition of what a student has just said doesn’t offer a lot to the class. More importantly, most teachers aren’t aware of just how much they end up doing this. That means more teacher-talk-time which something we want to reduce wherever possible.

Instead try this: if you feel the student spoke quietly and not everyone heard it, try “louder please”. This places a higher value on student contributions to the class.

5. “This is easy!”

It may be easy for you! But you have been speaking English for years and years! Put yourself into the students shoes. They are learning something new and are getting instructions in a new language. Take a look at things from their perspective and remember how hard learning and language can be!

There’s a number of options out there for TEFL qualifications and a lot depends on how much time you have and how much you are prepared to spend, which may depend on how long you see yourself doing ESL for.

The most comprehensive option is a CELTA. This is month long course which is very comprehensive and contains a lot of actual practice teaching adults in person. It’s expensive because of this but it is excellent preparation. The only downside to the course is that it focuses on adults not young learners, so be aware of that if you only want to teach kids. However, it’s by far the most useful and representative of what teaching is actually like. If you’re planning on making TEFL your career then this is course to choose as it’s very widely respected and opens up a lot of avenues later on. When I’m recruiting teachers for York I always enjoy listening to the experiences of CELTA graduates because of the knowledge and reflection they take from the experience.

Some people choose an online course. These come in various lengths but most are around 120 hours long. This is a good bet but they’re not without their downsides. Things to look out for here: does the course have any focus on young learners? Business English? Lesson planning? Although you get no practical experience from these courses, knowing the theory is a good start. However, be aware that knowing the theory doesn’t give you an idea of what teaching is like, so if you’re unsure of whether you want to pursue teaching you might want to try the following.

The shortest option is weekend course. These are cheaper and give you some practice of teaching to your fellow trainees. It’s very much a taster of what ESL is about rather than any actual solid preparation but they do serve a purpose although soon it may not be enough to get you a working visa in China.              What next? The most important consideration is working out what you want from your ESL experience and what further training your school will offer. Here at York English we provide extensive ongoing professional development and training. This is pretty intensive and similar to the CELTA course but with a total focus on working with young learners. It’s proved very popular over the years at helping people transition to a new job.

Congratulations on deciding to move to THE most exciting country in the world! You’re in for a total rollercoaster of a time and I promise that by the end of your stay in China, whether it’s a few months or a few years, you’ll be a changed person. But even if you’re the most prepared individual your first time in China can be quite daunting. So what can you expect?

1. Lots and lots and lots of people

China’s huge population is on show from the moment your plane touches down. Airports tend to be extremely crowded and full of exhausted people jostling to get their bags and get home as quickly as possible. My advice: get your head down, collect your bags and make your way out ASAP to meet your school’s representative.

2. Different weather

I’ve met dozens of new teachers in China and most were not prepared for the climate. The north of China in particular is a land of extremes with freezing cold months in the winter and dry hot summers. Southern China is a lot milder throughout the year but can be incredibly hot and humid in July and August. Do your research before you land so you know what you should be wearing.

3. Real Chinese food

So it turns out the Chinese food you eat in General Tso’s or Oriental Star isn’t that authentic at all. But what counts as authentic? The spicy food in Sichuan province  is markedly different to traditional Beijing cuisine which is also different from the Cantonese style of Guangdong province. Here’s something to note: every province, even every city in China has its local specialities and you probably won’t have heard about any of these before. You’re going to have to step out of your comfort zone!

4. Language problems

OK so you might have dabbled in a bit of Chinese before you arrive but most people don’t so in your first couple of days it’s going to be overwhelming language culture shock. There’ll be lots of “huhs?!”, “what?” and “Do you speak English?!” but you’ll soon realise that hunger is a great motivator. Hand gestures, pointing and phones will help you to survive and order your first meals. Plus, any decent school should help you out with dedicated administration staff and lots of settling in assistance. In fact, York English has an unofficial tradition of helping out new teachers by arranging meals out for them over the first few days (and best of all you don’t have to pay for these!).

5. Wowed by the evening lightshow

Chinese cities have grown hugely in the last 20 years with lots of rural villagers flocking to them for work. This growth has manifested itself with skyscrapers often adorned with multi-coloured flashing lights showing everyone who visits that this is the place to be and that it’s growing rapidly. At night this can be really quite impressive and it’s not just Beijing and Shanghai. Most cities are so covered in neon and LEDs that you definitely feel you’re in a different world.

6. The noise

Life in China seems to happen on the streets as much as in the apartment. It’s a 24 hour environment with plenty of hustle and bustle. While exciting, this does come with it’s own problems: noise! At York we find apartments that are as secluded as possible but I’d definitely recommend bringing earplugs if you’re a light sleeper, just for the first few nights at least.

7. Training!

So after all of that it’s going to be time to buckle down and start working at your new school. If this is your first job make sure that you know what training the school provides during your first few days, weeks and months. Ideally this should be a continuation of where you left off from your TEFL/CELTA/TESOL course. And once you’ve started you’re well on your path to becoming a successful English teacher in China! Then all you need to do is learn the language, practice teaching and get over the jet lag!

Ever found yourself planning a class and groaning that there’s only one page of material to cover? Frustrated at making resources that take ages and get thrown away? Here are some ideas to get more out of your books, stories and handouts.

Bookwork

Does your book have a list of new vocabulary in it? Have students number it.  Students then work in 3s. Student A says a word, the other 2 race to say the number. The fastest to finish then says the next word. Extend this by having the students say the number with the others racing to say the word. This can be extended further still by then having the two guessing students close their books making it more of a memorisation activity. A small sequence like this one can have students saying the new words dozens of times and will take at least 10 minutes.

Stories and Readings

With visual stories and cartoons we’ve all done a simple “What can you see?”. This serves a purpose for engaging students with the topic or story but it tends to limit student participation. An advanced version of this works even better and lasts for much longer. Put students in pairs with a book each in front of them. Student A says “I can see ____” and makes a fist, student B says “I can see ____” and places their fist on top. Student A then repeats and so on until the students the students have exhausted their vocabulary while stacking fists hot-potato-style

For articles without pictures, have the students each write a word from the article on a slip of paper. Collect the words in, shuffle and redistribute. You start to read the article. When the student hear the word on their slip, they stand up and join in by reading along. Collect the slips in and repeat.

Handouts

My golden rules with handouts are:
-if it takes 5 minutes to make something, it should be used for 10 minutes in the class
-it’s only worth making if it creates speaking opportunities and
-ideally it should be reusable even if just for a warm-up in the next class (hint: use a laminator).
-Worksheets are for homework only!

The handouts I get most ‘value’ from in the classroom tend to be mini-FCs: small pictures of the vocabulary words that are around the size of a playing card. I find myself using these a lot for vocabulary practice activities and then again in grammar practice activities or mingles.

For vocabulary. Students start with a set each.  They take turns blindly placing them down and saying the word. This becomes a game of snap. With pairs hoping to match two sets.

For grammar. Each pair starts with a  set of cards in a row, face up numbered 1-however many there are. Students count down 3-2-1 and then throw out fingers (either 1-2-3-4-5). If student A throws 3 fingers and student B throws 2 then together they add up to 5 and they make a sentence using the grammar from the 5^th mini FC. This can now be turned over and they try to do the same for the remaining ones.

For a mingle. Each student starts with 3 + cards. They mingle, find a partner and do paper, scissor stone. The winner asks a question using their opponents card as a prompt. The loser answers and then sacrifices a card. Each then goes to find a new partner. The person with the most cards at the end is the winner.

All of these activities are tried and tested. (More fun classroom activities see here. )They all involve everyone in the classroom equally and create lots of opportunities for student language practice. In short: they’re excellent choices for the classroom.

In my time at York English and at other ESL schools I worked with dozens and dozens of ESL teachers, helping to train them and give guidance on how to grow as educators. Here I pick out 7 qualities that the best of those teachers shared.

1. Dedication

Put simply, the teachers who care the most, get the most out of their students and their students get a better English education. Dedication in ESL teaching is about putting real thought and effort into every lesson plan. Some teachers here at York go to amazing lengths when preparing their classes, putting real thought into what the students will get out of every activity, squeezing every last drop of language from them and sequencing their classes so that the students are challenged every step of the way.
Dedication doesn’t just start and end with planning though. One of the most satisfying feelings you can have as a teacher is helping an underperforming student achieve their potential. If faced with a weak student a great student will work with them outside of the class for even just 5 minutes. That one-to-one time can make all the difference by giving the student the confidence to succeed.

2. Organisation

Writing a lesson plan doesn’t guarantee a good class but it’s definitely the first step towards greatness.
Every class you teach, whether it’s 30 minutes or 2 hours should be planned. That means knowing what you and the students are going to be doing every 5-10 minutes. For each activity ask yourself, what activity are you going to do, how long is it going to take, what skills are the students going to be practicing and where are they going to be- in their chairs, moving around, in pairs, on the floor. Keeping variety to this will help your students get more from the class.

3. Patience

Yes, teaching can be frustrating sometimes. We’ve all had the odd student who can make you tear your hair out. Maybe they’re misbehaving constantly. Maybe they’re really slow to pick things up. Maybe they don’t listen. 99 times out of a 100 this is down to something the teacher is doing in the classroom. Behaviour issue: be stricter (see below), slower student: more help after class, not listening: use a trigger and make activities shorter to keep their attention span.

4. Strictness

The greatest teachers know that student behaviour can be changed to something more positive and they know that big behaviour problems make their classes less effective so they deal with them quickly and effectively. Our teacher trainer here at York likes to think of this like a formula: a perfect class has  behaviour issues and the students get 100% from the class. A class with 5 small
behaviour issues may mean that students only get 95% of what they could from the class. A class with lots of major behaviour issues means that students only learn 50% of the material. In short- being the ‘bad guy’ every now and again is essential to giving students more practice.

5. Altruism

Not in the sense of charity or buying gifts but in the sense of being concerned for the well-being of your students. In the classroom the students should be the star. You as the teacher should take the back seat regularly so the students get the practice they need. Turn and talks, pairwork, groupwork and mingles are all great at achieving this and can be done with any age group.

6. Fun

Showing a lighter side is essential when working with younger kids. This doesn’t mean being a clown, but it absolutely means: smiling, praising and making jokes. The first step to this is to get to know your students. Personalising materials to the students can make even the most boring grammar come to life “What were you doing last night?” “I was with (student name) playing
(video game that student x likes). Of course, knowing when to draw the line is very important. Too much fun and those dreaded behaviour problems will resurface.

7. Reflection aka “Evolve or Die”

There’s no glass ceiling on teaching. A class taught 4 weeks into your teaching career will be immeasurably better than your first one. The same goes for a class taught 1 year in, compared to 6 months in. As educators we want our students to learn and learn, but we must remember to learn ourselves. Teaching gets boring if we do the same activities over and over again and rehashing ideas isn’t just boring for us it’s boring for the students to.
After each class take a moment to reflect on what went well and what didn’t. Put a tick next to activities that worked on your lesson plan and notes next to those that didn’t. How could you change that if you had to teach it again?
Better still, being able to take feedback from others is essential. That could be from your teaching assistant, a parent, the students or your DoS. Learn to love observations- remember they are there to help you!

Fuzhou has recently held the Chinese National Youth Games. With this, and the arrival of cooler Autumnal weather, what better time to talk about ways of staying fit?

1. Badminton

It would be remiss to talk about staying fit in Fuzhou without making reference to one of China’s most popular sports. It seems like nearly everyone in the city plays badminton. From little kids practising on the pavement, to the elderly playing in parks, to what-seem-like pro’s smashing shuttlecocks at each other in the courts, if there’s unoccupied space in the city, chances are it’s being used for this.

Badminton’s a very popular activity for our teachers. Regularly they organise games with our teaching assistants. Courts are cheap to hire too (around 20rmb per hour).

2. Basketball

Badminton is popular with people of all ages in China but basketball has massively grown in popularity with the younger generations. Our students between 9-16 seem to be obsessed with it, definitely helped of course by the success of Yao Ming in popularising the sport over here. In Fuzhou basketball courts can be found all over the city. They’re free to use and people will definitely be eager to see what a laowai (foreigner) is capable of.

3. Football/Soccer

Football isn’t hugely popular in China. Unlike in Europe where pitches can be seen everywhere, in China they are often tucked away. Despite this Fuzhou has an excellent 5-a-side pitch nestled into a central street in the city where our teachers play every week. Attendance is usually pretty good and tends to attract a crowd of interested onlookers.

As anyone who’s played 5-a-side before will know, this is an excellent way to get fit and have fun at the same time so if you come and join our teaching team why not join us for a game. There’s rumours of an inter-school cup starting soon too…

4. Hiking

Fuzhou is wonderfully located in between mountains, some of which have excellent trails and paths to be explored. A couple of the more famous ones in the city include Gu Shan (Drum Mountain) and Bai Yun Feng (White Cloud). The latter is a beautiful spot, not only because it’s quieter than the more well-established Gu Shan but also because of the spectacular scenery once you reach the peak. The climb up can be brutal. Reports vary as to how many steps there are but needless to say there are plenty. At some points you need to practically pull yourself up on a handy rail that accompanies the path. Despite this it’s definitely worth the slog and for those who work up an appetite while exercising there’s a temple at the top where monks sell cheap but sustaining bowls of noodles.

5. Cycling (and running)

Although it’s surrounded by mountains, the centre of Fuzhou is surprisingly flat which makes cycling a hugely popular activity here. Bikes are cheap and easily come by (there’s even a city-wide bike hire scheme). Popular places to cycle and run include: along the Min River, around Cangshan Island or out of the city towards Min Hou. There’s something for everyone. If nothing else it’s a great way to get around and beat the traffic. On that point, due to the popularity of bikes here cycling is a very safe activity as cars are used to dealing with bikes on the streets.

A number of our teachers at York cycle to work and also take trips out on their bikes at weekends to explore the city and get some exercise. Equally, a lot of teachers go running around the parks of Fuzhou.

6. Swimming

The long, warm summer in Fuzhou lends itself well to taking a swim, so cooling off in one of the city’s many outdoor pools is a popular activity. These tend to be quite popular first thing in the morning and in the evening but as York teachers don’t start work until the afternoons they’re ideal for a quick morning dip. If that’s not enough, there’s plenty of indoor pools for the chillier winter months too.

7. Tai Chi and Martial Arts

Another really popular activity in Fuzhou and another free activity too! What could be more Chinese than waking up early and doing some Tai Chi in a park? OK so it’s not super strenuous but it is really relaxing and if you want something more energetic there’s always martial arts classes, available across the city

8. Gyms

OK so it’s not an outdoor activity but gyms are very popular over here with our teachers and of course there’s a gym for every budget and every need. There are gyms with swimming pools, spin classes, Zumba classes, weight rooms, personal trainers, basically everything you could want.

Teaching Teenagers

New teachers at York are often surprised at the difference between Chinese teenagers and teenagers in the West. Without wanting to stereotype too strongly, teenagers back home tend to be more surly, negative, and unwilling than their Chinese counterparts, and while this does make our teaching life easier there are other challenges we face when teaching this tricky age group. Chinese teens often lack life experience that Western teens have which can make it difficult to engage them in a topic or make it relatable.

Understanding Chinese teenagers and what they want from an English teacher is therefore key. Without this appreciation, motivating them will be really tricky.

Warming Them Up

Starting the class with a suitable activity sets the tone for everything to follow. The goal here is to start with something vocal that gets everyone speaking. A bit of movement and competition doesn’t hurt either.
A favourite in my old class at York was to give every student a token (or fake money). Students were told that they couldn’t use the words yes/no/yeah/nah etc. If they used one of those words they had to give up their token. Students mingled and started a conversation with each other, trying to trick the other person into accidentally saying yes or no. The best technique seemed to be starting the conversation innocuously rather than with an obvious closed question. Watching students trying to goad others into slipping up is always hilarious and this activity is no exception!

Making Language Relatable

Students at York use a course called Smart Choice. We’re lucky in that this is a generally excellent course which has a lot of language that’s really useful and practical. So instead of learning about how to interview for a job, our teenagers learn about things that are relevant to their lives (very few Chinese teenagers will get a job, that usually happens after university).

Even if you do find yourself having to teach something students have no experience of there are still ways to get them using English. Try using negative teaching. An example:

Vocabulary to teach: extreme sports and present perfect

Teacher: Who has been paragliding?
Students: