Interview with Katy Pegg, State School Teacher in Shanghai 2016-ongoing.
What made you decide that you wanted to Teach English In China?
I’ve always enjoyed working with children, doing volunteering in Primary Schools in the UK alongside my studies. In my third year of Uni I was considering my options for the following year, when a friend told me about Teach English In China. I had never really considered teaching abroad before, but I thought it might help me decide whether I wanted to do a PGCE. I never really had any desire to go to China either. However, I thought living in Shanghai would be a new challenge and a great experience!
What age group do you teach and what are the pros and cons of teaching this age group?
I teach primary grades 1, 2, 3 and 4, so my students are between 6-10 years old. I personally have always enjoyed teaching younger children more than older students and see many advantages to it. Typically speaking, the younger the students, the more engaged they are. They also tend to be more excited to see you and participate in your lessons. I find my grade ones are always so excited to learn. They shout and scream when I walk into the classroom and are desperate to answer questions and win points for their team.
My grade 3 and 4 classes on the other hand can be far more removed. They usually rely on a few people to answer all the questions and win all the points. Older students are slightly more reserved, because they are concerned about always giving me the ‘right’ answer. I’m actually more interested in them practicing their English, regardless of whether it’s grammatically perfect. Whilst many of my older students work hard and want to participate, some treat the lesson like a doss. They don’t listen and do homework for other classes or sometimes even sleep! This can be disheartening, but I try and keep my lessons as varied as possible to motivate my students.
As I teach 4 different age groups, I have some variety in the topics and lessons I’m teaching. All of my topics are quite basic, which would become quite tedious if I were only teaching one grade all week. During the Beijing training camp, I taught 13 and 14-year-olds and the topics were more varied and engaging. Whilst I really enjoy working in a primary school, I sometimes miss being able to engage in more advanced conversation with my students. Working with young students is rewarding but tiring!
How does living in Shanghai compare to the likes of visiting somewhere on holiday?
Living in Shanghai could not be more different to visiting on holiday. I saw this first-hand when my parents came to visit. At the start of their trip, I took them to touristy places like the Bund and East Nanjing Road, both places you see on the telly. However, they then came to visit me in Minhang district where I live, and it was a different story. I’m not sure my mum was overly thrilled seeing toddlers wee on the pavement and then people chopping meat on the same pavement, but that’s the real China for you.
Living slightly outside the centre is great, as everything is slightly cheaper and there’s food everywhere. Along the street I live on, there are noodles restaurants and street food vendors everywhere. It’s possible to get great Chinese snacks, like meat on stick, steamed buns, dumplings and milk tea for so cheap! Most things cost less than a pound, and for a foodie like myself, that’s a big win.
Living locally also means you get to see a lot more of how China works. For example, workers are currently digging up our apartment complex, so every day my housemates and I have to jump over pools of cement and huge piles of bricks, and avoid being crushed by diggers. This would never be allowed at home, but it’s funny to see the Chinese’s blatant disregard for health and safety.
Even day-to-day activities like shopping are completely different living in Shanghai. The vegetable market is in a local apartment building, and consists of open stalls piled high with produce, where you just fill up a bag to weigh and pay. This is by far the best and cheapest way to shop. Plus, the seller normally gives us free chilies, garlic and ginger!
What kind of things have you been able to do in China that you wouldn’t have been able to do at home?
Pretty much everything. I’d never been to Asia before coming to China and I’ve experienced so much that I couldn’t in the UK. On a basic level, the low cost of living here makes it easy to ride the metro or get taxis to different places in Shanghai. It also gives me more disposable income. Here I can afford to meet friends and go for dinner, drinks and brunch way more often than when I was a student.
I’ve also been able to travel to many different places. I’ve visited the Yellow Mountains, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Ningbo, Xi’an, Chengdu, Guilin, Seoul, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh! Living in Shanghai provides great opportunities for travelling around Asia. Flights are reasonable, and trains, although they take longer, are even cheaper. China provides the ideal opportunity to work and travel over weekends and holidays, which I would never do at home.
What have you gained from the experience and how do you think this will help you in the future?
Working and living in Shanghai and seeing such a different culture has definitely taught me to be more laid back and adaptable. Quite often in China, things can change last minute. For example, my school contact often send me messages saying my next class is cancelled because the kids have all gone swimming. Or when travelling, flights are sometimes delayed without apology and no one really seems to mind. This is because Chinese culture is far more adept to change. Whilst annoying at the time, I think it will help me adapt to change in the workplace and day to day life in the future.
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