Teaching ESL in China
After living in Taiwan for 18 months, I wanted a difference experience, behind the 'iron curtain'.....if compared to the freedom I experienced in Taiwan. China is almost Taiwan's exact opposite, yet Geo-politically one and the same place. I wanted a more realistic, less synthetic experience of Hello Kitty and 7-eleven's. I wanted to see and experience the real China, where foreigners don't wanna go...the dirty, rural, poor towns or cities, where people still have traditional values and lifestyles...the off the beaten track experience. That is exactly what I got. China was not a place, it was and is a whole world in itself, separated from the rest of the world. Each of the 29 provinces is a different country within this world.
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I taught ESL mainly at colleges in rural cities, where students were eager to learn not only English, but to learn about the West from which they have been sheltered all their lives due to censorship by government. I was treated like a celebrity everywhere I went and people wanted to engage with me. To some I was the first foreigner they ever saw. I lived in 6 different locations around China over a 19 month period, ranging from Westernized modern cities to rural backwater cities or towns. I seemed to gravitate toward the more authentic back-water places, where I had more memorable adventures. The locations I worked in include: Zhongshan, Houjie, Nanjing, Wuhu, Liuzhou and Shanghai. Each of these experiences will now be presented below.
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Teaching ESL in Zhongshang
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Teaching ESL in Houjie
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From Dec. 2004 until February 2005, I taught ESL to primary aged school children at a private school in Zhongshan, Guangdong province. Click on the portfolio below for more detail.
About Zhongshan Zhongshan (Chinese: 中山) is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China, with a population of over 3 million (2012). The city used to be called Shekki or Shiqi (石岐). Zhongshan is one of a very few cities in China named after a person. It is named after Dr. Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925), who is known in Mandarin as Sun Zhongshan. Sun, the founding father of the Republic of China who is also regarded positively by the People's Republic, was born in Cuiheng village in Nanlang Township of what was then Xiangshan County. |
From Feb. 2005 until August 2005, I taught ESL at a Taiwanese kindergarten in Houjie, Guangdong province. Click on the portfolio below for more detail.
About Houjie Houjie Town is located at the east bank of the Pearl River Delta, the middle section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen economic corridor. In the south it borders Humen Port, and in the north it links to the Dongguan city proper. There is a total area of 126.15 square kilometers under its jurisdiction, with a permanent population of 93,000, and more than 400,000 as a temporary population. It is a city of factories, the biggest of which the Adidas factory totaling a 100 000 workforce. Houjie town is famous with her shoes design and manufacturing center, and mainly in branded shoes. |
Teaching ESL in Nanjing
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Teaching ESL in Wuhu
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From September 2005 until October 2005, I taught ESL at a college in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. Click on the portfolio below for more detail.
About Nanjing Nanjing (Chinese: 南京, literally "Southern Capital") is a city situated in the heartland of the lower Yangtze River region in China, and which has long been a major centre of culture, education, research, politics, economy, transport networks and tourism. It is the capital city of Jiangsu province of People's Republic of China and the second largest city in East China, with a total population of 8,216,100, and legally the capital of Republic of China which lost the mainland during the civil war. The city has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having served as the capitals of various Chinese dynasties, kingdoms and republican governments dating from the 3rd century AD to 1949. |
From October 2005 until January 2006, I taught ESL at a college in Wuhu, Anhui province. Click on the portfolio below for more detail.
About Wuhu Wuhu (simplified Chinese: 芜湖; traditional Chinese: 蕪湖; pinyin: Wúhú; literally "Weedy Lake") is a prefecture-level city in south-eastern Anhui province, China. Sitting on the southeast bank of the Yangtze River, Wuhu borders Xuancheng to the southeast, Chizhou and Tongling to the southwest, Hefei to the northwest, Ma'anshan to the northeast, and the province of Jiangsu to the east, and is approximately 90 km (56 mi) southwest of Nanjing. By the end of 2011, the total population was estimated to be 3,842,100,of whom 1,450,000 live in the 4 urban districts and the others live in the counties. Wuhu is known to have been inhabited since at least 770 BCE. |
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Teaching ESL in Liuzhou
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Teaching ESL in Shanghai
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Teaching ESL in Liuzhou
From February 2006 until May 2006, I taught ESL at a college in Liuzhou, Guangxi province. Click on the portfolio below for more detail. About Liuzhou Liuzhou is a prefecture-level city in north-central Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. The prefecture's population was 3,758,700 in 2010, including 1,436,599 in the built-up area made of 4 urban districts. Its total area is 18,777 km2 (7,250 sq mi) and 667 km2 (258 sq mi) for built up area. Liuzhou is located on the banks of the winding Liu River, approximately 255 km (158 mi) from Nanning, the regional capital. Liuzhou has a history of more than 2,100 years. The city was founded in 111 B.C. when it was known as Tanzhong. The most famous historic figure is Liu Zongyuan (773-819), who was a poet and politician in the Tang Dynasty and who died in Liuzhou. He is commemorated by a park in the city. Liuzhou is the second largest city in Guangxi and is the region's industrial center. According to statistics issued by the Liuzhou government in 2009, the city’s GDP was 103.2 billion yuan. As with much of Guangxi, the landscape around Liuzhou is a mix of rolling hills, mountain peaks, caves and karst scenery. |
From May 2006 until August 2006, I taught ESL at a college in Shanghai. At the end I conducted a summer camp for Korean exchange students. Click on the portfolio below for more detail.
About Shanghai Shanghai is the most populous city in the People's Republic of China, as well as the most populous city proper in the world. It is the second most populous of the four direct-controlled municipalities in China, with a population of more than 24 million as of 2014. It is a global financial centre, and a transport hub with the world's busiest container port. Located in the Yangtze River Delta in East China, Shanghai sits on the south edge of the mouth of the Yangtze in the middle portion of the Chinese coast. For centuries a major administrative, shipping, and trading town, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to European recognition of its favourable port location and economic potential. The city was one of five forced open to foreign trade following the British victory over China in the First Opium War while the subsequent 1842 Treaty of Nanking and 1844 Treaty of Whampoa allowed the establishment of the Shanghai International Settlement and the French Concession. The city then flourished as a centre of commerce between east and west, and became the undisputed financial hub of the Asia Pacific in the 1930’s. |
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