Co-op Job: July - December 2019
I chose to accept the opportunity to work in China in order to experience Asia for the first time, improve my Mandarin Chinese and get co-op credit at the same time. What I didn't expect was to get so much more out of it and to have my contributions be so greatly appreciated.
Mostly, I was an English teacher for ages 3-14 (kindergarten to grade 8). I gave classes ranging from 25 minutes to 2 hours in length at various schools, covering various subject matter. While most classes focused solely on oral English, my grade 6, 7 and 8 students were working on some reading, analysis and writing as well.
Apart from giving classes, I also handled e-mail correspondences with partners overseas, proposing visiting scholar program partnerships with Canadian universities and aiding in the hiring process of new teachers and teaching assistants.
Furthermore, I planned a Halloween party and Holiday show （see more about the holiday show here) from their beginning planning to their full execution.
The Halloween party was targeted toward students aged 4-10 and was a big success, but the Holiday show was my greatest accomplishment at the company, beyond what was expected. It was tailored to suit the interests and English levels of all of the students involved at the school and through student's presentations and performances of songs, poems, plays and pieces of writing, taught language as well as authentic Western culture. It was an enjoyable cultural emersion experience for students and parents alike.
Finally, I introduced an online platform for scheduling and training purposes in order to facilitate the transition between teachers ending and beginning co-op terms as well as to make the administration system smoother for management and employees alike.
For the event and technological innovations that I worked on at Global Bridge, I was presented an award for outstanding contributions at the end of my work term, an element of recognition of which I am proud and for which I am very grateful. I continue to work for the company occasionally as a Senior Education Consultant training future Canadian and American employees in person or over Skype before their arrival in China.
While the top perk of the job for me was the six months of full Chinese language and culture emersion as well as travel opportunities where I traveled independently or with my roommate who spoke no Chinese whatsoever. My favourite destinations: Beijing and the Great Wall, which I got to visit twice, and Taishan, China's most sacred of the four sacred mountains, which I also visited twice, but only climbed the entirety of when I returned for the second time on my own and climbed it overnight in the middle of winter in the hopes of catching the sunrise at the top! Unfortunately, I got a sea of fog and snow instead, but like the rest of my time in China, it was an unforgettable experience!
Reflective analysis updated September 29th, 2019:
This job allowed me to apply many of the transferable skills I had previously learned from teaching dance, skiing and some ESL, in order to effectively teach English to children living in China. Moreover, it allowed me to experience Chinese culture, practice my cross-cultural communication and develop my knowledge about this country that just three months ago was so foreign to me. Although the teaching aspect of the job was not completely new to me, the company culture and everyday activities in China challenged my ability to adapt to new and changing situations.
In the beginning, the challenge was in identifying what was expected of my classes and teaching results, and what kind of learning was valued in China. I learned that quick and tangible results are favoured here against long term learning alone. However, as someone who believes in the importance of long term improvement and the ability to actually effectively communicate outside of a classroom setting, I had to learn how to satisfy my expectations for myself as well as the expectations of my supervisor, my students and their parents.
Later, once my teaching method had developed and had become second nature, the challenge was keeping things interesting not only for my students, but for myself so that I could remain motivated to do my job effectively. A big part of retaining the students’ interest was keeping up my energy and excitement for English, and therefore showing a good example. In order to do this, I designed Jeopardy games, used many visual aids and made sure that in each class, the students talked more than I did. This preserved my energy while keeping classes engaging for the students and delivering the results that I and the clients were looking for!
Having decided to take a leap of faith and go abroad for my first co-op term, I had a lot to learn from the relocation experience. There are unique challenges involved in adjusting to a different culture and living habits. This included accepting a new standard of cleanliness in public areas, while working hard to make my new home meet my standards. However, the challenge was part of the reason I wanted to come to China. I appreciated the challenge of communication in that I was forced to practice and improve my spoken Mandarin every day. communicating about cultural values and the differences between China and Canada was also an exercise in open-mindedness and understanding. But the most valuable lesson I think I’ve learned here is just how similar people can be in all cultures, and not to let perceived language or cultural barriers stop you from connecting with Earth’s diverse population.