In January 2006 we had the opportunity to have our English practice period in China, as part of our 3.year. We were six students giving lessons in lower secondary school (age group 13-15). This refers to our “ungdomsskole”, yet their level of

English would rather compare to our 4th to 7th grade.We were divided between three different schools, where we gave one lesson in each class. This in great contrast to teaching practice in Norway, yet we feel that the students were inspired to improve their English.Before going to China we prepared ourselves the best way we could with the information we had received. As you could imagine it was hard to know the level of the students before meeting them, but we knew that our teaching should focus on oral English. The methods we had learned at HiO came in really handy. During the stay we tried to use a lot of communicative activities in class as we felt they needed this type of practice. It was also fun for us to see which methods worked and which did not. Singing songs was

very positive and the pupils were active. Chinese people in general are very happy to sing so using this as a teaching method seemed as a good way for them to practice their language. In some classes we sometimes felt it hard to communicate.

Though we always had a Chinese English teacher present, they weren’t always able to translate. This challenged us to develop skills of explaining a thing in various ways. Body language was decisive!! There were up to 50 pupils per class, yet we did not see this as a problem because of high discipline and their interest in us. In every class we presented and showed pictures of Norway. Both teachers and pupils seemed to appreciate the opportunity to talk and learn about a new culture and country. Throughout our stay we always felt very welcome and the schools did their best to make our stay as pleasant as possible. When reflecting on our stay we are grateful to have had this opportunity to get to know the Chinese culture and people. We also feel that our English has improved and that we are much more confident in speaking and teaching English than before we left.