By Emma Longman

Teaching can be perhaps a little unnerving for the beginner. You don’t know if the students will like you, and vice versa, and what they expect from you. But like everything else, once you settle into a teaching life overseas or at home, you quickly learn just what different students need and what they want to get out of class.

Using the right activities can bring out the best in your students. But how do you know what games, activities or techniques to use in class? So many students and age groups like different things!

Emma gives some hints of what she learned and shares her experiences, of teaching in China.

“What’s the population of China?” I asked the boy, slowly.
“I know!”
“I know!”
“Me! Me! I know!” the children cried out. I smiled, but ignored their pleas to be picked, only looking at the boy I had asked. He looked back at me,
biting his lip with his bottom teeth and rolling his eyes around the
room.
“Do you know the population of…?”
“Yes, yes, I know!” called the boy excitedly. “T-irty six!” missing his
pronunciation of ‘th-irty, as most Chinese students do.
The other students burst into laughter and the boy looked confusedly about him, not understanding why. As he realized, he smacked his forehead with his hand in frustration, about to speak again.
I put my hand on his desk. “It’s ok, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know,” I said, as gently as I could. I pointed to a little girl at the back of the class. “What’s the
population of China?”
“Er, uh...1.2 billion,” she answered correctly, grinning proudly. She knew
she was right. “Very good!” I turned to the white board, writing 1.2 billion on the
white board – in numbers and in letters so they could understand.

Teaching English in China part two