A former professor of mine at Nipissing recently completed something called “Transitions…from Teacher Candidate to Classroom Teacher”. In this he asked a few different teachers about transitions they made with hope of passing advice onto people who were in my shoes three short years ago. Anyway, he asked me to be the “expert” in getting a job abroad. I doubt that I am much of an expert, but apparently I am. Since many of you readers out there are either teachers I thought this could be of service. If not, well I’m not very good at giving updates, so I hope that it sates that need.
Enjoy!
(Questions are in italics, my answers in regular type face)
1. What was involved in securing your employment? Agencies? Paper work? Preparation on your part?
I went through “Search Associates” and I would highly recommend it to anyone out there who may be interested. They helped me organize just about everything. I needed to provide them with copies of my degree and some references (including what I assume to be a good one from Glynn…) and they really took care of the rest.
I went to the job fair in Toronto in February 2008, and there were a host of schools there. They have their openings and you need to go up and talk to them and set up an interview.
The preparation was pretty normal as far as job hunting goes. Look up any vacancies that I could fill, and then do some more research on those schools and locations. I would put them in that order of importance too. Anywhere you go is exotic and holidays only happen a few times a year, but you have to go to work every day.
2. What did you do to distinguish yourself from other candidates who were competing for the position you currently hold?
Well to be honest, I am qualified to teach high school math, so I don’t know how many other candidates there were for my position. But I think that I was able to distinguish myself by highlighting the (non-teaching) experience I had with young people, and I talked about my comfort with technology, which is something that people seem to really want now.
Also, I tried to talk as little about the location as possible. Obviously I was interested in going to China, but I didn’t want to talk about all the holidays that I was planning in my head. I think that good schools want teachers who want to teach and not just want to go on holidays. The school that I am moving to next year was very clear in the interview that they didn’t want “tourists” who would just sign on for a year or two and then leave. So I think that anything that you can do to convince them of that goes along way. This cam be difficult if you are young, unmarried, and have no children, but you need to give it a try.
3. What was the interview process like?
Kind of like speed-dating actually. At the beginning of the Job Fair there was a registration process, where we had to go and find any schools that had vacancies and set up interview times over the weekend. I had to go to their hotel room and talk to them for 30 minutes to an hour. It’s really rather stressful to approach a principal or head of school, and then head to their room and sit on their bed and talk, but its one of those things that you just have to do I guess.
I actually went really overboard and I signed up for nine interviews in one day. I still have no idea how I was able to make semi-coherent sentences in those late interviews.
I have heard more and more schools are doing Skype interviews, but I haven’t tried that yet.
4. Can you tell us a bit about how you were notified that you were the successful candidate for the position?
Actually, it was at the Job Fair. All of the candidates have little mail boxes, and the schools that are interested put either request for follow up interviews or offers in there. Then you have a few days to let them know before they go on to the next recruitment fair. I was offered four different jobs, one in Thailand, one in Turkey, and two in China with about 48 hours to make up my mind. It was pretty stressful, and it involved a lot of phone calls to my mother.
5. Many students wonder what’s involved when you sign your first international teaching contract. Can you speak to that for a moment please?
It really depends on the school. The school that I’m currently at in Suzhou (a small town of 6 million people just outside Shanghai…seriously) didn’t show me the official contract until I arrived in August. I signed a letter of intent and was given all of the relevant information (salary, teaching load, etc.) in a separate document. I didn’t sign anything official until I arrived in China. Looking back that may have been a little foolish but it worked out no problem.
The school that I’m moving to in Guangzhou (a much larger city near Hong Kong) was more on the ball and they gave me the contract to sign in the interview so I feel much more secure now.
6. What kind of support systems were offered to you by your school in China before you entered the classroom?
To be honest, not all that much, I was given a few PDs on the IB curriculum before I entered a class, but most of it was on my own. Thankfully I was surrounded by some pretty great and experienced teachers who talked me through a lot.
6a. It must be difficult getting acclimated to a new culture. Can you speak to this experience please?
I’m glad you asked this question as it’s something that I don’t think that I was fully prepared for. China is a very different place than I grew up in almost every conceivable way. At first the differences were new and exciting and things that I wanted to explore, but after the novelty wore off it became very difficult.
I often wonder just why people do the things that they do, and I have no real outlet to ask them. Also, I find myself missing all sorts of things that I took for granted back home like Tim Horton’s and Hockey Night in Canada. I originally thought that I would never miss those things, but I do.
Thankfully though I am not the only one in this situation, most of my friends here are also expats and are either going through the same thing or have before. We rely on one another a lot to take car of each other on these things, and I don’t know how I would be able to cope without them somedays.
7. Can you tell us a bit about your living arrangements in China?
Most International Schools provide accommodation, so that’s not a concern of mine. My current school provides apartments, and I have a three bedroom place all to myself! When I was first shown it I was waiting for a surprise roommate to show up. The school that I’m going to has a housing allowance so I can choose my own apartment that suits me.
8. How is the teaching experience different than teaching in Canada?
It’s hard to say, especially because I have more experience abroad than I do in Canada. But I would say that students here tend to be pretty high end academically, and are also very respectful. Education is very important in Asian cultures and it has actually made being good at school cool. Another one of those cultural things to get used to, I guess.
However it is not without its problems of course. There are certainly some difficult students, both Asian and Western at my school, and also the English language level of many of my students is quite low, which makes things difficult. In many ways I am lucky that I teach math as language abilities are less of a problem, I could not imagine trying to teach history to students who have so much trouble reading and writing in English.
9. How confident were you as you made that transition from teacher candidate to classroom teacher?
In between I guess. I was relatively confident with how I did on practicum, so I think that helped. Some days I felt that I could do this no problem, and other days I thought that I should consider other career options, but so far I’m glad to have stuck it out.
10. In what areas of teaching did you feel very confident about? Why?
I think that I am very good at building a rapport with my students. I do not have too many issues with students who actively dislike me. I am sure that many do it privately or passively, but I suppose that’s to be expected on occasion.
Also, I have improved my understanding of the course content. It had been a while since I studied a lot of the math content that I’m teaching so I forgot a lot of it. But now with a bit of practice it all came back.
11. In what areas of teaching did you not feel as confident? Why?
I think that I have some problems setting up, and sticking to routines. I’m not really the most organized person in the world, and sometimes when I try to establish a classroom routine, I have issues on the follow through.
Also, I am not 100% confident on my ability to effectively use technology. A college of mine told me that if I am going to use technology it either needs to save me time and/or improve student learning. This has really stuck with me, as I found that it was always adding more time to my day and/or gave similar results, so that’s something that I’m really working on now.
12. What kind of preparation goes into starting up a classroom of your own in the summer months before meeting your students?
There was a fair amount of contact with the school in the spring and summer before I started. My head of department told me what I was teaching and gave me advice on what to bring. I really just tried to review the material and bring the necessary things to establish my own classroom.
13. What measures did you undertake to establish a classroom management plan?
Well obviously I just re-read my notes from my time at Nipissing!
But in all seriousness, I just asked other teachers around here for some advice on what they did whenever they say any problems and they gave me all sorts of suggestions. I think it’s important that a school sticks to a plan as a whole to not make good guys and bad guys, so I just kind of went with the flow of what was happening.
14. What classroom management plan do you have in place in China?
Most of my strategies for classroom management come from the rapport I have with my students. I am honest with them, and they tend to respect that. I tell them when I think that they are being rude and when I’m getting frustrated and they tend to respond appropriately.
15. What strategies did you employ to build a positive rapport with your students?
I remember before my first day of practicum that this was my biggest source of stress. I was worried that I would be “too friendly” and students would walk all over me. My father, who has no background in education, said something very profound that has tuck with me ever since. He said “You can never be too friendly, but you can be too familiar”. That has been at the forefront of any strategies that I have used since then. I just try to be myself as much as possible (limiting topics of discussion obviously) and my students really respond to that. If teenagers are good at one thing, it’s spotting a phony.
16. In what ways do you nurture and maintain professional boundaries with your pupils and colleagues? Is there a difference in this regard when teaching in China?
This is actually a very difficult thing to do here. Given that none of the teachers had any friends here before we started, it was natural that we sort of gravitated towards one another. This has lead to some very close friendships forming in a very short time, but the lines often get blurred between colleagues. Whenever I need to speak with my closer friends about official manners I am usually pretty clear (“I am talking to you about a student now…”) so we can both switch on, and then off later.
With students it is very challenging, as a number of them want to be your friend. I have been invited to so many after-prom parties! Obviously it is flattering, but I always tell them “I’m old and weird and I would make a point of embarrassing you”, and that usually keeps them away. This issue is further compounded because there is no real drinking age in China, so it is not uncommon to see students at bars on Friday night. Usually students know to keep their distance, but whenever it has been a problem, it is not very difficult to just leave. Also the line “You need to find cooler bars if old guys like me are there” usually goes a long way.
17. Differentiated instruction is always a concern for teachers. What supports are in place for teachers when planning for students on I.E.P.’s? Is the system the same as it is in Canada?
Actually, there is very littler support here for students on I.E.P.’s. In fact, I have never even been shown an I.E.P. for any of my students here. We do have a few people in charge of ESL issues, who are excellent for offering ideas and support here. Also we hold regular meetings to discuss Students of Concern. Usually these are productive with different teachers giving strategies for specific students.
18. How do you inspire your Chinese students?
Actually, this is something that I should have mentioned earlier. There are no Chinese students allowed at International Schools in China. All of my students are from other countries, with the majority being Korean and Taiwanese. The Chinese Government has a host of Orwellian reasons for this, but it takes a lot of paper work to have Chinese students attend a school with foreigners.
However, to answer your question in general: I am kind of lucky, as I said earlier; education is very highly valued in Asian cultures, especially mathematics. That being said though, I do have several students from Western countries, which seem to be motivated and inspired very differently. It is a very delicate, and difficult balancing act between the rigour that some students crave and the fun and games that gets the other ones involved.
19. What measures/strategies have you undertaken to engage and hook your pupils to get them excited to learn new material?
Like I said earlier, doing well in school is cool here, so finding a hook is less important than it may be elsewhere. But I usually try to find interesting and challenging problems which seem to really get them focused. If I say to my Grade 10 class, that this is a Grade 12 problem then they will usually dig into it.
20. Where do you get your lesson resources?
We have a good collection of resources here at our school, which I poke around through quite often. Also, there is the On-line Curriculum Centre (OCC) which is an area for IB schools to share resources and is an excellent place to look.
- Teaching is a stressful endeavor…how do you deal with the many stressors the job offers?
Well in typical fashion I guess. My friends are an excellent source of stress relief, as I mentioned before, it’s comforting to know that you are not alone. I think it’s important to remember is that teaching is a job, it’s not your life. If you have a bad day, it was just that, a bad day. Not the end of the world.
- What is a typical day look like for you as a teacher in China?
Probably pretty similar to a typical day for a teacher in Canada. I wake up at around 6:30 after hitting the snooze button a few too many times, crawl into the shower, struggle to make breakfast and get ready for the day. One great thing though, is that the school sends buses for all the teachers first thing in the morning to take everyone to school and take you home at 4 or 5. It is a great thing since we can’t exactly drive to work.
- Can you speak to the reporting process (for pupils) in China?
Pretty similar actually. We let out two official report cards with number grades. Also at two other times we issue Progress Reports, these have comments and interim grades. The grades given out are 1-7 and go with the IB Grading system, which is a little different than the percentage system that I was used to, but not too challenging in the end.
- How do you maintain an open dialogue with the parents of your pupils?
That can be a very challenging thing actually. The language barrier that exists between myself and the parents can make things very difficult. We have frequent parent-teacher conferences which are very helpful, however many parents bring translators along, and sometimes its the student that is in your class, since they are the only ones in the family that can speak English.
If there are ever any issues, there are many staff members here who help with translation if needed. They can also call parents if it is required for parents who cannot speak English.
Lastly we have set up a Moodle, which is a classroom management system, that parents have access too. They can easily see what goes on in my class if they are interested.
- Have you been assessed by your administration in China? What was included in this process?
Our school has annual observations. The Principal comes in and watches me teach a lesson and gives feedback afterwards. It has been very non-threatening and helpful for me to improve my practice. They focus on the usual things that we all worry about like classroom management, rapport with the student, and differentiation strategies. Also, we have had other non-official observations by different members of the administration whose aim is to share good practices that they see.
- What are the expectations regarding teacher involvement in extra curricular activities at your school?
That is sort of a strange thing at our school. Last year they tied our involvement with extracurricular activities with our bonus, but this year it was just expected that everyone would get involved and do something. I am not certain if everyone did or did not, but I know that the vast majority of teachers did. I was involved with the High School Play, organizing the school camp, Middle School floor hockey, the student council, lunch time tutoring and a few more things I think. These have usually been the highlights of my time here, and are a lot of fun to be involved and see the students outside of the classroom.
27. Do you have any advice to offer our current teacher candidates who wish to teach internationally? More specifically, can you advise our pupils on such matters as:
a. needed documentation
All that the school needed was copies of my degrees and a valid passport.
b. required immunization
Just the usual I think. Most of China is quite disease free, especially the more urban areas. I would highly recommend that anyone going to go abroad spends a lot of time researching this, you don’t want to take chances with your health.
- passports
In China you are nothing without proper documentation. You need a passport, visa, and work permit to move in, and you need your passport to check into a hotel, so make sure its up to date.
- banking
Every school is different on this. A portion of my salary is deposited into a local Chinese account for usual living expenses, with the rest going into my Canadian account to deal with my Credit Card and Student Loans.
e. travel expenses/reimbursement
The school pays for annual airfare to and from Canada. I can either have them pay for a flight, or book one myself and get reimbursed. It’s just a bit of paper work and not much else.
f. daily living expenses
China is an incredibly cheap place to live. Most groceries, restaurants and taxis are a fraction of the price that they are in Canada. However, some imported good and nice restaurants are similar in price to Canada. So long as you are responsible and willing to try some Chinese brands and restaurants, then this can be a very cheap place to live.
g. safety
The area I live in feels almost too safe! I know that’s kind of strange, but it’s true. I never feel like I am in any danger of any sort of crime. Crossing the street on the other hand can be a whole other story.
But like vaccinations, this is one thing that anyone interested in going abroad needs to research carefully. Do not be afraid to ask a school what they do to ensure your safety if you are moving to a potentially dangerous location.
h. other?
Again I just want to reiterate what I said from the beginning. It is easy to get caught up in the dream of a location, but anywhere can be exciting, even North Bay. If you want to go teach abroad make teaching your first priority. The cool holidays and adventures will come naturally.
Hope it helps!
Until next time,
G
Tags: Asia, china, country counting, math, moving, opinions, Personal, suzhou living, warm fuzzies
