Author: Michaela Gray

Using movies in the ESL classroom can be a great way to engage your students and provide a juicy topic for discussion. However, it has to be used in the right way so that you don’t end up with students viewing this as a time to relax.

Oral English classes can be challenging for some newer English learners. A lot of the time, students will learn how to read, write, and use grammar correctly but may skip on the speaking and listening.

Cell phone’s in Chinese universities can be a bit of an issue. No cell phones in class is usually the key rule in college, but cell phone usage in some Chinese universities can be quite rampant. Some students say they study so hard in middle school, once they take their college entrance exams and make it to university, it’s party time!

Air pollution in China is something that you have probably heard stories about. It is common knowledge that places in China have particularly bad air pollution levels which can be very off-putting for some people.

When living abroad, there are no shortages to surprises! It seems there has been a new surprise to me in mainland China every day. Here are a couple I have noticed that stand out and happen more frequently than others.

Discipline in a Chinese University takes on a different form to the discipline I was used to implementing in an ESL class. Most students at universities are very motivated and want to study very hard. However, you may find some students in your university have issues with discipline, motivation, or responsibility.

Convenience in China is not always easy to come by and going abroad can be fairly stressful when thinking about things you are used to and how you are going to live without them once you move.

Lesson planning is something that all teachers will have to do, but we are often confined to a course book or teachers guide, but what happens when you have no limits? where do you begin from there?