Blogs from Taiyuan, Shanxi, China, Asia

My first full week in Lucheng Middle School No. 1 is now over and it went better than expected. I’ve taught all the classes now so I know what to expect and it turns out I only really need to create one lesson plan which I can use for both levels making particular tasks slightly harder if necessary for the Grade Two’s. Some of the classes are particularly nice to teach as the students are very enthusiastic and actually seem interested in doing something. Other classes on the other hand are rather trying with many students just sitting around chatting in Chinese instead of doing what I’ve asked them to do, or doing homework from another subject or even sleeping. The worst culprits are usually a group of three boys sitting right at the back of ... read more

After my first day of teaching I feel slightly more relaxed. At least now I know what to expect and it is likely that I will only need to make to lesson plans per week and then adapt them slightly for the individual classes. Classes consist of at least 50 students and the seating arrangement means that is difficult to organise games and activities that allow the students to mingle. Lessons are also fairly short at only 45mins each which means that once the lessons for this week are over I can start thinking about the general syllabus that I want to teach over the next 13 weeks. I have a text book but it is simply filled with dialogues so I will take it simply as a guide and then expand upon it with lots ... read more

Yesterday and today have been spent getting ready for the beginning of the program. We reviewed all the materials. Judy went over many of the games and activities that she has on file with the assistants. She has a great deal of patience and enjoys going over every game in great detail. As she worked with them, I searched for the placement test --- began to develop a new one based on years past -- and then discovered the placement test and rubric that we had developed last summer. There were copies left over and there were also copies of the criteria for rating the oral performance so we will use that rubric. After lunch we returned to our teaching site at the Lin Xian Teacher Training Center and looked through the pronunciation materials and planned ... read more

Monday -- Visiting the Teacher Training Center our site. Setting up the materials for the program. Meeting one of the local teacher volunteers. After a very long and tiring trip on Sunday we settled into our rooms at Lin Xian Hotel. I actually changed rooms the following day to a room across the hall that smells a little better and has more light and no leaky toilet, although the sink pipes are leaking...I guess you can't have everything. There is not so much noise on this side for some reason. Maybe it's because I didn't open the window -- but this room does face the parking lot so if there is a party, e.g., a wedding there is more commotion outside the window. On Monday afternoon there was a huge wedding with so many firecrackers going ... read more

After checking in at the hotel, and re-noodling our empty stomachs, me and Cassie went out for a wander around. Being overheated, I rather ingeniusly decided against wearing even one of my jackets for the next outing. I must say, the first twenty minutes were blissfully refreshing. However as I paced the streets looking for a machine that would aknowledge my bank cards as something other than useless plastic rectangles, my body soon remembered how unpleasantly cold outside is (and has been for my entirety in China). Still, in an attempt to disguise my lack of thought , Cassie's periodical queries regarding my temperature were met with denial and a respectable reportoire of manly noises showing my content. I don't believe communicating with grunts and rasps suffers from a language barrier anywhere, thank you evolution. I ... read more