Lesson Plan: Halloween (Junior Version)

Lesson Level:    Junior                    Duration:  40

Lesson Title:     Halloween

Grammar and Vocabulary

Cowboy, Doctor, Nurse, Witch, Vampire, Clown, Skeleton, Wolfman, Black Cat, Pirate, Devil, Monster, Superhero .

Lesson Objectives

To practice discussion and pronunciation

Materials Required

Printed lyric sheets for the song. (At least enough for one per four students)

A4 size pictures of all the vocabulary items. ¹

 Magnets or tape to put pictures on board

Preparation

Prepare all materials.

Procedure

1

Ask class “What day is it today. (Or What day was it/will it be… if Halloween is near but not actually today.)

They will probably answer “Monday” (or whatever day is the right answer)

Ask “But what about the date?”

Elicit 31^st October. and add to the board.

Ask “Is there anything special about that date?”

Elicit “Halloween” and add to the board.

2

Ask class what we do for Halloween.

Elicit or explain simple Halloween traditions. It doesn’t matter which ones but must include Trick or Treat and Dressing Up.

3

Put class in groups of six.

Tell groups they must dress up to go trick or treating. Each person in the group must dress up as something different.

Give them two minutes to decide what they will dress up as.

Ask a few students around the class for their ideas.

4

Put the pictures on the board one by one and elicit and add the vocabulary items.²

Practice the vocabulary items.

5.

Tell the students we will now sing a song about Halloween.

Hand out the lyric sheets.³

6

You sing a line, the students copy.

Do this for the whole song. (Verses may be omitted if class is overrunning)

7

Ask students to look for words they don’t know in the song.

Explain any new words.

Notes

1. I use cartoons traced onto paper from the internet.

2. I really go overboard for this, howling like a wolf, cackling like a witch, stomping around the room repeating “Brains” for the zombie etc.

3. (Sing to whatever tune you like, just keep it quite slow.)

We’re going out to trick or treat

With all the people in our street

We’re all dressed up in fancy dress

We know our costumes will impress

We’re going out to trick or treat

With all the people in our street

I’m a skeleton made of bones

Hear my moans and hear my groans (Make groaning noises)

I have no flesh as you can see

You can, you see, see right through me.

I’m a skeleton all made of bones

Hear my moans and hear my groans

I’m a wolfman, oh so hairy,

In the moonlight very scary

Hear me roar and hear me growling (make roaring and growling noises)

You can even hear me howling (make loud wolf howl)

I’m a wolfman, oh so hairy,

In the moonlight very scary

I’m a pirate - sword  in my hand

Taking treasure’s all that I planned (Say Arrrrr, like a pirate)

I will make you walk the plank now

Into the water dark and dank now

I’m a pirate - sword  in my hand

Taking treasure’s all that I planned

I’m a vampire, drinking your blood

Hear me whisper, “Give me more blood” (Use stereotypical vampire accent)

But before I can begin

You must invite me to come in

I’m a vampire, drinking your blood

Hear me shouting, “Give me more blood”

I’m a scarecrow who has come alive

I’ll scare you on the count of five

Hear me count, “one two three, four”

On five I’ll shout. “Boo” at your door. (Shout Boo very loud)

I’m a scarecrow who has come alive

I’ll scare you on the count of five

I’m a zombie, I walk slowly

My body is all weak and holey

Hear me saying, “Brains, brains, brains” (use a groaning zombie voice and shuffle towards students)

Then hear me say the same again.

I’m a zombie, I walk slowly

My body is all weak and holey

I’m a witch, with pointy hat

A broomstick and a little cat

Hear me laughing, hear me cackle (Make high-pitched cackling laugh)

Hear my fire burn and crackle

I’m a witch, with pointy hat

A broomstick and a little cat

We’re going out to trick or treat

With all the people in our street

We’re all dressed up in fancy dress

We know our costumes will impress

We’re going out to trick or treat

With all the people in our street

Lesson Plan: The Return of the Aliens

Lesson Plan: The Return of The Aliens

This is a sequel to the junior version of the “Aliens Stole My Family Lesson”

It should be done the following year with classes that have previously seen that lesson.

Lesson Level: Junior 1 and 2 (Grades 7 and 8) Duration: 45 Minutes

Grammar and Vocabulary

Asking and answering questions.

Lesson Objectives

To encourage group discussion.

Materials Required

Photographs of your family members. (Photographs to represent your family members will do but classes respond better to the real thing.)

Magnets.

A cut out spaceship about a ten inches wide.

Preparation

Prepare materials.

Before class draw an alien on the board.¹

Procedure

1

Draw an alien and a spaceship

Ask class if they remember the lesson where the Aliens took my grandmother away.

Elicit everything they can remember about that lesson.

Tell them any details that they have forgotten.

Elicit/describe the words.

Alien/Outer Space/Spaceship/Homeworld

2

Put students in groups of six.

Tell students they will need paper and pen.

Copy this to the board.

Name of Alien Planet:

Names of the Aliens:

On my planet we eat:

On my planet we like to:

On my planet we play:

On my planet the weather is:

We took Bob’s family because:

On my planet we have:

On my planet we don’t have:

This is what we look like:

Get each group of students to make a copy of the table on the board.

Fill it in (in a different colour) – either with details of Earth or with details made up for another planet. Ides for this can be elicited from the class.

3.

Each group completes a table of their details.

4.

When complete demonstrate asking questions by asking for one question to each group.

Choose one person from each group.

Send chosen person to another group with BLANK paper. The paper with the created details stays with the original group.

5.

In the new group the visitor finds out as much information as he can and writes it down.

6.

Return students to original group and give time to share the information.

7. Ball toss to ask students about their own group and about the group they interviewed.

8. Extension Activity

Write these questions on the board.

Would you like to live with the aliens?

Why?

Do you think the aliens like Earth/China?

Why?

If you want to show the aliens around Yangshuo, what will you show them?

Give groups 2 minutes thinking time then ask the questions using ball toss to select students to answer.

Lesson Plan: About Yangshuo - No Book/No Handout Version

Lesson Level: Senior 2 Duration: 40 Minutes

Lesson Title:

About Yangshuo (No Book Version)

(See Note 1)

Grammar and Vocabulary

Asking for and giving information about tourist sites.

Vocabulary relating to Tourist sites in and around Yangshuo

Lesson Objectives

Students will be able to take part in dialogues about tourism in Yangshuo.

Materials Required

Ideally students will have access to the book “Travelling Around Yangshuo”, Module 1. If this is not available similar texts and dialogues may be substituted.²

Preparation

None

Procedure

1

Write lesson title “About Yangshuo” on board.

Put students into groups of four to six.

2

Write instructions on board.

I am a tourist in Yangshuo.

What can I see and do here.

You have one minute to write as many ideas as you can.

Groups write their ideas.

3

While groups write their ideas, check quickly that all groups are working.

Clear board.

When time is up ask each group for one idea and make list on the board.

When every group has been asked, check if anyone has ideas not on the board.

Toss ball from student to student and ask questions about the items on the board.

Where is that?

How can I get there?

Where can I do that?

Is it expensive?

etc.

4

Write the following words on the board and elicit and write some definitions.

picturesque

fantastic

vacation

delightful

elicit more words that can be used to describe a place you like and add them to the board with definitions.

5

Write the dialogue opening on the board (two colours.)

6.

Choose two students to read the dialogue out loud.

Check class understanding.

7

Write instructions on the board,

Each group add more to the dialogue.

The tourist (B) must ask questions about things to see and do.

The local person (A) must give the tourist ideas.

Write AT LEAST five more sentences each for the tourist and the local person.

8

Students create own dialogues.

Monitor and assist as necessary.

When students have all completed their dialogues choose a group to stand up and read.

Repeat for several groups.

9.

Tell students they must prepare a short piece to be shown on a local television program explaining why they think people should visit Yangshuo.

They should include some information about the things you can see and do here and about the best time to come.

It should last for about one minute.

Monitor and assist as students prepare pieces.

10

Choose one or more groups to stand up and deliver their piece to the class.

11

EXTENSION TASK

Tell students where your home city is (Birmingham for me)

Tell each group to think of three questions they would ask you if they came to visit your city.

Ask each group in turn for their questions and answer them.

Notes

1.

This lesson has been designed specifically for Yangshuo Middle School. This version can be used without the textbook It could be adapted for other locations.

2.

Dialogue

A: Hi, isn't it a lovely day, today?

B: Yes. It's a beautiful day.

A: Do you live around here or are you visiting?

B: I'm on vacation from England.

A: That's cool. Is this your first visit to Yangshuo?

B: Yes. It's actually my first time in China. I've been looking forward to it.

A: Do you have any plans for what you would like to see and do?

B: I don't know. There is so much in the guidebook, it's hard to choose.

A: Can I help you?

B: That would be great! What do you recommend?

Lesson Plan: A Game Show Win (Language Quiz Version)

Lesson Level:    All                   Duration:  40 Minutes

Lesson Title:     A Game Show Win

Grammar and Vocabulary

As used in the quiz grid for the first section of the lesson.

Lesson Objectives

Students will answer language questions to win “cash” and then discuss as groups how they will spend it.

Students will understand what “charity” means and be able to decide which kind of charity they would like to support.

Materials Required

A prepared Quiz Grid – see notes

Preparation

Write Game Show on board

Procedure

1

Put Class into groups (No more than 12 Groups

Draw a five by five grid on the board

Label the columns with the category names and the rows a s “Very Easy, Easy, Medium, Hard, Very Hard”

Write nothing in the grid.

OR label the rows with amounts of money to win (100,1000, 10000, 50000, 100000)

Write extra instructions.

“Choose a topic and a level.

Harder Questions are worth more money than easier questions”

2

Play the game,

In turn, each group chooses a square on the board.

Ask the group the question.

If they answer correctly write the group number in the square and the amount of money won.

If they answer incorrectly write nothing in the square.

Go round the groups twice.

Check results and see which groups have won most money.

If any groups have one no money allocate them 100.

Tell groups the money they have won in Yuan. (Note Grid can be in Yuan, Pounds or Dollars – the sample grid in the notes is in pounds.)

3

Clear the grid but leave the group numbers and cash values.

Write on board.

Each group

            Look at the money you have won.

            Discuss how you will spend it.

            Will you buy things for yourself?

            Will you buy things for other people?

            Will you give any money to charity? Which charity?

You have five minutes.

4

Get feedback from the groups.

5.

Tell groups that they have won one million yuan.

Tell groups to repeat the discussion.

Add the question.

Does winning so much change the way you want to spend your money?

6

Feedback from groups.

Notes

This version of the grid is based on grammar and vocabulary that should be known to Senior 2 (and perhaps Senior 1) classes and is ALL about use of English language.

More general grids can be used if required. (See alternate version of plan)

Write a copy of the grid in your lesson plan. Your copy should include in each section the question, the answer and a cash value for a correct answer.

Quiz Grid

Pounds	Grammar	Definitions	Pronunciation	Spelling	Use a word
100	1	2	3	4	5
1000	6	7	8	9	10
10000	11	12	13	14	15
50000	16	17	18	19	20
100000	21	22	23	24	25

Grammar Questions

Find and correct the mistake(s) in this sentence:

1.         The boys are play in the park. (1 mistake)

6.         The girl breaked the window with the ball. (2 mistakes)

11.       Next year I will going to visiting my family in England.  (2 mistakes)

16        The red, fast car drived along the narrow street at a dangerously speed. (3 mistakes)

21.       In the corner of the street where I used to lived their was a oak tree. (4 mistakes)

Definitions

Explain the meaning of the following word:

2.         Sad

7.         Comfortable

12.       Gorilla

17.       Perfect

22.       Regret

Pronunciation

As a group decide how to pronounce this word. The whole group must say it properly to win.

3.         Beautiful

8.         Suit

13        Rhythm

18.       Yacht

23.       Sphinx

Spelling

I will give you a word. You must simply spell it correctly.

4.         Beauty Beaty Bueaty Bauety

9          Tried Tired Tierd Tide

14        Lite Lighte Light Litgh

19.       Imposible Inposible Imposible Impossible

24.       Gittarist Gitarist Guitarist Guitarrist

Use in a Sentence

5.         Happiness

10        Succeed

15        Complete

20        Rewarded

25        Misunderstood

Lesson Plan: Chinese and English Schools (Very Easy Version)

Lesson Level:   Junior    1                 Duration:  40 Minutes

Lesson Title:     UK Schools and Chinese Schools (Very Easy Version)

(Non-UK teachers should go through the material carefully and adapt the sections on their schools according to their countries' practices.)

Grammar and Vocabulary

(words associated with feelings)

Surprised, nervous, comfortable, relaxed. Helpful, exciting, boring, 

Lesson Objectives

Students will learn words associated with feelings.

Students will be able to understand and discuss differences between UK schools and Chinese schools.

Materials Required

Text to read to class (see notes)

Preparation

Prepare enough copies of the text to give one copy to each group of four students. Plus one for the teacher.

Procedure

1

Write lesson title on board – “School in England and China”

Ask students if they like school.

2

Put students into groups.

Write instructions on the board

            Listen to the teacher.

            Read as you listen.

            Find words about how Bob and Ray feel.

3

Write on board “Shout ‘STOP’” when you hear a word about feelings.

Demonstrate reading and shouting STOP.

Read the text to the class.

Write the feelings words on the board as you go.

4

Write these questions on the board.

Who did Bob call?

Was he surprised to hear from Bob?

How did Bob feel in his first class?

How does he feel now?

How does his brother feel about England?

Why doesn't he want to go to China?

Read the text again.

Elicit the answers.

5.

Write these questions on the board one at a time.

As you write them  elicit answers from the class and write them in a different colour.

In China…

            What time does school start in the morning?

            What time does school end in the morning?

            What time does school start in the afternoon?

            What time does school finish?

            How much homework do you have each day?

            How many days do you go to school?

            What do students eat for lunch?

            What languages do students learn?

            How many students are in a class?

                       

When writing answers make sure there is a little space left on board to write instructions for last activity.

7

(Extension activity.)

Write instruction on board.

“In your groups, answer these questions.

            Which country’s school do you think is better?

            Why?

            Would you like to go to school in the UK?

            Why?

          

Give students almost all the remaining time to discuss. Monitor and assist the discussions.

Allow final minutes of lesson to ask class their opinions.

Notes

1

When I came to China I telephoned my brother.

He was surprised to hear from me.

He asked me if I liked China.

I told him it is great. I was nervous at first. It is very different to England.

I told him that there are lots of students in my class. More than fifty.

He was surprised about that too.

I told him that now I feel comfortable and relaxed. The students are all great. And the teachers are all very kind and helpful.

He asked me if I enjoy it.

I said “Yes, of course. What about England?”

He said it is boring. The same food, the same weather, the same job. Everything is always the same.

I asked him to come to China to teach but he said “No. It is too exciting.” He likes things to be boring.

Surprised – something you didn’t know would happen

Nervous – not sure of yourself

Comfortable – feeling calm and good about yourself

Relaxed – not worrying about anything

Helpful – wants to help people

Exciting – something interesting that makes you very happy

Boring – not exciting

Buckland Weekly #27: Now that the training wheels are off

As always, this post is the opinion of the Author only and should not be taken as representing any official company policy.

The orientations are over then. Another group of teachers is scattered to the far corners of China. Another group of teachers will be about to face a class of Chinese students for the first time. All of them did pretty well in their demonstration lessons but, of course, teaching a thirty minute demonstration to nine students is a little different to getting right into the spirit of school life with twenty or so classes of fifty or sixty students. So I thought this might be a good  time, to round up some of the more common issues that teachers have when they walk into that first classroom. Some people may recognize some of these things from their feedback but none of them are unique – whatever issues come up, I’ve seen before and every teacher has experienced them. And you will probably come up against them again.

So let’s get started.

The number one issue that affects almost every teacher I have ever seen is speed. Of course there are issues around clarity and diction and accent but speed is the killer. No matter how clearly you speak, no matter how precise and accurate your diction is, no matter that you have the perfect accent – if you speak too quickly your students will have trouble understanding you. The braver students may ask you to speak more slowly but most of them will sit in silence not understanding you. It’s easy to start off slowly, intending to keep an even, understandable speed. It’s easy to start off that way but hard to maintain it through the lesson. Try to keep a slow, even tone and if you notice yourself speeding up, or more likely notice the class’s eyes glazing over – take a deep breath and slow down.

While we are talking about talking, let’s take a look at those other points, clarity, diction and accent. Let’s start in the middle – with diction. Assuming you have managed to keep your speed OK the other important factor is to enunciate your words properly. This isn’t the same as pronouncing them properly – that’s a feature of your accent which I’ll mention later. In normal speech, when we talk to our friends, words are run together – ‘wordsruntogether’ – which is fine for us as we are “programmed” to hear our native language that way. When talking to the students try to make sure that each word is separately spoken – that doesn’t mean leaving exaggerated gaps – you should still try to maintain a normal rhythm to your speech –  just make sure each word is audible. And that of course brings us to clarity. This is more than just a matter of diction – it encompasses the whole thing – choice of words, pronunciation of words, structure of your sentences, diction, speed, repetition. What you say needs to be understandable within the limits of the students existing knowledge. So no matter how slow or how well enunciated if you say, “And now I would like you to modify the sentences by the addition of appropriate adjectives and adverbs”, they aren’t going to do it. They won’t understand. Think about what it means and what you actually want them to do. “Add some describing words. Like this…” followed by a clear example, is the way to go. It doesn’t matter what level the class is or what level the task is, the instructions should be delivered in the lowest level you can possibly manage so that every student has a chance. Remember in a typical Chinese class there will be a full range of previous knowledge and experience from students who can hold a conversation in English to students who can’t answer “What is your name?” Your instructions should NEVER be given in language that is at a higher level than the task itself.

And so that brings me to accent. There is an earlier post on the subject that goes into detail so I won’t repeat it here. I’ll just restrict it to the advice that you should be aware that you have an accent. For example outside the Southern states the words “y’all” and “y’alls” are definitely non-standard. That doesn’t mean they are wrong if they are part of your native dialect but schools prefer standard English to be taught. My own dialect includes words like “bostin”, “bist” and “bay”, and exchanges like “Them bay bays, bin em?” “Ar, them bin bays bay em”¹ which are damned near to incomprehensible to anyone born twenty miles from Wolverhampton.

My favourite example of non-standard grammar is the use of the word “while” which in certain parts of England is used to mean “until” rather than “during”. This could cause problems with the sentence “Wait while the lights are red, then go.”

Be aware of your accent and try to moderate your use of dialect words and structures.

Enough about your speaking. Let’s look at some issues that come up time and time again regarding lesson plans. In the training I try to make two things clear about the plans. First I try to get across that the lesson plan is your document, that you should write it in a way that helps you with your lessons. It isn’t the school’s document² to be done to some predefined format that you will be in trouble for not following. It is there so that you don’t forget things and your lessons go smoothly.

The second thing is that I have been teaching for almost twenty years now³  and I still write plans for every lesson and I still include everything on them that I think will help me. As a new teacher you should include as much detail as you can. You are going to write instructions on the board? Write them on the plan first. There is a list of essential vocabulary? Write it - WITH the definitions you will give – on the plan. There are things you think might go wrong? Write how you will deal with them on the plan.

As time goes by and you get more practiced at it you can get away with writing just keyword prompts for yourself but you will always want to have the plan.

When you are making those plans think about the practicality of the tasks. If you are intending to do a word search as a warm up then think about how you will show the answers. Will you try to write the word search grid on the board? To write a 15x15 grid of letters on the board so that the columns and rows line up and everything is legible is more difficult than you think and takes a lot longer than you think it will. If you are doing it on a poster then you can’t let students come and mark the answers or you will need to make a copy for every class.

If you are going to generate your vocabulary with one of the hundred possible variations on Hangman then make a list of the specific words you will use. And make sure you can spell them.

Another common planning related problem in the demonstration lessons – every year – is planning too much or too little work and then failing to monitor the time accurately. There is little to be done about planning too much. You will fix that with practice. You can do something about planning to little. Always think of an extension activity that you can do if the students get through the planned work faster than anticipated. And⁴ try to make sure that it’s an open activity than can be used if you have two minutes spare or ten minutes spare.

While you are delivering the lesson keep a close eye on the time. Don’t be forever looking at your watch but do try to make sure you know where you are in the lesson and shorten or extend activities accordingly.

Let’s finish by going back to talking and looking at the easiest one to fix – volume. You may find that, like me, you can easily speak loud enough for everyone to hear. If you can, that’s good, but if you can’t, don’t panic. Talk with someone in the office and get one of the microphone/speaker sets that teachers here commonly use. Just remember to turn it off while you walk around monitoring individuals and groups so that every correction that you make and every bit of assistance you give isn’t broadcast to the whole class – embarrassing the student in question and distracting everyone else.

And, of course, if other questions come up, contact me and I’ll do my best to offer some advice.

1. bostin = very good, bist = are, bay=aren’t

“Them bay bays, bin em?” = “Those are not bay windows⁵, are they?”

“Ar, them bin bay windows, bey em?” = “Yes, they are bay windows, aren’t they?”

2. If you ever teach back home it will be the school’s document, or worse yet the Government’s document and will be in a proscribed and unvarying format but here it’s yours and yours alone.

3 And typing that sentence made me feel old, given that I’d already had another twenty year career before I became a teacher.

4. For any picky grammarians, don’t let anyone tell you that you can't start a sentence with “And”. If it’s good enough for Shakespeare, Dickens and the Bible, it’s good enough for me.

5. “Bay windows” are the sort that protrude from the house. I have no idea what the American term would be.

Buckland Weekly #26: If this ISN'T Kansas, where the hell is it?

As always..

opinion of the author...

not to be taken as official...

etc etc etc

Let me tell you about my first few weeks in China. I’d been a visitor to China on several previous trips and thought I had a pretty good idea of the place. That’s why I decided to teach here and not somewhere else.

So, I arrived in Yangshuo a few days before my orientation was due to start. I arrived here but my luggage didn’t. No one had told me that I needed to collect it and recheck it when I changed planes at Guangzhou. Still, no problem. It turned up a couple of days later. Meantime I wandered around the town, relaxed and recovered from my jet-lag.

It’s a nice place for a bit of a holiday but it’s very deceptive. It isn’t really much like anywhere else in China. There are hundreds of places to get western food, western beer and western conversation with the tourists who, at this time of year, seem to outnumber the locals. It’s easy.

Then we did the orientation which, because I was already a trained and experienced teacher in the UK was also easy.

Then we were allocated our cities and schools.

When that happens, unless it’s a school that Buckland is dealing with for the first time, you should see a write-up about it from the teacher who was previously there. I was allocated a school in Baiyin and the write-up made the place sound horrible. The previous teacher clearly hadn’t enjoyed it.

I loved the place. There were only five foreigners in the whole city – three of them working for Buckland – and almost no one spoke much English. It was dry and dusty and industrial. And I loved it. At the end of my first year there I didn’t take much persuading to stay. I only left at the end of three years because they city authorities had decided not have any more foreign teachers. I had found it friendly, and comfortable and I’d settled into a very nice way of life.

But the previous teacher hadn’t liked it, and I know other teachers who were sent there who grew to hate it passionately. So, how come there can be such a difference?  It is after all the same place. How can one person feel that they have, somehow, been cheated, while another thinks they have been given a perfect position?

First, let’s digress for a moment and talk about Chinese geography.

One thing that might cause confusion is that some of the terminology may be being used in ways that are different to the ways you have previously used them and that can lead to you thinking you have been misled. Let’s try to clear that up.

The country is divided into Provinces. (Some of them are not called Provinces, but that’s just for political reasons).

Below Provinces there is what is called the Prefecture level consisting of large cities. “City” is one of the words that may not be being used as you think it is. Cities can be huge administrative divisions encompassing many other smaller cities and counties. For example. Xi’An is a city but if you are thinking of comparing it to London or New York or Sydney then think about this. According to Wikipedia it has, within it, 106 sub-districts, 69 towns, 721 residential communities and 3025 villages. Its metropolitan area is a little over 3,800 square kilometres but its total area is a little under 10,000 square kilometers.

Below that level you have the County level. Counties are smaller than Prefectures but may include county level cities (remember you are already inside a prefecture level city) or various types of district.

Below that there are towns, which may be as big as some cities back home.

And below that there are villages. It can be very confusing. If you are in one of those villages or towns inside a county level city you may also, technically, still be inside the Prefecture level city for that area.

All of this, if not understood can lead you to think that you have been promised one thing and given another. If you are of a cynical turn of mind you might think you have been a bait-and-switch victim. You haven’t. You might find yourself in a city with a different name an hour and a half bus ride away from what you think of as Xi’An but you are still within the boundaries of what is politically designated as Xi’An. This can be a source of confusion if the office thinks “He asked for Xi’An. We placed him in Xi’An.” While the teacher thinks “I asked for Xi’An. This isn’t Xi’An.” AND BOTH OF THEM ARE RIGHT.

I think that kind of thing may be part of the issue with people liking or not liking where they end up teaching. It’s a matter of expectations. If you were expecting to be at the heart of a thriving metropolis with a fascinating multi-cultural night-life and a Starbucks on every corner then you are likely to be disappointed. Most of the schools are in smaller cities where it’s possible there may be a branch of KFC or McDonald’s but far more likely that there won’t be. There will be places to eat, drink and relax but it may not be what you were expecting.

People can sometimes let that disappointment lead to resentment and that’s when they stop noticing all the wonderful and interesting things around them and start seeing negatives everywhere. Other people, especially if they have left those expectations at home, will notice how different it all is but view that as a positive thing, a new experience to be enjoyed for what it is.

Of course, it’s possible that you might genuinely be placed somewhere where there isn’t much to do or many places to go and there isn’t a convenient way to get to anywhere larger for a break. It’s unlikely, but it’s possible that your reasons for disliking a place are perfectly valid but unless there are serious issues it isn’t likely that there is much to be done about it. If that happens you should try to make friends with as many teachers as possible at the school. Find out where they go and what they do to have a social life. They are, after all, in a similar situation to you even if they are local. Don’t wait for them to tell you things, try to be pro-active in asking them and finding things out.

And if it does start to get you down call up your friends in other parts of China or contact me. Talking about it can help. Just try not to let small, solvable problems build on each other until they snowball into a huge resentment.