Lixin Wan

Chinese language and ESOL teacher

"I teach because I enjoy it. I always think that if something is worth doing, then it’s worth doing well. I really love teaching – the feeling is so strong. And yes, it can be hard work for the first year or two if you are an overseas-trained teacher, but after that it gets much better."

Lixin Wan can’t emphasis enough the value of teacher training that’s available to help overseas teachers adjust to the New Zealand classroom.

She came to New Zealand in 1999 with seven years teaching experience at both senior high schools and universities in China.

" I had a dream of living and working in an English-speaking environment, and speaking English everywhere. My husband, who is also a teacher, had the same feeling of taking up a challenge. That’s why we came to New Zealand."

Lixin with her skill in languages were snapped up by Naenae College, but six months into the job she found the reality of working in a New Zealand school was a far cry from her teaching experiences in China.

" I couldn’t understand why students here behaved the way they did. It was so different from students in China. When we had department meetings, I didn’t know what people were talking about. I understood the English language, but curriculum issues, school management matters and pastoral care were things I didn’t know about because I hadn’t taught in a New Zealand school before."

Lixin says she also wanted to improve her salary level. Overseas teaching qualifications are checked for comparability with New Zealand qualifications and this helps to determine what overseas teachers are paid.

Then things started to look up. Lixin decided to combine her teaching at Naenae College with a one-year Diploma in Teaching (Secondary) training course at Whitireia Community Polytechnic in Porirua." I didn’t realise that I needed the training. I thought I was already a teacher, after all I had been teaching for so many years, but I was wrong."

" The course not only prepared me theoretically, but also practically. The teacher training combined with one year in the classroom has made everything so much easier. I learnt a lot about educational theories, classroom management and curriculum design. All this has really helped."

Lixin says teaching is a real skill and in New Zealand the way students are taught is taken very seriously." I think any overseas-trained teacher would benefit from some type of training that helps them adjust to the New Zealand teaching environment."