A rude awakening
Trip Start
Apr 26, 2006
1
7
14
Trip End
Sep 09, 2006
Yantai,
China
Monday, May 8, 2006
This morning I got a telephone call from Madame Chen at 7.30 to say I was teaching this afternoon :) This would of been fine, however it turned out I am not teaching cute attentive 3 to 10 year olds as I originally prepared for, but about half of my classes are middle school (13 to 16) and the other half are high school (17 to 20.) It turned out to be ok for my last two classes today as they were Chinese middle school, the Chinese children are generally very attentive and seem to have a lot of enthusiasm for learning. However my 1st class was Korean students learning English which was a bit of a nightmare to be honest as about a third of the class is under 11 and has an elementary level of English, and the rest are about 12 to 18 and seem to be more intermediate. Was the most nerve wracking 45 minutes. Don't think I have ever perspired so much without actually lifting a finger. But teaching seems like it can be a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be (when it all goes well) especially as I can have a laugh with the older students. Things unfortunately seem a little disorganized, almost like we are supposed to fit and work our way round this huge beaurocracy that is the school, but Helen has been here for 3 weeks and has been really helpful. Being a flame haired she gets the brunt of the gawking from the students and locals, but I still get the odd stare and hello that seems to come from no where. In China its not considered rude to hold some ones gaze and not speak to them, which can be a little unnerving at times, but within the school most people will start chatting to you. Communication is still a problem, not to the extent it was in Beijing because many of the people where Im staying either learn English at the university across the road or school. And my new friend Ben from Minnesota speaks Chinese so he helps out sometimes. Its still very frustrating though and you feel like a small child or a really drunk incapable adult at times. Canteen seems to be ok so far, its strange how school dinners taste like school dinners no matter where you are. After classes we went on a bus ride into town and up to Bens for a wander. Went to the supermarket which is all on one floor but has to be the biggest supermarket I have ever seen. You can buy everything here, including bullfrogs and its apparently owned by Tesco. Home from home eh, must sign off, lessons to prepare! Love m
