More than 36 people in China

By Emma Longman

Part two

Next I wrote some country names down and turned back to my young audience.
“I need two –” I held up two fingers “- people,” I said, pointing at them.
They raised their hands.
“Me!”
“Me!
I smiled at their enthusiasm. They always got so excited when I told
them I needed people at the front, because they knew we were about to play a game.
“Let’s see. We’ll have…” I pointed at one boy sitting quietly in the corner, wearing glasses way too big for his eyes – “…you and –” I pointed to a girl at the front “- you!”
They made their way to the front, nervous but smiling.
“You stand there,” I said, indicating the boy to one side of the room “- and you there - ” I directed the girl to stand opposite the boy.
“I want you to run –” I demonstrated the action of running “- when I say a country!” I shouted America, ran to the board and whacked that country name on the board, to show what I meant.
“Ok?”
They nodded their heads, balling their hands into fists and waving them up
and down. “Australia!” I shouted, and they ran to the board, their classmates
cheering them on.
“Well done!” I called, clapping my hands, the kids joining in.
From then on it was all go, as my delightful students shouted over one another to get a turn to run. Of the ones I picked, some ran, and some raced so fast they wound up jumping and slipping over on one another. But that was all part of the fun. Not only were the students were entertained, but the game worked on their country vocabulary and their listening comprehension, too.

Before coming to China, I had no first-hand experience of teaching. I’d had some practice included in the training for my TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) certification. But within the first month of teaching 4-19 year old at a private language school, I soon developed a good grasp of just how to teach a variety of age groups. That’s right – the only way to truly learn is to go
out and do it yourself.

Teaching English in China part three