What have I been up to?
I know that this blog sometimes seems dead, but I promise you I'm very much alive! I have a number of posts in my drafts folder that I'm working on, and sorting through a truly ridiculous number of pictures to share with you all.
What have I done in the six weeks since my last post?
I've been busy with work, exploring Guiyang, and going to a couple of English-language events on a regular basis. I've been meeting new Chinese friends and learning more about the country I've settled in from them.
What's up with work?
Last semester I taught year 5's and year 7's. This semester I've added a class of year 9's. This means I've had to learn another curriculum. Luckily, it's just the next level in a curriculum I'm already familiar with, so I mainly have to familiarize myself with the lessons and craft slideshows. It's still a fair amount of work, but not nearly as much as a completely new curriculum would be.
The middle and high schools grades use a program called Interchange, by Cambridge University Press. I've used three different levels of it now, and I'm comfortable saying it's one of the better English teaching curricula I've seen. The units are tightly crafted around a central theme, with repeated use of critical vocabulary and grammar points. Individual lessons are focused and contain practice in all the language skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. If you have an English learner who wants something to help them improve, this is a good program to recommend to them.
Teaching the year 9's is different in one important way. China has only 9 years of compulsory schooling. At the end of the 9th year, students take a test called the Zhong Kao. It's an extremely competitive entrance exam for senior high school. A student's performance on this exam determines what kind of schools they can get into and the amount of money they will have to pay for their last three years of pre-university schooling. It's tremendously important to the students and their families, and they spend just about every waking hour studying for it. The year 1-8 students all go home on Friday afternoons, but the year 9 students stay until Saturday afternoon and usually have classes each evening to prepare.
English is only a small part of the Zhong Kao, so I have to work extra hard to motivate my students to participate in my class. Most of them are more interested in finishing up their math or writing homework, or studying the Zhong Kao preparation booklet. I've learned to be flexible. I try to engage them as much as possible, and focus my attention on the students who are most interested in the lesson. The rest of them can do as they please as long as they are working.
It might sound like I've given up on the class. This isn't the case. It's more a matter of being aware of and sensitive to the culture. Their academic and professional future is in large part determined by the test they're about to take. I can't expect them to take my class as seriously as that, and I'm not going to.
What's up with my social life?
My friend Joe, who has lived in China for the last 6 years, introduced me to an "English Corner" here in Jinyang before the winter break. It's a weekly meeting of Chinese people who want to get better at learning English. It's run by a Chinese man whose English name is George. He runs an organization called C-Shop. It has a number of day and evening activities for adults and children. A lot of them are focused on language practice and continuing education. He's quite the character, and I'll be interviewing him for Joe's website in the near future. I'll post that here, as well.
The Corner is in a hotel lounge every Monday night, and it's an informal conversation among the participants. There are anywhere from a dozen to twenty people there each week from a wide cross-section of Guiyang folk. There are civil servants, engineers, teachers, salespeople, PR reps and just about any other kind of profession you can imagine.
I've attended just about every week since I learned about it. It's a lot of fun, and I've learned a lot about Guiyang and China in general from the people that come. They're thrilled to have a native speaker to talk to and ask questions of. Foreigners are rare in Guiyang, as it's not a well-known internationally famous city like Shanghai, Beijing, or Hong Kong. It should be. It's a beautiful, friendly place full of natural beauty and incredible food.
George also runs a Toastmasters group through the C-Shop, and I was invited to give a speech there by one of my Chinese friends. I wasn't too familiar with Toastmasters international before I went. It's an organization dedicated to training leaders and public speakers. George founded this English-language group a few years ago and has built it up into something special. I've found the people in it to be relentlessly positive and helpful to everyone who comes. It's become my regular Wednesday night appointment. I've joined the group formally and started to plan my own Toastmasters path. I'm excited to challenge myself to better my public speaking skills.
It took a while, but I've started to branch out from my narrow social circle and meet more and more locals. It was hard to start. I'm an introvert by nature and quite comfortable staying home and entertaining myself. I have to force myself to go out at night and spend time with strangers. I'm glad I have. I've had a much richer and more rewarding time in the last three months I've been here than in the first six.
I can't end a post without a picture of something great, so here's something that's become my favorite food: Hot Pot. It's a kind of communal do-it-yourself soup. Once the broth gets boiling you put in whatever meat and vegetables you want. When it's done cooking, you pull out what you need and eat it over rice or dip it in whatever sauce you made. It's a perfect example of the dining culture here in China: you eat a lot of different things with a lot of people, spending as much time as you need to get what you want. I love it. I wish we had something similar in the US.
Look for more posts in the near future. I have a lot to talk about!
What have I done in the six weeks since my last post?
I've been busy with work, exploring Guiyang, and going to a couple of English-language events on a regular basis. I've been meeting new Chinese friends and learning more about the country I've settled in from them.
What's up with work?
Last semester I taught year 5's and year 7's. This semester I've added a class of year 9's. This means I've had to learn another curriculum. Luckily, it's just the next level in a curriculum I'm already familiar with, so I mainly have to familiarize myself with the lessons and craft slideshows. It's still a fair amount of work, but not nearly as much as a completely new curriculum would be.
The middle and high schools grades use a program called Interchange, by Cambridge University Press. I've used three different levels of it now, and I'm comfortable saying it's one of the better English teaching curricula I've seen. The units are tightly crafted around a central theme, with repeated use of critical vocabulary and grammar points. Individual lessons are focused and contain practice in all the language skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. If you have an English learner who wants something to help them improve, this is a good program to recommend to them.
Teaching the year 9's is different in one important way. China has only 9 years of compulsory schooling. At the end of the 9th year, students take a test called the Zhong Kao. It's an extremely competitive entrance exam for senior high school. A student's performance on this exam determines what kind of schools they can get into and the amount of money they will have to pay for their last three years of pre-university schooling. It's tremendously important to the students and their families, and they spend just about every waking hour studying for it. The year 1-8 students all go home on Friday afternoons, but the year 9 students stay until Saturday afternoon and usually have classes each evening to prepare.
English is only a small part of the Zhong Kao, so I have to work extra hard to motivate my students to participate in my class. Most of them are more interested in finishing up their math or writing homework, or studying the Zhong Kao preparation booklet. I've learned to be flexible. I try to engage them as much as possible, and focus my attention on the students who are most interested in the lesson. The rest of them can do as they please as long as they are working.
It might sound like I've given up on the class. This isn't the case. It's more a matter of being aware of and sensitive to the culture. Their academic and professional future is in large part determined by the test they're about to take. I can't expect them to take my class as seriously as that, and I'm not going to.
What's up with my social life?
My friend Joe, who has lived in China for the last 6 years, introduced me to an "English Corner" here in Jinyang before the winter break. It's a weekly meeting of Chinese people who want to get better at learning English. It's run by a Chinese man whose English name is George. He runs an organization called C-Shop. It has a number of day and evening activities for adults and children. A lot of them are focused on language practice and continuing education. He's quite the character, and I'll be interviewing him for Joe's website in the near future. I'll post that here, as well.
The Corner is in a hotel lounge every Monday night, and it's an informal conversation among the participants. There are anywhere from a dozen to twenty people there each week from a wide cross-section of Guiyang folk. There are civil servants, engineers, teachers, salespeople, PR reps and just about any other kind of profession you can imagine.
I've attended just about every week since I learned about it. It's a lot of fun, and I've learned a lot about Guiyang and China in general from the people that come. They're thrilled to have a native speaker to talk to and ask questions of. Foreigners are rare in Guiyang, as it's not a well-known internationally famous city like Shanghai, Beijing, or Hong Kong. It should be. It's a beautiful, friendly place full of natural beauty and incredible food.
George also runs a Toastmasters group through the C-Shop, and I was invited to give a speech there by one of my Chinese friends. I wasn't too familiar with Toastmasters international before I went. It's an organization dedicated to training leaders and public speakers. George founded this English-language group a few years ago and has built it up into something special. I've found the people in it to be relentlessly positive and helpful to everyone who comes. It's become my regular Wednesday night appointment. I've joined the group formally and started to plan my own Toastmasters path. I'm excited to challenge myself to better my public speaking skills.
It took a while, but I've started to branch out from my narrow social circle and meet more and more locals. It was hard to start. I'm an introvert by nature and quite comfortable staying home and entertaining myself. I have to force myself to go out at night and spend time with strangers. I'm glad I have. I've had a much richer and more rewarding time in the last three months I've been here than in the first six.
I can't end a post without a picture of something great, so here's something that's become my favorite food: Hot Pot. It's a kind of communal do-it-yourself soup. Once the broth gets boiling you put in whatever meat and vegetables you want. When it's done cooking, you pull out what you need and eat it over rice or dip it in whatever sauce you made. It's a perfect example of the dining culture here in China: you eat a lot of different things with a lot of people, spending as much time as you need to get what you want. I love it. I wish we had something similar in the US.
 |
| The roll of meat on the outside of the pot is beef, the vegetable with the holes on the bottom plate is Lotus, and the entire thing is delicious. |
Look for more posts in the near future. I have a lot to talk about!
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