2014-2015
Jenny Forster
"Now that I've been back in the U.S. for a few months it feels a bit like being in Fenyang was a dream. Since I'd been in China before I didn't expect it to be so much different. But being in Fenyang felt like I was really really really in China. I think it's important to realize that we were the only foreigners in the entire city. This meant that there were times when it was really challenging to be there. Still, I learned a lot. I improved my Chinese, I learned that I want to be a teacher, and I just learned a lot about myself in general. My favorite thing about China is the people I met. My students were fabulous, from elementary school to high school. They were just great kids. We also made friends with people around town and other teachers and staff at the schools."
Emily Ness
"Going to Fenyang, I didn't have a good idea of exactly what I would be doing. I had talked a Fenyang teacher before, but I had been more curious in the overall experience than the details. I had assumed it would be similar to my education in America. Needless to say I was shocked the first day I realized most of my classes were 60+ students. That first class is one of the most difficult, stressful, and humbling experiences I have ever had. I thought they would listen to me, because I was their teacher. I thought that would understand me as long as I spoke slowly. I thought that it would be like the English classes I had read about online and in the TEFL course. I was wrong.
While this made teaching class more difficult, in retrospect it also made the good classes even more rewarding. I found if I was lecturing or teaching from the book, my students would quickly zone out. But if I talked about my hometown or high school in America that people would pay attention and even ask questions! Once each term I asked my students what they wanted to learn about, and then I would structure my classes around their interests.
I didn't have access to many of the resources that were described by other TEFL teachers. I was lucky if both my sound and projector were working in all the classrooms. So I became very flexible. I learned that bringing in pictures and magazines had even my shyest students asking for more. Especially with my elementary school students I learned that physical objects were crucial in getting them involved. For the majority of their classes they were asked to sit, listen, and memorize; so bringing an aspect of participation into the classroom was very exciting.
Many of my students were so stressed about all their other classes and memorizing the answers that their teachers wanted. I wanted my class to be a time that they could say something different than me and still be correct. I learned a lot while teaching them and I like to think they learned something too."
Peter Brown
"For 9 months, I was employed as an English teacher but I was called uncle (叔叔) and older brother (大哥) too. I was handsome bro (帅哥) or old outsider (老外). To some, I was the only foreigner they had ever encountered.
My role was not just as an educator; teaching there encompassed so much more than lesson planning. It’s about how teaching there changed me and changed my students. We shared our language, culture, customs, food, and laughter. My students helped me learn about myself. All of my friends and experiences helped me with my patience, my Chinese, my empathy, and my photography. And however frustrating, hopeless, and aggravating it seemed some weeks, I had the privilege then and now of being a bridge to another world. My only hope is that I helped my students find the same power and confidence within themselves."