The New Job

The job situation is very different from what I experienced in Thailand. First, the students. Before, I had been teaching middle school and high school students. Now, I have elementary. They are a lot cuter! The class sizes are much smaller too, which allows me to focus attention and to be sure each student is learning. In Thailand, I struggled to manage class sizes of fifty; in Nanjing, my classes do not get any larger than ten students.

Another major difference and something that will take some time for me to get used to: my job as a substitute for good parenting / discipline instruction for these students. Why, you ask? Allow me to explain a well-documented side effect of the one-child policy. The typical Chinese child grows up at the center of the household where both sets of grandparents live in the same house (or nearby and stay-over for babysitting often). The policy was enacted in 1979 which, when you do the math, means many young adult parents in their late 20s and early 30s were born post-policy, meaning each parent is also an only child. Since many of these families are two generations of no siblings, the young kids today are the apple of the parents and grandparent’s eyes. I mean, the child is both sets of grandparents only grandchild! You better believe that kid is spoiled, always gets attention when they want it, and they run the household. This is so well-understood here that the kids are called “little emperors and empresses,” and this is only said partly tongue-in-cheek. The first few weeks of class are a difficult adjustment period for the students who now have to share the spotlight with other kids, on top of being separated from family. So in addition to teaching English, my role is also to teach good focus habits, manners, and how to deal with not getting their way, all the time. Another difference: since my new company is Western run and a private company, things actually get done and my inputs are well-received. The government school in Thailand was bogged down in paperwork procedures, getting signatures: basically the feared Vogon bureaucrats from “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”

My school, being a private company, is interested in growing and providing our program to more students. My HR manager, Anthony, is in charge of the hiring of new teachers as we grow, as well as arranging their accommodations, guides in the city, and airport pickup. Management has asked me to be in charge of the marketing. I bring in the students so Anthony can hire more teachers! I’m hoping some of my friends in America will be looking into teaching abroad when my school starts hiring (hint, hint).

The Chinese assistant teachers here are wonderful. They are so sweet and helpful. Altogether, there are twelve ladies who help us out in the classroom and around the office. Most of them have just graduated from university and are now working their very first job. So we have some major training to conduct with them, which is at times a shell-shock for the Chinese to be so quickly baptized in the Western fires of the workplace…but they take the on-the-job training in stride and they are improving. This week, I’ll be conducting a sales training course for them. In addition to running the office, producing our teaching materials, helping discipline in class, and everything else the Chinese teachers do, they are always happy to order food for me and the foreigners, since we don’t understand the menus! They show us different options and the food is usually delivered to our building within thirty minutes. What’s more, the Chinese teachers also serve as our friendly tour guides around the city for errands and shopping needs. All in all, I think we have a great team! I must say, this job is a great fit for me.

Here is a picture of one of our colorful classrooms with chef Anthony serving up some delicious options!