Volunteer Stories | Paul
Hello! My name is Paul Engelen, a 21 year old student living in Edinburgh, Scotland. I have been a volunteer teacher in the Shanghai area since early June 2010, first at a Chinese High School and now at the Creativity Kindergarten in Shanghai. I am now in my final week of teaching, so it seems like a good time to look back on everything that’s happened.
My decision to volunteer as an English teacher was partially based on wanting to travel, but also to see if teaching could be the direction I want my life to take. I have a few friends who were in a similar program to the 8 week course I am taking at Travel to Teach, and they recommended I give this a go.
Before I arrived at the T2T Shanghai office I spent a few nights at a hostel in order to see a little of Shanghai, get over a jetlag and acclimatize to a very different culture. While I can definitely recommend seeing a little of Shanghai before you get started, it’s actually really nice to find how little effort it took to get used to new surroundings. Being China’s cultural capital, and especially with the Expo currently in full swing, Shanghai is perfectly set up for tourism; most signs have English translations and the city has one of the world’s "easiest to use" metro’s.
Admittedly I also had a friend who was studying Chinese in Shanghai this year, so having him translate and introduce me to the Chinese food and customs was very handy. The main thing I still really haven’t gotten used to is the traffic here. Pedestrian crossings at stop lights are still hectic and confusing; cars are always allowed to turn right, don’t ever give way to others and motorcycles just seem to do whatever they like!
After a few days of sightseeing I sought out T2T’s Shanghai office in order to start my teaching program. I quickly met all the staff and we went out so I could experience the "Muslim Place" first hand. The Muslim Place is just a 5 minute walk, and is essential in getting the Shanghai experience. The restaurant is pretty much run by the 13 year old boy working there, who will be there night and day. The dishes there are usually no more than 8 Yuan or so, and the portions are too big to finish. What more could you want?
The following day Peggy, a staff-member at T2T, took me to Chong Ming Island where I would start teaching at a Chinese high-school on June 2nd. While Chong Ming has a population of 700,000 people, the island is also something of a suburb to Shanghai; a weekend getaway place with some really nice countryside.
The welcome I received at Yangtzi high school was fantastic; the students were very friendly and seemed really excited. My supervisor at the school was Jenny, who showed me the stunning flat the school provided for me during my stay. It had a double-bed, my own kitchen, living-room, television, computer and a massive garden with a pond, bridges and a pagoda in it!
After a few days of observing the English classes at the high-school, I quickly saw that the level of English taught at a typical Chinese High School is actually quite high. Instead of expanding their knowledge of English, the teachers at the high school need the volunteers to help encourage speaking, because they are often too shy. This is probably the greatest aspect of the entire volunteering program; you get to design your own classes. My schedule mainly consisted of two 40-minute morning classes followed by a one-hour English corner during lunch time. In the classes I would usually play games with the students, talk about their favorite basketball teams and sing English songs with them. Some of them are actually really good singers, even if the better ones only want to sing to Lady Gaga.
In the afternoon I could always find something to do. The school teachers are really active and social, and love playing sports all day long. So most of my afternoons were spent playing badminton and table-tennis, the teachers are always really keen to play with you. The students themselves are also really sporty; most would spend lunch and P.E. class playing basketball. Playing with them was awesome, but you don’t realize how much energy they have until you find yourself playing basketball in temperatures of 35 degrees and upwards. I would usually have to break after half an hour or so, they just never seem to stop!
Sometimes I would also meet students in town after school or in the evening. High School students in the Shanghai area take university entrance examinations in their final three years of schooling, and so are usually studying long hours every evening and right through the weekends. So it’s actually really nice when in their spare time they want to take you to a restaurant, play pool/snooker somewhere or the local Forest Park!
All in all, I spent four really great weeks at Yangtzi high school. I would definitely recommend it to anybody who is looking for a more interactive relationship with their students. They were a really friendly and many would always want to talk to you about nearly anything. The students would always be allowed to leave school at 12 o’clock for an hour or so for lunch. Almost from the start of my teaching I would find myself being invited to have lunch with them at a local restaurant. They showed me the best places to eat in Chong Ming, and some students (I still haven’t found out which!) even left me food at my doorstep some mornings.
I finished my teaching course at the Yangtzi High School in late June, and returned to Shanghai in order to start teaching at the Creativity Kindergarten on Monday, July 5th. While my time at the Kindergarten was also really cool, it was clear that you could more visibly see the difference you were making in the High School. Anybody who is considering teaching at a High School; definitely go for it, it’s really rewarding and a great experience all round!
