Teaching Kids in China (3) - Summer Classes

Teaching Kids in China (3) - Summer Classes
DaqingDevil Jul 25, 2013 13:55

I have one class left to go before the summer break and I must admit I haven’t really enjoyed teaching these two classes every day for 12 days. Without a word of a lie the summer English class enrolment is purely and simply a babysitting exercise. Parents who are working and will not be taking holidays in the summer take the opportunity to push their kids into every conceivable class available.

 

 In the morning class I had 5 girls and 5 boys and only one of the boys was well behaved and not bad at English. All the girls were marvelous and two of them were exceptional in behavior and English. The 4 remaining boys were the kids from hell and I remember one of them, Charles, was such a badly behaved little bugger in the kindergartens I taught at that he warranted a sole teacher, a guard really, to keep an eye on him for the whole class! I groaned aloud when I saw him in my summer class. He was a nightmare and you really have to practice self control not to give him a whack. Usually the naughty kids are the smartest, hence they get bored easily, but not Charlie. His inability to pay attention in English classes over the past I don’t know how many years has left him quite inept and he can’t spell, he can’t read he can’t even repeat! A total class disruption and his daily antics were hardly ever controlled because of a lazy Chinese assistant I had. I couldn’t even bribe this kid with candy, stickers or responsibility. The only way I could get back at him was saying things to him in English that nobody understood but me. It didn’t stop him but at least it made me smile sometimes. The last class this morning I gave out a piece of candy to each student with words like, “Good job,” “Your English is great!” or something nice. When Charlie came up I smiled and said: “I hope I never see you again. Don’t come back.”

 

The afternoon class had 7 students, 3 girls and 4 boys. Again, the girls were a pleasure to teach and one boy Mark was very shy and quiet, so no problem. Then I had Tony and Michael, both of whom might possibly grow up gay. Not to say there is anything wrong with that and if that happens they will probably learn to be a bit more discrete but it was not something I wanted to deal with in these summer classes. Another boy called John (unfortunately the same as my name) was a hitter, that meant he took every opportunity to give you a testicle tap or a tum and bum whack. I hate that so once I wake up to them I get a couple of rib digs in myself to let them know early that there will be retaliation. The Chinese assistant was much better in this class and also helped in these situations.

 

Some of the activities included forming a circle, holding hands and chanting and dancing to the English lesson video clip on the screen. Tony would rush up and grab my hand first. Michael was a bit slower so he would have to fight for a position in the circle. One action I liked to do was sort of bring the circle in close with heads almost touching during the chorus and that’s when Tony made his move by planting a big smooch on my cheek. Holy crap! I was busy avoiding Michael’s puckered lips coming at me from the opposite side so I completely missed that move by Tony. From then on I changed the circle movements whenever possible but I still had to fight Tony off at every opportunity as he was always hugging me, grabbing me around the legs and generally being far too affectionate for my liking. I mean I like the kids and don’t mind giving cuddles and hugs at times but this was a tad bizarre. Michael? Well he liked to cuddle me as well as try to kiss me in the circle and I had doubts about him when he turned up to the 2nd class with his fingers and toes done in red nail polish!

 

Yesterday’s class was about families and it was during this class that I found out that Tony’s dad had died in an accident about 2 years ago. That sort of explained his over affectionate actions towards me possibly as a father figure but I wasn’t going to relent to the extent that he could continue kissing me! In my experience and observations I haven’t seen too many Chinese fathers that give hugs and cuddles to their sons or are outwardly affectionate so maybe that’s a missing emotional aspect to the lives of the kids. Dunno, just a guess.

So another term ends, a summer break and tomorrow the Daqing beer festival followed by a little bit of travel in about 2 weeks’ time!

Tags:General Teaching & Learning Expat Rants & Advice Expat Tales

5 Comments

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Guest810328

I used to be really hardcore about students hitting me. Before I would start a job I would tell the boss of the school that if any student hits me, that I will walk out and take a fifteen minute "break". If the hit was hard enough, I would just go home, and I still required that I would get full pay. If the boss didn't accept, I wouldn't accept the job. Then when I would inevitably get hit, at least I had this little insurance policy. I only got hit hard enough that I left for the day only once, and I took the fifteen minute "break" probably four times in the entire year at my last job. To this day I still have no idea why Chinese children think it is acceptable to hit a teacher. All I can do is assume it's total lack of discipline and self control.

Aug 02, 2013 08:42 Report Abuse

Elaine_Chen

After you back from Daqing, I'd like to be your assistant for free. please add my qq 1015705524. hope to chat with you soon.

Aug 01, 2013 11:42 Report Abuse

jvrosen

hahaha damn. good stuff there.

Jul 31, 2013 14:23 Report Abuse

andybrocks2012

Good story, takes me back.

Jul 27, 2013 13:12 Report Abuse