Destination Dalian

Image: DPU home page 

Having recently written about needing to find work and being honest about anxiety-related problems, I am delighted to have been given a new opportunity.  It has come a lot quicker than expected.  I'm actually excited this time.  As I predicted in my last post,  I have chosen something familiar, yet different.  I am returning to teach in China, again opting to teach art and design students on a university programme.  The difference is that, instead of Beijing, this time I will be living in the north-east coastal city of Dalian, in the south of Liaoning  - here, and working at Dalian Polytechnic University.

© Google Earth

Research Notes - Taiwan

I toyed with the idea of a job in Taiwan, but all the research seemed to point to the probability that I would only be able to get work in a Buxiban - here - teaching young learners.  It would have been reminiscent of teaching in a hagwon in South Korea.  I also briefly looked into other countries in south-east Asia, including Vietnam. Whether it was my head or my heart, I don't know, but I thought that my best option would be to return to the Motherland.  It was then a case of whereabouts.  I wanted to avoid long, cold winters if possible.  This ruled out a potential position at Perfect English in Changchun, where temperatures get down to -30 degress C.  I was also keen to avoid young learners.  In addition, I wanted a 'reasonable' salary.  I did not have high expectations here, but I wanted the rate to reflect I had done an MA.  A salary of at least 10,000 RMB per month was a minimum starting point for China and I manage to negotiate a basic 10,500 RMB (+ travel expenses).

A similar post (different recruiter, same location) was advertised elsewhere - here - at only 6,500 RMB p/m.  So I felt that was a result.  In addition, I wanted guarantees of at least one return flight to the UK.  This position offers two.  It also offers free accommodation on campus - another bonus.  Only one other possible position, a university job through EF in Shanghai, came anywhere near these terms.  

OK, so I am still in the north-east, so I will have a fairly cold winter ahead of me but, so far, reports of Dalian - the city - have been positive.  It is, by all accounts, a beautiful, relaxing and liveable city.   

Research Notes - China

The institution, Dalian Polytechnic University (DPU), runs a course which is affiliated with Winchester School of Art and the University of Southampton - here.  There are two BA (Hons) degrees offered - in Graphic Arts and Fashion Design.  The course is four years in total, with two years spent at each campus. English language for Art & Design is offered and, I guess, I might be involved in doing that or, at least, it might be interwoven into lessons.  I already have an interest to work with students in this area, even if I am no expert on either fashion nor graphic design.  The way I got involved in 'Project X' at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), Beijing, showed my interest in what the students were doing and how they were developing as budding artists, with ambitions to own their own studio one day.  An extended clip from 'Project X' is on the video page, along with a role-play on 'light pollution'.

Trying to improve the English of Chinese students will probably extend to trying to improve their research and academic skills.   I know all too well how lacking these can be,  having taught in Beijing on a preparatory Arts course and this summer on a pre-sessional. In addition, many of my fellow MA students (over 50%) were from China and I often helped them with their studies, which included some unpaid proof-reading. I did get a few coffees and hot pots out of it.

Furthermore, my professional practice module at Warwick was based upon improving Chinese learners' oral and presentation skills.  I devised a whole set of training materials for introducting MyBrainshark into a real context - CAFA - and these are still available online - here.  Hopefully I will be able to put my theory into practice, which would be great.

As well as living in China, I also wish to learn some Putonghua (Mandarin) - here.  I tried unsuccessfully to learn some last time out, despite having a glorious opportunity as I lived with a Chinese woman and her 9 year old son for four months.  I've generally been a poor language learner in my lifetime, with my best attempt being when I lived in Korea.  Hangul is much simpler.  So, in some ways, this will be a bigger challenge than the job.  But I've already downloaded the Chinese Pod app - here - I just need to use it now and to consider a subscription.  I have taken some inspiration from polyglot Sandy Millin, a self-described 'technologically and linguistically adventurous EFL teacher' - here - who started learning Mandarin a year ago, before dropping it due to other commitments and then picking it up again this year, although she will soon be leaving Newcastle for a DoS position in Sevastopol, Ukraine.

So, another challenge lies ahead.  Term starts on 26 August.  Applying for a work permit and visa takes up to 5 weeks, so initially I will fly out on a business visa.  The likelihood is that I will fly out around 12 September, once my work Z-visa is sorted out, and will start teaching straight away.  I will be able to return to the UK after the first term, which will be sometime in January 2014.  Although with Chinese 'red-tape' who knows anything for sure?  I've already got my VPN (proxy server) sorted out for both laptop and iPad.  I hope to have both my flight booked and visa sorted out, very soon. I'm excited about the new challenge, but I need to get myself organised.  I'm deliberately using the excitement to supersede any nervous anticipation.  It's make or break time in respect of me teaching English. This time I have to get it right. This time I have to cope. There is simply no alternative.

It's not the Destination... click to enlarge

New Year, New Challenge, Old Problem

http://www.ef.co.uk/

The new year starts with a new job, a new challenge and a return to Cambridge, which I have for a long time considered to be my favourite city in the world. This time, I am hoping it lasts and that I can finally live and work in this city, an opportunity for which has come earlier than expected.

It's 9 years since I last lived in Cambridge full-time and a couple of years since I last worked there, for Bell Education Trust, at The Leys, on one of their hugely successful young learner summer courses.  Very recently,  I applied for and successfully landed a senior teacher role on a University Preparation Abroad programme at Education First, Hills Road.  It's the first time I've been a  'senior' anything.  Just in time, age-wise, before I start having 'senior' moments, too.  I will be teaching more on the EAP (English for Academic Purposes) side of things, rather than straight EFL - which was always my preference post-MA. Some of my students are aiming to attend a UK University to do their first degree, others will have already completed their first degree and are now pre-masters.  A few in my class, oddly, are even potential PhD/doctoral researchers.  Other specialist subjects are taught, such as Mathematics and Scientific subjects, but fortunately not by me!

Although I've had responsibility before, mostly being front-of-house at a bar and restaurant in my home town, this is the first time as a language teacher that I've not been on the perceived 'bottom rung'.  I've previously been a mere 'EFL teacher' in South Korea, China and Saudi, as well as on the summer courses mentioned already.  So this is definitely a step up.  I have, nonetheless, taking unofficial responsibility for mentoring other teachers and student-teachers, most recently at Warwick, on the MA.  How my 'senior' role works out remains to be seen, but if 50% of that is taking the lead and showing initiative then that suits me fine.

Screenshot from promotional video - click here

This role will not only see me doing the usual things of working on course material, being involved in the organization and administration of exam practice  and actual teaching, but I will also, ideally, be taking a lead on the delivery of Virtual Learning Environment/e-learning tools across the school. This was a key factor, I believe, in being hired, and with my recent research into this area, I feel I have the necessary, ahem, tools to do this.  I feel that I have always lead by example, anyway, so this, in theory, should be no different.  However, I feel out of practice, 'rusty' in the work environment.  There are lots of new requirements and added responsibilities this time around.  I think by the looks of the timetable that I will be having long working days.  I will need to show patience not to expect everything to be in place from the off, and let things build.

During the past week, I was fortunate enough to obtain (courtesy of an early birthday present) a 4th generation iPad.  I now need to spend some time familiarising myself with it.  It will obviously be used for personal and pleasure use (Fruit Ninja, Angry Birds, Spotify etc), but will eventually become my tool for teaching. My first 'purchase' was Adrian Underhill's Macmillan Sounds app, based around a working phonemic chart.  There are rooms with soft comfortable, furnishings at the school, which I think are called iLabs, dedicated to iPad tuition.  The students are asked to keep blogs and we share info using Google Docs, which I've not previously used, but probably works, with a shared drive, much like Dropbox - which I have previously used.  Homework can be set and monitored this way.  Most of this is new to me.

It is going to be a steep learning curve in some areas, mostly in the way that EF operates and the expectations it has of its students.  A lot of these expectations, however, might apply to any language school looking to prepare it's attendees for progression into university life.  I'm working my way through a 50+ page teacher's handbook, which contains plenty of expected information, such  as the learning  and teaching strategy, learning outcomes and methods of assessment.

I've already had an induction, 3 days before actually starting (7 Jan) which filled me with as many questions as answers.  But this will realistically be a case of learning 'on the job'.  I'm going to be very busy now.

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Postscript:

I left this post after one week and a couple of days.  As previously disclosed - in 19 - I can suffer from generalised anxiety disorder in certain situations. Sometimes, things become too much for me and I feel the need to run away, rather than sticking with it.  It is not a constant attribution.

Despite the familiarity of Cambridge there were a few factors which contributed to my dysfunctional state of mind.  I had been struggling with anxiety-related stress throughout the Christmas period.   I don't know how I managed to cope with the interview during this time, but I did.  Once the job offer came (31 Dec) things happened very quickly. I had to get organised and sort out accommodation, in order that I could start on Mon 7 Jan. 

I found the place to be chaotic and overcrowded.  It was the middle of winter and some rooms were freezing cold.  My latent claustrophobia kicked in. I did not react well to a cluttered teachers' room.  I managed to teach my morning class, 'academic writing skills', in a converted attic, but was moved to a smaller, cupboard-like space for the second week.

I had stated, above, that I would need to show patience not to expect everything to be in place from the off.   This came true and I found patience lacking.  I was also overly worried about the 'senior' part of my role and did not feel organised or mentally stable.

Above all else, however, was the issue to do with accommodation.  EF kindly arranged for a bed & breakfast place in Great Shelford and I commuted the short trip in each morning for that week.  On Saturday, I moved into a tiny room in a small, cluttered house in Derwent Close.  I only had a few days to arrange a place to live.  On the Friday, before I started work, I visited this place, following an induction at Hills Road, and before going on to my friend's 50th Birthday party.   It was a house owned by an antique's dealer who I think had his own issues with OCD by the way things were laid out.  I felt rushed into a decision to accept, in order to take away the worry of house hunting.  It was never going to be a conducive place to live.  I should never have agreed to move in.  I lasted 3 days and 3 nights.

It's all a blur now, but I remember trying to sign up at a local GP surgery.  On the Monday, at the start of the second week, snow had fallen. An ambulance was called to the house. I had not slept at all.  I had spent the weekend in a state, not getting for Monday.  Mark, who had helped me move to Shelford Lodge, had seen me in this state.  Instead of turning up for work, I found myself in hospital.  Before I knew it, I was back at work telling them I was not going to continue and my stuff was being collected.  In the heavy snow, I was driven back to Norfolk, via the Crisis team in Norwich.

In February, following an incident back home, I was admitted to a psychiatric unit in King's Lynn.  Then it really hit me what had happened. My future prospects, at that point, looked bleak.