Teaching English in China : Why Not?

My name is Ganang Sadewa and I was graduated from Binus’ English department in 2014. I have been in China, teaching English to college students in Yangjiang Vocational college, for a few months now. Here is a little story of my being here.

One of my dreams  has been to have an  international career or in other words, to be working in other countries. So, I made a prompt response when Ibu Yi Ying, Binus   Internationalization & Partnership Program Coordinator, informed me about the offer to teach college-level students in a busy YangJiang , China.

The first few days of being in the college as one of the teaching staffs, I was often considered as one of the students by not only the other staffs, but also by some other students. I learned very quickly that, as soon as the students realized that I am one of staffs, they treat me very respectfully as they do with other faculty members. Initially, I had the difficulty in trying to communicate with  these students because of my zero Chinese language. But as time flies, I manage to bridge the gap. I think now, they are getting the advantage of my inability to converse in Chinese : it pushes them to speak more in English.

My days are busy preparing lessons and teaching students from two majors : English education and Business English. In a week, I could teach 16 classes of students from these two majors. One thing I admire about the students here are the fact that they are very enthusiastic to learn, yet, it does not mean that they do not enjoy playing games and fun activities in the classroom. I sometimes even show off a little bit of my magic tricks in the beginning of the lesson just to engage them.

It has been a few months that I have been here. I feel that have improved my teaching skills and, hopefully, my Chinese language too. I miss Indonesia once in a while, but being with my students  and the closer relationship I have with fellow teachers, make my days feel shorter.

It is certainly an experience that I will forever cherish for as long as I live. I would like to thank Ibu Yi Ying for giving me the information and the job offer. I will strive my best to  maintain Binus’ reputation and good names. Thanks for reading. I hope I can write more in the future.