While the world had gathered in Rio for the Summer Olympic Games, 28 teachers from around the English-speaking world were gathering in Nanjing for JESIEs 2016 Summer Orientation Workshop. Among the intellectual athletic events planned were lesson planning, scaffolding workshops, educational games, classroom management and demo lessons, running from August 22 to August 26. 

The opening ceremonies kicked off the 2016 Summer Orientation Workshop with a speech from President Liu Hai Feng, and an introduction to JESIE given by Associate President Suo Ping. Senior Teacher Anthony Smales led a rousing tutorial on what makes a good teacher.  Experienced teacher Julie Levesque gave a scintillating description of her first week teaching in a Wuxi primary school, with all of its many pitfalls, and offered JESIEs newest teachers a tremendous amount of practical advice. Wuxi Head Teacher Tom Butler spoke about what foreign teachers need to be culturally aware of in Chinese schools with his usual dry wit, and followed with a demo lesson on teaching directions.

Tuesday was packed full of events: Academic Director Valerijus Gagas provided a brief overview of ESL teaching methods, and then explained key differences between Western and Chinese educational systems and teaching styles. He also explained the ABCs of lesson planning and assigned the new teachers their lesson planning homework. James Thompson spoke about his experiences teaching in a Chinese middle school, highlighting effective ways to teach communicative English to young teens in China. Not only was James presentation informative, but it led to some spirited discussion about the use of group work for different age groups.

Before lunch, a photo montage and video footage showcasing JESIE Open Days was shown, to give new teachers an idea of how Open Days work and what sort of duties are expected of teachers who participate. After lunch, there were informative and amusing presentations on classroom management and discipline by teachers Hart Ponder and Ethan Martinez that threatened to dominate the very tight schedule of the day due to the lively discussion set off by the highly interesting topic. The day ended with a discussion of textbooks and curriculum. 

Wednesday started with a bang as Academic Supervisor Kathleen Oleksiuk gave a tutorial on the importance of scaffolding in lesson planning, and grouped new teachers with experienced ones to go over lesson plans and talk about how they could be scaffolded. Moving along to a more entertaining topic, Amber Cameron gave a tutorial on learning through games with awesome demonstrations. Everyone was disappointed when we had to move on to the next topic, but Graham Keens managed to make everyone smile as he presented on the topic of body language and the use of music, included a tuneful rendition of You Say It Best When You Say Nothing At All.  

From Wednesday afternoon to Thursday afternoon, the grueling rounds of demo lessons began, with our new teachers trying their best to create new lesson plans that would demonstrate their best qualities. Fortunately, this years orientation session had many experienced teachers available to provide feedback for their new colleagues. Lyra Luo completed the day with tips on how to live in China. Its certain that many attendees were delighted to kick back and relax after two such exhausting days.

Fridays session began in the JPDE building with a presentation on Chinese rules and regulations important for foreigners by a charming officer from the Public Security Bureau. Next, we discussed differences between teaching in Western countries and in China. The final activity before breaking for photos and lunch was a scaffolding exercise. After a lovely Chinese banquet lunch, Team JESIE returned to the usual orientation room for an after-lunch treat of JESIE short films and an overview of JESIEs media programs. The 2016 Summer Orientation Workshop wound up with all teachers involved contributing a huge amount of valuable feedback to be used to improve future JESIE training procedures and programs.