REMINISCENCES OF ENGLISH TEACHINGS PAST - CHINA

Copyright 2010, TF (teviothome@gmail.com)

I have been teaching for a long time, maybe 50 years off and on. When I came to Asia in 2005, I had never taught English as a Second Language before. I was plunged into teaching adult Chinese engineers and medical professionals. But from the very first class, I realized I really did know how to do the job.

China at that time had amazing internet access to the world (not so much anymore I am told). Having almost no resources in the steel-and-iron factory city where I was stationed, I had no choice but to search the internet for how to teach English for beginners.

There was urgency and importance to the teaching of English. The doctors and nurses in the local hospital were providing Western medical treatments to the best of their abilities. Annually, American doctors from Florida would come over to share the latest in cardiac care. There needed to be correct understanding from both sides. Patients' lives were at stake.

The engineers worked in the dangerous setting of the steel mill. The equipment was provided by the German company, Siemanns. Germans would come to China to instruct the Chinese engineers in the use of the machinery = and both sides would communicate in English. Again, there was a real necessity for precise comprehension on both sides. We would hear periodically of factory workers at the steel mill dying in accidents. Workers' lives were at stake.

For me, it was sink-or-swim. I felt so blessed to have good internet access and to discover the world of English language resources available then. It took every bit of my past teaching experiences in the US and Japan and of my years of theatre work to try to figure out how to teach English in the Gobi Desert of northern China's Inner Mongolia.

I learned a lot! But I realized I did not have the full skill set. 

So on the day after the biggest sandstorm in 20 years hit, I knew I could not continue to stay in Baotou. I knew that I needed more training in TEFL - Teaching English as a Foreign Language. So I went online and found an American-run school in the gorgeous city of Suzhou not far from Shanghai where a few months later I went to do a full diploma. But that's another story...