Teaching in Weifang

I have intentionally written very little about my experience as a teacher in Weifang up to this point. But the nine-day summer camp has come to an end and I have quite a lot to talk about. So get comfy, maybe grab a drink and some crackers, and get ready…

It’s story time.

From the first day of the camp I could tell I was in over my head. I had two classes: the “red” class and the “orange” class. My day began similarly to the class I had in Hainan Village in that I was nervous, the kids were shy, and I had no clue what I was doing. I attempted some simple icebreakers and, again, failed spectacularly. Wow… teaching is incredibly under-appreciated. I butchered a lesson on American Festivals and went home my first night exhausted and rather defeated. We were given a schedule with the topics that we should be teaching each day (colors, festivals, sports, etc.). In general there were two topics a day, which meant that I needed to prepare two lesson plans each day. You can imagine my stress as I attempted to throw together lesson plans every single night in my hotel room. As a nice bonus, the computers in the classroom are not very internet friendly so for quite some time I had a lot of trouble incorporating any kind of media into my lessons. On the bright side of that, I am now very very good at writing and drawing on a chalkboard.

I can say, I don’t have a favorite class. My “red” class was full of talkative kids that refused to sit down and listen. They would act up, work together in creative ways to annoy me, or just refuse to participate all together. I usually left the red class with a headache or a temper. My “orange” class was full of intelligent kids that were eager to learn and full and ready to participate in class. They were comfortable, knowledgeable, and keen to how I felt and reacted to things. I usually left that class with a smile and some pride. I swear I don’t have a favorite class….

My week continued with two topics a day stretched over six periods shared between two classes. Easy enough? Because I didn’t understand this until my second or third day. Just another great example of the communication between the school administrators and the foreign teachers. The overall chaos of the summer camp rang like an alarm bell, hovering over the heads of our foreign teacher group for the entire week. Plans would get made and canceled, we would be told to teach a topic with no warning whatsoever, the lunch times and bus departures changed daily, and no one on Earth could get a straight answer for the life of them. We woke up at 6:30 every morning and did not finish teaching until 5:30 that night. Fortunately, we were allowed a short two-hour break in the day to rest but most of us stayed at the school preparing the lesson plans for the afternoon.

Now, everyone in this group of foreigners is a certified English teacher, so naturally I felt like I was out of place. I had 5 days of teaching experience in the other camp that I was gripping onto in order to sail me through this one. Everyday I felt unprepared and a little less confident. My honest saving grace was a “high energy” classroom. I was teaching second grade and to them, it didn’t matter what or how I taught them, it only mattered that I was excited about teaching it. I began working out elaborate ways to win them over. On a day where “colors” was the topic, I bought frosting and food coloring to allow the kids to mix different colors to make new ones (and then be able to eat the purple, green, and orange frosting). The experiment failed spectacularly but the kids got icing (and cake to put it on) so they didn’t care.

I think it’s also important to note that we were being watched and studied by various Chinese teachers and administrators. Adults would walk in and out of our classes with no shame or respect. They would take pictures and videos of my teaching, furiously write notes on clipboards, and talk with each other in the back of my class. Genuinely frustrating. Now, not only was I insecure about my teaching but I was being watched and scrutinized.

Then one day I met The Headmaster.

The Headmaster was, quite literally, the headmaster of the entire school. There wasn’t a teacher, parent or administrator that had more authority over him. This old son of a bitch could silence an entire room with one word. He carried energy that could tear you down from the inside out. He was almost always silent and would probably cut off his legs before he cracked a smile. He was nasty, in the most jaw-dropping, powerful way. The Headmaster will likely never die (one can only assume he’s been alive since the creation of Earth). I’ve never looked him in the eye but he does know who I am, and let me tell you why.

One day, late in the week, we were told that the last two periods of the day would be blocked off so that the school could take formal pictures of all the classes and students. This was to be done outside. Now, all of us were well aware of the intense heat outside but neglected this fact because we didn’t have to prepare a lesson for two classes. However, this became glaringly apparent as they started taking kids outside. The picture day was instantly rescheduled to the next morning which meant that us teachers had to teach two lessons that we didn’t prepare for… great. As a direct quote from our foreign teacher supervisor, “due to this cancelation, you may do whatever you like in the classroom.” Fantastic!! It was hot, the kids were tired, why not put on a movie? And that’s exactly what I and most of the other teachers did. My class was silent, calm and perfect. There is no desk for the teacher in the classroom so I sat at the back and zoned out into the movie. Then- The Headmaster came.

He opened the door of my classroom and started observing. At this point I was unaware I was doing something wrong so I nodded at him and continued watching. His eyes glowed more and more red as he stood at the door, watching this abomination of teaching take place. I looked up at him again and where the Headmaster once stood, a 6-foot bull getting ready to charge, horns sharp and ready, now took his place. His gaze locked with mine and I instantly stood. Oh no. But instead of me he went for my TA, chewing her out in Chinese in front of my class of students. After 30 seconds of wrestling with a rampaging bull, my TA came over and quietly said, “you must turn these cartoons off.”

Fortunately for me, my inability to speak Chinese acted as a buffer between myself and the wrath of The Headmaster. I felt bad for my TA and immediately took the chastising to heart. I refocused my lesson, filling 35 minutes of class time on the spot. When class was over I returned to the teacher’s office where the foreign teacher supervisor was relaying a message from The Headmaster that “the foreign teachers have lost a passion for teaching, and that no more movies or videos will be allowed to be shown in class.” I single-handedly drained the “passion for teaching” out of all 22 foreign teachers because of this one act. Wow. Just wow.

It only escalated from there. There were numerous (as in 6 or 7, just let that quantity really sink in) separate paragraphs sent out about the situation in our teaching group chats. This eventually led to the supervisor asking each teacher for a list of ‘good points’ or accomplishments about their classroom. This was so the foreign teacher representative had some leverage when she had to answer to The Headmaster the next day. Are you kidding?? So because one kid was watching a video for one class, now all the teachers have to validate their own skill as a professional?? Good lord.

I went on the chat and apologized to everyone, taking full responsibility and explaining that 1) I was just doing was most everyone else was, 2) I have almost no teaching experience whatsoever, and 3) my actions shouldn’t reflect on all of the other great teachers in our group. Can’t say this was a good day for me.

Fortunately, I received a lot of support and advice from my fellow teachers. There wasn’t a single person in our group who wasn’t understanding about the situation. That helped a lot. I got advice and since then my confidence has grown quite a lot. But that day really set me back. Every lesson I had afterwards just didn’t quite feel the same. The days following I had thrice the number of teachers in my room at any given point. The Bull himself even made a few appearances. I felt rather defeated.

The camp closed out and finished with a corny little closing ceremony that was held in each class to showcase what the kids had learned. It included funny songs, mini plays, and speeches. I watched both of my classes from the back and realized how connected I had actually become with my students in just one week. But as the ceremony ended my TA approached me and said “the kids would like to give you a hug.” Hm. Alright sure. This hug included 30 children bear hugging me with every ounce of energy they had in their tiny bodies. And they wouldn’t let go. Every single one of them participating and laughing and smiling- because of me. I handed out hundreds of my signature ‘explosion high-fives’ but the hugs and laughing didn’t end. Almost every parent in the room at this point was recording me and my waistband of tiny humans. we were going on two or three minutes like this. I was laughing but I could’ve easily broken out into tears. Who cares what some old rock has to say about my class, my kids had a freakin blast. I made, however small, an impact on every one of them. That was enough for me.