Teaching in Summer

I miss being a student, totally. This summer I got two teaching jobs; back to school but as an English teacher, I envied those who were just sitting there and listening. Yes, I miss the days of attending classes, taking notes, asking questions, working on assignments… Two years after the graduation, I start to miss the general feeling of studying a lot, absorbing new knowledge on various subjects every day, how wonderful that is!

Before this summer, I'd got quite a lot experience of one-on-one tutoring, but not much with big groups. Last November I was trying to become an English teacher, but it didn't work out the way I wanted, I quit before I even had a chance to meet any students. This time I was pretty lucky, I got two jobs easily, and both schools just threw me the text books and put me into the classroom. Though little pressure from the schools, without tough interviews or training or demo class presentation, I felt like I was not ready, I needed more time to prepare-- like improving my handwriting, reading grammar books, studying phonetics... But there's no time for anything, I got to know I was hired only a few days before the classes began; if I said no, I'd lose the opportunities and it'd be difficult to get other short-term jobs in summer. When I came back from Sri Lanka three months ago, I had a hard time finding jobs. I lost in touch with my old students and no luck of getting any new ones; I applied for many jobs over the internet but no replies either. I was getting tired of the situation that every time I come back from a trip I have to start all over again. In June I got seriously depressed, my weight dropped to 44kg and I constantly got a low grade fever. I thought I was sick, and the more I thought it that way, the weaker I felt. During that time I frequently went to hospital but there's actually nothing wrong with my body, it was more a psychological thing.

Working helped. The first job I worked in a primary school, my students are around 10, and they just started learning English. It's fun to be with kids, as well as writing on blackboard, correcting students' homework with a red pen, talking to them during the break... I felt a sense of achievement after one month's summer program, in the beginning they barely knew any English word, now they learned alphabet, numbers, greetings, colors... This class will be continued from September on every weekend, I'm looking forward to seeing these kids again. The second job was in Linhai, a small city three hours from Hangzhou. Even though I traveled a lot, it's my first time to work in another place. My students there are high school graduates who're going to universities next month. At first I was quite hesitant about accepting the job, these students are excellent, I was afraid my English is not good enough to be their teacher. But everything turned out to be fine, they liked my class and the boss even gave me a raise in the end and hoped I'd return next semester.

Now I'm back in Hangzhou. I enjoy the teaching experience this summer, and I made three times more money than I did last year when working in an English summer camp simply as a staff. That's a step forward for me, and I think it's time that I got paid a bit more. After last three months, I've saved enough money for another budget trip, but now I prefer working more and studying. Back to June I hated waking up in the morning, feeling empty and wondering how I could pass another long day. Now I finally feel myself again. Every morning lying on bed, I'm excited about what I'll be reading and studying today. Every night before I go to sleep, there's still plenty things I want to do, that's a good feeling, and that's me.

My Students: