Staying with names I was reminded writing the last post of a great student I had who had a terrible time with her name.
I took over a class from the previous senior teacher and one of the girls really disliked me for replacing him. The kids in the class were in their early teens and so were just starting to get a little angsty. When I took over the class the girl's English name was Lucy. A little plain but overall pretty much okay.
After 3 weeks of refusing to speak to me Lucy finally calmed down and decided that maybe i wasn't all that bad. She decided though that now she was old enough to pick a name for herself and that now she had a new teacher it was the perfect time.
The name she settled on was Candy. Now I tried really hard not to groan or to discourage her after all she had only just decided to stop sulking in the corner and talk during class.
The very next week though she came storming into class, walked right up to me and yelled "I hate you" right in my face. Not sure yet what exactly I had done to receive this kind of venom I waited to see what would come next. The T.A. looking a little worried went off to talk to Candy. Sitting in the corner chatting the T.A. suddenly started to laugh.
At this point I was feeling a little hard done by and out of the loop so I set the other kids on a writing task and headed over to see what was up. It turns out that Lucy/Candy was upset because I didn't tell her that Candy was stupid name. Apparently my instinct the week before had been dead wrong.
At this point Lucy vowed once more to change her name but this time she said she would do her research first.
Next week eventually rolled around and in walked Lucy. "So what is your new name?", I asked. "I thinked a long time and I want my name to be Reborn because that is what I am", was the answer. Turns out that when she said she was going to do research she really meant she was going to use a dictionary.
Thinking back on the result of her last odd name choice i tried to explain that maybe she was being a tiny bit too literal, but she wasn't having any of it.
From that point on she became to all but herself "the student formerly known as Lucy". As far as I know she still calls herself Reborn and no-one else in the class ever got the Prince reference.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Thursday, 10 December 2015
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Wandering Misfit: Part 17 ... what's in a name?
I know that I have been jumping around a bit lately and not really following any sort of order. I gets hard to write in any kind of sequence, every time I tell a little bit of the story I get caught up in memories it brings back and tend to get sidetracked.
Because of that I am going to just try and stick to a single theme for each post from now on and avoid the issue of when things happened altogether.
Today I wanted to talk about names. I said before that the T.A.s all had English names tomake it easier on us foreigners. For the same reason every time a new student came into the school they were also given an English name if they hadn't already chosen one.
A lot of the time parents would choose English style names for their kids. Unfortunately this often ended up creating some pretty cringe worthy names. I remember one poor 6 year old boy I had whose mother decided his name should be Seven. Yep, she called her kid a number, should have seen the look on the poor kids face every time someone asked "What's your name and how old are you?".
Some other strange names came into the mix. Because almost all characters in Chinese are made up of a consonant followed by one or more vowels names that end in a vowel sound are very popular. At one point I had 2 Cindys, 2 Lilys and a Candy all in the same class.
Aside from names ending in y or a vowel certain other names are incredibly popular too. For a while I had 7 different students named Angel in only 11 classes (about 100 or so kids). Summer, Sunshine and other similar names are a perennial favourite for girls too.
Boys tend to have a wider array of "acceptable" names but that doesn't stop names like Tom and Harry dominating. Boys are also not immune from the stranger names that evolve, with names like Tiger, Putin and Severus all amongst my former students.
Even the T.A.s come up with the occasional weird moniker, you'd think their knowledge of English would help them know better. Names such as Purple ("because it's my favourite colour") and Coco spring to mind for the girls. Meanwhile the male staff seemed determined to be ridiculed by the foreign teachers picking such wonders as Chicken and Panda.
Overall names and naming were a great past-time and source of amusement for us. That's not to say that some foreign teachers didn't give out some weird names of their own.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Because of that I am going to just try and stick to a single theme for each post from now on and avoid the issue of when things happened altogether.
Today I wanted to talk about names. I said before that the T.A.s all had English names tomake it easier on us foreigners. For the same reason every time a new student came into the school they were also given an English name if they hadn't already chosen one.
A lot of the time parents would choose English style names for their kids. Unfortunately this often ended up creating some pretty cringe worthy names. I remember one poor 6 year old boy I had whose mother decided his name should be Seven. Yep, she called her kid a number, should have seen the look on the poor kids face every time someone asked "What's your name and how old are you?".
Some other strange names came into the mix. Because almost all characters in Chinese are made up of a consonant followed by one or more vowels names that end in a vowel sound are very popular. At one point I had 2 Cindys, 2 Lilys and a Candy all in the same class.
Aside from names ending in y or a vowel certain other names are incredibly popular too. For a while I had 7 different students named Angel in only 11 classes (about 100 or so kids). Summer, Sunshine and other similar names are a perennial favourite for girls too.
Boys tend to have a wider array of "acceptable" names but that doesn't stop names like Tom and Harry dominating. Boys are also not immune from the stranger names that evolve, with names like Tiger, Putin and Severus all amongst my former students.
Even the T.A.s come up with the occasional weird moniker, you'd think their knowledge of English would help them know better. Names such as Purple ("because it's my favourite colour") and Coco spring to mind for the girls. Meanwhile the male staff seemed determined to be ridiculed by the foreign teachers picking such wonders as Chicken and Panda.
Overall names and naming were a great past-time and source of amusement for us. That's not to say that some foreign teachers didn't give out some weird names of their own.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Tuesday, 8 December 2015
Wandering Misfit: Part 16 ... the good
Okay so I've been on a little bit of a downer in the last couple of episodes, but honestly there have been some great moments to my time in China.
Obviously at the top of that list is meeting my beautiful wife, but there are others too. Having days where students thank you sincerely for what you've taught. Getting three years in and suddenly realising that you are just chatting with kids that started off not even knowing colour words. All of these things have been hallelujah moments for me.
Even the little things can make your day. I had one class of very young kids, who I am sure I will talk much more about soon, where every week the parents would bring food for a mini picnic after class. This class was my last for the week and finished up at 8 or 8:30 on a Monday by which point I was usually pretty much over it all. Having the mothers come in with cakes and ice-cream and settle down for another half hour of just drawing and having fun made my week every single time.
It wasn't until I left my first teaching job in Dongying after just over 3 years that I realised just how attached I had become to some of these kids. Despite being their teacher and only seeing most of them once a week I really felt like I was leaving friends. Of course some students I definitely didn't miss but there is always going to be a few like that.
For the most part though by the time I left Dongying I found it really hard to go. All of the staff both foreign and local were great and of my 10 permanent classes I really enjoyed 6 or 7 every week with only one that I always dreaded.
I think here it is also important to talk about the change China made in me. Before I got out there I was a bit of a procrastinator and I hated being the one that had to make the decisions. I was so bad I couldn't even pick from a menu in a restaurant. After nearly five years of being "the boss" in the classroom I feel like I have emerged from that mindset with a whole new attitude for life.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Obviously at the top of that list is meeting my beautiful wife, but there are others too. Having days where students thank you sincerely for what you've taught. Getting three years in and suddenly realising that you are just chatting with kids that started off not even knowing colour words. All of these things have been hallelujah moments for me.
Even the little things can make your day. I had one class of very young kids, who I am sure I will talk much more about soon, where every week the parents would bring food for a mini picnic after class. This class was my last for the week and finished up at 8 or 8:30 on a Monday by which point I was usually pretty much over it all. Having the mothers come in with cakes and ice-cream and settle down for another half hour of just drawing and having fun made my week every single time.
It wasn't until I left my first teaching job in Dongying after just over 3 years that I realised just how attached I had become to some of these kids. Despite being their teacher and only seeing most of them once a week I really felt like I was leaving friends. Of course some students I definitely didn't miss but there is always going to be a few like that.
For the most part though by the time I left Dongying I found it really hard to go. All of the staff both foreign and local were great and of my 10 permanent classes I really enjoyed 6 or 7 every week with only one that I always dreaded.
I think here it is also important to talk about the change China made in me. Before I got out there I was a bit of a procrastinator and I hated being the one that had to make the decisions. I was so bad I couldn't even pick from a menu in a restaurant. After nearly five years of being "the boss" in the classroom I feel like I have emerged from that mindset with a whole new attitude for life.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Monday, 7 December 2015
Wandering Misfit: Part 15 ... a shock to the system
The rest of my classes that first Saturday were not nearly as bad but I still found myself drained and stressed by the end of it. Even after coming from working longer hours I had never been so mentally and physically tired. I have worked as a labourer and as a community staff worker both of which can get pretty intense but apparently running around after little kids still took a greater toll.
Admittedly as time went on I found myself less stressed and less tired by classes and the job became in some ways the easiest I had ever had, but for those first few weeks it was tough. One of the biggest issues even as I became more comfortable was simply keeping up with what was going on in the classroom. When you have up to 18 little kids all running around and you are supposed to keep them all entertained and active for 90 minutes it can get to be a headache.
Now the T.A.s were always a great help but all of our classes especially our younger ones were supposed to be based on TPR (total physical response) methods. That means that the kids need to be running, dancing, singing and playing games along with the simple act of learning a new language.
It is also, to begin with at least, be very frustrating when no one (including the T.A.) understands what you are saying or what you want them to do. Simple games can take forever to set up and demonstrate and when that happens kids get bored fast. Bored kids tend to do things you'd rather they didn't and on it goes.
I feel like I am making this all sound pretty terrible but honestly it really did have it's bright moments and tomorrow I'll try and find a few of those gems rather than go on complaining about how tough it all is :)
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Admittedly as time went on I found myself less stressed and less tired by classes and the job became in some ways the easiest I had ever had, but for those first few weeks it was tough. One of the biggest issues even as I became more comfortable was simply keeping up with what was going on in the classroom. When you have up to 18 little kids all running around and you are supposed to keep them all entertained and active for 90 minutes it can get to be a headache.
Now the T.A.s were always a great help but all of our classes especially our younger ones were supposed to be based on TPR (total physical response) methods. That means that the kids need to be running, dancing, singing and playing games along with the simple act of learning a new language.
It is also, to begin with at least, be very frustrating when no one (including the T.A.) understands what you are saying or what you want them to do. Simple games can take forever to set up and demonstrate and when that happens kids get bored fast. Bored kids tend to do things you'd rather they didn't and on it goes.
I feel like I am making this all sound pretty terrible but honestly it really did have it's bright moments and tomorrow I'll try and find a few of those gems rather than go on complaining about how tough it all is :)
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Sunday, 6 December 2015
Wandering Misfit: Part 14 ... enter the children
So Saturday morning rolled around. We taught most of our classes across the weekend because most of our students had to go to normal schools during the week. My very first class at 8 o'clock was a group of 12 3 and 4 year olds.
At this point I had never really had anything to do with little kids so I really had no idea what I was doing. In they come with their parents. The first few are not too bad they are pretty fidgety but they are pretty young after all. As the next few start to come in though one of the new arrivals starts to cry. Now I don't know about you but even after years of dealing with it I still have trouble with crying children, especially when their parents are sitting in the back of the room watching what I am going to do about it.
Thankfully instead of the usual complement of a single T.A. I had 3 that morning for exactly that reason. Very quickly though all 3 of my T.A.s were tied up with one issue or another. It is amazing how one crying child very quickly leads to a whole class of them.
By now I was simply sitting in a tiny little baby chair up the front of the class waiting and wishing I was pretty much anywhere else. I remember thinking "at least it can't get much worse". You know what they say about thinking things like that though. Right in the middle of the crying and running around screaming Summer walked into the class.
Summer as I said before was a pretty strict and severe kind of person even though she was small she was also pretty tough. I'm not sure what I expected but whatever it was what actually happened wasn't it. Summer took one good look at what was happening, came to the front of the class and stood next to me. The next thing I know she is bellowing orders to the kids to sit down and behave. She started so suddenly and so loudly I have to admit even I jumped a little.
Amazingly all of the kids but one simply stopped. They stopped running around, they stopped screaming and they stopped crying. Slowly but surely all but the original crying girl came and sat in front of Summer and I. From the look on many of their faces I think they were at that point pretty much as surprised as I was.
I've never had a class begin as badly as that since and as much as I felt uncomfortable on that first day I am glad it happened because it taught me a lot about how to handle these kids, things I would keep using for the next 5 years. Don't get me wrong though there was no epiphany here just the start of a very long, very steep learning curve.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
At this point I had never really had anything to do with little kids so I really had no idea what I was doing. In they come with their parents. The first few are not too bad they are pretty fidgety but they are pretty young after all. As the next few start to come in though one of the new arrivals starts to cry. Now I don't know about you but even after years of dealing with it I still have trouble with crying children, especially when their parents are sitting in the back of the room watching what I am going to do about it.
Thankfully instead of the usual complement of a single T.A. I had 3 that morning for exactly that reason. Very quickly though all 3 of my T.A.s were tied up with one issue or another. It is amazing how one crying child very quickly leads to a whole class of them.
By now I was simply sitting in a tiny little baby chair up the front of the class waiting and wishing I was pretty much anywhere else. I remember thinking "at least it can't get much worse". You know what they say about thinking things like that though. Right in the middle of the crying and running around screaming Summer walked into the class.
Summer as I said before was a pretty strict and severe kind of person even though she was small she was also pretty tough. I'm not sure what I expected but whatever it was what actually happened wasn't it. Summer took one good look at what was happening, came to the front of the class and stood next to me. The next thing I know she is bellowing orders to the kids to sit down and behave. She started so suddenly and so loudly I have to admit even I jumped a little.
Amazingly all of the kids but one simply stopped. They stopped running around, they stopped screaming and they stopped crying. Slowly but surely all but the original crying girl came and sat in front of Summer and I. From the look on many of their faces I think they were at that point pretty much as surprised as I was.
I've never had a class begin as badly as that since and as much as I felt uncomfortable on that first day I am glad it happened because it taught me a lot about how to handle these kids, things I would keep using for the next 5 years. Don't get me wrong though there was no epiphany here just the start of a very long, very steep learning curve.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Saturday, 5 December 2015
Wandering Misfit: Part 13 ... whole new kids
So after a couple of weeks of sitting through some of the dullest training I've ever had I was finally deemed ready to be let loose on actual students. I was honestly pretty nervous about this bit because I had never really had much to do with kids and have to say that I had never really liked kids much.
Unfortunately for me I was given a whole schedule worth of new classes. Later on I would come to see this as a massive advantage, having the opportunity to really make these classes my own, but to start with it was a seriously daunting situation.
Most of the students I ended up with were under 10 years old and a whole lot of them had never even seen a real live foreigner never mind been in an English class. I even ended up with some students who had never been in school full stop. My youngest was just 2 years old when I started with them.
Another thing to remember is that none of these children spoke any English at all. It was not like they had a basic knowledge and needed some help. My entire schedule was based on students who knew absolutely no English at all.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Unfortunately for me I was given a whole schedule worth of new classes. Later on I would come to see this as a massive advantage, having the opportunity to really make these classes my own, but to start with it was a seriously daunting situation.
Most of the students I ended up with were under 10 years old and a whole lot of them had never even seen a real live foreigner never mind been in an English class. I even ended up with some students who had never been in school full stop. My youngest was just 2 years old when I started with them.
Another thing to remember is that none of these children spoke any English at all. It was not like they had a basic knowledge and needed some help. My entire schedule was based on students who knew absolutely no English at all.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Friday, 4 December 2015
Wandering Misfit: Part 12 ... careful what you wish for
So at this point I really want to point out that I never had any intention of going to China to find a girlfriend never mind a wife. I will be honest I know a few people that have gone over there with exactly that aim in mind. A word to the wise though, if that is your plan China probably isn't where you want to go, at least not Northern China. Most of the girls (women) I know in Shandong and the North are for example pretty traditional in their outlook.
When I say traditional I mean even to the point that having a date with a guy without a chaperon is pretty much one step away from an engagement. I know this mainly because I, usually with my wife, have been forced to be the chaperon for what usually turns out to be a pretty cringe-worthy dinner.
My "courtship" with my wife was a little less painful than most from what I've seen but I am lucky she has pretty open-minded parents and is herself very open to new ideas and is not tied too strongly to traditions. At some point though I will no doubt write an episode about my wedding which may have been the most bizarre and scariest day of my life.
So, anyway, if you are going to get involved with a girl from China don't say I didn't warn you.
What amazed me most about the way Tony asked me was that he was completely blase about the whole thing. Apparently I needed to be married before I was 30 (that being the point of no return) and seeing as I was in China I might as well find a girlfriend. It wasn't until much later that that eventuality came to pass but again that is a story for another time.
Apologies for digressing we will get back to the story proper next episode.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
When I say traditional I mean even to the point that having a date with a guy without a chaperon is pretty much one step away from an engagement. I know this mainly because I, usually with my wife, have been forced to be the chaperon for what usually turns out to be a pretty cringe-worthy dinner.
My "courtship" with my wife was a little less painful than most from what I've seen but I am lucky she has pretty open-minded parents and is herself very open to new ideas and is not tied too strongly to traditions. At some point though I will no doubt write an episode about my wedding which may have been the most bizarre and scariest day of my life.
So, anyway, if you are going to get involved with a girl from China don't say I didn't warn you.
What amazed me most about the way Tony asked me was that he was completely blase about the whole thing. Apparently I needed to be married before I was 30 (that being the point of no return) and seeing as I was in China I might as well find a girlfriend. It wasn't until much later that that eventuality came to pass but again that is a story for another time.
Apologies for digressing we will get back to the story proper next episode.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Thursday, 3 December 2015
Wandering Misfit: Part 11 ... a strangely prophetic conversation
So Darcy was pretty cool but the training definitely wasn't. I know that my experience at this point was pretty limited but I really wanted to get into the nitty-gritty. What I faced instead were two full weeks of being talked at and watching other people teach.
If you have never had to sit through 90 minutes of watching someone else teach five year olds to say colour words in English then yo just can't understand how unbelievably boring it can be. Honestly staring at a wall for an hour and a half is probably a better option. Trying to keep still and quiet makes it even worse because every little move causes a dozen heads to turn and stare at you breaking the flow of the class.
During these two weeks I went with Tony to various apartments and shopped for bedding and all the other little necessities of life. I really don't remember most of that time, to be honest it is all a kind of blur. One little thing I do remember vividly though, isn't it odd how little bits stick in your mind, is one of the times I went out shopping with Tony.
Wandering through a loud, crowded shopping area called DongDu, with music blaring so loud from some shops the speakers were crackling, Tony suddenly turns to me and asks me "Rory, are you married?". Not really knowing where this was going I shrugged and said no. "How old are you?" was the next question. 25 I answered, still mystified. "You should think about getting married", he said. Being a little shocked I just kept walking. "You know Chinese girls are good, they are good cooks and are good wives", Tony continued.
At the time I was pretty pissed with him not only for messing around in my personal life but also for the way he talked about Chinese girls. Turns out though I did end up marrying a Chinese woman, so despite the sexist remark he turned out to be right in the long run...
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
If you have never had to sit through 90 minutes of watching someone else teach five year olds to say colour words in English then yo just can't understand how unbelievably boring it can be. Honestly staring at a wall for an hour and a half is probably a better option. Trying to keep still and quiet makes it even worse because every little move causes a dozen heads to turn and stare at you breaking the flow of the class.
During these two weeks I went with Tony to various apartments and shopped for bedding and all the other little necessities of life. I really don't remember most of that time, to be honest it is all a kind of blur. One little thing I do remember vividly though, isn't it odd how little bits stick in your mind, is one of the times I went out shopping with Tony.
Wandering through a loud, crowded shopping area called DongDu, with music blaring so loud from some shops the speakers were crackling, Tony suddenly turns to me and asks me "Rory, are you married?". Not really knowing where this was going I shrugged and said no. "How old are you?" was the next question. 25 I answered, still mystified. "You should think about getting married", he said. Being a little shocked I just kept walking. "You know Chinese girls are good, they are good cooks and are good wives", Tony continued.
At the time I was pretty pissed with him not only for messing around in my personal life but also for the way he talked about Chinese girls. Turns out though I did end up marrying a Chinese woman, so despite the sexist remark he turned out to be right in the long run...
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Wednesday, 2 December 2015
Wander Misfit: Part 10 ... the local team
After my conference with Summer it was time for a more formal meet and greet. So off Tony and I went to meet the T.A.s (local Chinese teachers) and the teacher who was going to be giving me my training.
Meeting the T.A.s was an interesting situation to be in, some of them regarded me as just another nuisance while others seemed pretty excited about chatting. At that point all of our T.A.s were women (although they preferred to be called girls) with most of them only a year or two out of university. For the most part their majors were in English although some of them must surely have just scraped in with a pass.
One thing that immediately hit me about them was that they used English names, either names they had chosen or names given to them by former teachers. The use of English names rather than their actual Chinese names in fact was so prevalent that even after 3 years I knew only a handful of them by their real names. They also tended to use their English names when chatting with each other even when the rest of the sentence was in Chinese.
After a flurry of questions about where I was from, how old I was and whether I was married or had kids I settled down to trying to work out who was who. Trying to explain that I have dual nationality was an interesting task. All in all though I was pleasantly surprised by how open and friendly the girls were, especially compared to Summer and Tony.
The next stop was a visit to Darcy. As one of the two senior teachers he would be giving me my ongoing training. I am not even today quite sure how to describe Darcy. Instead I feel it might be best just to tell you my initial impressions and work from there. Darcy was (and still is I presume) a real Australian. What I mean by that is that he had carried both his accent and his love of Aus deep into the heart of China.
The one big thing that hit me almost instantly about him though was the speed at which he spoke. Later I realised that the slowness was a trait developed by talking to children in their second language for a long time. At the moment I met him though it just seemed to make conversations mildly irritating as I waited for him to finish.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Meeting the T.A.s was an interesting situation to be in, some of them regarded me as just another nuisance while others seemed pretty excited about chatting. At that point all of our T.A.s were women (although they preferred to be called girls) with most of them only a year or two out of university. For the most part their majors were in English although some of them must surely have just scraped in with a pass.
One thing that immediately hit me about them was that they used English names, either names they had chosen or names given to them by former teachers. The use of English names rather than their actual Chinese names in fact was so prevalent that even after 3 years I knew only a handful of them by their real names. They also tended to use their English names when chatting with each other even when the rest of the sentence was in Chinese.
After a flurry of questions about where I was from, how old I was and whether I was married or had kids I settled down to trying to work out who was who. Trying to explain that I have dual nationality was an interesting task. All in all though I was pleasantly surprised by how open and friendly the girls were, especially compared to Summer and Tony.
The next stop was a visit to Darcy. As one of the two senior teachers he would be giving me my ongoing training. I am not even today quite sure how to describe Darcy. Instead I feel it might be best just to tell you my initial impressions and work from there. Darcy was (and still is I presume) a real Australian. What I mean by that is that he had carried both his accent and his love of Aus deep into the heart of China.
The one big thing that hit me almost instantly about him though was the speed at which he spoke. Later I realised that the slowness was a trait developed by talking to children in their second language for a long time. At the moment I met him though it just seemed to make conversations mildly irritating as I waited for him to finish.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Tuesday, 1 December 2015
Wandering Misfit: Part 9 ... talking terms
Sitting in Summer's rather cramped little office I was not really sure what to expect. I thought maybe we'd talk pay or that we'd talk work, at this point I had taught but that had been as a flight instructor mainly to rich old men not kids. Instead the conversation started with a warning.
Don't go to bars, don't drink too much and don't do anything bad in front of the parents or kids. It seemed like she was trying hard to cover a long list of problems that had come up with foreigners, and often by the sound of it. I was a little put off by this. I'd never been a heavy drinker and nowadays I am one step from being teetotal,and some of the things I was being explicitly told not to do were things which honestly had never crossed my mind.
After assuring Summer on multiple occasions that I would act like a good boy we came to "the contract". You see all foreign teachers in China, and most of the local ones at training schools like Shane, are required to sign a contract. To be honest the system usually works pretty well, but the do tend to hold you over a barrel when it comes to the fine print.
Looking through the contract a few odd things caught my eye, mainly provisions for what happens if I quit or get fired. Overall though it looked like a reasonable document. I work for a year with them and get ¥7,000RMB a month (roughly £700 or $1,100) in pay on the 15th of every month. A pretty simple bargain. As far as hours go I teach 20 hours a week and do 5 hours of office time to prep for lessons. 20 hours a week sounds cushy after all I'd pulled 50 or 60 hour weeks before.
It wasn't until later that I found out just how intense and tiring those 20 hours could be and how badly the were spread out across the week.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
Don't go to bars, don't drink too much and don't do anything bad in front of the parents or kids. It seemed like she was trying hard to cover a long list of problems that had come up with foreigners, and often by the sound of it. I was a little put off by this. I'd never been a heavy drinker and nowadays I am one step from being teetotal,and some of the things I was being explicitly told not to do were things which honestly had never crossed my mind.
After assuring Summer on multiple occasions that I would act like a good boy we came to "the contract". You see all foreign teachers in China, and most of the local ones at training schools like Shane, are required to sign a contract. To be honest the system usually works pretty well, but the do tend to hold you over a barrel when it comes to the fine print.
Looking through the contract a few odd things caught my eye, mainly provisions for what happens if I quit or get fired. Overall though it looked like a reasonable document. I work for a year with them and get ¥7,000RMB a month (roughly £700 or $1,100) in pay on the 15th of every month. A pretty simple bargain. As far as hours go I teach 20 hours a week and do 5 hours of office time to prep for lessons. 20 hours a week sounds cushy after all I'd pulled 50 or 60 hour weeks before.
It wasn't until later that I found out just how intense and tiring those 20 hours could be and how badly the were spread out across the week.
Rory McDonald is an online marketer and digital entrepreneur, co-founder of the Online Business Expert and passionate blogger.
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