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Published: October 2nd 2013
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25 Elementary School Teachers
Took me on an excursion to the centre of town. A new and exciting idea for teaching. My first trip to China was in the frenetic two months before the Beijing Olympics. Five South Australian ESL teachers provided a summer school in the small rural city of Zheng Zhou (population 6 million). Four intensive weeks of 10 hour days, with an enthusiastic bunch of hardworking, Chinese English teachers. This, my first impression of China was confirmed again in 2012. Teaching in China is a pleasure. Apartments for foreign teachers are good, small and basic. Western toilet, kitchen with hotplates, stove, microwave and sink. Hot water for shower. Air-conditioning, TV, Internet point, bookshelves, hardest bed I’ve ever slept on. Also couch, chairs, tables, one each of plate, cup, knife, saucepan etc.
There are
birds in the gardens, herons, swallows, sparrows, European magpies, sandpipers, and ones with top fans and others with tail fans
Class sizes range from 25 to 100 for the teachers that I am working with. They move from room to room, whilst the students stay put.
Dennis
Department store is 13 floors (think David Jones), with every luxury good from around the world, and lots of people window-shopping.
My
eager students arrive before class and are waiting for me, no matter
No 47 Middle School
Canteen and playing fields what. Work ethic is phenomenal. They try what ever I ask, uncomplainingly, all turn up and all hand in ever increasing amounts of work that I must correct. Even if I spent all my waking hours preparing, there is more I could do for these very eager students.
Firecrackers, huge long rolls of them are set off for weddings, and they are noisy.
Gaudy, seems to be the preferred colour scheme for everything from clothes and food packaging to shop fronts and restaurant foyer decorations. Red and gold is the over all preferred theme.
Honest taxi drivers refuse change, take you the shortest route, and only read Chinese characters, to work out where to take you.
The electricity works
intermittently, as does the internet connection and the power for lights. The buses and access to road also seems to work this way. Storms, rain, torch relay and many other things affect their running.
Jade carved necklaces seem to be the preferred ornaments for women, with their light summer frocks that look like party dresses. I found my treasure, a miniature horse of faultless deep green jade for only $4,500. I left it in the store.
Group Work
Making couriers of peace. Krazy English is the latest fad English language teaching program to hit China. It is a very controversial private enterprise, for families with money to send their kids along to. Every school, and every student from Grade 3 Primary school up, must study English, and this program has got the teachers talking.
Landscape gardening, on a grand scale, in the school consists of broad sweeping vistas, water features, mass plantings in many colours, corners to go round and find interesting features, varied paving materials, sculptures and gazebos for seating. This is one of the top 10 designed and outfitted schools in China.
The office before the Principals Office, is the Office of the
Party Secretary. One of my students is the 15-year-old daughter of a
Party Official, who is attending the course unofficially to improve her English, with her teacher big sister.
Nice
private rooms are available in all restaurants, because the Chinese do not have large houses. The ground floor of most restaurants is open, and then up stairs for many floors are private rooms with a large round table with a spinner in the middle for one to entertain guests. Flash restaurants also have
Retelling a Dreaming Story
By researching and drawing from a text. a little sitting room with couches and a coffee table One or two waitresses come with the room, and they constantly hover.
One whole channel of China TV is dedicated to preparation for the 2008
Olympic Games. The Torch Relay is passing right past my school, and so we are being evacuated to a hotel overnight, for security purposes.
Hot Plates on the electric stove must be the fastest working electric hot plates ever. One is flat, the other dish shaped for a wok, and they heat a large pot of water to boiling in moments. 5 speed, touch control, fast heat.
Everything in Zheng Zhou seems to go
quiet after 9.35pm. Everything shuts and everyone goes home about then. All except the construction workers, who seem to work 24/7 on building construction.
Roads in Zheng Zhou are huge, no camber, inclined to flooding, three lanes each way in the new areas and 5 lanes for the intercity. Not uncommon to see someone parked over a lane chatting or organising things, going up the down lane, or washing and cleaning out cars on the verges. Whole markets spring up at intersections for Saturday morning. Cars are
Front Entrance
to the senior high school. a luxury item, so there is not that much traffic on the roads.
For
Squat toilets we’ve devised a rating system from 1 (no matter what, don’t use it), to 10 (Radisson Grand in Shanghai).
Tourist trips are provided for us each Saturday. Kai Feng, ancient capital as theme parks, Shao Lin mountains and temple, and Longman Caves and Grotto.
Uniforms for everyone, Traditional Chinese styles, traditional European style, ancient Chinese styles, Mao styles, army look alikes, police in white with badges and peaked hats, and security guards also with badges and peaked hats.
Vegetarian food is magnificent. Varied, tasty, not covered in glutinous stuff, with steamed buns and dipping sauce, many types of tofu, green vegies served in sesame seeds and oil. When the communal table is covered in dishes, they pile another layer on top. Rice is not served, as you only eat rice when you are poor or hungry. One would not insult your guests by serving rice.
Watching is a legitimate thing to do. A crowd will gather around anyone or anything unusual and everyone will watch. Some people will comment, but mostly they just watch. When I was choosing shower shoes, 8 people all gathered and discussed the colour, size range and many other things as I tried and selected. 3 people followed me around whilst I looked at the jade shop display, peering into the same cabinets as me and quietly chatting about what I was looking at. It’s not rude, no one takes offence.
X=sh in Pinyin, zh=j, z=ds and many more variations to make me reading my students names difficult.
Yes, you can smoke everywhere. In restaurants, the canteen kitchen, the admin building, shops, on the street, in the taxi. Not in the classroom however, but the waft from the gardeners, security guards and sundry workers seems to drift ever by.
Zheng Zhou is the capital city of the province of Henan. It has a population of 6 million people, and the province has 90 million. It is known as the breadbasket of China, because the major crop is wheat, and it’s major role is food production.
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Elena-Mirona
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Very useful notes! Thanks!