Nǐ hǎo 你好 and greetings from Qingdao, China! Myself and three other Teacher Candidates from UBC have just completed our first week at an IB candidate school, and what a week it has been! Having just completed my 10 week practicum, with a crazy last day of summative assessments, hosting assembly, and lots of tearful goodbyes, I rushed home to pack before heading to the airport early the following morning. After catching up on some sleep on the plane, before I knew it I had arrived at my homestay family’s apartment in Qingdao. Come 7.30am on Monday morning, it was time to head to school – what a whirlwind! Here are my observations and reflections from Week 1, on life and culture in China:

Food, glorious, food!

People in China love to eat! Meals generally include at least six sharing plates, and you can be mid-bite, with a full plate (and tummy!), and your hosts will still be offering you more food. Chinese people are very generous, and I can honestly I haven’t been hungry once since I arrived. Mealtimes are also very social occasions, and people “cheers” (“gān bēi” 干杯) several times throughout the meal. Food is homemade from scratch, and I have been lucky enough to learn how to make a couple of the traditional dishes, from pork dumplings to the traditional Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves) for the annual Dragon Boat Festival holiday.

Standing out from the crowd

There are very few Westerners in Qingdao. Even walking around the city, we will often have people stop and look or take pictures, which is a very strange experience. There are a couple of international teachers at our school, but even so, the children are very intrigued by our presence and excited to say “hello”, or run by and shout “you are beautiful”. A couple of the other TC’s come from an asian background, and the students are fascinated by the fact that they are from Canada and speak English, as well as a bit of Mandarin. It makes me fortunate to live in such a multicultural city like Vancouver.

Communication barriers

There is one “international” class at our school, with the rest of the children learning very basic English. This has made conversation and communication very difficult. Apps such as Google Translate, are essential in helping read menus and communicate with my homestay family. I am also learning that pictures, actions & modelling can make the world of difference when it comes to teaching across language barriers. So far, we have been mostly observing and only had to run an afternoon of activities at the beach, but next week we have to teach incoming Grade 1 students, without knowing their level of English beforehand… which will be a great challenge having just come from teaching a Grade 6/7.

Week 1 has been a steep learning curve, but what I have learned about the culture and from life in China so far has been an amazing experience. The importance of being open-minded, flexible, positive, and a risk-taker has been key to having such a great week. As we integrate into the school and begin to teach more next week, I will share some of my observations surrounding teaching strategies, classroom practice and behaviour management. Until next time… zài jiàn 再见.