一。Typical work week
On average, I worked around 16 hours a week teaching 20 different classes of students aged between 13-15 years old. I was one of the lucky ones. Before getting to China, I was told I could be teaching class sizes of up to 60 or 70 with varying degrees of English but I was fortunate enough to only have 20 students per class and only ended up teaching as many as 50 in the last few weeks of my final semester. Classes were spread across the working week, but often I would get Wednesdays off which was handy to have a little mid-week break to do whatever I wanted. I ended up having my weekly Chinese lessons on this day and it made for a good routine to study and practise until my evening classes. All in all, my teaching time table was pretty well scheduled which gave me a good amount of time to prepare my lessons, pursue other hobbies and not be too tired out by the end of the week.
二。Typical work day
If there's been anything that has made me appreciate my school life more, it's the ability to compare my school experience with that of a typical Chinese student. First classes began at 7:35am sharp and last classes finished at 5:15pm. At least two out of three of my working days began from first lessons and as much as I'd like to complain about such early starts, I never had to teach a full school day and was often finished by around 2pm in the afternoon.
Lessons lasted for 45 minutes with a ten minute break in between. Students had about three "breaks" during the day. Morning break, which began at 10:10 until 10:35, was dedicated to a flag raising ceremony on a Monday, and/ or morning exercise. You might have seen it on TV before, but this is when students launch into a synchronised exercise routine as a form of fitness. It wasn't uncommon for my students to return from morning break a little out of breath.
Lunch began around 11:20am for around an hour. It was strange at first to each lunch so much earlier than normal but considering the early starts, I was almost always really ravenous by this time so I welcomed early lunches. I'd often eat in the school canteen on working days. I was given a teachers meal card which was loaded with a monthly allowance and gave me meals for as little as 10元 (£1). The lunch offering changed on a daily basis and it was always a nice surprise not knowing what we might get on a given day. Here's an example of a school meal I got:
Fish/ Chopped courgette with chicken (?)/ Rice/ Mixed brocolli and cauliflower/ Potato smileys
Potato-bloody-smileys! Of all things I didn't expect to see in China, classic school dinner potato smileys were not one of them! But needless to say, I was always chuffed whenever I walked into the canteen with this on the menu.
After lunch, the kids were always a little more energised which made teaching after such an early start a bit easier. At 3:05pm, students have noon break. For the most part, they were given actual rest time, but often, they'd have to do eye exercises which attempt to improve vision. Luckily, I never had to teach later than 3:05pm so my day was pretty much over by this point. I could return to my room, whack on an episode of Modern Family and unwind.
三。Some differences in education culture
As I said, I really came to appreciate my school life more after being able to compare it to what the average Chinese student has to endure. Breaks during the day was just the tip of the iceberg. I often felt sorry for my students that they didn't have the same opportunities to kick around a football for an hour like the boys I knew from school would during the lunch break, or just sit around with their best friends and just chat like I did at school.
If they weren't doing exercises or eating lunch, my students could most likely be found scribbling away at homework they weren't able to finish or mouthing to themselves passages they were told to memorise for examinations. For them, education did not stop when they left school. My students often told me that on average, they'd stay up until midnight to complete all the homework they had been given during the day. Even on weekends, they weren't given much time to relax and instead would be taking extra classes to get ahead (or to keep up) and get top scores in the class. It's a well-known stereotype that Chinese students are incredibly hard-working and from what I experienced of teaching in China, I can vouch for that. But admittedly, it was a little disheartening when some of my students would come up to me and express their disappointment in that they came only sixth best in the class and really beat themselves up about the silly mistakes they made out of stress and anxiety. I for one was incredibly proud of the vast majority of my students and how far they'd come in terms of oral English compared to when I first met them. But there's only so much you can say to console them.
The reality is that education is really competitive in China. Every student strives to be the best, not just for themselves but also for their parents and families. But with every student aiming for the same thing, it makes it much more difficult to shine and stand out. One thing that I really did like about my classes though was the sense of family. There isn't really such a thing as 'sets' or separating students based on ability in China. It's something that I believe makes a lot of difference in the way you can teach but the sense of family amongst each class means that each student helps to pull one another up when they're falling behind. There's a genuinely strong familial bond amongst students which is really heart-warming to observe and it's perhaps something that's not seen quite as much in the UK education culture. In spite of the competitive nature and need to highly achieve in China, there's still a sense of wanting to help each other out to ensure your family stays together and no man is left behind. Certainly, family is a strong value in Chinese culture and it can be seen in the classroom too.
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