Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hi folks,
This week has been the first of my new job, teaching in China. I say "week" but Friday was a national holiday called "Teachers Day" so naturally all teachers get the day off! Monday of next week is also Moon Festival, so a day off! so in essence I have a 4 day weekend! woop woop!! The school also gave us a giftcard for a huge supermarket worth 50 quid. Which sounds like not very much.. but you can buy ALOT for 50 quid in China!!! I went and did a big shop yesterday and only spent 10pounds of it!!
SCHOOL: I have had all of my classes now (except reception which I teach next week), and they are all really sweet kids. My timetable has 19 45minute teaching sessions a week, 10 of which are English classes to Chinese classes and 9 are international Science. There is a huge difference between the chinese classes and the international ones. The chinese classes can be as big as 45 children, and they all sit at individual desks, which are in rows. The classroom barely fits each child in, it is so packed. Allot of lessons are reliant on powerpoints, and the teacher is expected to relay information to students, in a interactive lecture fashion. I found this a hard concept at first, as my training had lead me to believe that this is not the best way for children to learn - but it seems to work practically so I'm not going to start changing it just yet. It always makes me laugh when I walk into the classroom as they are such tiny children (4, 5 and 6 year olds) each sat behind huge big desks. I try and get them up and active as much as possible. If the class teacher is in the room, I can see her having mini panics whenever I do this. lol. The Chinese teachers are incredibly strict, but cannot speak English so they cannot complain to me! Hahaha.
The children's language in these sessions is limited, therefore alot of the sessions are aimed at teaching them the basics. They are so funny, yet sometimes frustrating as I am not sure they understand the meaning of the English words they use sometimes, despite using pictures and props. Anything I say, they copy. "Hello".. and even "my name is Emma".. they copy it word for word.. Even when I say things like "Shh... or be quiet" I have an echo after me! lol. The behaviour is vastly different when the class teacher is in the room as well, once she is out - they get noisier and noisier. They do seem to enjoy the sessions though, and once I have finished a lesson, when they are off for break they all run at me and want to say "Goodbye" and give me a high five. They seem fascinated by me. bless em!
The international is very different, the class sizes are much much smaller (my year 2 class has 4 kids) but the behaviour is so much worse! They are really hard to engage. Alot of the times the children are quite spoilt (this is an expensive school) and they are not used to not getting their own way. There is also a real mix of ability in terms of speaking English, and I have a few children who have clearly undetected learning difficulties in my class, and no t.a to support. One boy has really severe learning difficulties and walks around alot, banging tables etc. He tries to talk to me sometimes, but in Chinese so I cannot understand him! Yet again, the children at the school have ridiculous western names.. such as "Cookie, Tower, Mars etc..." I cannot take some of them seriously. One tiny tiny 4 year old was called Long!!
Nightlife: Went out again last night, this time just with the lads as Katie was feeling ill. Had a really great night, even though the guys kept leaving me to talk to girls.. they were all being really protective of me, and when I lost my phone they all rallied around as I was upset. bless them! Unfortunately (sorry JC) I was unable to stop disgracing myself, but I did do a much better job than last week. In one bar, called Red Bar they had a Michael Jackson impressionist storm the stage, and everyone crowded around to watch! I was obviously annoyed that someone else was getting attention, haha - because I promptly burst through the watching crowds and danced with him.. much to his delight!!! He then kept following me around all night! haha. oh dear lord... I blame the large bottle of cheap cheap cider.
Kiddies: Where I live there seem to be toddlers and babies EVERYWHERE.. they are all so cute and their parents / grandparents are so proud! They insist on bringing their babies up to me and saying"Hello".. apparently its a huge novelty to say hello to a white person ! - according to my friend Jingyuan. Another difference is babies here rarely seem to use nappies .. their parents have just made all of their children's clothes crotchless... and therefore poop anywhere they want! I haven't ever seen a child poop on the street, but ive seen many parents dangling their children close to the floor, encouraging them. lol.
Moving and Living Abroad: Living in a foreign country was never going to be easy, especially when they dont speak the same language. But for some reason, my time has been made harder and harder this past week (first week of school).. I seem to constantly face dramas!!! The first day, I got a virus on my USB, and wiped all my work.. the second day I went into school to plan lessons, as still had no internet in my appartment - and none of the work computers would turn on. The second day - evening, i returned home in the dark to find my electricity had been cut off! The third day, I went over to my friend George's for a chillax.. and he mentioned his computer was being slow.. i attempted to uninstall a programme that he said he didn't use - and then the computer died and refused to turn on! I felt so guilty!! So I leant him my computer for ages, as I felt I had to be inconvienced, not him. Then yesterday I went to play basketball at the courts at the school, and left my belongings in the office - when they decided to lock the whole school!!!!! Luckily I had one of the students with me, who is fluent in Chinese and English - so bless her.. we had to hunt for the security guard.. who didn't understand the predicament .. and didn't seem to really care! lol. Then last night, to add to everything I lost my phone (a cheap brick I had bought in China). Hope thats everything thats going to happen!!! I cant deal with more! lol. Oh well, no day has been boring - thats for sure!!!
- comments