I admit I am not good with names.
During my practicum in the Philippines and during my one year teaching stint in China, I didn’t bother remembering the names of all my pupils. Having 50 children in a class and having at least four classes a day made it almost impossible to remember everybody. I believe it is but normal for a teacher who is in similar situation not to remember each pupil in her/his class.
Back in the Philippines, I was able to remember some names and usually they belong to the best and the worst pupils. I don’t play favorites or undesirables but those who stand out in the class i.e.; those who are probably too weird, too smart, too slow, etc. for my taste, usually find a way to my long term memory.
In China, it was simply IMPOSSIBLE. First and foremost, they have Chinese names that are too difficult to pronounce and remember. And if they decided to adopt English names (solely for the English teacher’s benefit or it could also be because they can’t have their Chinese names mispronounced over and over again), be prepared to have five Marys, about seven Johns, nine Adams, and 15 Lucys in the class. Also, I don’t know it if just me or it’s a common phenomena to all foreign teachers in China, but it’s like all Chinese children look alike. Imagine going in a classroom and doubting whether you already had this class or not because you look at their faces and they just look like those who were in your previous class but you are definitely in a different classroom. Get it? This happened to me a lot of times in China.
Here in Austria, not remembering ALL of your pupils’ names is a CRIME. Having a minimal number of pupils in a class, teachers here are sort of expected to remember each pupil—not for life but at least for the whole school year.
The biggest class I have is the one with nine pupils and although I know based from experience—not just with pupils but also with acquaintances— that I am bad with names, I haven’t yet failed to remember my pupils’ names. This could be because of their minimal number but I think the biggest factor there is the fact that kids here look so different from each other. Some have blond hair, some have green eyes, etc. The diversity is just so wide. And also, some names are quite striking for me—Birgit, Chonger, Hani, Karin, Jens (Yens), Walter (Val-ter), Georg (Gay-org). Names like those are not too easy to forget.
True I got this job only after a thorough interview and an intensive training. In a private school in Austria that goes to say something but I still cannot relax. I want to be better in English especially because I am teaching it so I make sure that I do something every day to further improve my English skills. Among these things is reading.
It looks like I am going to get another five groups in addition to the five groups assigned to me last week. That means 10 hours teaching time each week. Not bad. And compared to the 20 hours per week I got back in China, 10 hours should be like a walk in the park.
Honestly speaking I was terrified that the parents won’t like me because I am not an English native speaker and I didn’t learn how to speak English in recognized English speaking countries (like all of my co-teachers).
This morning, I prepared a simple game for one of my classes to help them revise vocabularies they’ve learned last semester. I spent hours in the internet looking for appropriate props but I ended up making my own “Picture Bingo” because although there are a lot of printable bingo games in the internet, I haven’t found the perfect one.
Blogrolling is a great way to create a circle of blogs that are related to your blog. Now, if your blog is about teaching or education (no matter if you have a high PR or not), please add me to your blogroll and I’ll add you to my blogroll too.
Before settling here in Austria, I have told my husband that I doubt it if I could teach here. When he asked me why, I told him it’s because kids will be different and I am different. For sure, I won’t be like the teachers they’re used to and they won’t be like the pupils I am used to. What if they don’t like me or vice versa? I honestly still have doubts but the kind of support I am getting from my love ones gives me a huge encouragement.
I had tried applying for jobs abroad and I was really pleased when I got a job offer to teach in China. Without hesitation, I had accepted it and flew immediately to China. I signed a contract to teach for a year in a middle school somewhere in a third class city near Changhcun, Jilin, China. It was a really tough year but thinking about it now, I am sure that going to China is one of the best decisions I made in my life. It paved my way back to teaching plus I met my husband. Shortly after getting married, I stopped working because the nature of my husband’s work doesn’t allow us to stay in one place long enough for me to teach in a school.
