The end of week five marks the halfway point of Pre-Service Training (PST). Weeks four and five were a blur of language and TEFL training in the mornings, with Practicum prep, class, and debrief sessions in the afternoon. After our morning trainings, we would have lunch and then time to prepare to teach our respective classes. Class would begin at 2:30 PM every day and finish at 4:10 PM, with a ten-minute break from 3:15 PM to 3:25 PM. The first day and last day of Practicum was co-taught, the other eight days were taught by individual teachers. I individually taught for three out of the eight days, as I was in a group of three co-teachers, including myself. The overall Practicum class was described as an intensive oral English course, with my class’s focus being on “Career Readiness.” The topics for my lessons were: learning about skills, learning about careers, and understanding the elevator pitch. Due to the nature of Practicum, students volunteered to participate in the course. Many students were from the area, either attending Chengdu University or a school nearby. Advertising for the course was focused on university students, however middle school, high school, and graduate students did attend.
My group of teachers were given a roster of twenty-six students, however on the first day of class five students attended. We found out after class that it was exam week at Chengdu University and that the following week was vacation. Due to a mixture of both, many students ended up being unable to attend class or attended later in the week. At most, eleven students attended one of my classes, at the lowest, two students attended class. On the last day we handed out three certificates to the three students who attended class and successfully completed the final assessment. Myself and my two co-teachers created a final assessment that was a three-minute, individual, class presentation. The presentation would include the student’s strengths, interests and hobbies, and career goals. Thinking on the spot, if students did not present for the full three-minutes, then we, the teachers would ask students questions about what they presented, simulating a job interview, a concept they learned about earlier in the week.
Having this practice opportunity to teach was a great experience as I feel more confident teaching for two years and I learned more about myself as a teacher. Beginning to think about my teaching philosophy, I had practice utilizing different classroom resources, understanding how I speak, and creating different ways to teach students here in China. The past two weeks were not all busy teaching English, we, trainees had sessions dedicated to learning about Chinese holidays and about Chinese weddings. For learning about Chinese holidays, after our Language and Cultural Facilitators (LCFs) presented to us, they brought out food we could try, including moon cakes, Chinese sausage, and an egg that is cooked in a special way. For learning about Chinese weddings, the LCFs put on a mock wedding with the trainees acting out different roles. I got to play the part of the groom’s father. It was a fun experience because it occurred on the Friday of the last day of Practicum. This day was filled with celebration. In the morning we had language class and then the wedding. After the wedding, before lunch, the staff put on a surprise birthday celebration for trainees with summer birthdays, including birthday hats and a cake. The cake had everyone’s Chinese names on it. The afternoon was our last Practicum class with the students and the end of class was filled with handing out certificates and taking pictures.
Finally, one of the top highlights from the past two weeks was meeting up with one of my Holy Cross friends, Mohan, who took me around some sites in Chengdu. We went to a temple, several allies, ate some snacks and cake, and walked a lot. Later in the day we met up with another friend from Holy Cross, Cidre, and ate at a popular hot pot place, went to a huge mall with a big panda on the side, and then went to a popular bubble tea place. In total the places we visited on this one day were: IFS, Swire Road, Chunxi Road, Jinli Street, and Wuhou Temple. It was great seeing a friend from school, meeting a new friend, and seeing many parts of Chengdu all in one day!
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