Memories of Teaching Abroad

As a student who is currently studying TESOL, teaching English abroad was one of the objectives that I yearned to pursue. Originally, I aspired to teach English in South Korea. But, I was totally content with the option to teach in China instead. This summer, I was finally given the blessed opportunity to achieve that goal. For three weeks, I along with two groups of students from the same university that I attend were going to be English teachers at Jinhua Foreign Language School. Located in the Zhejiang Province in eastern China, the city of Jinhua is a lower-tier city that is recognized for its dry-cured ham and agricultural resources. It is not necessarily as populous and well-known as its neighboring cities such as Beijing, Nanjing, and Shanghai. However, the city and its school were more than friendly and welcoming to these groups of foreign teachers that they have never met or seen before.

On the day of our departure, I began experiencing feelings of anxiety and doubt.

"Am I really going to China to teach?"

"What if my lesson plans are unsuccessful?"

"I'm going to be away from home for so long..."

These types of concerns and questions kept running through my mind. To be honest, I had difficulty sleeping the night before because I was filled with anxiety, doubt, excitement, and worry. All at once. I mean, this could be a natural feeling considering the fact that I had never taught abroad before and that I had never even been to China. It was going to be an unfamiliar area with a different teaching environment along with the aspect of cultural distinction. Prior to our departure, our groups were undergoing training and busily developing fifteen lesson plans for the following three weeks to come. But, since the majority of us are education majors, we were generally familiar with the process of creating lesson plans and providing alternatives if things did not go well accordingly. As someone who has changed and switched their academic and career plans numerous times in the past, I was caught in a moment of uncertainty. Will teaching, particularly in the subjects of English or ESL, finally be my calling? I wanted to see if this outer-body experience will create an impact in my life somehow. Having had previous experience working with students from the primary and secondary school levels, I felt a little more secure when we were told that we would be teaching middle school students. It gave me a sense of comfort and relief.

A little glimpse of China's skies from the airport.

We were finally situated in Jinhua and before we began our official tasks in teaching, our tour guides were courteous enough to introduce the city and its surroundings to us. I assumed that as locals, they wanted us to become accustomed and comfortable with Jinhua's environment. Perhaps it was also to stabilize our nerves. Surprisingly, I slept pretty well on the night before our first day. Morning arrives and on the first day of teaching, my teaching partner and I were definitely feeling some butterflies in our stomachs. We were questioning ourselves on why were tense. It wasn't like we were hosting an important presentation where a crowd of people were watching. It was a simple classroom filled with harmless middle school students. Despite this, we planned to create a good first impression. We wanted to be likable and provide informative, but fun lessons that will bring a memorable learning experience for them. In addition, we were prospective teachers hoping to make the education field as our future careers. And this was just the first step in acquiring a taste of what teaching felt like. Walking into our first classroom, the students were friendly, welcoming, and clapped as we entered. They were indeed excited about having these Americans teach them more about the English language for the next three weeks. On a more humorous note, I could feel that their eyes were on me, questioning what type of ethnic Asian I was. (I'll have you know that I was consistently mistaken as a local when I was in China and I must say that it was a hilarious experience.) The students were actually engaged with the lessons, and I underestimated their knowledge of the English language and its structures. Although we did encounter the occasional troublemakers in the classroom, that did not stop my teaching partner and I to continue doing our jobs.

Exterior of Jinhua Foreign Language School

These busy hallways are constantly occupied and display echoes voiced by pupils and teachers.

Spotted a rainbow on campus ~ 🌈

As the days and weeks passed by, the students became more close and comfortable with us. During that time span, there was a special bond that blossomed and developed into emotions of admiration, respect, and trust between the students and us instructors. We would always head towards the school cafeteria for dinner after we completed teaching and more students gradually approached in the hopes of eating with us. In result, we were more than happy to have them join us. A part of the students' learning process and improvement in English was to engage in casual conversations with them. And what better setting to do that than over a meal? While conversing with them, the students were able to comprehend the meaning of several English vocabulary words through auditory processing and memory, along with generating proper sentence structures. They used what they had already learned in their English classes prior to us arriving and teaching them additional words, and incorporated that knowledge into developing English speech with near-fluidity. Another segment of their learning experience was the English corner session. This was a 45-minute long session after the main lessons and it consisted of the teachers having a meaningful conversation in English with the students. We would ask them questions about their family background, personal hobbies, favorite foods, favorite school subjects, and etc. In return, the students would ask similar questions about us as well. In my opinion, the English corner session was my favorite part of the teaching experience because it was more relaxed and it allowed me to know the students on a more personal level.

Our final day with Class 5!

And there, you have it. We were finally done with our three weeks of instruction. Our hard work (and sweat) on providing the resources in the hopes of the students gaining a better understanding of the English language became a success. The fifteenth and final day with our classes was a day filled with happiness and sorrow. Tears were shed, WeChat IDs were exchanged, and gifts were given. It was a bittersweet moment. Interacting with the students on the final day led me to feel as though I did not want to accept that it was actually over. I grew too attached to them. But, I knew that our time to leave had finally arrived. As we began to depart from the school and the city of Jinhua, I could not help but become lost in thought on our train ride back to Shanghai. These students have created a lasting impression on me. Their curiosity, innocence, and their sheer willingness to learn made my teaching experience an appreciative and memorable one. If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would. 💞