That went so much better than I thought it would! I'm not saying it was the best class ever taught, nor are they all the best students ever, but I'd been told that freshers are typically shy, don't participate and their English is very poor. I only had one class today, and was more than quite surprised when all the students were on time (early, in fact), smiling and outgoing.
They didn't have English names, which would've been helpful, so I've asked them for homework to choose one before their next class (Sunday - we have classes this weekend to make up lessons missed this holiday) otherwise I'll give them names of Chelsea players. We only did basic things, focussed on introducing yourself to somebody new - which was easy to explain in context - and they all seemed to know it already. This meant that we flew through everything I had prepared, so I spun out some activities that meant they had to get up and move around the class for just a little bit longer than was probably necessary. I think the main task this year is going to be building their confidence and giving them practice, as they've already learnt most of the grammar at High School or with Chinese teachers who teach them English - a bizarre arrangement, they have English classes with a Chinese teachers. When I asked someone (Canadian) why not just have us teach them English twice as much, he told me that half our job is being here for show and we're worth paying for 20hrs/week, but that 40 is an expensive decoration.
So class was good and I think I made a good, if a bit overly energetic, impression. Tomorrow I'll have three classes, one of which is after lunch, with different students, so will simply repeat today's lesson plan three more times. Then on Sunday I can move on to something more complex, for the second round of lessons.
A class is two sets of 50-minutes, with a ten minute break in the middle, 25-30 students to a class. The boys sit on one side, the girls on the other - when I asked them to mingle for one "getting to know each other" activity and gave them ten minutes to collect names and students' hobbies, they sat and giggled for the first three minutes that they would have to talk to each other and shake hands. The girls giggle too when I ask them questions.
All in all, feeling positive. Anna's second lesson today was observed by a suit, which I could live without, but if there is one they'll be introducing themselves to everyone else and drilling out any mistakes.
"My name is... I am 50 years old... I live in Zhengzhou."
In other news, the office have opened a Bank of China account for my wages and Anna and I have made a noticeboard in the foyer of our apartment building for the foreign teachers to post notices if anyone's planning trips into town/ the football/ karaoke/ market/ further afield.
All's well, speak soon xx