Teaching in Wuxi

After a brief settling-in period earlier this week, I have now started teaching in class. I had forgotten just how very different teaching in China is compared to teaching at home, but the differences have become glaringly obvious since completing my Masters last year.

Perhaps the most obvious difference is the amount of time I spend in the classroom. . Across the whole day I will generally be in class with the students for 4 hours, but on a typical day here in China, I will spend only 2.5 of those hours actually teaching. 

Jinqiao Bilingual Kindergarten

Here, I am dropped at my school by our driver at 8:30, where I then head straight to my first class to do morning exercises. I love this part of the day, as it is basically just half an hour of playing and dancing with the children. After that I spend the next two and a half hours going from one class to another to teach for 25 minute blocks. By 11:00 am all my day's teaching is finished. I then go back to my original class to help feed them lunch and generally muck about with the earlier finishers. At 11:30 (!) the classes Chinese teacher and I go for a half hour lunch break, before heading back to help prepare the students for their afternoon naps. 

In Chinese kindergartens, all students spend between 12:00 and 2:30 napping. This might seem a little ridiculous, but it's important to note that kindergarten over here starts at age 3, so these children are essentially still babies who need lots of rest. Not only that, they also spend more hours at school than we do in Australia, starting at around 8:00 and finishing around 4:00 or even later.

This two and a half hour break that I now have is what the Chinese teacher's here tell me is time to 'have a rest'. This coming Monday I can use this time to prepare my 5 lessons (1 per day that I will deliver to several different classes) using the outlines, books and CD resources I've been provided with.... The other four days of the week I can pretty much choose to do as I like. Last week I spent this time exploring the local area, going to the Carrefour nearby to suss out the imported food section (Milo yes... Vegemite no), or sitting in KFC drinking tea and reading on my iPad in an effort to stay warm.

Come 2:20 I return to my main class to wake up the students and help them get dressed for about 20 minutes. At which point I then say my goodbyes before heading out to be collected by the driver at 2:40 exactly (where he pointedly looks at his watch if I am a minute late). Done and dusted. This is the sum totally of my working day. 

For this I am paid extremely well; relatively speaking. Per day it equates to AU$75. Not much you might think, but it's actually quite a lot. My contract includes a lot of perks: free furnished accommodation, free WIFI (better and faster connection than I had back home), all utilities are covered, free lunch and dinner, free transport to and from work, health insurance, and full reimbursement for my visa costs and flights. I buy my own breakfast and food on the weekends, pay for my minimal phone bill, but other than that I have no other overheads. The cost of living here is minimal so nearly everything I make is pure profit.. It's a pretty amazing deal. 

The sad thing to consider here is that my salary is dramatically different from that of a local Chinese teacher. Different accounts of pay has led me to believe that full time Chinese teachers receive on average AU$186 per month. It is worth considering however that this is something never openly discussed with foreigners, so I can't say without a doubt this is the exact figure, but I am almost certain that the amount a local, fully qualified, university trained teacher is paid here in China will not be much more than this. 

These kindergarten teachers spend all day with the students, provide them with a full curriculum and virtually raise them from the age of three. They are constantly dealing with excessive workloads, overbearing parents, and an obsession with perfect exam scores. I however, swan in and out, teaching a little here and there but mostly playing with the kids. I do well under a quarter of the work but get paid well over seven times the amount. It would be completely justified for the local teachers here to be resentful towards this lazy, overpaid foreigner, and yet they have never ever made me feel anything but welcome.

So like many other foreign teachers working in China I consider myself lucky, count my money, and try not to feel too guilty about my circumstances.

Jinqiao School

I recently accepted a teaching position in Wuxi and so far I could not be happier with my decision to up and move again. For some time now I have been itching to move again and returning to a country I have an affinity with seemed natural.

After a Valium riddled arrival to Shanghai I was greeted by Ma Chong and was whisked off to Wuxi, a two and a half hour drive from Pu Dong airport. Chong is incredibly lovely with an amazing grasp of English. So far he has been wonderfully helpful, has a great rapport with the other English teachers, and genuinely seems to care about my well being.

Aideen and Eric met me on arrival, despite it being after midnight, and they also were very helpful. They already had a package of information for me to keep (including our address written in Chinese, a hand drawn map of how to get to the shops,and a list of their phone numbers). 

I'm already beginning to notice great differences between here and Wuhan. The community I am living is appears to be much more affluent, the streets are lined with beautifully manicured gardens, and I am not being stared at anywhere near as much. 

The wealth in this area is apparent in a few different ways. The most obvious ways are, such as the previously mentioned gardens and the beautiful new cars everywhere. I was chauffeured home from the airport in a brand new Audi and driven to the supermarket today in a near new Peugeot. 

Another way it expresses itself, is through its construction. Like all areas of China, the development of high-rise apartments and huge state of the art shopping malls are evident everywhere. The significant difference I can see is that temporary homes are built for the migrant workers.

An example of temporary housing that
 can be seen from our kitchen window.

China has a huge transitory worker population, mostly coming from impoverished regions to go to more urban and prosperous coastal regions in search of work. Where as in Wuhan I would see these workers sleeping it rough, in dug out sections within the construction areas, here in Wuxi they are provided with temporary housing. The housing itself does not look like much to our eyes, but it provides these workers with a dry place to sleep and also allows their family to stay together. The current number of migrant workers in China is estimated at 120 million, approximately 9% of the population, and a huge percentage of those workers would be leaving their families behind in order to find that work.  

Traveler's guilt is something I've felt a lot during my time in China. But it also provides me with a better understanding of how lucky I am. I'm here and I've been provided with free clean (relatively), dry and warm accommodation. I don't have to pay for water, electricity and have the option of being fed 5 nights a week for free too. I really am very lucky.

                  

The view from my bedroom into the school.