Thaddäos’s experience report from Hangzhou
It is precisely when language and technology both present a challenge that lessons need to be as accessible as possible.
Thaddäos
Guest lecturer at Hangzhou Polytechnic
in the Department of Computer Science
Two weeks as a visiting lecturer in China
In May 2024, I travelled to China for two weeks to Hangzhou, to be precise. My role was to teach microcontroller technology and C programming at Hangzhou Polytechnic.
I hadn’t actually planned to find myself standing in front of a class in China one day. However, computer science has been a part of my life for quite some time. I chose computer science as a specialised subject for my A-levels and had already done a lot of work with microcontrollers and programming. Later, I studied Business Informatics at Pforzheim University and, alongside my studies, began tutoring, mainly in mathematics.
Through a referral, the opportunity finally arose to take on a teaching post in China. The arrangement was made through pecunia & fortuna GmbH and the Chinese recruitment agency AERY.
I found the idea quite exciting. Not only because of the subject matter, but also because it was an opportunity to do something that was well outside my normal daily routine. So I accepted.
Arriving in China
The journey didn’t get off to a particularly relaxed start.
It was the first time I’d travelled so far from Germany. I flew from Frankfurt to Shenzhen first, and from there on to Hangzhou. This was followed by a long drive to the campus.
At some point during the journey, it suddenly struck me that I hadn’t given the power sockets in China a second thought.
So, feeling a bit panicked, I bought a charging cable for my laptop at Shenzhen airport. It later turned out that it wasn’t actually suitable for the job and that my worries had been far greater than the problem itself. With some local help, I eventually managed to get hold of a suitable adapter.
That was one of those moments when I briefly wondered whether I might have been better off preparing a bit more thoroughly.
After the long journey, I arrived late in the evening, had something to eat and went to bed. However, there wasn’t much time to settle in. My first lesson was due to start first thing the next morning.
Teaching at Hangzhou Polytechnic
A typical day of teaching began at around 9 am and lasted until about 4 pm. In between, there was a lunch break and a few shorter breaks, so the days were well-structured and enjoyable despite the heavy teaching load.
I lived right on, or very close to, the campus and could simply walk to my classes in the morning.
It was particularly nice that I had quite a lot of freedom to structure my lessons as I saw fit. At the same time, there was usually a teacher present to support me. This was particularly important because of the language barrier.
I taught in German myself. For the students, this naturally meant having to follow both a technical subject and a foreign language at the same time. A German teacher was therefore always on hand to translate and explain things again.
For me, too, this was a new teaching situation. You realise quite quickly that it’s not enough just to prepare a good technical lecture. Especially when both language and technology present a challenge at the same time, the lessons need to be as hands-on as possible.
That’s why the course was broadly divided into two parts. At the start, the focus was more on the basics of microcontroller technology. After that, it became increasingly practical.
We programmed simple applications, controlled LEDs, worked with push-buttons and tried out various sequences. In some cases, we also used computer simulations for this.
The practical tasks, in particular, went down much better. Some students had hardly done any programming before. Seeing that a programme they’d written themselves actually did something was probably more interesting for many of them than yet another slide full of theory.
Of course, there were also students who were less enthusiastic. But I suppose it’s much the same in Germany.
For me personally, this experience was particularly valuable. Teaching a group in another country for two weeks, dealing with a language barrier and figuring out on the fly what works and what doesn’t is quite different from traditional one-to-one tuition.
Modern technology meets a completely different environment
The campus itself took me by surprise in some respects.
The technical facilities were quite good. There were large digital whiteboards, air conditioning and modern technology in the classrooms. At the same time, some buildings or rooms looked significantly older and, above all, built purely for practical purposes.
So you could walk through a modern door, pass by digital technology and, moments later, find yourself in a room where the floor creaked.
It was precisely this mix that I found interesting.
In class, too, there were situations that you probably wouldn’t have experienced in Germany. For some programming tasks, we had to download software. However, that wasn’t always quite so straightforward, because certain websites and services weren’t readily accessible in China.
What was particularly fascinating was how matter-of-factly the students and teachers dealt with this. It was unfamiliar to me. For them, it was simply part of their normal use of the internet.
Digitalisation was also a constant presence outside the campus.
I mostly paid via Alipay. I was able to link my German debit card to the app and then pay very easily using my smartphone.
In some cases, that was easier than placing the order itself.
Once, I just wanted to order a drink in a small shop. I couldn’t read the menu properly, the staff didn’t speak English, and lots of other customers were clearly ordering straight from their smartphones.
So I didn’t have much choice but to somehow point and explain what I wanted.
In the end, it worked out.
It’s probably these little situations that you end up remembering more than perfectly planned activities.
Life outside the classroom
In the afternoons and evenings, I usually had a bit of time to myself. Sometimes I’d go out and have a look around the local area. On other days, I’d simply stay at my accommodation and catch up with friends from Germany.
I found the meals with the teachers particularly interesting.
At those meals, the conversation wasn’t about lessons any more. Instead, we talked about music, about Germany and China, about travelling, and about what life is like in each other’s countries.
Some of the people I spoke to had actually been to Germany themselves. This led to conversations that you probably wouldn’t have if you were just visiting a country as a tourist.
Many small, everyday things were unfamiliar, too.
Take water, for example.
In Germany, I hardly ever think about whether I can drink tap water. In China, I had to make sure I always had enough drinking water at home or when out and about. It was only then that I realised how much we take such things for granted in our own daily lives.
There was also plenty to discover when it came to food. The selection in the shops was completely different, as were many of the snacks and drinks. Trying these out was definitely part of the experience.
Still, I couldn’t quite bring myself to be a permanent fan of Chinese food. I simply enjoy the food back home a bit too much for that.
I was also surprised by how green many areas around Hangzhou were. Before my trip, I’d mainly pictured China as being full of huge cities. During my journeys, however, I also saw plenty of nature and wooded landscapes.
What remains of those two weeks
When I look back on the trip today, it’s probably not any one particular day of teaching that stands out as the most significant.
It’s more the feeling of stepping completely out of one’s own familiar surroundings.
One day you’re still sitting in Germany, wondering whether you’re really ready for an assignment like this. A short while later, after a long journey, you find yourself standing in front of a class in China one morning, explaining microcontroller technology.
In terms of my own teaching, the main thing I took away was just how important hands-on experience is. When someone can try something out for themselves and see straight away what their programme does, it creates a completely different approach to a technical subject.
But even more important for me was gaining an insight into China itself.
Of course, you can read reports, watch videos or get an idea from social media beforehand. But experiencing a country for yourself, working there and talking to local people is still something completely different.
If I were to travel to China again, I would therefore probably try to see even more of the country and spend even more time with people outside of the classroom.
Those two weeks were definitely an experience I’d never had before and one that I still look back on very positively today.
