I had the good fortune to teach at a university in China for five years. As you can see most of my students were female which is common for English majors. Most of them will end up teaching English or working in international trade after they graduate.
Each semester I'd get seven or eight classes like this one. That's about 250 students every semester. By contract I would teach a maximum of 18 hours a week. The first two years I spent about the same amount of time preparing as teaching. After that prep time was minimal as the class material didn't change year to year.
You may notice many students are flashing the V sign. In China this indicates "happiness".
At the university where I taught there were about 40,000 students. The campus was beautiful with lots of trees and impressive buildings. The classrooms however left a lot to be desired. The students desks were very old school, screwed into the floor, with the desk portion attached to the seat in front (you can see it in the photos). So much for reconfiguring a classroom, it's set up for lecture style only, which fits in nicely with China's authoritarian culture.
My first day of class I remember being totally surprised in a good way. As I walked into class I noticed the students turning and whispering to each other. I opened my back pack and took out my class materials saying "hi" to a couple students in the front row. I wrote my name on the board (teacher Lee) and then I turned to the class and said "Good morning class."
To my surprise the entire class quickly rose to their feet and loudly said "Good morning teacher Lee". What a shocker. They really are well trained in China! I can't imagine getting that kind of response from university students in the US. I thanked the class and told them to sit down, which they promptly did.
Fortunately for me university students have already studied English in middle school and high school so it is not a requirement for a foreign teacher to speak Chinese. That's great because my Chinese is "bu hao" (no good).
A funny story just came to mind that shows cultural differences between the US and China. I was giving the class an exam in spoken English. Each student would come one at a time and sit at the desk next to mine and read a short paragraph. I would correct any pronunciation problems.
One student sat down next to me and before I could say a word she said "I love you." I said "Thanks, but don't expect a better grade just because you said I love you." She covered her mouth with her hand (as Chinese often do) and shyly smiled.
Before working as a teacher I used to travel to China frequently on business. On one occasion I was walking down the street in Shanghai and a shoeshine man calls out to me "I love you!" Not knowing what to say I pointed at him and said "I love you too!" and kept walking. I asked my Chinese girlfriend who as walking with me why he said that. She said he probably doesn't know any other English and just wanted to say something to a foreigner. The point of this being is that in China a few students have told me "I love you"' but they don't really mean "I love you" they mean "I like you", kind of like the shoeshine guy didn't really mean "I love you" either.
I can't imagine any US college student saying "I love you" to their teacher. And if they did the teacher better run for the hills!
I have to admit that the social life of a foreign teacher in China is pretty good. Not only are there other foreign teachers to hang out with but there are also class parties, shows, and competitions to go to. Students will often invite their teacher to have lunch or dinner, or just hang out and talk. Unlike in the US teachers in China are expected to spend some time socializing with their students. There's never a lack of things to do.
Every Saturday during the summer in the city where I taught they'd have fireworks. They know how to do fireworks right in China. What we would consider a finale here is just a warm up in China. The show lasts for almost an hour and the sky is filled with fireworks most of the time.
Another one bites the dust! Teaching in China has its perils. One of them is you might get hitched to a lovely Chinese national. It happens all the time. Most teachers I've known either have a Chinese girlfriend or wife. And some teachers even date students! Oddly enough students will strongly argue that is ok for students to date teachers. All the teacher's contract says regarding teacher / student relations is not to fall in love with students. Well that's good advice!
Luckily I'm old and I married my Chinese sweetheart years before becoming a teacher. My students like to call me "grandpa" which is fine with me. It reinforces the friendly nature of our relationship. Each year one or two students will become good friends and occasionally hang out with me and my wife. It's really nice!
Well that's it for my first installment of Teaching in China.
I hope you enjoyed it! Wish you have a great day!
Images: Cosmic Cowboy