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Published: August 27th 2008
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This is the first of 4 retrospective blogs highlighting my last semester (at least for now!) at Taizhou Teachers College. It features four of my prior students who caught wind of the fact that I was returning to Australia at the end of June and each of them made a special effort to catch up with me and were eager for me to see how they have fared since leaving Taizhou Teachers College to pursue other opportunities.
The first is Cathy (Guo Min), who graduated from Taizhou Teachers College in 2007 as a primary school English teacher. She also teaches Chinese and Science to her students. Her country primary school is tiny by Chinese standards with only 200 students in total. I had an absolutely delightful visit to her classroom of Grade 3s and was also invited to visit other classes and a local high school in the district where her uncle is headmaster. Prior to that I had caught up with Cathy and her cousin on a rainy weekend to enjoy once more the joys of nearby city Yangzhou. Cathy has recently contacted me to say she will now teach at Chenji High School this coming year, so she
is a bit nervous about working with the seniors! Good luck, Cathy, you'll be fine!
Secondly, is Toddy, also from the same class as Cathy who invited me to visit his family in the countryside outside of Taizhou. Toddy has found himself better adapted to the world of work than academic study and now works in a foreign trade company in Dainan, another of the local satellite towns of Taizhou county. It was such a lovely day out and I was absolutely charmed by the hospitality of these wonderful people. I was the first foreigner they had ever met, so they were pretty excited to meet me, as was I to meet them. A very humbling experience.
Next is Kelly (Li Sisi) who was one of my star first year students when I first came to China. A very industrious student, she was successful in being offered a position at prestigious Nanjing Normal University in Nanjing at the end of her second year and has kept in contact with me on a regular basis since her move. She now only has one year remaining before she
graduates.
Finally, Monique, (Liu Ning) also one of the first students I taught when I first arrived in China. Unlike Kelly, Monique was a Business English Major, not English Education, but now they are both majoring in Applied English at Nanjing Normal University in order to broaden their prospects.
These four wonderful young people are only a sample of those that came to say goodbye (see the fourth in this series of 4- yet to be published!). It's times like these that I realize what an impact I have made on these young people's lives, and the impact they have made on mine as well. These are friends for life and that is something very special and something I will always cherish.
I am currently on the road on another adventure on my way home to Australia- the long way round. My departure from Taizhou over two months ago was a very sad occasion but I do hope to come back some time in the not so distant future.
For my subscribers abroad, I trust you will be indulgent with the large number of photos on each of these 4 blogs as it gives such pleasure
to my students (and their students & family) to see themselves on the net! I have not put any real detail in the captions as yet, but want to try to get up to speed so you can enjoy my current adventure as well!
Bye for now!
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