I’ve had a very busy week. Nick decided not to return to teaching so I worked his classes as well as my own. They are bringing Ed, who was working in Anshan city, to replace Nick and my schedule will change starting Monday. My classes will be light on Monday and Tuesday, heavy on Wednesday and Thursday, and I work a half day on Friday. I think the most annoying will be Tuesday, when I have one class the second period and one class the last period. This means I have to walk to work in the morning, work one hour, walk home, then walk back at 3:45, work another hour, then walk back home again. Still, I guess I shouldn’t complain. I’m making 3 times the usual salary for teachers (who have a high salary compared to other jobs) and I’m only working 24 hours a week.
As mentioned in my last post, I had the students choose an English name then practice introducing themselves. Although one might think this is straightforward enough, I had many occasions to laugh this week. I did provide the students with a list of names to choose from but some of them decided to look elsewhere for inspiration.
I have said that they are really into basketball so I have a number of Kobe’s and if that was taken, some of them wanted Bryant. I also have quite a few Jordan’s.
Quite a number of them used a glossary in the back of their English workbooks to find names and this was sometimes amusing because the names came from the lessons and were not always appropriate names. For example, there is a module on literature that focuses on Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist so the names in the book appear in the glossary. I let Pip slide but I thought it would be cruel of me to allow one boy call himself Bumble.
In one class, a girl wanted to be called Apple, and I let that one go since it is now known because of Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter but then another girl in the same class also wanted to be called Apple so I told her it was taken and she said she wanted Orange, but I had to draw a line. I suggested a few names but this girl, who was on the chunky side, decided she wanted me to help her choose a name that meant “skinny” so I suggested Twiggy. She liked that one.
I had a few look in their dictionaries for words and they were probably the funniest. I wouldn’t let a girl call herself Monster and I didn’t let one boy call himself Super and refused another to call himself Phat but I got tired of arguing with the students sometimes and let a few weird ones slide like: Pound, G, Rock, Stone, Panda, and Demon. There were also a few I allowed, even though I have no idea where they came from: Geduo, Dill, Hebe, Lich, Chauncy, and Melo.
I have been given a Chinese name: 奧卓 (hopefully the characters come out ok). The pronunciation is close to that of my English name: ao zhuo (fourth and first tone, respectively [if you don’t know what I mean, I’ll explain more about the Chinese language in another post one day]). The first character means obscure/mysterious (though another character of the same pronunciation means proud/haughty!) and the second character means profound/outstanding. I have been told it is a good name and it has special meaning since the first character is also part of “Olympic” and I am here the year the Olympic games will be in Beijing.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
School Tour
OK, this is going to be a two-part post. First some background…
During a typical day for the students, classes start at 7:50 and run until 5:00. There are 8 45-minute lessons a day with 10 minute breaks in between (except after the second lesson, when the student go outside for 20 minutes of exercises and some kind of daily speech, as seen in the video) as well as a two-hour break for lunch. I usually go home for lunch but most of the students (remember, there are 2500 or more) descend upon the nearby restaurants.
I am scheduled to teach 22 lessons a week spread out Monday through Thursday. Most of the lessons are taught at the high school but I also teach 4 classes at a nearby middle school. The average class size is around 60 so I’m teaching over 1300 students.
The students have a Chinese English teacher so I have found that they are quite good at reading English (especially when they get to the upper classman level) but their listening and speaking abilities are lacking, which is where I come in. They need me to have the students practice their auditory and oral skills. I think this would be a great job for a speech-therapist! Even though I am technically teaching three levels, my lessons will basically be the same, which means I teach the same lesson 22 times. This can be a little monotonous.
There are two uniforms that are worn and although I haven’t figured out exactly who wears what yet, I’m pretty sure it distinguishes the upper and lower classman. Some of the students wear a track suit and the others wear army fatigues (!). They don’t seem quite as hip with American culture as I might have thought but they are really into basketball.
Now some details…
One of the funniest things to me is that the students often applaud when I enter the room. This is certainly not something that happened while I was teaching in the States! For my first lesson, I introduced myself with pictures. They were very impressed with the picture of my house and I almost always got an applause when I showed the picture of me with my 4 siblings (most of the Chinese only have one sibling if any). You’re heroes, Mom and Dad!
I left a few minutes at the end of each class for them to ask me questions and one of the funniest things they asked me was to sing. I think at least half of the classes wanted me to sing for them. Eventually I asked them why they all wanted me to sing and I was told, “Pretty girls sing pretty.”
At the middle school, I had a few students pull hair off my shirt as I passed them and some of them asked me to sign autographs, including autographing their English-Chinese dictionaries. I suppose though, the culmination of my fame was when a reporter visited one of my classes to get some footage for the local news.
The video is from this week’s lesson. I had the students choose an English name then introduce themselves to me…including a proper handshake. I have some good stories to tell about this as well but that will have to wait until next week!
During a typical day for the students, classes start at 7:50 and run until 5:00. There are 8 45-minute lessons a day with 10 minute breaks in between (except after the second lesson, when the student go outside for 20 minutes of exercises and some kind of daily speech, as seen in the video) as well as a two-hour break for lunch. I usually go home for lunch but most of the students (remember, there are 2500 or more) descend upon the nearby restaurants.
I am scheduled to teach 22 lessons a week spread out Monday through Thursday. Most of the lessons are taught at the high school but I also teach 4 classes at a nearby middle school. The average class size is around 60 so I’m teaching over 1300 students.
The students have a Chinese English teacher so I have found that they are quite good at reading English (especially when they get to the upper classman level) but their listening and speaking abilities are lacking, which is where I come in. They need me to have the students practice their auditory and oral skills. I think this would be a great job for a speech-therapist! Even though I am technically teaching three levels, my lessons will basically be the same, which means I teach the same lesson 22 times. This can be a little monotonous.
There are two uniforms that are worn and although I haven’t figured out exactly who wears what yet, I’m pretty sure it distinguishes the upper and lower classman. Some of the students wear a track suit and the others wear army fatigues (!). They don’t seem quite as hip with American culture as I might have thought but they are really into basketball.
Now some details…
One of the funniest things to me is that the students often applaud when I enter the room. This is certainly not something that happened while I was teaching in the States! For my first lesson, I introduced myself with pictures. They were very impressed with the picture of my house and I almost always got an applause when I showed the picture of me with my 4 siblings (most of the Chinese only have one sibling if any). You’re heroes, Mom and Dad!
I left a few minutes at the end of each class for them to ask me questions and one of the funniest things they asked me was to sing. I think at least half of the classes wanted me to sing for them. Eventually I asked them why they all wanted me to sing and I was told, “Pretty girls sing pretty.”
At the middle school, I had a few students pull hair off my shirt as I passed them and some of them asked me to sign autographs, including autographing their English-Chinese dictionaries. I suppose though, the culmination of my fame was when a reporter visited one of my classes to get some footage for the local news.
The video is from this week’s lesson. I had the students choose an English name then introduce themselves to me…including a proper handshake. I have some good stories to tell about this as well but that will have to wait until next week!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Anshan and Tai'an
Over the past week, I have learned and experienced more than can fit in one post so I'm going to focus this one on the place where I'm living. I'll talk a little bit about the school, but I'm going to save those details for next week.
I have told you all that I am in Anshan, but it turns out that Anshan is the name of a district as well as the name of a city. I am actually in a town called Tai'an (pronounced "tie-ann") and I am told the population is about 300,000. There are only three foreigners in Tai'an, of which I am one, so you can imagine how I stick out. Bill, who you met in the video is another, and I met Nick (from London) yesterday. I don't think I'm the first female teacher that has been here but I think I'm the first white woman many of the newer students have seen. I get stared at a lot in the street and in the halls and I often hear "piao liang", which means "pretty" but the Chinese are very shy and generally don't approach me. Still, Ricky (the English name for my teacher's assistant) doesn't let me walk anywhere by myself.
Last Thursday (the second day I was here), I was taken to Bill's school to watch him teaching his classes. His students pulled out their camera phones and wanted to take pictures with me. Bill started using it as a bribe: practice your English with the new teacher and you can have a picture. It was all rather embarrassing for me.
On Friday I was taken to Anshan city to apply for residency. It took us a little over an hour to get there. Anshan city is more like I was expecting when I envisioned living in China but it is still very Soviet-industrial if you know what I mean. As part of the resident application process, I had to go to the hospital for an EKG and X-ray (don't ask me why) and all I have to say is I hope I don't get sick. I think the hospital would make a fantastic set for the next Resident Evil movie. While I was in Anshan, I met two more foreign teachers: Ed from Wisconsin and Oscar, who is also from London. All told, I believe there are 9 foreign teachers spread out across Anshan district.
I'm not sure how many schools are in Anshan district, but there are two in Tai'an (at least I'm working at two). The school where I am mainly at has about 25oo students and I'm told it is the largest one. Some of the students board there. There are 5 floors...I share an office with Nick on the 4th floor (add my 20 minute walk to work and the fact that I live on the 4th floor of my apartment building and you can imagine I'm getting a lot of exercise!). Perhaps I'll be able to bring my camera to school one day and get some video.
OK, I have lots more to talk about but I don't want to make my posts too long. I'll write more next week. Until then, I love receiving your emails!
I have told you all that I am in Anshan, but it turns out that Anshan is the name of a district as well as the name of a city. I am actually in a town called Tai'an (pronounced "tie-ann") and I am told the population is about 300,000. There are only three foreigners in Tai'an, of which I am one, so you can imagine how I stick out. Bill, who you met in the video is another, and I met Nick (from London) yesterday. I don't think I'm the first female teacher that has been here but I think I'm the first white woman many of the newer students have seen. I get stared at a lot in the street and in the halls and I often hear "piao liang", which means "pretty" but the Chinese are very shy and generally don't approach me. Still, Ricky (the English name for my teacher's assistant) doesn't let me walk anywhere by myself.
Last Thursday (the second day I was here), I was taken to Bill's school to watch him teaching his classes. His students pulled out their camera phones and wanted to take pictures with me. Bill started using it as a bribe: practice your English with the new teacher and you can have a picture. It was all rather embarrassing for me.
On Friday I was taken to Anshan city to apply for residency. It took us a little over an hour to get there. Anshan city is more like I was expecting when I envisioned living in China but it is still very Soviet-industrial if you know what I mean. As part of the resident application process, I had to go to the hospital for an EKG and X-ray (don't ask me why) and all I have to say is I hope I don't get sick. I think the hospital would make a fantastic set for the next Resident Evil movie. While I was in Anshan, I met two more foreign teachers: Ed from Wisconsin and Oscar, who is also from London. All told, I believe there are 9 foreign teachers spread out across Anshan district.
I'm not sure how many schools are in Anshan district, but there are two in Tai'an (at least I'm working at two). The school where I am mainly at has about 25oo students and I'm told it is the largest one. Some of the students board there. There are 5 floors...I share an office with Nick on the 4th floor (add my 20 minute walk to work and the fact that I live on the 4th floor of my apartment building and you can imagine I'm getting a lot of exercise!). Perhaps I'll be able to bring my camera to school one day and get some video.
OK, I have lots more to talk about but I don't want to make my posts too long. I'll write more next week. Until then, I love receiving your emails!
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Apartment Tour
I've put my camcorder to use and made a movie of my apartment. I hope it works. FYI, the guy in the video is Bill, who is from Canada and has been in China for two and a half years.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Culture Shock
I am not going to tell you about my trip over here because the details might be deemed too horrific for small children and I have no censor for my blog. I have been in China for one day now and have experience one culture shock after another.
It started in Beijing, where I connected between my flight from LA and Shenyang. I went into the ladies restroom and there was a row of stalls, as usual, but on the front of them they had a picture of a toilet...all but one...it had a long oval shape with a footprint on either side. When a woman came out of it, I saw an oval shaped porcelain basin in the ground, which I am assuming you are supposed to squat over as you do your business. Since I'm not all that confidant in my squat-and-pee skills, I waited for a toilet.
In Shenyang, I was met by a couple of representatives from the school who were driving me to Anshan (about 2 1/2 hours). They laughed at me as I buckled my seat belt but, having been to Russia, I knew what was coming and I wanted to be prepared just in case. Sure enough, the Chinese use the lines on the road as a mere suggestion...even the ones that are dividing you from the traffic coming in the opposite direction. Besides cars, the road is shared by cyclists, horse-drawn carts, and men sweeping the highway with brooms made of bundled branches.
As we drove, I was struck by the poverty that I saw. The "cities" we passed were nothing more than run-down, abandoned buildings. Other than the road, there was no concrete for sidewalks or parking lots, just dirt, scrub brush, and litter. I began to get a little worried about my living conditions. The visions I had were of a slightly more developed, if not somewhat behind the times, location.
The exterior of my apartment building is in just as bad of condition as I feared. I'm pretty sure I'm on par with the ghettos of DC. The interior is larger than I would have expected and it is not all bad (the floors are bamboo, which looks nice) but there are some things that I'm going to have a hard time adjusting to, in particular, the shower. My "shower" is a shower head attached to the wall in the corner of the bathroom, about 3 feet from the toilet and there is a drain but the floor does not slant into it so the water is not encouraged in that direction. So, basically, every time I take a shower, I'm going to soak my bathroom floor. The washer and spinner (its not quite a dryer) also make a sort-of dividing wall between the toilet and the sink. Anyway, when I had a look at the apartment, I was all-in-all feeling kind of depressed.
I was invited to have lunch with the head master of the school (they call him the grand master), the director of studies and a few other people. The lunch was held in a private room with a large round table and a lazy susan in the middle. Six or seven dishes were placed on the lazy susan, and we all used our chopsticks and ate directly from the dishes (we had only small saucers of our own). The food was very good, and I was even brave enough to try the fish, which was a WHOLE pan-fried fish, even though I'm not really fond of eating things if I can tell what it looked like when it was alive. During the lunch, the people at the table toasted me several times and told me how thankful they were that I had come. I was incredibly humbled and it has made my living conditions easier to bare. After all, this is meant to be an adventure and an experience. Sometimes you have to take a step backwards before you can move forward.
It started in Beijing, where I connected between my flight from LA and Shenyang. I went into the ladies restroom and there was a row of stalls, as usual, but on the front of them they had a picture of a toilet...all but one...it had a long oval shape with a footprint on either side. When a woman came out of it, I saw an oval shaped porcelain basin in the ground, which I am assuming you are supposed to squat over as you do your business. Since I'm not all that confidant in my squat-and-pee skills, I waited for a toilet.
In Shenyang, I was met by a couple of representatives from the school who were driving me to Anshan (about 2 1/2 hours). They laughed at me as I buckled my seat belt but, having been to Russia, I knew what was coming and I wanted to be prepared just in case. Sure enough, the Chinese use the lines on the road as a mere suggestion...even the ones that are dividing you from the traffic coming in the opposite direction. Besides cars, the road is shared by cyclists, horse-drawn carts, and men sweeping the highway with brooms made of bundled branches.
As we drove, I was struck by the poverty that I saw. The "cities" we passed were nothing more than run-down, abandoned buildings. Other than the road, there was no concrete for sidewalks or parking lots, just dirt, scrub brush, and litter. I began to get a little worried about my living conditions. The visions I had were of a slightly more developed, if not somewhat behind the times, location.
The exterior of my apartment building is in just as bad of condition as I feared. I'm pretty sure I'm on par with the ghettos of DC. The interior is larger than I would have expected and it is not all bad (the floors are bamboo, which looks nice) but there are some things that I'm going to have a hard time adjusting to, in particular, the shower. My "shower" is a shower head attached to the wall in the corner of the bathroom, about 3 feet from the toilet and there is a drain but the floor does not slant into it so the water is not encouraged in that direction. So, basically, every time I take a shower, I'm going to soak my bathroom floor. The washer and spinner (its not quite a dryer) also make a sort-of dividing wall between the toilet and the sink. Anyway, when I had a look at the apartment, I was all-in-all feeling kind of depressed.
I was invited to have lunch with the head master of the school (they call him the grand master), the director of studies and a few other people. The lunch was held in a private room with a large round table and a lazy susan in the middle. Six or seven dishes were placed on the lazy susan, and we all used our chopsticks and ate directly from the dishes (we had only small saucers of our own). The food was very good, and I was even brave enough to try the fish, which was a WHOLE pan-fried fish, even though I'm not really fond of eating things if I can tell what it looked like when it was alive. During the lunch, the people at the table toasted me several times and told me how thankful they were that I had come. I was incredibly humbled and it has made my living conditions easier to bare. After all, this is meant to be an adventure and an experience. Sometimes you have to take a step backwards before you can move forward.
I Have Arrived
I have arrived in Anshan and will tell you all about the "adventure" I had getting here but before I make a huge long post, I want to make sure this can go through...I was told there might be problems with censorship.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
T Minus 10 Days
I was commenting to someone the other day that getting ready to move to China feels a lot like making final arrangements after my death. What was I going to do with my car? Who was going to take care of my cat? Don't forget to cancel health insurance and phone service. Its been pretty bizarre.
I have my visa to get into China (not exactly cheap) and my one-way plane ticket. I will be leaving on the 24th and 24 hours later, I will land in Shenyang, which is the capital of the Liaoning province.
I have been asked some questions that I figured I would put up here today in an interview format.
Q: China?! Why would you want to go to China?
A: There are many reasons but one of the biggies is that Mandarin is the most commonly spoken language in the world based on first-language speakers. China also has a booming economy so predictions are that it will be right up there with English in the future of business-languages. So, China needs English teachers, and soon, America will need Mandarin teachers.
Q: How did you get this job?
A: It was actually very easy. I did a good 'ol google search and browsed the results. I decided to go directly through the Chinese rather than through an American (or international) company because I don't have a TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) certification and I didn't want to spend a couple thousand dollars and a few months to get one. I have been happy with the organization I chose (see the link on the left for more information). My contact has been helpful and the process has been easy.
Q: Are you scared?
A: No. I am not afraid for my safety but I know it will be difficult to be in a place so different from what I'm used to. I also know that the hardest part will be being away from family and friends.
Q: Do you speak Chinese?
A: I only remember a little of the Mandarin I learned but I will receive 2-6 hours a week of instruction while I'm there so I'm sure I'll learn it fast. Most of the Chinese study English all through school so I imagine I will be able to communicate the basics until my Mandarin improves.
Q: Can I visit you?
A: Yes! I will have my own apartment and I will keep an open door for anyone who can make it out to visit.
I have my visa to get into China (not exactly cheap) and my one-way plane ticket. I will be leaving on the 24th and 24 hours later, I will land in Shenyang, which is the capital of the Liaoning province.
I have been asked some questions that I figured I would put up here today in an interview format.
Q: China?! Why would you want to go to China?
A: There are many reasons but one of the biggies is that Mandarin is the most commonly spoken language in the world based on first-language speakers. China also has a booming economy so predictions are that it will be right up there with English in the future of business-languages. So, China needs English teachers, and soon, America will need Mandarin teachers.
Q: How did you get this job?
A: It was actually very easy. I did a good 'ol google search and browsed the results. I decided to go directly through the Chinese rather than through an American (or international) company because I don't have a TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) certification and I didn't want to spend a couple thousand dollars and a few months to get one. I have been happy with the organization I chose (see the link on the left for more information). My contact has been helpful and the process has been easy.
Q: Are you scared?
A: No. I am not afraid for my safety but I know it will be difficult to be in a place so different from what I'm used to. I also know that the hardest part will be being away from family and friends.
Q: Do you speak Chinese?
A: I only remember a little of the Mandarin I learned but I will receive 2-6 hours a week of instruction while I'm there so I'm sure I'll learn it fast. Most of the Chinese study English all through school so I imagine I will be able to communicate the basics until my Mandarin improves.
Q: Can I visit you?
A: Yes! I will have my own apartment and I will keep an open door for anyone who can make it out to visit.
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