Teaching HR to Chinese Students

Hmmm, I’m starting to get annoyed with the sound of my own voice. Is it normal for teachers to feel this way? I have come to the realization that teaching Human Resources to Chinese students is not very fun. To start, most of them have no idea even of the concept of HR, so it’s like I’m speaking Greek to them. Well, English, but it might as well be Greek. I guess I’m concerned with not trying to teach them everything I know, and hoping one day they might all be HR Managers. My issue is more do I want to stand up there and be the boring teacher, or do I want to try and make my class more fun and interactive, and hopefully teach them some English, and maybe a little something about different cultures? I’ll try to find a balance.

With my Food and Beverage Management course, it’s much more enjoyable, probably because learning about food is fun for everyone, and the skills and knowledge I’m teaching are much more practical and visual, and less theoretical. When I asked the F&B class what they expect to learn in the course, they all said things like “how to serve guests,” “learn about international foods,” “how to make drinks,” etc. However, when I asked the HR class what they expect to learn, they all said either “I want to improve my English,” or “I want to learn about Canada.” Hmmm, I see….

Also, I’m trying not to take this personally, but the attendance is atrocious. Of my class of 23, only 14 showed up this morning. To all my previous instructors at Selkirk and Royal Roads, I apologize on behalf of myself and any of my classmates, for ever missing class. (What, me? Skip class? Never….) I promised myself I wasn’t going to get too wrapped up in all this, and just focus on doing my job and hopefully teaching a few students something. It’s more challenging than I expected, as it’s just my nature to actually want to make a difference. But that being said, I will probably be more effective and more valuable as a teacher, if my classes are fun and interactive. So if anyone has any ideas for games, activities, anything that involve tourism or learning English, please share. 

Overall I think the students like me, so that is a bonus. They loved seeing photos of cities I've lived in and places I've worked. But their favourite photo by far was of my dog, Kobe. They laughed so hard at his photo, and at the name!