Impressions from the First Week (and a half)

I began my teaching job last Monday and have so far taught 6 classes, 2 hours each. As the first class filed in, I felt that I should be with them sitting in a seat, looking up at the teacher/blackboard expectantly. After being a student for so long, standing in front of a class is a weird experience, especially since I was given no training what-so-ever and just told to teach. Thankfully, one of the other English teachers has been teaching in China for 3 years already and has even more years of ESL teaching experience, so the rest of us (three recent graduates from the US) have been stealing ideas from him.

So far I have taught 4 sections: 3 are made up of sophomores and business English majors while the other one is made up of juniors who study human resource management. This week and next, I add 3 more sections of graduate students. The 3 sections of English majors all have a decently high level of English and have been, for the most part, engaged. I'm actually really looking forward to having interesting discussions with them. The juniors have not taken any English in college, so their level is much lower. The lesson I had planned for this week (geared more towards the higher level students) fell totally flat in today's class of the juniors, so it seems as if I'll have to plan at least two lessons for each week.

However, despite my occasional stumbling through class, there have already been rewarding and amusing moments. When I them in small groups discussing a question, I usually wander around to listen in and help out, and they often have interesting questions. I've already been invited two places by students: a rock concert last saturday (i didnt go because it was too expensive) and a museum this saturday, which i probably will go to. Furthermore, when I told my class of juniors today that I was looking for a Chinese tutor, more than a quarter of the class stayed after to volunteer.

Probably the most amusing moment so far was when I had my first class brainstorming ideas for things they wanted to learn about, one girl wanted to learn how to meet foreign guys. In another class, the boys wanted to learn dating skills. Chinese students are almost always not allowed to date in high school, so when they get to college, they become like American 16 year olds - only interested in sex.