take everything
Tomorrow I start my new job.
I'm teaching the best of the best of Chinese students. The school is affiliated with Beijing University, the #1 school in China, but all of the students are preparing to take the TOEFL to study in America. I'm teaching Speaking and American Culture.
At least I think it is a Beijing U affiliate. These agents are so shady that I can never really know. A former BU student I met at the subway station thought I was getting swindled. But I've already observed some of the students and their English is pretty damned good. I should make it through this gig with all organs intact.
I don't deserve this gig. I don't have a lot of experience. But there is a serious shortage of teachers right now because so many of us had to leave due to visa regulations during the Olympic season, and many are so bitter that they won't be coming back. I am particularly lucky since I got my current visa through the Bangkok consulate, which is extra relaxed. Other teachers who are not so pissed off about having to leave will still have to pay a fuckload of money for dodgy visas or wait another month.
So I'll strike while the iron is hot.
I'm a little intimidated and nervous, but I still remember that eager students are the easiest to teach. Maybe I am underqualified, but when students are self-directed, they barely need any instruction. I prefer to engage students informally and build up to teaching the complicated academic jargon and grammatical nuances after I've gained their trust. Maybe my pedagogical techniques are undeveloped, but I don't think anyone has any doubts about my ability to speak. While it's usually a curse when dealing with beginners and intermediates, I really think these advanced students will really appreciate just how effortlessly I shift between folksy idiomatics and academic language.
If not, I'm fucked. If I can't do this, I'm going to have to shitcan teaching altogether and find a job as an editor. Which I'd like to do eventually anyway. Just not yet.
tl;dr
shorter dando: I got a job I don't deserve. White place, right place. Kiss muh grits.
I'm teaching the best of the best of Chinese students. The school is affiliated with Beijing University, the #1 school in China, but all of the students are preparing to take the TOEFL to study in America. I'm teaching Speaking and American Culture.
At least I think it is a Beijing U affiliate. These agents are so shady that I can never really know. A former BU student I met at the subway station thought I was getting swindled. But I've already observed some of the students and their English is pretty damned good. I should make it through this gig with all organs intact.
I don't deserve this gig. I don't have a lot of experience. But there is a serious shortage of teachers right now because so many of us had to leave due to visa regulations during the Olympic season, and many are so bitter that they won't be coming back. I am particularly lucky since I got my current visa through the Bangkok consulate, which is extra relaxed. Other teachers who are not so pissed off about having to leave will still have to pay a fuckload of money for dodgy visas or wait another month.
So I'll strike while the iron is hot.
I'm a little intimidated and nervous, but I still remember that eager students are the easiest to teach. Maybe I am underqualified, but when students are self-directed, they barely need any instruction. I prefer to engage students informally and build up to teaching the complicated academic jargon and grammatical nuances after I've gained their trust. Maybe my pedagogical techniques are undeveloped, but I don't think anyone has any doubts about my ability to speak. While it's usually a curse when dealing with beginners and intermediates, I really think these advanced students will really appreciate just how effortlessly I shift between folksy idiomatics and academic language.
If not, I'm fucked. If I can't do this, I'm going to have to shitcan teaching altogether and find a job as an editor. Which I'd like to do eventually anyway. Just not yet.
tl;dr
shorter dando: I got a job I don't deserve. White place, right place. Kiss muh grits.