Mishaps

When I signed on with Language Tree, the placement agency that I work for, there were a couple of reasons why I chose them in particular. Honestly, with my gender, age, and eye color it would be easy to land a position in a Kindergarten in Hong Kong. Working in a higher level of education would require more schooling or experience. But I chose to work with a placement agency because they act as a liaison. Working with the school directly means handling problems directly. And because Chinese culture is sometimes the exact opposite from most western cultures, it’s nice to have a go between. And my middle man is British, not Chinese. So if I have a problem with a school I can talk to a westerner about it in western terms and then he can talk to the school in Chinese terms…something I’m not so good at.

But the main reason I chose this agency is because they offered me part-time positions for the next four months until I sign on full-time in September. Yes, it means a lot of commuting. Yes, it means hopping from school to school every week. And yes, it means working out the bugs.

Since I hadn’t officially taught in a Chinese school, I knew that there would be some initial mishaps. I probably shot myself in the foot by thinking up my own reality. Indeed, there have been many mishaps. Mishaps that I’m grateful for because they are teaching me about Chinese culture. The bonus is that I’m making mistakes at schools that I’m not stuck at for an entire year.

I suppose I’ll start you off with my most recent mishap. It deals with saving face…something I’m not programmed to do. Recently I was teaching at my regular Tuesday/Wednesday school. This school has the best schedule. I get there at 8:45am and leave at 2:00pm. I am allowed an entire hour of free-time at lunch which leaves four hours and fifteen minutes for work. I spend fifteen minutes in the morning greeting children coming through the doors. The other four hours I teach eleven short classes. Jumping from room to room, I end up educating some three hundred kids…all in a days work.

So last Tuesday I was suffering from a bad night’s rest. It also happened to be picture day at school. All of the graduating six-year-olds dress up in white gowns with red bow ties. During my last class of the day the main teacher was not in the room. She was helping with the pictures. I had a Chinese assistant in the classroom who didn’t care that the kids turned into monkeys. I did my best to teach the lesson with no one paying attention. To get everyone involved I made up a game on the spot. These kids didn’t want to listen to the rules. They just wanted to jump around. So I raised my voice and had everyone put their chairs back and sit in their seats. At this point the vice-principal entered the room looking VERY worried. She kept asking me if I was “angry.” I tried to explain that I was not angry but I was trying to help the kids to listen. She had no idea what I was saying. In fact, no one in this Kindergarten speaks much English at all. I reverted to continually explaining that I was “happy.” The bell rang. It was 2:00pm. I went home.

The next time I went to that school I was received like a wounded battle victim. All the teachers went out of their way to say hello to me. (Usually Chinese teachers pretend that I’m not there.) During the morning greetings the Principal made the children stop, bow, and say “good morning Miss Jenny.” During morning exercises the principal explained that every child must bow and say “good morning Miss Jenny.” I’m sure my face was red.

First lesson learned…always save face in class. Let the teacher handle behavior problems.

More mishaps:

to be continued...