Post #131 24 March 2017

Gentlefolk,

This post describes my unexpected return to work - teaching the Access Course at ANU College.

I had not intended to work, and certainly not so soon.  But, through a mutual friend, I met Heather Maxwell who had taught English in several countries around the world.  She mentioned that ANU College was looking for teachers to do a 10 week intensive English course called Access.

On the off-chance I emailed my CV, was called in for an interview, and on 3 November 2016 received a job offer to teach Listening & Speaking.

Wow, this was all totally unexpected.

I accepted the offer, mainly to see if I could teach in Australia.  I had done reasonably well in China, but how would I go here?

There were three days of training for the new teachers and then classes started on Tuesday 15 November 2016.

The Access Course provided students with 20 hours of classes a week, 12 Reading & Writing and 8 Listening & Speaking.  I had 4 classes a week, 2 hours per day (except Wednesday).

The Access Course was run in two sections: the first 5 weeks from 14 November to 16 December 2016, then a two week break over Xmas, followed by another 5 weeks 3 January to 3 February 2017.

Despite the training, I found the first week incredibly hard.  Access is a highly structured course and teachers must follow the prescribed system.  It was largely computer based, and it took a while to get my head around what I was supposed to do, and where to find the teaching materials.

I became very stressed and seriously considered dropping out - teaching in China had been easy and fun, very different from this place.  Why was I putting myself through this stress? Didn't need it.

Vera counselled patience.  She said that any new job involves a steep learning curve and that I should just hang in there.  She was right.  The second week was slightly easier, and by the third week I was starting to feel a bit more comfortable - there was light at the end of the tunnel.

So I finished the 10 week course.  It was a lot of work, but now I know I can teach in this environment, and I've got my "foot in the door" when/if I want to do more in the future. My salary was A$90 per teaching hour, but with all the preparation and marking the effective hourly rate would have been more like $15.

470 foreign students (90% Chinese), a record number, enrolled in this Access Course (they run 4 a year, but this one is the most popular because it feeds into the start of the academic year).  Their English level was not quite up to the ANU's requirement - they had conditional offers to start study in February, on the condition that they passed the Access course.  So this was serious stuff.

There were 18 students in each class. In my case, all the students were from China - felt like home!

I taught Class #21 Listening & Speaking, and Fiona Bowring-Greer taught them Reading & Writing (a great teacher with amazing powerpoint skills, Fiona had the more difficult task).

In the end all 18 students in Class #21 passed the course (pass mark was 60% - overall 10% of enrolled students failed).  Nicole top scored, followed by Anna and Wendy. A couple of boys looked as if they may fail, but scrapped through in the end. Big relief.

Incidentally, their results were aggregate of a number of small exams held throughout the 10 weeks, similar to continuous assessment.  For example there were four exams related to Listening & Speaking: two listening exams where they had to listen to a 12 - 15 minute TED talk and answer comprehension questions; a Discussion Activity where they were divided into small groups and their contributions assessed; and a Group Presentation where again they were divided into small groups and had to do 20 minute presentations on pre-determined topics.

To avoid favoritism (and possible bribery?) teachers did not mark their own classes, and even then the marks were moderated by a third person; highly professional.  At one stage I was admonished by my coordinator for being "too lenient" - she wanted grading to err on the side of toughness - she said,"it would not do anyone any good if a student started university studies without the required level of English".

Here are some photos of teachers and students.

With Heather Maxwell (she told me about this course) and Hossein Davari Ardakan the Head of ELICOS Program of ANU College who hired me to teach Listening & Speaking for the Access Course.  All the other teachers had long-term, professional teaching backgrounds, so he was taking a risk with me; but luckily it worked out OK.

With fellow teachers Penny Moyes and Margie Appel, two of the nicest colleagues you could ever meet.  They helped me a lot (I needed it!).

Access Class #21 from left: Cai Yi Jie, Therese (Guangdong); Gao Ling Xiao, Lyn (Henan); Guo Ming Yue, Ming (Liaoning); Sun Lei, Lei (Jilin); Chang Xin, Kristin (Shanxi); Cheng Li Hang, Kevin (Liaoning); me; Wang Yi Yuan, Anna (Shandong); Li Xiao Xu, Isaac (Yunnan); Yang Run Ze, Yvan (Jiangsu); Li Hui Shan, Nicole (Guangdong); Shi Yue, Stella (Jiangsu); Mao Tai Peng, Charles (Jiangxi); Gao Qing, Tilda (Henan); Chen Zi Teng, Stanford (Zhejiang); Liu Wen Lin, Leah (Sichuan); Chen Mei Han, Malintha (Guangdong); Zhang Ye, Wendy (Jiangsu).

From left: Stanford; Lyn; Yvan; Stella; Kristin; me; Kevin.

A typical class room.

Taking an exam.

With Gao Ling Xiao, Lyn (from Jiaozuo, Henan). Major: Neuroscience. Lovely!

With Mao Tai Peng, Charles (from Jiangxi). Major: Finance.  He was a quiet achiever, one of the best students.

The final exam was on Friday 3 February 2017.  The students needed to get their results as soon as possible, so that they knew if they could start their courses at the ANU in 2 weeks time.  I attended the Graduation ceremony a week later, on Friday 10 February.  Here are some photos taken at the Graduation.

With Chang Xin, Kristin (from Shanxi). Major: Accounting. Very nice girl, with good English skills.

With Wang Yi Yuan, Anna (from Jinan, Shandong). Major:  Finance. She came equal second (Nicole got top mark, followed closely by Anna and Wendy). Anna was the only student in the class from "my Province" of Shandong.

With Cheng Li Hang (Dandong, Liaoning) major: Accounting and Chen Zi Teng, Stanford (from Zhejiang) Major: Finance. Nice guys - the play-boys of the class - it was close, but they both passed in the end.

With Cai Yi Jie, Therese (from Guangzhou, GD) Major: Finance.  Therese told me that she spent a semester as an exchange student at a university in Portland, Oregon.  She liked it there.  But she chose to do a Masters at the ANU because of its high ranking (ANU is ranked #1 in Australia at the moment).

With Li Xiao Xu, Isaac (from Lincang, Yunnan) Major: Commerce.  Isaac helped me when I had technical problems. He is a great guy, very smart yet humble.

With Chen Mei Han, Malintha (from Swatou, GD) Major: Commerce.  She is one of  3 students who will start undergraduate degrees (the others are Yvan and Stella).  The other 15 students in my class will do Masters courses.  I worried that the three young students (straight from High School) would struggle with the Access course, but they all did well.

With Xu Jia Lun, Garen (aka Jiamin).  Actually, he was not in my class (he was in Access Class #4), but I taught him at UPC in Qingdao.  He is my only ex-student now studying at ANU in Canberra and I helped him move from a home-stay in Lawson to an apartment in Canberra City.  He is an enterprising lad - has started a photographic company called "Say Cheese" - hope he does well.  He will major in International Relations, which will be a big challenge.

From left: Heather Maxwell, and Course Coordinators Susila Selvarajah (Reading & Writing) and Belinda Lau (Listening & Speaking). Belinda was my direct boss.

Most of the teachers on the Access Course were "middle aged", but some were quite young, like these two: Chantal Johnston (originally from France) and Kelsey Daniels (from USA).  I got to know them fairly well as they sat nearby.  Kelsey's husband is a visiting lecturer at the ANU.  She taught English in California - good teacher - was very helpful to me.

A photo of some of the teachers at a meeting near the end of the Access course. The man in the center is Andrew Maxwell, whom I got to know reasonably well - a great guy.  He commutes daily by bus from Goulburn.

In the last week the students did an evaluation of the teachers - I got no negative comments and scored 90+% positive in all categories.  So a good result for me, and for the students.  

Will I do it again?  Don't know.  Maybe the November Access course again - let's see how the year progresses, but at this stage too many other things on.

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I asked the students what cultural differences they found between Australia and China.  They were all surprised at how quiet and low-key Canberra was: so few people, so little action.  They all came from large, bustling cities - big contrast to sleepy Canberra.  

The main complaint was about accommodation.  In China universities provide accommodation to all students on campus, but here there was very little on-campus accommodation available and they had to find their own places, sometimes quite far from the campus - expensive and inconvenient. 

The other big issue was food.  In China all universities have big canteens on campus - good food, quick and cheap.  But here the food available on campus is generally tasteless and expensive.  So Chinese students cook for themselves - but that's time consuming (time which they would prefer to use for study).

Here are some of the other issues raised:

Culture issues/questions

Why isn’t there a fence or wall around the ANU campus?  In China, always walls.

Why isn’t there a big gate or huge sign at the entrance of ANU, the #1 ranked university in Australia?  In China top universities proclaim their status.

Why do Aussies like/admire brown skin? In China we cover up and admire white skin.

Why do Aussies drink cold water?  In China people drink warm water.

Why is the Melbourne Cup so big?

Do many Aussies own their houses?  Chinese much prefer to own than to rent.

Why do many Canberrans jay-walk? Isn’t it illegal?

The Australian Parliament House is very different from China – here very open and anyone can visit.

Why do we have to swipe twice on buses? In China you only have to swipe the transport card once to deduct the fare.  

Why don’t more people use buses?  In China buses are always full, frequent and cheap.

Why do some students go bare-foot on campus and to lectures?

Canberra’s weather is so dry, so often get bleeding noses.

Why allow homeless men around Civic – in China they are kept out of city centres.

Lots of flies in Canberra – annoying.

Many bubblers for drinking water in Canberra; not in China.

Where do people buy live seafood (only see frozen in supermarkets)? In China live fish are readily available.  Here people buy mostly frozen vegetables – but in China people prefer buying fresh vegetables, and they are cheaper than frozen.

Why do Australians eat kangaroo meat?  Isn’t kangaroo the “national animal”?  We’d never dream of eating Panda in China!

Gift giving.  In China, the norm is for a gift to be refused, but then accepted and opened later. But in Australia it is accepted and opened immediately.

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I'm slowly catching up in my blog.  The next post will cover November & December and then Christmas 2016.

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Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah

Canberra, Australia

Friday, 24 March 2017