Today marks my last official work day of the week! I can honestly say I had fun for the most part. However some of my younger classes were a little difficult to control. They were more interested in running around or fooling around than learning English!
I met my first Japanese Teacher too at one of my schools. She is very nice and helped me a lot during my lesson with my youngest class. She seems like someone I could hang out with too when I'm not teaching which is a plus.
This month I am working all 6 day weeks where one week will be spent covering another teacher in Kagoshima. It's not so bad because the company will be putting me up in a hotel and giving me a meal allowance.
Today I was supposed to be covering a teacher but it turns out there was some kind of mix up because she wasn't told that I would be covering her so she turned up at the classroom too! We ended up team teaching where she taught two lessons and I taught one which was pretty cool.
I'm just happy I get to have a day off tomorrow. I got my schedule for next month and thankfully I actually have 2 days off a week! I think I will try and pick up a bike tomorrow since all this walking after I get home because i missed the last tram can be tiring sometimes!
Showing posts with label school time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school time. Show all posts
14 May 2011
7 May 2011
I feel so tired after 2 hours of work!
Right now I'm on my way home from one of my classrooms. I feel like today went quite well compared to my lessons yesterday. I was better able to manage my time and the students worked really well also. Because I finished at 8:30pm I could not get the lady bus and so had to get a taxi. Unlike the first time I decided to take the taxi to Kengunmachi tram stop rather than going all the way to my home. Overall this way worked out to be nearly ¥2000 cheaper which is good. I think I may stop by the supermarket again to pick up some of their discount pre-cooked dishes because I can't be bothered to eat spaghetti again for dinner!
*I was just joking about the 2hours thing by the way.
*I was just joking about the 2hours thing by the way.
27 December 2008
Christmas Time
I will start by saying my Christmas here has not that great one I've been sick all week nearly and I didn't get to finish taking pictures with all my students so I'm a little annoyed. One other thing, today I tried to use my debit card from England to buy some games on the Internet. I wanted to do this so that I would have something to play as soon as I get home. But oh no my stupid debit card isn't working just like before nearly 4 months ago. I don't know what the hell is going on. I'm going to close my damn Abbey account and get a new one with someone else because this is a joke now. I told them the problem months ago and they told me they had sorted it out by sending me a new card but no, I still can't use it online. Anyways looks like I'll just have to save my money so I guess its not all bad haha.
Apart from being sick and not being able to buy anything online everything here has pretty much been the same. However I did get some apples from my students on Christmas Eve and some presents also which was nice. Oh something interesting did happen on Monday though, some criminals were brought to the school and made an example of so that the students wouldn't get any ideas about committing crimes haha. One of the criminals was an actual student from the school, supposedly he stole money or roughed some people with the others up or something. There were about 4 or 5 of them in total. Either way it was them now who were being roughed up, it was quite strange though to see this because they were all tied up and treated like animals.
Not sure if I will go to Xi'An next week with the school if I still feel sick but I'll have to see how that goes.
Apart from being sick and not being able to buy anything online everything here has pretty much been the same. However I did get some apples from my students on Christmas Eve and some presents also which was nice. Oh something interesting did happen on Monday though, some criminals were brought to the school and made an example of so that the students wouldn't get any ideas about committing crimes haha. One of the criminals was an actual student from the school, supposedly he stole money or roughed some people with the others up or something. There were about 4 or 5 of them in total. Either way it was them now who were being roughed up, it was quite strange though to see this because they were all tied up and treated like animals.
Not sure if I will go to Xi'An next week with the school if I still feel sick but I'll have to see how that goes.
22 December 2008
The Beginning of the End
Today is the first day of my last teaching week at The 2nd Middle School of Zhen'an. The day started off as any other normal day however it wasn't until my 2nd Junior class of the day that one student began to cry mid-lesson.
The girl started to explain what was wrong to Mrs. Di, I just thought she was having problems or something until Mrs. Di told me that it was because I was leaving. When I saw the tears in her eyes I started to feel a bit emotional, I'm not sure why but then I just started to cry. I honestly felt sad that I would not see the students anymore after a couple of weeks and it didn't help that one student was crying for me either. I tried to comfort her and tell her not to worry as I wont be leaving just yet. One boy in the class told me not to cry, which I thought was quite nice.
Other students began to tell me in their own special way that they will miss me when I leave. One student gave me a key-ring with a picture of her in it. I thought that was quite nice since it made a change from all the plastic stars the children normally make and give to me.
After I had finished my lesson I wanted to take pictures with all the students. The students all seemed so eager to take pictures with me. They all fought and pushed each other to get close to me but I had to tell them to stop and calm down. I continued this for the 4 other classes I had for the day. It was funny that the Senior class I have on Monday's were quite happy to take pictures with me or maybe they were just happy that they won't have Oral English Lessons anymore lol.
Overall the day today was quite emotional but I can't let that get to me. Its just my time to leave. Hopefully if a new teacher comes to replace me they will be much better than me rather than worse in teaching, I say this because I would like the students to better their Spoken English.
PS: I forgot to say that in my last class after we had finished taking pictures two boys started to fight, I think it was because of all the pushing. I think something got broken or one of the boys got hurt. I was quick to jump in and break them up, I told them to relax and calm down as I held on to one of the students while some of the students held the other boy. Apart from this the day was fine.
The girl started to explain what was wrong to Mrs. Di, I just thought she was having problems or something until Mrs. Di told me that it was because I was leaving. When I saw the tears in her eyes I started to feel a bit emotional, I'm not sure why but then I just started to cry. I honestly felt sad that I would not see the students anymore after a couple of weeks and it didn't help that one student was crying for me either. I tried to comfort her and tell her not to worry as I wont be leaving just yet. One boy in the class told me not to cry, which I thought was quite nice.
Other students began to tell me in their own special way that they will miss me when I leave. One student gave me a key-ring with a picture of her in it. I thought that was quite nice since it made a change from all the plastic stars the children normally make and give to me.
After I had finished my lesson I wanted to take pictures with all the students. The students all seemed so eager to take pictures with me. They all fought and pushed each other to get close to me but I had to tell them to stop and calm down. I continued this for the 4 other classes I had for the day. It was funny that the Senior class I have on Monday's were quite happy to take pictures with me or maybe they were just happy that they won't have Oral English Lessons anymore lol.
Overall the day today was quite emotional but I can't let that get to me. Its just my time to leave. Hopefully if a new teacher comes to replace me they will be much better than me rather than worse in teaching, I say this because I would like the students to better their Spoken English.
PS: I forgot to say that in my last class after we had finished taking pictures two boys started to fight, I think it was because of all the pushing. I think something got broken or one of the boys got hurt. I was quick to jump in and break them up, I told them to relax and calm down as I held on to one of the students while some of the students held the other boy. Apart from this the day was fine.
18 December 2008
The Oral English Contest - The Aftermath
The contest has finally come and gone but I have to say that I am proud of all my students that took part in the contest.
All my students from Senior and Junior 1 (that's about 1000) gathered out in the school courtyard in preparation for the performance. The students were there to help encourage their fellow classmates and friends.
The other foreign teachers and I sat down right in front of the students who were spectating. While I was sitting there it kind of felt as if I was one of the judges on X-Factor/American Idol haha. However I did not let that phase me since I was there to mark my students on their performance and they would be more nervous than I was.
The students came up one by one first the Juniors then the Seniors. Many of the students felt nervous when they spoke and often made silly mistakes and took very long pauses when they were speaking. I tried to encourage them as best as I could but it seemed that the pressure may have been a little to much for some. After about 1 hour we had a slight break, for entertainment two students came up and sung a song for the audience. I thought that the two students did a good job considering how many people they were standing in front of.
I was slightly disappointed in some of my students who were spectating because they were making a lot of noise and they made it difficult for the judges and I to hear what the competitors were saying. It wasn't until one of the school leaders told the kids to shut up that they stopped making noise.
All the students who took part in the contest received something for their effort. I think they all received a Walkman or something but the winners won a dictionary that was quite thick. The two students that won did really well and I think they deserved to win the competition.
I was able to take many pictures and even film some of my students singing while the students had a small break during the contest. But I can say I enjoyed seeing and listening to the students perform. I felt a little sad while I was watching because I knew that I will only have a couple more weeks with the students before I go back to England.
Once the contest was over the VSO teachers, their translators and I were invited to dinner with some leaders from the county. The dinner was quite nice and made a change from having noodles or rice everyday. The restaurant was a Hot Pot restaurant so we needed to cook our own food in the pot. But I enjoyed myself while I was there.
So to summarise the contest was a success apart from the small few that were misbehaving but I can safely say I enjoyed the day overall .
All my students from Senior and Junior 1 (that's about 1000) gathered out in the school courtyard in preparation for the performance. The students were there to help encourage their fellow classmates and friends.
The other foreign teachers and I sat down right in front of the students who were spectating. While I was sitting there it kind of felt as if I was one of the judges on X-Factor/American Idol haha. However I did not let that phase me since I was there to mark my students on their performance and they would be more nervous than I was.
The students came up one by one first the Juniors then the Seniors. Many of the students felt nervous when they spoke and often made silly mistakes and took very long pauses when they were speaking. I tried to encourage them as best as I could but it seemed that the pressure may have been a little to much for some. After about 1 hour we had a slight break, for entertainment two students came up and sung a song for the audience. I thought that the two students did a good job considering how many people they were standing in front of.
I was slightly disappointed in some of my students who were spectating because they were making a lot of noise and they made it difficult for the judges and I to hear what the competitors were saying. It wasn't until one of the school leaders told the kids to shut up that they stopped making noise.
All the students who took part in the contest received something for their effort. I think they all received a Walkman or something but the winners won a dictionary that was quite thick. The two students that won did really well and I think they deserved to win the competition.
I was able to take many pictures and even film some of my students singing while the students had a small break during the contest. But I can say I enjoyed seeing and listening to the students perform. I felt a little sad while I was watching because I knew that I will only have a couple more weeks with the students before I go back to England.
Once the contest was over the VSO teachers, their translators and I were invited to dinner with some leaders from the county. The dinner was quite nice and made a change from having noodles or rice everyday. The restaurant was a Hot Pot restaurant so we needed to cook our own food in the pot. But I enjoyed myself while I was there.
So to summarise the contest was a success apart from the small few that were misbehaving but I can safely say I enjoyed the day overall .
5 December 2008
OMG WE........
Yes that's right we lost the basketball game. Luckily though this time our team did much better than the first game we played together. This time we only lost by 3-points instead of the originally embarrassing 25-points.
However I did notice that we played a lot better as a team. We did more passing and took less 3-pointers. This allowed us to keep up with the other team in scoring. Although often as a team we made silly mistakes such as bad passing and other mis-communication.
The headmaster was watching my game this time and told me (or so I think) "...too bad that you lost, Dorian." I thought its just a game no need to feel too disappointed but we could have won the game so I was a little disappointed with myself and the other members in my team. I guess better luck next time.
However I did notice that we played a lot better as a team. We did more passing and took less 3-pointers. This allowed us to keep up with the other team in scoring. Although often as a team we made silly mistakes such as bad passing and other mis-communication.
The headmaster was watching my game this time and told me (or so I think) "...too bad that you lost, Dorian." I thought its just a game no need to feel too disappointed but we could have won the game so I was a little disappointed with myself and the other members in my team. I guess better luck next time.
1 December 2008
Im not Kobe Bryant you know!!!
Today was the day I was told that I had to play in the teachers basketball game. I kept trying to tell the teachers that I'm not that good and I haven't played in a long time. However this did not seem to bother the teachers (or maybe they did not understand).
After I had finished my classes at 4:05pm I put on my jersey to represent Junior 1 Grade 7. It seemed like many teachers had high hopes on me but I did not like the pressure. One teacher did say, don't worry if we win or loose we just have to try our best. After he said that I thought ok cool, some of the pressure has been lifted.
The game began at 4:30pm but before you knew it my team was down 15 points or so. I was thinking what the hell is going on. Then I realised that many of the teachers on my team were fouling the other team and that was one of the reasons how they were getting their points. The other reason was that my team was getting too greedy with the ball and always going for 3's (I'm not going to lie I was that person at times lol). I felt the difficulty in communication between my team and I was also a factor in our unfortunate demise. In the end the score was a slightly embarrassing 21 to 55.
We still have two other games to play...I think. Hopefully the team has learned from this game and will work much better together next time, that includes me also.
After I had finished my classes at 4:05pm I put on my jersey to represent Junior 1 Grade 7. It seemed like many teachers had high hopes on me but I did not like the pressure. One teacher did say, don't worry if we win or loose we just have to try our best. After he said that I thought ok cool, some of the pressure has been lifted.
The game began at 4:30pm but before you knew it my team was down 15 points or so. I was thinking what the hell is going on. Then I realised that many of the teachers on my team were fouling the other team and that was one of the reasons how they were getting their points. The other reason was that my team was getting too greedy with the ball and always going for 3's (I'm not going to lie I was that person at times lol). I felt the difficulty in communication between my team and I was also a factor in our unfortunate demise. In the end the score was a slightly embarrassing 21 to 55.
We still have two other games to play...I think. Hopefully the team has learned from this game and will work much better together next time, that includes me also.
29 November 2008
Not long now =(
It seems like I do not have that long left in China. It feels like the weeks are going very quickly now compared to how they were in the beginning. I can say that I am enjoying being here but sometimes I do feel its time for me to go home.
The school said they would like to me finish teaching on the 5th January. But after this date they would like to send me on a 5 day trip to maybe Xi'an to congratulate me on my hard work at the school.
This sounds like a good idea, it would be nice however if I could go to maybe Shanghai or somewhere else like that. I say this because I can go to Xi'an anytime I want since it is so close to Zhen'an. But my assistant told me that those place are expensive to get to...but we'll see. =P
Its not long either until the Oral English Contest. I like the other foreign teachers will be judges during the contest. The students will perform a number of English activities to demonstrate how good their spoken English abilities really are.
The school said they would like to me finish teaching on the 5th January. But after this date they would like to send me on a 5 day trip to maybe Xi'an to congratulate me on my hard work at the school.
This sounds like a good idea, it would be nice however if I could go to maybe Shanghai or somewhere else like that. I say this because I can go to Xi'an anytime I want since it is so close to Zhen'an. But my assistant told me that those place are expensive to get to...but we'll see. =P
Its not long either until the Oral English Contest. I like the other foreign teachers will be judges during the contest. The students will perform a number of English activities to demonstrate how good their spoken English abilities really are.
17 November 2008
Wang Ba, Wang Ba, Wang Ba
Like always the days here are pretty much becoming the norm. Everyday its just the same thing. I think once the highway between Zhen'an and Xi'an is completed I will go to Xi'An maybe to the Zoo or to see the Terracotta Warriors.
I have also been told today that the school will hold the oral English competition on the December 24th. It also appears that I will not get to have Christmas Day off from work which is a bit of a pity. But my assistant told me that the Headmaster might give me a present because its a special day for us Westerners haha.
There was also a visit at the school last week by some leaders but it turned out they did not come to the school to inspect it on that day. This was a bit annoying since some of my students rehearsed something to perform in front of them, ah well what can you do.
But like I said everything is pretty cool here however I feel I can honestly I'd rather break my arm then have to choose between noodles or rice to eat for lunch/dinner. When I go to Xi'An next I can maybe buy some different food to eat.
Oh yea before I forget can someone tell me whats so funny about the word Wang Ba? thanks =P
I have also been told today that the school will hold the oral English competition on the December 24th. It also appears that I will not get to have Christmas Day off from work which is a bit of a pity. But my assistant told me that the Headmaster might give me a present because its a special day for us Westerners haha.
There was also a visit at the school last week by some leaders but it turned out they did not come to the school to inspect it on that day. This was a bit annoying since some of my students rehearsed something to perform in front of them, ah well what can you do.
But like I said everything is pretty cool here however I feel I can honestly I'd rather break my arm then have to choose between noodles or rice to eat for lunch/dinner. When I go to Xi'An next I can maybe buy some different food to eat.
Oh yea before I forget can someone tell me whats so funny about the word Wang Ba? thanks =P
3 November 2008
Just the same old
Well, things have gotten to be quite normal here now. Its seems like I have gotten into a routine and the days/weeks are just flying by.
Last week the school had their annual Sports Day which was quite exciting. Many of the students were pumped up cheering on their fellow class members. All the cheering they were doing got me all into the mood too. It also seems now that the students are becoming more familiar with me and more and more of them are saying hello to me. However I can't remember if they are from my class or not.
On the weekend Barbara's boyfriend came to stay with us. Barbara said he was tall but I didn't really understand until I saw him. The guy must have been around 6"5 or something. But he was a pretty cool guy. Although he didn't speak English but he told Barbara that when I talk I often move about so he could sort of understand what I was talking about.
Right now I'm at school, no one told me I did not have to teach the Juniors this morning because they weren't at school. Also no one told me that they were not raising the flag so I woke up at 6:30 for nothing.
Last week the school had their annual Sports Day which was quite exciting. Many of the students were pumped up cheering on their fellow class members. All the cheering they were doing got me all into the mood too. It also seems now that the students are becoming more familiar with me and more and more of them are saying hello to me. However I can't remember if they are from my class or not.
On the weekend Barbara's boyfriend came to stay with us. Barbara said he was tall but I didn't really understand until I saw him. The guy must have been around 6"5 or something. But he was a pretty cool guy. Although he didn't speak English but he told Barbara that when I talk I often move about so he could sort of understand what I was talking about.
Right now I'm at school, no one told me I did not have to teach the Juniors this morning because they weren't at school. Also no one told me that they were not raising the flag so I woke up at 6:30 for nothing.
27 September 2008
Its Saturday...But I'm Still At School!!!!!!!!!!!!! O_o
OK let me start by saying what happened yesterday evening. First I went out to get my dinner like I normally do now (seeing how I cant cook and I can afford to eat out). I then went to one of the two shops I go to. The man that works there was trying to entice me to buy things, random things on the shelf but I kindly refused.
As I was looking in the shop he tried to tell me what something was (in Chinese) but I didn't understand what he was saying. He then called to the back and his daughter then came out. She speaks some English so it was nice to have someone understand me. She told me what it was, I then spent a good hour or two in the shop with the man his wife and his daughter. They would ask me questions and other things. The Wife was then measuring her husbands height with my own (he is taller than me) , he then began to measure his foot with my own. He then tried on my shoe and seemed to think it looked good on him. It was all quite funny to me, but at least all this had me out of my room.
The Dad then asked how much my shoes were, I told him maybe £55. Then he wanted to know how much it was in Yuan. I did the calculation and it turned out to be 605yuan. The Dad was like "WAhhhhh" he was even more shocked when I told him they were made in China haha. The Mum was asking questions too, then she asked if they could take a picture of me and I said sure. These people are nice so I don't mind them taking pictures of me. We then started to do some price comparisons between England and China and they were quite shocked at how much money people earn in England.
I then spent some time talking to their daughter, she is the same age as me and seemed like she wanted to be friends. I was like sure, I don't know anyone else round here. I asked her if she was busy because I didn't want to keep her from what she was doing, but I told her that its boring in my room so I just wanted someone to talk to. Later the daughter went to the back of the shop (living quarters), I then continued to walk around and ask the Dad whats what.
After a little while the Dad told me to go to the back (well he pointed really), I did want he said and saw the daughter on the computer. They told me to sit down on this little stool, damn the thing was so low I nearly popped my back haha. Anyways the daughter was using the computer or rather she was using this thing called QQ. She asked me if I had QQ (like my students the other day) but I said no. She then told me she was talking to her friend and she was telling that I was with her. I realised she was talking about me because I saw her write lao'wai (i think that's how you spell it) before the computer turned it into Chinese characters. Her friend was like "WAhhhh", then the daughter turned on the web cam so her friend could see me. The daughter later asked if I had a phone, I said yea I do. Why you wanna know? Then she said no reason...lol. So I think she wanted my phone number. I will give it to her next time, would be nice to know someone that can speak for me lol.
After she was done she was like use the computer, I was like are you sure and she was like yea go on ^-^. So of course I did. Their Internet was slightly better then here at the school, it was faster and I could access my web pages quicker. Then later the daughter came back and took some pictures of us together. She was having difficulty getting a good pic so the mum came and took the pic, they seemed very happy to take pictures with me. In one of the pics I made a funny face and then the daughter ran off to her father laughing. Then the Dad came to the room with his phone ready to take a picture with me. It was all quite funny but I did not want to over stay my welcome so I shortly left after this at around 9:30 ish.
Today I had to quickly prepare my lessons before the classes started. I arrived at 7:30 and my first lesson was at 9:40 so I had plenty of time to do it. As I walked up the stairs however some of my students from my first lesson on the Monday just gone had the classes homework for me. I was surprised they had it for me. I took the work and Mrs. D and I marked them in the office then gave them back to the students in the class at 9:40.
This weeks lessons for the Juniors and Seniors are quite similar, they are all to do with Keeping Fit/Healthy. Again like the lessons earlier this week the basis for the lessons is group work, this will allow all the students to be involved in the lessons. They basically had to list all the things they felt you can do to keep fit and all the things you can eat to keep fit. Some of the students today were very good but others not as good. But no sweets today because I haven't had a chance to go to the supermarket.
I will have only one lesson tomorrow then I'm free until Thursday (i think). So I can get a nice rest from school. No more getting up at 6:30 for a few days. =D
But today's lessons have finished and I'm about to go back to my room soon. Later I will go back out to eat dinner but I find that I am getting a little tired of having rice and/or noodles everyday. I want something else, what I wouldn't do for a Pizza or some Chips lol. Although the students and I did discuss that these types of foods are bad for you, but what they don't know wont hurt them lol. Saying this though, if I wanted to eat some junk food I would have to travel 2 hours on a train to Xi'An. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......................=( looks like I will have to find other Chinese food to eat lol. But now I guess I will have to learn some new words other than fried rice and fried noodles so I guess its not all bad lol.
Anyways thanks for reading.
As I was looking in the shop he tried to tell me what something was (in Chinese) but I didn't understand what he was saying. He then called to the back and his daughter then came out. She speaks some English so it was nice to have someone understand me. She told me what it was, I then spent a good hour or two in the shop with the man his wife and his daughter. They would ask me questions and other things. The Wife was then measuring her husbands height with my own (he is taller than me) , he then began to measure his foot with my own. He then tried on my shoe and seemed to think it looked good on him. It was all quite funny to me, but at least all this had me out of my room.
The Dad then asked how much my shoes were, I told him maybe £55. Then he wanted to know how much it was in Yuan. I did the calculation and it turned out to be 605yuan. The Dad was like "WAhhhhh" he was even more shocked when I told him they were made in China haha. The Mum was asking questions too, then she asked if they could take a picture of me and I said sure. These people are nice so I don't mind them taking pictures of me. We then started to do some price comparisons between England and China and they were quite shocked at how much money people earn in England.
I then spent some time talking to their daughter, she is the same age as me and seemed like she wanted to be friends. I was like sure, I don't know anyone else round here. I asked her if she was busy because I didn't want to keep her from what she was doing, but I told her that its boring in my room so I just wanted someone to talk to. Later the daughter went to the back of the shop (living quarters), I then continued to walk around and ask the Dad whats what.
After a little while the Dad told me to go to the back (well he pointed really), I did want he said and saw the daughter on the computer. They told me to sit down on this little stool, damn the thing was so low I nearly popped my back haha. Anyways the daughter was using the computer or rather she was using this thing called QQ. She asked me if I had QQ (like my students the other day) but I said no. She then told me she was talking to her friend and she was telling that I was with her. I realised she was talking about me because I saw her write lao'wai (i think that's how you spell it) before the computer turned it into Chinese characters. Her friend was like "WAhhhh", then the daughter turned on the web cam so her friend could see me. The daughter later asked if I had a phone, I said yea I do. Why you wanna know? Then she said no reason...lol. So I think she wanted my phone number. I will give it to her next time, would be nice to know someone that can speak for me lol.
After she was done she was like use the computer, I was like are you sure and she was like yea go on ^-^. So of course I did. Their Internet was slightly better then here at the school, it was faster and I could access my web pages quicker. Then later the daughter came back and took some pictures of us together. She was having difficulty getting a good pic so the mum came and took the pic, they seemed very happy to take pictures with me. In one of the pics I made a funny face and then the daughter ran off to her father laughing. Then the Dad came to the room with his phone ready to take a picture with me. It was all quite funny but I did not want to over stay my welcome so I shortly left after this at around 9:30 ish.
Today I had to quickly prepare my lessons before the classes started. I arrived at 7:30 and my first lesson was at 9:40 so I had plenty of time to do it. As I walked up the stairs however some of my students from my first lesson on the Monday just gone had the classes homework for me. I was surprised they had it for me. I took the work and Mrs. D and I marked them in the office then gave them back to the students in the class at 9:40.
This weeks lessons for the Juniors and Seniors are quite similar, they are all to do with Keeping Fit/Healthy. Again like the lessons earlier this week the basis for the lessons is group work, this will allow all the students to be involved in the lessons. They basically had to list all the things they felt you can do to keep fit and all the things you can eat to keep fit. Some of the students today were very good but others not as good. But no sweets today because I haven't had a chance to go to the supermarket.
I will have only one lesson tomorrow then I'm free until Thursday (i think). So I can get a nice rest from school. No more getting up at 6:30 for a few days. =D
But today's lessons have finished and I'm about to go back to my room soon. Later I will go back out to eat dinner but I find that I am getting a little tired of having rice and/or noodles everyday. I want something else, what I wouldn't do for a Pizza or some Chips lol. Although the students and I did discuss that these types of foods are bad for you, but what they don't know wont hurt them lol. Saying this though, if I wanted to eat some junk food I would have to travel 2 hours on a train to Xi'An. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......................=( looks like I will have to find other Chinese food to eat lol. But now I guess I will have to learn some new words other than fried rice and fried noodles so I guess its not all bad lol.
Anyways thanks for reading.
26 September 2008
Last day of School...or so I thought.
OK yesterday was just like the other days, not much happend. However my last class of the day was the worst. The students did not understand hardly anything I said to them. You could say this was because they were Junior students but I found that other Junior students I had asked similar questions to were fine with them. The could just be because of their poor English skills or rather Mrs. D's lack of translation. Either way these students did not get any sweets, I told them they have to try harder next time.
Today was pretty cool, I was teaching all Seniors today. I saw some students that I often see in the restaurant I go to. Sometimes students knowing before seeing you in the class can be a bad thing. By this I mean the students tend to act up and play about because they think you are their friends. Fair enough I may be friendly with them outside the class but they should respect me and my wishes in the class.
The questions portion of this class was quite funny because this one students asked me for a hug, yea thats right some boy asked me for a hug lol. I thought...um....I dont want the students to think I'm evil so I gave him one and everyone applauded haha. The students often ask if I have a girlfriend also, but these girls are way too young for me lol. Plus they wouldn't understand what the hell I'm saying. I also noticed students taking pictures on the sly, I said to them at the end of the class if you want to take pictures I do not mind at the end of the class.
My last class of the day was better due to the fact Mr. Lee was helping me. There was one girl in the class who was quite good at English. I was surprised when I told her to ask a question. I also noticed that she would help the other students a lot. At the end of the question time I told the students (because I saw someone taking pics of me on their phone) to take pictures with/of me if they like. Many of them rushed to the front and posed while their friends took pictures of us. The girl who I thought was good at english gave me a water balloon, why I dont know haha. This other girl also gave me a star folded from a straw, its pretty cool. I will take a picture of it if I can haha. But the students liked me it seemed, even one students asked me if I knew Usain Bolt hahaha. I said nope I dont, sorry.
Well this week has been ok so far, but because there is a holiday right now in China I have to teach Mondays and Tuesdays lesson on the Weekend. I will have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off instead. So no rest for me yet....shit I need to prepare my lesson. O_o
PS: right now they are playing "End of the Road" by Boyz 2 Men over the speaker system haha.
Today was pretty cool, I was teaching all Seniors today. I saw some students that I often see in the restaurant I go to. Sometimes students knowing before seeing you in the class can be a bad thing. By this I mean the students tend to act up and play about because they think you are their friends. Fair enough I may be friendly with them outside the class but they should respect me and my wishes in the class.
The questions portion of this class was quite funny because this one students asked me for a hug, yea thats right some boy asked me for a hug lol. I thought...um....I dont want the students to think I'm evil so I gave him one and everyone applauded haha. The students often ask if I have a girlfriend also, but these girls are way too young for me lol. Plus they wouldn't understand what the hell I'm saying. I also noticed students taking pictures on the sly, I said to them at the end of the class if you want to take pictures I do not mind at the end of the class.
My last class of the day was better due to the fact Mr. Lee was helping me. There was one girl in the class who was quite good at English. I was surprised when I told her to ask a question. I also noticed that she would help the other students a lot. At the end of the question time I told the students (because I saw someone taking pics of me on their phone) to take pictures with/of me if they like. Many of them rushed to the front and posed while their friends took pictures of us. The girl who I thought was good at english gave me a water balloon, why I dont know haha. This other girl also gave me a star folded from a straw, its pretty cool. I will take a picture of it if I can haha. But the students liked me it seemed, even one students asked me if I knew Usain Bolt hahaha. I said nope I dont, sorry.
Well this week has been ok so far, but because there is a holiday right now in China I have to teach Mondays and Tuesdays lesson on the Weekend. I will have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off instead. So no rest for me yet....shit I need to prepare my lesson. O_o
PS: right now they are playing "End of the Road" by Boyz 2 Men over the speaker system haha.
24 September 2008
3rd Day of School
OK let me start first by saying what happened after my lesson yesterday. Well since I only had one lesson, I had plenty of free time in the afternoon. After I had my lunch I thought it would be nice to see if I could get a chance to play some Basketball. I went to the playground and watched as the students played, I thought to myself which group should I join. Then as I was standing there a few of the students said "...you want to play ball?", I was like sure why not. They gave me the ball first and gestured their hand as if to say "...please shoot the ball", I did as they asked and I shot.
Unfortunately my skills in basketball are not what they used to be. I missed about 9 of my 12 shots haha. Well it was after a few shots the students thought they would try their luck with me. The probably thought "...hey, hes black he must be good at B-ball" but they were sadly mistaken, yes this was/is my sport of choice but I am too out of practice to be considered any real challenge. The students came at me one-by-one and I had to go through them. I managed to succeed with a few plays but soon I began to tire due to lack of exercise and practice in Basketball. This soon became the students opportunity to go to town on me and brag to their friends they beat a black man at Basketball lol.
The students the decided to start a game of 5 on 5, half court. As we begun to play other students from the schools started to watch from their classroom window and gather around the court. This was not a surprising to me considering I still remember what happened when I played Badminton for a little while haha. Unfortunately some (well most) of the students went after a while due to them having lessons. I still stayed in the playground with a few of the other students. Supposedly these students don't like going to all their lessons or they had a free period, who knows lol. With them was one of the schools security guards. One of his duties I was told was to send students to their lessons, but it seemed he did not care as much as treated the students I was with more like friends. I didn't mind, gave me someone to play basketball with.
After a while even those students had to go so I went back to my office. After about 1 hour or so I went back out to the playground once I had seen the students playing again. I stayed out there for a few hours maybe 3 or so. Then like always many of the students had to go to their next lesson. But 3 students stayed outside with me (at this time it was after 7:00pm), I asked them why don't they have lessons as well, they simply said "....we do, but we are bad boys haha" I was like ok then. These 3 guys were pretty cool they stayed outside playing until maybe 8:30pm. It was so dark thought, I didn't even know why we were still playing lol. They also told me different things they like, such as wrestling, kung fu and hip-hop. I was like cool, they then asked me would I like to go to karaoke but I declined mainly due to me having lessons all day today. I told them maybe on the weekend, because I will be able to sleep all day the next day. They were like sure, ok then.
Well today was the day where I have 6 lessons, this is the most amount of lessons I have in one day each week. There were a total of 4 Senior Classes and only 2 Junior classes. This has been one of the best teaching days by far, mainly due to how responsive the students were to the lesson. It also helped that they seemed genuinely happy to meet me. Today however I had three different teachers helping me in 4 of my classes, this made a fresh change from having Mrs. D there helping me all the time.
I think these classes were normally taught English by these teachers and they felt it best for them to help their own class. Once I had finished my 3rd class and was waiting for my 4th to begin, many students from the 3rd class started to crowed around me as Mrs. D and I were waiting outside the class waiting for our lesson to start. I was a bit overwhelmed but the amount of students, however they were simply there to pratice their English and ask me some more questions. I of course was happy to help them.
The girls seemed to want my MSN and asked if I had this thing called QQ which is a Chinese MSN type thing. I gave them my hotmail address but told them I cant use MSN while I am here in China. But they didnt seem to mind, one girl even asked me to write my name on her arm haha. They are seriously acting like im some kind of superstar, but im really just me a normal guy ^_^.
Well since it is now the 3rd day I pretty much have my teaching method, so far it seems to be working well. First I introduce myself, then I ask the students to pratice and lastly I get the students to introduce themselves to me. Then near the end of the lesson I get the students to ask me any and as many questions as they can. After this has been done I then give out some sweets (the kids love them sweeties lol) to the students who I felt spoke English the clearest and the best. In the last Junior class it seemed as if many of the students knew what I was going to get out of my bag when I told them I was going to give out something haha. But I still only gave the sweets to the students who I thought were the best.
Well I have now run out of pot noodles, so I will have to start eating dinner at a restaurant or god forbid buy more pot noodles TT_TT. Well I think I will also buy some apples in a minute, they are quite nice here, very sweet. Well thats it for today will update soon, thanks for reading.
Unfortunately my skills in basketball are not what they used to be. I missed about 9 of my 12 shots haha. Well it was after a few shots the students thought they would try their luck with me. The probably thought "...hey, hes black he must be good at B-ball" but they were sadly mistaken, yes this was/is my sport of choice but I am too out of practice to be considered any real challenge. The students came at me one-by-one and I had to go through them. I managed to succeed with a few plays but soon I began to tire due to lack of exercise and practice in Basketball. This soon became the students opportunity to go to town on me and brag to their friends they beat a black man at Basketball lol.
The students the decided to start a game of 5 on 5, half court. As we begun to play other students from the schools started to watch from their classroom window and gather around the court. This was not a surprising to me considering I still remember what happened when I played Badminton for a little while haha. Unfortunately some (well most) of the students went after a while due to them having lessons. I still stayed in the playground with a few of the other students. Supposedly these students don't like going to all their lessons or they had a free period, who knows lol. With them was one of the schools security guards. One of his duties I was told was to send students to their lessons, but it seemed he did not care as much as treated the students I was with more like friends. I didn't mind, gave me someone to play basketball with.
After a while even those students had to go so I went back to my office. After about 1 hour or so I went back out to the playground once I had seen the students playing again. I stayed out there for a few hours maybe 3 or so. Then like always many of the students had to go to their next lesson. But 3 students stayed outside with me (at this time it was after 7:00pm), I asked them why don't they have lessons as well, they simply said "....we do, but we are bad boys haha" I was like ok then. These 3 guys were pretty cool they stayed outside playing until maybe 8:30pm. It was so dark thought, I didn't even know why we were still playing lol. They also told me different things they like, such as wrestling, kung fu and hip-hop. I was like cool, they then asked me would I like to go to karaoke but I declined mainly due to me having lessons all day today. I told them maybe on the weekend, because I will be able to sleep all day the next day. They were like sure, ok then.
Well today was the day where I have 6 lessons, this is the most amount of lessons I have in one day each week. There were a total of 4 Senior Classes and only 2 Junior classes. This has been one of the best teaching days by far, mainly due to how responsive the students were to the lesson. It also helped that they seemed genuinely happy to meet me. Today however I had three different teachers helping me in 4 of my classes, this made a fresh change from having Mrs. D there helping me all the time.
I think these classes were normally taught English by these teachers and they felt it best for them to help their own class. Once I had finished my 3rd class and was waiting for my 4th to begin, many students from the 3rd class started to crowed around me as Mrs. D and I were waiting outside the class waiting for our lesson to start. I was a bit overwhelmed but the amount of students, however they were simply there to pratice their English and ask me some more questions. I of course was happy to help them.
The girls seemed to want my MSN and asked if I had this thing called QQ which is a Chinese MSN type thing. I gave them my hotmail address but told them I cant use MSN while I am here in China. But they didnt seem to mind, one girl even asked me to write my name on her arm haha. They are seriously acting like im some kind of superstar, but im really just me a normal guy ^_^.
Well since it is now the 3rd day I pretty much have my teaching method, so far it seems to be working well. First I introduce myself, then I ask the students to pratice and lastly I get the students to introduce themselves to me. Then near the end of the lesson I get the students to ask me any and as many questions as they can. After this has been done I then give out some sweets (the kids love them sweeties lol) to the students who I felt spoke English the clearest and the best. In the last Junior class it seemed as if many of the students knew what I was going to get out of my bag when I told them I was going to give out something haha. But I still only gave the sweets to the students who I thought were the best.
Well I have now run out of pot noodles, so I will have to start eating dinner at a restaurant or god forbid buy more pot noodles TT_TT. Well I think I will also buy some apples in a minute, they are quite nice here, very sweet. Well thats it for today will update soon, thanks for reading.
23 September 2008
2nd Day of School
OK I just finished my second day of school. Today I had only one lesson but after having my first lesson with the Seniors yesterday I was thinking whether or not this lesson would go smoothly. I arrived at the school for 7:35 after Mrs. D had told me we had to be there for 7:40. However Mrs. D came late haha, shame. Mrs. D later told me to change the way I taught the lesson because the Senior students found it boring because they didn't understand what I was saying. Mrs. D suggested that I should just do the "Introductions" informally rather than formally like I had been doing. I thought about it and decided to try it her way. Anyways Mr. Lee surprised us by coming into the office. He told us that he would sit in on this lesson instead of Mrs. D because it is his class. I was like ok then, sure.
As I arrived in the class I noticed how friendly the students seemed unlike that other evil Senior class haha jokes. Anyways I wrote on the board as per usual "my name, where I'm from and my age" but as I was explaining Mr. Lee told me to stop so he could translate. I was thinking WTH this would make my life so much easier, why hasn't Mrs. D being doing this? So after a few sentences Mr. Lee would tell me to stop so he could translate. This worked much better because the students could understand what the hell I was talking about. Normally Mrs. D sits at the back of the classroom and lets me just talk then I have to shout to the back "Mrs. D, Mrs D can you translate please because they don't understand!". Anyways the way Mr. Lee was doing it was much better.
I then asked the students to practice introducing themselves and greetings for a few minutes amongst themselves. Afterwards I went around to individual students and asked them to introduce themselves. This took up all of the lesson but I only managed to speak to 1/4 of the class. At the end of the class I told the students not to be afraid to speak English and they should try to improve it. This was when I noticed one girl taking a picture of me, I was like O_o.............OK then what the hell and I posed lol. Then more students got their Cameras out and started to take pictures. Then a few of them rushed to the front and started grabbing on to me and posing with the peace (v sign) so their friends could take pictures. Other students then said "...I would like to be your friend" I was like "...sure you can teach me Chinese" haha.
So this lesson today was alright, seemed fairly easy. But I know not all lessons are going to be easy like this. I also forgot to give them the sweets haha, next time...next time. But I guess if I see some of the students again before next week I will give them the sweets. Its soon time for lunch but I wonder what I shall have...there are really only two options (well for me anyways) rice or noodles. I'm getting a little tired of having pot noodles for dinner at my place though =(, its making me a little sick now lol. Hopefully though, this rumor about the other foreign teachers and I getting a cook next week are true hehe.
As I arrived in the class I noticed how friendly the students seemed unlike that other evil Senior class haha jokes. Anyways I wrote on the board as per usual "my name, where I'm from and my age" but as I was explaining Mr. Lee told me to stop so he could translate. I was thinking WTH this would make my life so much easier, why hasn't Mrs. D being doing this? So after a few sentences Mr. Lee would tell me to stop so he could translate. This worked much better because the students could understand what the hell I was talking about. Normally Mrs. D sits at the back of the classroom and lets me just talk then I have to shout to the back "Mrs. D, Mrs D can you translate please because they don't understand!". Anyways the way Mr. Lee was doing it was much better.
I then asked the students to practice introducing themselves and greetings for a few minutes amongst themselves. Afterwards I went around to individual students and asked them to introduce themselves. This took up all of the lesson but I only managed to speak to 1/4 of the class. At the end of the class I told the students not to be afraid to speak English and they should try to improve it. This was when I noticed one girl taking a picture of me, I was like O_o.............OK then what the hell and I posed lol. Then more students got their Cameras out and started to take pictures. Then a few of them rushed to the front and started grabbing on to me and posing with the peace (v sign) so their friends could take pictures. Other students then said "...I would like to be your friend" I was like "...sure you can teach me Chinese" haha.
So this lesson today was alright, seemed fairly easy. But I know not all lessons are going to be easy like this. I also forgot to give them the sweets haha, next time...next time. But I guess if I see some of the students again before next week I will give them the sweets. Its soon time for lunch but I wonder what I shall have...there are really only two options (well for me anyways) rice or noodles. I'm getting a little tired of having pot noodles for dinner at my place though =(, its making me a little sick now lol. Hopefully though, this rumor about the other foreign teachers and I getting a cook next week are true hehe.
22 September 2008
First Day of School
After a semi-anxious night of sleep I was ready for my first day of school. Originally Mrs. D told me to be at the school for 8:00am, but at around 7:15am she phoned me to ask/tell me to come earlier. I was annoyed because we had arranged to meet up on Saturday and she never showed up. I told her I need to shower, get dressed and eat something and that I will be there as soon as possible. Well in the end I got there for 7:50 so technically I wasn't late I was earlier since we had agreed on 8:00am.
When I got to the school gate the technician guy came to register my finger print on the finger print scanner. Its like a clocking in/out machine you may or may not have at work. But I guess this way no one can clock in for you lol (damn >_<). After that was done Mrs. D and I went to our office and waited until 9:40am to have out first lesson. She also informed me that the Headmaster said he wants us both to be at the school on Mondays for 6:40 for the raising of the flag (ah wah di rars O_o). 6.40 that's a bit extreme to come to school and we will have to wait until 9.40 to have our first lesson, that's a joke. Also the Headmaster said he wants us to be in school by 7.40 each day, ahhhhhh why so early T___T.
Well anyways I had my first of 5 classes today, 4 of them were the Junior classes and one of them was a Senior class. My plan for the lesson was to follow the book I had received from the agency however during the lesson it seemed like the children were struggling. First I introduced myself and told them I was from London, England. The whole point of this weeks lessons are for the students to learn greetings and introductions. I read out some examples of greetings for the students and got them to repeat what I said. Then I asked the students (with the help of Mrs. D) to practice with the person (or their friend) sitting next to them. Once they had finished this I selected a few students to come to the front to demonstrate their English conversation to the rest of the class. The students who came up were given a sweet that I bought from the Supermarket, this is really to encourage them. But I hope they dont think they gonna get sweets everytime they come up to demonstrate. Dorian what have you done >_< lol.
Oh yea in the first class before I said anything except "Hi" as I walked in the class the students begun to sing. I was thinking whats going on, they all sang the same song fairly loudly was cute thought lol. At the end of that first class the a couple of the students gave me a bird, yes that's right a baby bird lol. It sat in my hand and wasn't scared of any of us. I asked Mrs. D why doesn't it fly away and she said its because its too young. But I kindly gave the bird back to the students because I can barely look after myself let alone a bird. The bird resembled a sparrow or something like that.
After 3 Junior classes I had my first Senior class. Immediately I was stunned to see twice as many students in the same size classroom. The class was over packed to the point where you couldn't really walk from one end of the class to the other. Another thing to note is the different ages of the students, some are really young and some are really old. It seems like they have a system like America as in, if you don't pass you stay in that same grade for another year. As soon as I began the lesson it was obvious these students couldn't understand what the hell I was talking about. These students seemed less enthusiastic to learn unlike the Junior students. They also didn't understand my instructions (or Mrs. D was telling them something else).
The students ended up doing the lesson in the wrong order, they came up to demonstrate before they had even practiced. This flopped the task because they were not prepared because they had not practiced briefly before hand. It was said that the Senior students English abilities are poor compared to the Junior students, mainly due to them not liking English as a subject. You would think it would be the other way around i.e Senior students better and Junior students not as good but I guess not. Hopefully I can change that by finding out what the Senior students like (if anything lol) about English.
Ah well it was clear from all the 5 lessons today that the students enjoy getting sweets (more so the Seniors they were all shouting for sweets, big kids lol) and playing Pictionary. This was the game I decided to play with the students at the end of the lesson. Unfortunately some of the students English skills were not that great and they could not read certain words like House, Dog, Radio, Computer and Fruits. This made the game slightly difficult for them since they only knew the Chinese word for these things. I had to help them occasionally by drawing for them, because they either spent to long drawing or drew something totally different to the word. One girl drew a Cat when the word was Car, but I guess this is a simple mistake for them.
So day one is over, only one lesson on Tuesdays but I will have to use the rest of that day to restructure the lesson and dumb them down. It appears the books from the agency are too difficult for the students. So the lessons from Wednesday onwards will be easier for the Juniors and even easier for the Seniors.
Will update with more happenings as time goes on.
When I got to the school gate the technician guy came to register my finger print on the finger print scanner. Its like a clocking in/out machine you may or may not have at work. But I guess this way no one can clock in for you lol (damn >_<). After that was done Mrs. D and I went to our office and waited until 9:40am to have out first lesson. She also informed me that the Headmaster said he wants us both to be at the school on Mondays for 6:40 for the raising of the flag (ah wah di rars O_o). 6.40 that's a bit extreme to come to school and we will have to wait until 9.40 to have our first lesson, that's a joke. Also the Headmaster said he wants us to be in school by 7.40 each day, ahhhhhh why so early T___T.
Well anyways I had my first of 5 classes today, 4 of them were the Junior classes and one of them was a Senior class. My plan for the lesson was to follow the book I had received from the agency however during the lesson it seemed like the children were struggling. First I introduced myself and told them I was from London, England. The whole point of this weeks lessons are for the students to learn greetings and introductions. I read out some examples of greetings for the students and got them to repeat what I said. Then I asked the students (with the help of Mrs. D) to practice with the person (or their friend) sitting next to them. Once they had finished this I selected a few students to come to the front to demonstrate their English conversation to the rest of the class. The students who came up were given a sweet that I bought from the Supermarket, this is really to encourage them. But I hope they dont think they gonna get sweets everytime they come up to demonstrate. Dorian what have you done >_< lol.
Oh yea in the first class before I said anything except "Hi" as I walked in the class the students begun to sing. I was thinking whats going on, they all sang the same song fairly loudly was cute thought lol. At the end of that first class the a couple of the students gave me a bird, yes that's right a baby bird lol. It sat in my hand and wasn't scared of any of us. I asked Mrs. D why doesn't it fly away and she said its because its too young. But I kindly gave the bird back to the students because I can barely look after myself let alone a bird. The bird resembled a sparrow or something like that.
After 3 Junior classes I had my first Senior class. Immediately I was stunned to see twice as many students in the same size classroom. The class was over packed to the point where you couldn't really walk from one end of the class to the other. Another thing to note is the different ages of the students, some are really young and some are really old. It seems like they have a system like America as in, if you don't pass you stay in that same grade for another year. As soon as I began the lesson it was obvious these students couldn't understand what the hell I was talking about. These students seemed less enthusiastic to learn unlike the Junior students. They also didn't understand my instructions (or Mrs. D was telling them something else).
The students ended up doing the lesson in the wrong order, they came up to demonstrate before they had even practiced. This flopped the task because they were not prepared because they had not practiced briefly before hand. It was said that the Senior students English abilities are poor compared to the Junior students, mainly due to them not liking English as a subject. You would think it would be the other way around i.e Senior students better and Junior students not as good but I guess not. Hopefully I can change that by finding out what the Senior students like (if anything lol) about English.
Ah well it was clear from all the 5 lessons today that the students enjoy getting sweets (more so the Seniors they were all shouting for sweets, big kids lol) and playing Pictionary. This was the game I decided to play with the students at the end of the lesson. Unfortunately some of the students English skills were not that great and they could not read certain words like House, Dog, Radio, Computer and Fruits. This made the game slightly difficult for them since they only knew the Chinese word for these things. I had to help them occasionally by drawing for them, because they either spent to long drawing or drew something totally different to the word. One girl drew a Cat when the word was Car, but I guess this is a simple mistake for them.
So day one is over, only one lesson on Tuesdays but I will have to use the rest of that day to restructure the lesson and dumb them down. It appears the books from the agency are too difficult for the students. So the lessons from Wednesday onwards will be easier for the Juniors and even easier for the Seniors.
Will update with more happenings as time goes on.
19 September 2008
At My School
Well I have arrived at my School in the county of Zhen'an which is in the province of Shaanxi. I arrived at the school last week Wednesday and have been staying in the foreign teachers living area. My school is "The 2nd Middle School of Zhen'an". Currently I am the only foreign teacher at the school so it is a bit boring at my place. But I guess I don't have to worry about anyone stealing my food, well for now anyways lol.
My room is fairly decent, i have a double bed, TV, my own bathroom and a desk. Although I can only watch Chinese stations on the TV so its a bit annoying. I don't have the English station CCTV9 on it either, so everything is in Chinese. You may be saying something like "...well, duh you're in China" and yes i can agree with you but the only thing is, I don't understand anything they are saying on the TV lol. There is one upside to the TV situation and that is now and again there are English Language movies shown with Chinese subs. In the dorm I also have a kitchen and a dining room but I will have to share this with the other foreign teachers if/when they arrive.
The school is pretty cool and most of the teachers are friendly. The kids however are like most of the people in Beijing, they are very surprised to see a black foreigner. But I feel these students are more interested in practising their English with me than starring and pointing.
When I eat out I tend to go to two places. I normally order the same meal at either place which is normally rice with beef or noodles soup. Both of these meals are fairly inexpensive, the noodles work out to be 5yuan and the rice with beef is 10yuan. That is really cheap considering in England a sandwich can cost like £3 (30yuan) or more. The restaurant is cool because I often see the same group of students come in. They are always friendly to me and one of them always speaks English with me. She is one of the few students I can actually ask where something is in English. I also noticed that I am the last person students who have never seen me before want to sit next to. The students that talk to me on a regular basis always sit on the same table as me which is good because they have no reason to fear me, im a nice guy...honest ^_^ lol.
Like the restaurants I mainly visit two shops to buy things. One shop is run by a man and his wife (that's me assuming that's who she is) they are both very friendly and a lot of the time I visit the shop they try and offer me food, like what they are eating. The other shop I got to is run by a family (I think), at the front is a woman and most of the time she has her daughter (again I'm assuming) with her. The girl looks to be about 8 or 9. Both the woman and the girl are very nice and they always try to help me if I look confused about something lol. Like the other shop they sometimes offer me food as well.
The area is quite rural i.e dirt roads and all and the people seem to be interested in seeing a black man in their area. They often make noises or whistle to get my attention because they can not communicate in English well if at all.
Last week I went to where all the shops are which is a short bus ride away. The bus ride was very cheap, it worked out to be just 1 yuan. But unlike London buses you don't press a bell to stop the bus you just shout at the driver "STOP!!!" and he will stop at the next bus stop haha.
While I was in the shopping district a lot of people were starring (I've come to expect this now) and pointing. Its really weird because they would turn their neck right around just to look at me if they are walking past. They even slow down their cars as they drive past just to look me in my face.
I wanted to use the Internet while I was in the area so Mr. Lee who was accompanying me on this trip took me to a Internet cafe. While there all the youngsters were looking at me and the girl behind the counter took a picture of me on her camera phone (again I'm kinda used to this now, i even pose lol). It was really cheap to use the Internet there, it cost me just 2 yuan for like 40 mins.
The main reason I went to the shopping district was to buy some cloths/sponges to wash up with. I also wanted to find a CD player so I could play my music out loud while I was in my room. However Mr. Lee and I could not find a CD player, supposedly they are not in fashion anymore lol. I ended up buying some speakers which I could connect my iPod to instead.
Oh this week at the school nothing much has been happening really. They still keep telling me that 4 more foreign teachers will come but me still nah see dem yet @_@. Well I guess I got a few more days of playing my music loudly lol. The headmaster at the school is pretty safe too, hes like "...if you got a problem, tell me and ill sort it out" so that's what i do. I told him what I needed at the dorm and then next thing you know everything I had asked for magically arrived lol. He also got someone to come wash my clothes for me.....by hand O_o. I felt a bit sorry for them, washing my boxers like lol.
I also got an assistant who will help me with lesson planning etc and general translations. Her name is Miss D and she pretty cool. Her spoken English is not as good as Mr. Lee's but hopefully the more she speaks with me the better it will get. Today I finished preparing some of the activities my students will do in the class. Although I need to pick up some stuff tomorrow at the supermarket for the lessons. Oh I will have 19 lessons a week and each lesson is 40mins. On Tuesdays I only have one lesson which is good but on Wednesday I have 6 lessons in that day. But that's only 4 hours I have to work for in that day so its not too bad.
I'm also lucky because the earliest I start is at 8 for my 8:30 am class in the morning, but the students have to come to school at 6:00 am. They stay at school from this time until 9:30 pm yea that's right at night. They have three breaks throughout the day lasting for around 2 hours so i guess its not too bad.
Well I think I've written enough for today will update when some more stuff happens.
My room is fairly decent, i have a double bed, TV, my own bathroom and a desk. Although I can only watch Chinese stations on the TV so its a bit annoying. I don't have the English station CCTV9 on it either, so everything is in Chinese. You may be saying something like "...well, duh you're in China" and yes i can agree with you but the only thing is, I don't understand anything they are saying on the TV lol. There is one upside to the TV situation and that is now and again there are English Language movies shown with Chinese subs. In the dorm I also have a kitchen and a dining room but I will have to share this with the other foreign teachers if/when they arrive.
The school is pretty cool and most of the teachers are friendly. The kids however are like most of the people in Beijing, they are very surprised to see a black foreigner. But I feel these students are more interested in practising their English with me than starring and pointing.
When I eat out I tend to go to two places. I normally order the same meal at either place which is normally rice with beef or noodles soup. Both of these meals are fairly inexpensive, the noodles work out to be 5yuan and the rice with beef is 10yuan. That is really cheap considering in England a sandwich can cost like £3 (30yuan) or more. The restaurant is cool because I often see the same group of students come in. They are always friendly to me and one of them always speaks English with me. She is one of the few students I can actually ask where something is in English. I also noticed that I am the last person students who have never seen me before want to sit next to. The students that talk to me on a regular basis always sit on the same table as me which is good because they have no reason to fear me, im a nice guy...honest ^_^ lol.
Like the restaurants I mainly visit two shops to buy things. One shop is run by a man and his wife (that's me assuming that's who she is) they are both very friendly and a lot of the time I visit the shop they try and offer me food, like what they are eating. The other shop I got to is run by a family (I think), at the front is a woman and most of the time she has her daughter (again I'm assuming) with her. The girl looks to be about 8 or 9. Both the woman and the girl are very nice and they always try to help me if I look confused about something lol. Like the other shop they sometimes offer me food as well.
The area is quite rural i.e dirt roads and all and the people seem to be interested in seeing a black man in their area. They often make noises or whistle to get my attention because they can not communicate in English well if at all.
Last week I went to where all the shops are which is a short bus ride away. The bus ride was very cheap, it worked out to be just 1 yuan. But unlike London buses you don't press a bell to stop the bus you just shout at the driver "STOP!!!" and he will stop at the next bus stop haha.
While I was in the shopping district a lot of people were starring (I've come to expect this now) and pointing. Its really weird because they would turn their neck right around just to look at me if they are walking past. They even slow down their cars as they drive past just to look me in my face.
I wanted to use the Internet while I was in the area so Mr. Lee who was accompanying me on this trip took me to a Internet cafe. While there all the youngsters were looking at me and the girl behind the counter took a picture of me on her camera phone (again I'm kinda used to this now, i even pose lol). It was really cheap to use the Internet there, it cost me just 2 yuan for like 40 mins.
The main reason I went to the shopping district was to buy some cloths/sponges to wash up with. I also wanted to find a CD player so I could play my music out loud while I was in my room. However Mr. Lee and I could not find a CD player, supposedly they are not in fashion anymore lol. I ended up buying some speakers which I could connect my iPod to instead.
Oh this week at the school nothing much has been happening really. They still keep telling me that 4 more foreign teachers will come but me still nah see dem yet @_@. Well I guess I got a few more days of playing my music loudly lol. The headmaster at the school is pretty safe too, hes like "...if you got a problem, tell me and ill sort it out" so that's what i do. I told him what I needed at the dorm and then next thing you know everything I had asked for magically arrived lol. He also got someone to come wash my clothes for me.....by hand O_o. I felt a bit sorry for them, washing my boxers like lol.
I also got an assistant who will help me with lesson planning etc and general translations. Her name is Miss D and she pretty cool. Her spoken English is not as good as Mr. Lee's but hopefully the more she speaks with me the better it will get. Today I finished preparing some of the activities my students will do in the class. Although I need to pick up some stuff tomorrow at the supermarket for the lessons. Oh I will have 19 lessons a week and each lesson is 40mins. On Tuesdays I only have one lesson which is good but on Wednesday I have 6 lessons in that day. But that's only 4 hours I have to work for in that day so its not too bad.
I'm also lucky because the earliest I start is at 8 for my 8:30 am class in the morning, but the students have to come to school at 6:00 am. They stay at school from this time until 9:30 pm yea that's right at night. They have three breaks throughout the day lasting for around 2 hours so i guess its not too bad.
Well I think I've written enough for today will update when some more stuff happens.
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