News from our grads
Collette in China
It was during the long Christmas break I get as a teacher in Australia that I had time to dream of what I might do next in my life. I'd been working at the Alice Springs School of the Air for the past two years and realised there were some pretty interesting and exciting alternatives to the regular classroom. So that was when I got onto the Internet, found Teach International and planned to do the course and a lot of research before heading off twelve months later.
The nearest place to do the face-to-face component of the TESOL course was in Adelaide, so off I went and came back truly inspired and wanting to head off to China right away. My fellow students were equally as enthusiastic and our trainers were excellent.
I got my job here in Tieling City, in the north east of China, through Teach International. I felt quite confident about going, as I had a lot of personal contact via email and telephone with the headmaster and the American teacher whom I was to replace. I had lots of photos of the school and the accommodation to show my family before I left and my headmaster had already bought me a warm winter coat for my arrival. Leaving Alice in January where the temperature was around 40º was not the ideal preparation for mid-winter here but the coat was great and the snow beautiful.
The school is a private English language school where we teach in the evenings and on weekends. Class sizes are less than 20 and we follow a set programme that has books, CDs and computer software. It is easy to teach here and the children are generally good fun.
As we have most of the week days free, the other two foreign teachers and I have time to explore the surrounding areas by catching the local public transport, often on mystery tours, using the little bit of Chinese we have picked up and a lot of miming. We also head into the big smoke, Shenyang, on a regular basis for some retail therapy. The train ride itself is often half the fun.
There are very few Westerners in this part of the world and we are still quite a novelty. People like to practise any English they remember from school and we often hear "Hello" from some of the shyer ones after we have passed by. On one of our trips to a large park, an interesting bus and taxi ride away, we walked through the gates trying to decipher the tiny map on the back of the ticket - all in Chinese characters. We weren’t sure whether the young guard on the gate wasn’t too good at English or was very good and had a sense of humour when he said "See you tomorrow." We managed to find our way around and back home in time for that evening’s classes.
Teaching and living here requires a flexible attitude as there are most definitely cultural differences that you need to live with while you are here. Not all will be to your liking. You need to be prepared for the spotlight. I've been on radio once and on TV twice and am constantly stared at. I was invited, physically, to join in some traditional dancing in the park one day. It was great fun and fortunately I was concentrating so hard on following the lady next to me (they'd put me in the front row for some reason) that I didn't notice the huge crowd that had gathered to watch.
My laptop is invaluable and keeps me in touch with my family, friends and Australia. I think I'd be telling a very different story without it. I also left some money with my family so I would feel okay about asking them to send over anything I decided I couldn’t live without once I got here. The first thing I asked for was Blu Tack followed by books. They’ve since become very thoughtful and often send chocolate in various forms.
I've been here for over a year now and have seen and done a fair bit apart from the teaching. I still have things I want to do and know I will miss many of the people I have met but I am starting to look forward to going home to see my family. My experience here has created a desire to travel further and this is a great way to learn about a place and its people, so who knows what lies ahead!
Collette Jonhston - Teach International Graduate
