What helped you settle in China?

EXPAT STYLE BARS

In Xu Zhou there are a small handful of these. If you do not speak any mandarin and your city has a few of these then I suggest pushing yourself out there and going to these places when you arrive, especially at the weekend. You will be able to meet foreigners who can tell you where to go to get certain things and who can answer any questions which you may be likely to have. They are also highly likely to be excited to meet a new foreigner in their city!

FRIENDS

There are so many interesting people in this country and you can find out so much about the specific area that you are in if you can talk to someone long enough. It is because of this that I think it is so important to try and meet as many different and interesting people as you can and GET THEIR CONTACT DETAILS. If you don’t have a Chinese phone yet? Download an app called WECHAT (similar to whatsapp); if you meet someone who you see yourself getting along with, don’t let him or her leave until you have their contact. This may seem a strange and relatively ‘forward’ to us U.K. folk, however in China it is not strange at all and especially not between foreigners in China. This way if you get to a point where you are a bit down or a little homesick you will have a contact list of friends that you can message and spend time with.

HOME COMFORTS

When things get really tough HOME COMFORTS are also a huge part of what has lifted my spirits. If I ever feel down I treat myself to something that I may be missing from home, whether that is cheese, pringles or magnums I have been able to source all of these in a few larger stores around my (relatively small) city and therefore I am confident that this is the case in many of your cities too. I have also been known to treat myself to a full size mirror (costing me all of £6) a lamp (costing £3) and two more pillows, all of which help my room feel much more homely.

How did you approach your first class?

1. PLANNING

For the first few weeks of classes it was essential for me that I planned every little detail, to the point that I was literally looking at the plan to remind me to tell the class my name!

I put this down to nerves. The saying “fail to prepare, prepare to fail” comes to mind here. I am the kind of person that under nervous situations I need to have the thing in front of me or else my worst fear may happen; my mind will go blank! As I started to get used to the lessons this planning has been reduced to short notes of around 7/8 games or dialogues surrounding a topic that I am going to introduce to them in that lesson.

2. SUDDEN BURST OF CONFIDENCE

In your first few lessons you will find this sudden energy from adrenaline that will carry you through. It can help you to improvise if the class level is not up to the standard of your lesson plan and it can help you to persist even though there are perhaps around 6 curious teachers watching you from the back of the classroom (which you will later learn many of which are just curious and are NOT judging you the way you may think).

What do you enjoy most about teaching in China?

Culture

China is famous for its cultural differences, (good or bad). I have seen both here and although I do not want to mislead anyone about the bad being something that I as a vegetarian have found quite difficult, I really must say that the good is what I enjoy most about being here.

When I walk into most of my schools I am greeted by around 8 children at the gate saluting any teacher that walks through their gate (saying Laoshi Hao and all raising a straight arm towards you with a smile). I also enjoy the daily gifts that I get from the children, whether it is drawings of me teaching them, or an angel made from tiny rolled up pieces of paper, the children are so proud to give you anything (I have numerous beads at the bottom of my bag!!).

Like I said the culture is so very rich in China. One of the things that I like is that they have a National Teachers day and a National Old people’s day, where they give those people gifts.

What’s been the most challenging aspect about teaching in China?

Being a vegetarian who cares a lot about animals it has been hard for me to see some of the Chinese people eating types of meat that we perhaps would not agree with in the U.K.

There are occasional dog meat places and despite reading about this before coming it still managed to be a real shock for me to deal with. Not every Chinese person agrees with eating dog, in fact I would say that the majority of people I have met disagree and many Chinese people have them as pets however the meat from the dog-meat places are bread to be eaten, just the same that other meat in the U.K. is.

Is teaching in China what you expected it would be? What parts of the experience have surprised you?

Yes I knew that culture wise it was different and I knew that I would enjoy meeting new, interesting people from all over the world. The part that I have been surprised about, is how much AMAZING food there is for me here (once I could distinctively say to them that you do not want ANY meat). I would never have guessed that they could cook vegetables and tofu so well, purely because of the Chinese that many of us are used to in the U.K.

How has teaching English in China changed you?

As a graduate straight out of university it has given me an opportunity to work out what kind of work environment I want to aim towards in the future, alongside giving me great skills and discussion points for my C.V.

I have also been able to learn Mandarin through relatively cheap one on one lessons and work towards my HSK language exams.

I would recommend this opportunity for any confident individual who wishes to understand some more about Chinese language/ culture or someone who wishes to gain experience in teaching. Enjoying interacting with children is a MUST.

By Victoria Miller, teacher in Xuzhou