Working in China

“It’s like Forrest Gump said, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates.’ Your career is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get. But everything you get is going to teach you something along the way and make you the person you are today. That’s the exciting part – it’s an adventure in itself.” ~Nick Carter

I came to work in China for the adventure; more adventure than I expected! No regrets! I learned how we are all the same and some ideas for the future.

It was a new experience for me to work with a private school. Some of the students live on campus during the week and go home on Friday for the weekend. Other students take the bus or their parents drop them off. The first day of school was just like the first day at PH Miller. Many cars and buses pulling in with students. There was an aide on each of the buses (sweet). The students got off the bus, some little ones crying, and there was a staff member to meet them and take them to the right classroom.

The first day of school there was a whole school assembly where they talked with the students about the theme for the year which was related to space and exploring new ideas. Students were a part of the assembly, introducing teachers at times (I think). Students were also recognized for volunteer work they did over the summer or other special activities they may have completed.

Classes started at 8:30. In the middle of the morning there was a 30 minute break for students called “Stretch Time”. The students went to the gym to do some exercises, this was in addition to PE. They also had 10 minute breaks for water and the bathroom every 40 minutes. I really liked this aspect of building in breaks in the middle of instruction.

There was a long lunch break from 12:00 – 1:20. Students ate lunch in their classrooms. After lunch, the first and kindergarten students took a nap. The kindergarten rooms were structured so that the kids could nap in their classroom. The first grade went over to the dorms (where we lived on the third floor) and took their naps in rooms on the first floor. The older students, grades 2 – 6, had club time.

Kindergarten Classroom – nap time was “upstairs”.

Bathrooms – No copyright laws in China!

Students went back to class around 1:20 or 1:30 and were in school until 4:30 or 5:00.

Dinner was at 5:30 for the students who stayed on campus. After dinner they would be outside for awhile and then go into the dorms. The students stayed on the fourth floor above us. Pat and I enjoyed listening to them moving around. There was always the sound of chairs moving and kids walking around but at 8:00 or 8:30 it was lights out and we didn’t hear a sound.

Communication with parents was very important at Best. There were grade level meetings for parents before school started. There was a Power Point presentation that introduced staff and told parents about what they could expect for their children in the coming year. The weekend before school opened parents and students came to school to register. There were games for the students to play. Students who were boarding dropped their supplies off in the dorm.

Parents received daily communication about what their children did in school. For the Reach program, which was the new English program this year, the teachers completed a Learning Log each night. It consisted of “I Can statements”, learning activities, and homework. All of this information came right off of the lesson plans. To keep it simple we agreed that all teachers would have the same “I Can statements” and homework every night. The teachers would plan their own learning activities, the art of teaching. Teachers would turn in their lesson plans a week ahead of time and we would cut and paste this information into the learning logs.

This was our biggest challenge as school started, communicating with parents what the new program entailed since it was very different from how English was traditionally taught. In the past English instruction was broken up into 4 areas, reading, speaking, grammar, and writing. There was a separate class for each. Now the students were getting all of their instruction in one 90 minute period. This experience already has me thinking about communication with parents in the future. I think of the many changes in our classrooms every year with the Common Core, Anti-bullying, instructional materials, etc, it is no wonder our parents are not sure how to help their students.

I truly enjoyed our students, kids are the same everywhere. The first time I visited the school a little kindergarten girl came into the hallway and when she saw me she ran behind her teacher. I was the first foreigner she had ever seen! Once school started we taught the students how to line up, raise their hands, and to walk in the hall. However, I think first grade students cannot help themselves, they all like to skip down the hall when they get the chance!