I've been in China for just over a month now and I absolutely love it. Even the teaching part. Especially the teaching part – and I'm very glad, because I didn't really expect that.
I thought I'd come here, travel, learn Chinese, and wait for the economy to get better before I found a "real" job. Imagine my surprise to discover that teaching English abroad is not only a real job, but also a job that I really enjoy!
Teaching is just the right challenge for me at the moment. It's fun, different every day, always a challenge, and requires you to be creative, spontaneous and flexible. It's helping me with my confidence in public speaking, teaching me to listen better, and given me the ability to laugh at just about any situation.
The students are fantastic and adorable. It's impossible to be in a bad mood around them. They tell me I'm beautiful, run up to hug me in the halls between classes, and bring me gifts. I get to play Simon Says, talk about celebrities, and sing songs. It's so cool to see the moment when a student understands what you are talking about.
On the other hand, one of my classes either doesn't understand a freaking thing that I'm saying, or they were sent from a hell dimension to torture me. This class (the only naughty class) spends the whole 40-minute class yelling, throwing books, paper, pens, anything really, and blatantly ignoring everything that I have to say. Desks have been flipped over. But one out of 18 isn't so bad. They were better this week after I yelled at them last week.
I teach for 18 hours a week. I spend another 2 doing things for the school (like correcting grammar and such on things that have been translated into English, judging English contests, etc.). I have plenty of time to create lesson plans, read, study Chinese, and travel on the weekends.
If you're considering teaching abroad, do it. You won't regret it.
No comments:
Post a Comment