Still learning lessons after years of teaching

I don't depend entirely on PPT but also use my own style to present and teach. To get educational institutions to embrace this method is probably the hardest thing to do. We all know that children in Chinese schools are overloaded with homework, get very little exercise, learn by rote and are taught to compete ferociously to be the best in their class and in their school.

This competitive streak is obvious even when playing silly word or language games in the classroom. Tantrums and tears when a student loses or fails to complete a game still makes me laugh but is very common.

While I was scouring the web for different ways to teach English I came across an amazing number of innovative and exciting sites that have been very creative in the way they present the lessons.

With the power of the Internet and its ever increasing use I think this will become even more the educational tool of the future. Interactive websites on which you can learn English, pronounce and be tested are becoming more prevalent and will get better and better. Having said that, there is no replacement for a teacher, and what separates a great lesson from a mediocre one is the expertise, quality and passion of the teacher who can guide and even inspire students.

My PP lessons were eventually purchased by the school although they seem to be reluctant to allow unlimited use by my colleagues as yet. In addition to all this creative work in lesson planning I was hired by the school to write new English books for them to replace the Cambridge and Kindergarten books we were using and having our students buy.

This made economic sense and was a good business plan as well as updating the older English style that was evident in the books we used and really isn't the way we speak these days. English is always evolving and teaching students our more modern version is important especially if they travel overseas to further their education or even go just for holidays.

In conclusion, I can say that this “travel job” has become a lot more to me than just work and has changed my lifestyle enormously over a 4-year period. I have never enjoyed a “job” more than this one and while it will never make me rich in money terms it has certainly enriched my life in other ways. Sometimes I dream that I am in a poor, outlying village teaching children English and receiving just food and lodging as payment. Altruistic but not very practical I suppose. The problem for me now is the realization that I, by myself, won't change China, won't teach everybody in my class to speak great English and won't make the enormous impact that I dreamed of making when I landed in Beijing in January 2011. But, like eating an elephant, small bites are best. If you inspire and make a difference to just a few at a time, it might be the start of a ripple, a wave, who knows?

The original blog is at: http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-1001612-29191.html