My So-Called Work Life

“We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why.”

– Stephen King

 

Right now I’m sitting in the Junior 1 English teacher’s office. I’ve just come back from lunch with Kathy one of the teachers here. The office is pretty quiet. A lot of the teachers have their heads down and some have even gone home for a quick nap before their afternoon classes.

Which is just amazing. There is school endorsed napping – on any given day someone will remark that I should be taking a rest.

American high schools, business, actually just all of America please take note and bring back nap time.

I’m not napping now though because I’ve been asked to work on a new lesson plan for next week. Originally, I had planned on doing greetings both formal and colloquial but Mr. Wu has asked that I first focus on phonetics because the other English teachers will be introducing it. As a former linguistics major I am super jazzed about this assignment. Minimal pairs here I come!

 

After writing this overdue blog post of course.

The routine is slowly forming here. I know where to get morning baozi (that is if I wake up early enough), during the weekdays I get lunch in the canteen sit with the other English teachers so that they can practice their language skills and so I can pick up Chinese as well. Then it’s off to teaching, which I love but man is it hard work.

 

Cool Breezes are not a thing.

 

Dry clothes are not a thing.

 

AC is not a thing.

 

Which means teacher Katie should actually be called Teacher Sweaty.

That is not hyperbole.

Yesterday my laminated rules list kept slipping out of my hands just from the overwhelming amount of sweat – sweat that I can’t just wipe off because my pants, shirts etc. are all equally drenched. It’s inescapable.

 

Humidity struggles aside teaching has been great! The students are excited – very excited, which means they talk a lot or can’t help but yell out answers. I’m working on this.

They also have absolutely no concept of personal space. The moment my lecture is done they all run up to the desk asking me questions that can range from “what is your favorite sport” to “do you want a Chinese boyfriend?” I never take offense to anything they say or do though; they are just so clearly interested and excited to learn. Questions we might think of as impolite like “how much money do you make” or “how old are you” are common questions here.

 

Anecdote time. My co-teacher Frank is American but he was born in Africa and so he looks very different from anyone the students have ever seen. Sometimes the students will ask him “why are you so black?” This is something that we in America would see as highly offensive and potentially malicious, but here there are so few foreigners and so little exposure to diversity that the students ask from pure curiosity. He is always really great with them and politely just answers with something along the lines of “why is your skin that color, you don’t know? Well I don’t either, we are just born this way” and they are satisfied and scamper off.

 

The students here certainly would never intentionally be impolite to a teacher. Teachers are highly respected here. In fact, just yesterday was Jiao Shi Jie aka Teacher’s day. The school gave us Hong Bao’s (red envelope’s = gift of money) and the students put on a sweet little show. They sang songs about how they love their teacher’s and put on dance routines. One little girl was giving a speech about her teacher and started to cry while talking about her. That teacher was in the crowd and ran up to give her a hug and help her finish her speech. It was one of the most heart-warming things I’ve ever seen.

Gifts from my students for Teacher’s Day.

 

Education is really important and everyone here knows it. The teachers are very passionate about what they do. They work hard to ensure that their students end up in good high schools around Hunan. It’s been very inspirational for me to simply work near them. I’ve already made some new friends, like Helen for instance. (Everyone gives me their English name, probably a good idea because it’s been a struggle remembering so many names). Helen is a new teacher here but she has been teaching elsewhere for about four years. She is very patient and good-natured and her students are always coming into the office to see her between classes and when that happens she stops what she’s doing and makes time for them.

I absolutely love that. I hope that before the semester is over I can make some of those connections with my own students.

 

Some of my classes can be pretty rowdy and I can see from confused faces in the crowd that not everyone’s English is advanced enough for my class, but these facts do not deter me. I know how beneficial it will be for the students to learn English. Job security and better futures for these students is inextricably linked to their English proficiency. I will continue to push them to speak and to help them as best I can understand the material through a language barrier. These students deserve the same chances afforded wealthier schools and cities and I plan to give it to them.

 

I’m back in the teacher’s office as I am finishing this post. Some of the teachers are quietly working, some are working with students and Mr. Wu is avidly looking for something in his desk. The kids have been let out and I can hear their excited voices as they run around outside on their break. Frank has already left to play basketball with a few of them. I too am back from class, sitting here sweaty but ultimately content. I love this so-called work life of mine.