You know that term, Imposter Syndrome -- when you feel like a phony and you're afraid that somebody is going to call you out at any minute. Excuse me, what are you doing? Do you call yourself an educator? (In China we're actually called foreign experts, fer pete's sake.)
When I was a smart-ass kid in high school it never occurred to me that teachers might doubt themselves or feel discouraged. They were adults, after all. I know better now. Some days, when I'm walking down the stairs after class, the little voice goes off... Do the kids think I'm a fun teacher or am I a figure of fun? Am I actually accomplishing anything here? How can I get them to talk more? But while standing in front of the classroom, it's part of my job to look like I know what I'm doing.
You know that term, Imposter Syndrome -- when you feel like a phony and you're afraid that somebody is going to call you out at any minute. Excuse me, what are you doing? Do you call yourself an educator? (In China we're actually called foreign experts, fer pete's sake.)
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I've written very little about teaching here in China. Mostly that's because I respect my students' privacy but also because the topics of food and travel are more popular for readers of this blog. However, now that I'm in my fourth semester as an ESL teacher, I do have some thoughts to impart and things to confess.... This fourth semester is particularly busy, btw, because our school is supposed to have two native English teachers but the other English teacher abruptly quit three days before school started. I'd tell you all about it, but it would be a violation of my blog ground rule: "no snarking behind someone's back." ...
Here's some pictures to give you an idea of what it's like to live on campus. We live about a three-minute walk away from the academic building where I teach. This is the view from our kitchen window. The mural says "China Dream." There are three dormitory buildings arranged around a courtyard with laundry racks and ping pong tables. Three corner stores, a clinic, a mobile phone store and a photocopy place are also part of this complex. At the beginning of the semester, a lot of students aired out their bedding. None of us have clothes dryers, so we dry our clothes and bedding indoors or out. The students make everything come alive. At the beginning of the semester, they arrive, walking from the front gate with their luggage to their dormitories. Below: The last few weeks have been very pretty, especially as the ornamental cherry trees blossomed. This tree is just past the entrance to our dormitory. Four of my students are posing. A few weeks ago Ross and I cycled down the street to the West Campus to see the cherry trees in bloom there. The West campus is the most picturesque of the three school campuses. It hosts the nursing faculty, among others. All of these trees and plantings have to be looked after -- so there's a small army of maintenance workers around. Below right, a picture from last fall -- some of the ladies using twig rakes to gather up the fallen leaves, collected in large cloth bags. Left: One afternoon we walked out of our place and saw six brides across the street! It turned out to be some of my students from last year, celebrating their impending graduation by dressing up for a group photo as brides. Below: the campus from a 6th floor classroom window on a reasonably pollution-free day, and the dormitory area with the academic building in the background.
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About the author:I blog about my research into Jane Austen and her world, plus a few other interests. Welcome! My earlier posts (prior to June 2017) are about my time as a teacher of ESL in China (just click on "China" in the menu below). More about me here. Categories
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