Sunday, February 29, 2004
Now THIS is why I came to China!
The new term is in full swing now, so on Thursday, February 19 we headed back to Chaozhou. The kids were excited to see us and we had a blast. (Crazy as they can make me, I do actually love the little monkeys.) I passed out at lunch time, after only two classes, so I think it's going to be a tiring term... However, we don't have to teach the teachers! That makes me happier than I can say - I don't know why this decision was made, and I'm sure there's a story behind it, but I don't care!
Thursday evening, Jenny, Jess, and I went to dinner at one of the "Monk's restaurants" with Calley. There are about four or five restaurants across from a temple that only serve vegetarian food. Thing is, you'd never know you weren't eating meat or seafood - they do some pretty amazing things with tofu! I love eating there.
After dinner, we looked around some tea shops. Often, the people at the teashops will invite you to sit down and drink tea with them - it's a friendly way to show off their wares, I think. I wandered away from the group to look at a gungfu tea set that caught my eye (that I ended up buying!), and found myself drinking tea with the shop owner and a monk, trying to communicate in broken Chinese and body language. It was actually kinda cool, and I was pretty proud of myself for trying on my own before Calley found me and helped with translation.
We dropped our purchases off at the hotel, then Calley took us out to visit the many shrines set up along the street in honour of a god. Sadly, we don't know which god, the name of the holiday, or even which religion, because Calley couldn't really tell us in English.
At any rate, it was amazing. We visited the largest shrine first, where hundreds of people were milling about a large courtyard, lighting incense and praying. Several children were watching a puppet show - the puppets were acting out a traditional Chaozhou opera. At the far end of the courtyard, there was a massive table loaded with food offerings, such as baking, fruit, vegetables, whole birds (ducks and geese, mostly), and an entire pig. As soon as we arrived, though, we became the main attraction - all eyes shifted from puppets and prayers to the three foreign girls wandering around. A woman gave me some incense, then helped me light it and put it at the shrine. I touched her hand to say thank you, and she grabbed me and wouldn't let me go.
We walked through several narrow alleys, looking at shrines, watching people, and being watched - sometimes we were even being followed! The shrines were pretty much the same, but we didn't see another dead pig. We did see a live giant lobster at one place, though - scared me to death when it moved!
All in all, we spent about an hour wandering around. In spite of all the people, I felt very peaceful... But that ended when Johnny met us at the end of an alley and hauled us off to kareoke with his friends! Fun night, but I'll tell you about that in another post!
zA
Thursday evening, Jenny, Jess, and I went to dinner at one of the "Monk's restaurants" with Calley. There are about four or five restaurants across from a temple that only serve vegetarian food. Thing is, you'd never know you weren't eating meat or seafood - they do some pretty amazing things with tofu! I love eating there.
After dinner, we looked around some tea shops. Often, the people at the teashops will invite you to sit down and drink tea with them - it's a friendly way to show off their wares, I think. I wandered away from the group to look at a gungfu tea set that caught my eye (that I ended up buying!), and found myself drinking tea with the shop owner and a monk, trying to communicate in broken Chinese and body language. It was actually kinda cool, and I was pretty proud of myself for trying on my own before Calley found me and helped with translation.
We dropped our purchases off at the hotel, then Calley took us out to visit the many shrines set up along the street in honour of a god. Sadly, we don't know which god, the name of the holiday, or even which religion, because Calley couldn't really tell us in English.
At any rate, it was amazing. We visited the largest shrine first, where hundreds of people were milling about a large courtyard, lighting incense and praying. Several children were watching a puppet show - the puppets were acting out a traditional Chaozhou opera. At the far end of the courtyard, there was a massive table loaded with food offerings, such as baking, fruit, vegetables, whole birds (ducks and geese, mostly), and an entire pig. As soon as we arrived, though, we became the main attraction - all eyes shifted from puppets and prayers to the three foreign girls wandering around. A woman gave me some incense, then helped me light it and put it at the shrine. I touched her hand to say thank you, and she grabbed me and wouldn't let me go.
We walked through several narrow alleys, looking at shrines, watching people, and being watched - sometimes we were even being followed! The shrines were pretty much the same, but we didn't see another dead pig. We did see a live giant lobster at one place, though - scared me to death when it moved!
All in all, we spent about an hour wandering around. In spite of all the people, I felt very peaceful... But that ended when Johnny met us at the end of an alley and hauled us off to kareoke with his friends! Fun night, but I'll tell you about that in another post!
New photos up!
I think it's almost time for Volume 3... Anyway, there are new photos up at Ofoto and Yahoo, should you care to wander over.
zA
No time for bloggin'
I have been working on a post about a very cool festival we went to in Chaozhou over a week ago, but I just haven't had time to finish it! I'm either working, preparing to work, or someone is on the Internet.
My schedule has changed a little, but I'm still going to have overtime hours in March. This is good - rather be busy than bored.
And, in very exciting news, a dear friend from home is coming to visit! She and her co-worker are arriving on Thursday. I'm so thrilled!!! I'm sure I'll have a few more stories when that visit is done! ;)
zA
My schedule has changed a little, but I'm still going to have overtime hours in March. This is good - rather be busy than bored.
And, in very exciting news, a dear friend from home is coming to visit! She and her co-worker are arriving on Thursday. I'm so thrilled!!! I'm sure I'll have a few more stories when that visit is done! ;)
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Here comes the sun
Finally! It's been cold, rainy, and windy here these last few weeks, due to a nasty weather system that's been hanging around Guangdong. There were all-time lows in Shantou of about 6C. I know, I know - as a Canadian I shouldn't find that cold, and outside, it's not too bad. The thing is, there is no indoor heat, anywhere. 6C outside is 6C or colder inside. Gets pretty chilly. The local solution is to "wear more clothes," but that doesn't do a whole lot of good, and it limits mobility. I'm glad the sun is finally shining again - and in a few weeks, I'll probably be complaining about the heat! ;)
Teachers, Old and New
Denice is back, and has jumped right into teaching and scheduling and all things Powerhouse. I haven't seen a whole lot of her, but it's good to have her back. David hasn't moved in yet - we're all delaying the inevitable for as long as possible.
We have two new teachers now, and more are on the way. Daniel is from Vernon, BC, but has been in Shantou for just over two years. He was teaching at another school, but decided not to renew his contract there. Jenny arrived on Sunday - she's from northern Alberta, and will be 21 next week. She's still got that glazed look in her eye that we all have when we first get here, but she seems to be settling in okay.
I'm not sure how many additional teachers are expected, though there is talk of two. Not sure when they're arriving, either, but likely after David goes home.
Dynamic Schedules
We're already well into February, and our schedules for the month are still not finalized. Right now (and this may change!), after Sunday I will not be teaching any classes at Powerhouse. All of my classes are at other schools - two in Chaozhou, Shantou Polytechnic, and a middle school called Shantou Foreign Language Academy (we did some English Corners and judged a speech competition there, and now we have a contract for several classes). Denice tells me there are other contracts being negotiated now at other schools, which is why we need so many new teachers. Most of the classes start next week. I'm off today and Friday, but starting Saturday I'll be doing eight days straight. The following week things should settle - unless I'm asked to teach night classes at Powerhouse again. Makes getting into some sort of routine a bit challenging, especially with the insomnia I've been battling with since the holiday...
Polytechnic Revisited
I started at Polytechnic yesterday, teaching two "conversation classes," Grade 2 (formerly taught by Evin) and Grade 1 (though not the same group I was with before). Both classes seemed to go pretty well, and we have a plan of attack for the term, so I'm hoping that I won't be facing the same frustration as I did with the Grade 1 class I taught last term. (I don't know who got stuck with them - Daniel, Jenny, or Denice.)
Tomorrow I'll be returning to my Business English classes. I'm really happy about that - I love those kids. I saw a bunch of them yesterday in the cafeteria, and they all seemed pretty happy about it, too. Lucky found me and asked me if I would be his teacher again - when I said yes, he got this look on his face that was half happiness and half relief, then gave me a firm handshake. (I suspect he wanted to hug me, but there were a lot of people around!)
I'm going to have to come up with some pretty creative ideas for lessons this term; we had a lot of fun in December, but we didn't really focus too much on "business" topics. (The text book they use doesn't, either, so I'm going to have to supplement that material.) The text is terrible - not only are the topics more or less useless for teaching "Business English," it's riddled with mistakes (typographical and grammatical), and the expressions it teaches are either outdated or just plain wrong! For example:
From Unit 2, Greeting
Culture Tip
"Forms of address are also important in English speech community... You may have noticed that native speakers tend to say 'Nice to meet you' more often than 'How do you do', although they don't know each other before."
Functional Expressions
"Stating How You Are": I'm full of the joys of spring!
"Asking after Somebody": What's happening to you?
That's just one chapter. I've been trying to do a mini-edit on it for Julian, as a way of explaining why I don't like using the text and to give myself a good laugh. It's sad, though, that this is what students are learning.
Signing Off
All this talk about text books has made me realize that not only do I need to go warm up, I also need to do some lesson planning, especially since I'm going with Sioux and Denice for a foot massage this evening. (This is a luxury I never thought I'd enjoy, but it's marvelous. Should help me sleep tonight, too!)
zA
Teachers, Old and New
Denice is back, and has jumped right into teaching and scheduling and all things Powerhouse. I haven't seen a whole lot of her, but it's good to have her back. David hasn't moved in yet - we're all delaying the inevitable for as long as possible.
We have two new teachers now, and more are on the way. Daniel is from Vernon, BC, but has been in Shantou for just over two years. He was teaching at another school, but decided not to renew his contract there. Jenny arrived on Sunday - she's from northern Alberta, and will be 21 next week. She's still got that glazed look in her eye that we all have when we first get here, but she seems to be settling in okay.
I'm not sure how many additional teachers are expected, though there is talk of two. Not sure when they're arriving, either, but likely after David goes home.
Dynamic Schedules
We're already well into February, and our schedules for the month are still not finalized. Right now (and this may change!), after Sunday I will not be teaching any classes at Powerhouse. All of my classes are at other schools - two in Chaozhou, Shantou Polytechnic, and a middle school called Shantou Foreign Language Academy (we did some English Corners and judged a speech competition there, and now we have a contract for several classes). Denice tells me there are other contracts being negotiated now at other schools, which is why we need so many new teachers. Most of the classes start next week. I'm off today and Friday, but starting Saturday I'll be doing eight days straight. The following week things should settle - unless I'm asked to teach night classes at Powerhouse again. Makes getting into some sort of routine a bit challenging, especially with the insomnia I've been battling with since the holiday...
Polytechnic Revisited
I started at Polytechnic yesterday, teaching two "conversation classes," Grade 2 (formerly taught by Evin) and Grade 1 (though not the same group I was with before). Both classes seemed to go pretty well, and we have a plan of attack for the term, so I'm hoping that I won't be facing the same frustration as I did with the Grade 1 class I taught last term. (I don't know who got stuck with them - Daniel, Jenny, or Denice.)
Tomorrow I'll be returning to my Business English classes. I'm really happy about that - I love those kids. I saw a bunch of them yesterday in the cafeteria, and they all seemed pretty happy about it, too. Lucky found me and asked me if I would be his teacher again - when I said yes, he got this look on his face that was half happiness and half relief, then gave me a firm handshake. (I suspect he wanted to hug me, but there were a lot of people around!)
I'm going to have to come up with some pretty creative ideas for lessons this term; we had a lot of fun in December, but we didn't really focus too much on "business" topics. (The text book they use doesn't, either, so I'm going to have to supplement that material.) The text is terrible - not only are the topics more or less useless for teaching "Business English," it's riddled with mistakes (typographical and grammatical), and the expressions it teaches are either outdated or just plain wrong! For example:
From Unit 2, Greeting
Culture Tip
"Forms of address are also important in English speech community... You may have noticed that native speakers tend to say 'Nice to meet you' more often than 'How do you do', although they don't know each other before."
Functional Expressions
"Stating How You Are": I'm full of the joys of spring!
"Asking after Somebody": What's happening to you?
That's just one chapter. I've been trying to do a mini-edit on it for Julian, as a way of explaining why I don't like using the text and to give myself a good laugh. It's sad, though, that this is what students are learning.
Signing Off
All this talk about text books has made me realize that not only do I need to go warm up, I also need to do some lesson planning, especially since I'm going with Sioux and Denice for a foot massage this evening. (This is a luxury I never thought I'd enjoy, but it's marvelous. Should help me sleep tonight, too!)
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
English, Too
Since Spring Festival, things have been pretty quiet. (That's all going to change soon enough, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts.)
Three of the classes I've been covering for Denice while she's away are called "E2" or "English 2." They are small classes of Senior students studying for a university entrance exam. These exams are pretty hard core: they'll be writing exams from June 7 to 11, in many different subjects, and their scores on these exams will determine what university they can go to and what they can study. These kids want to be English majors, so they have an extra exam to study for. That's what we're trying to help them with.
The E2 exam consists of three sections: Video Imitation, "Role Play" (the name does nothing to explain the format), and Oral Presentation. To emphasize how serious these kids are, and how tough the exam will be, their text book is called Destroy One By One. Ouch.
Video Imitation is pretty straightforward. The students watch a clip, and imitate what they hear, focusing not only on the words, but on intonation and emotion. This year, the exam format is a little different - instead of being marked by a teacher, they'll be recorded by a computer. We've been watching a lot of clips, mostly from Friends DVDs, to prepare for this. The clips we've chosen are a little harder than what they'll be facing on the exam, but I think that's a good thing. These kids are freaked out (and I don't blame them, with all this pressure they're facing!), and I think that if they're over-prepared, they might just relax a bit.
"Role Play" is a little more bizarre. The students watch a video clip, then are presented with questions about the clips in Chinese. They have to translate the questions and answer them in English. Why it's called "Role Play" is beyond me. It gets them thinking about translation, though, which is good.
Oral Presentation is the weirdest, in my humble opinion. We've been working on this with video clips and with pictures. Essentially, the students have to make up a story, on the spot, about what they're seeing. Again, we've been using longer clips and pictures than they'll likely see on the exam, but it's still a difficult task, especially when they'll be telling their stories to a computer.
I'm not sure if there is a writing element to the exam, but we have been doing some writing exercises together. I've really enjoyed that - especially since I've seen considerable improvement in their writing from their first assignment to their last. One of the students, a guy named Mick, won a "composition writing" contest at his school, and went to Beijing during the holiday to compete at the next level. We got together before he left so I could help him practice; he called me last night to let me know he was back. He also apologized because he "didn't pass the examination," but he didn't sound too upset - he's going to give me all the details at our next class on Saturday night. (I can't believe he apologized! Then again, it seems like a typical response from a Chinese student.)
My adult class, 1A, is nearly done. I teach them tonight, then twice next week. I don't know if they'll be returning for 1B, but I hope so. They're nice people, and very eager students.
In non-school related news, my time of solitude here at the apartment will be over shortly. Denice will be back from Ottawa tomorrow night, and David will be moving back in for the rest of the month (shudder). I'm not sure of the reasoning or the details, as I've been happily living in my little bubble and ignoring as much of the political BS at the school as possible, but I'm not thrilled. At least it will only be for a month, then he'll be back in Canada (though he's hinted he has "other prospects" that don't involve teaching that will bring him back to Shantou).
Now I must prepare for school - these eager 1A students do not tolerate half-assed lesson plans!
zA
Three of the classes I've been covering for Denice while she's away are called "E2" or "English 2." They are small classes of Senior students studying for a university entrance exam. These exams are pretty hard core: they'll be writing exams from June 7 to 11, in many different subjects, and their scores on these exams will determine what university they can go to and what they can study. These kids want to be English majors, so they have an extra exam to study for. That's what we're trying to help them with.
The E2 exam consists of three sections: Video Imitation, "Role Play" (the name does nothing to explain the format), and Oral Presentation. To emphasize how serious these kids are, and how tough the exam will be, their text book is called Destroy One By One. Ouch.
Video Imitation is pretty straightforward. The students watch a clip, and imitate what they hear, focusing not only on the words, but on intonation and emotion. This year, the exam format is a little different - instead of being marked by a teacher, they'll be recorded by a computer. We've been watching a lot of clips, mostly from Friends DVDs, to prepare for this. The clips we've chosen are a little harder than what they'll be facing on the exam, but I think that's a good thing. These kids are freaked out (and I don't blame them, with all this pressure they're facing!), and I think that if they're over-prepared, they might just relax a bit.
"Role Play" is a little more bizarre. The students watch a video clip, then are presented with questions about the clips in Chinese. They have to translate the questions and answer them in English. Why it's called "Role Play" is beyond me. It gets them thinking about translation, though, which is good.
Oral Presentation is the weirdest, in my humble opinion. We've been working on this with video clips and with pictures. Essentially, the students have to make up a story, on the spot, about what they're seeing. Again, we've been using longer clips and pictures than they'll likely see on the exam, but it's still a difficult task, especially when they'll be telling their stories to a computer.
I'm not sure if there is a writing element to the exam, but we have been doing some writing exercises together. I've really enjoyed that - especially since I've seen considerable improvement in their writing from their first assignment to their last. One of the students, a guy named Mick, won a "composition writing" contest at his school, and went to Beijing during the holiday to compete at the next level. We got together before he left so I could help him practice; he called me last night to let me know he was back. He also apologized because he "didn't pass the examination," but he didn't sound too upset - he's going to give me all the details at our next class on Saturday night. (I can't believe he apologized! Then again, it seems like a typical response from a Chinese student.)
My adult class, 1A, is nearly done. I teach them tonight, then twice next week. I don't know if they'll be returning for 1B, but I hope so. They're nice people, and very eager students.
In non-school related news, my time of solitude here at the apartment will be over shortly. Denice will be back from Ottawa tomorrow night, and David will be moving back in for the rest of the month (shudder). I'm not sure of the reasoning or the details, as I've been happily living in my little bubble and ignoring as much of the political BS at the school as possible, but I'm not thrilled. At least it will only be for a month, then he'll be back in Canada (though he's hinted he has "other prospects" that don't involve teaching that will bring him back to Shantou).
Now I must prepare for school - these eager 1A students do not tolerate half-assed lesson plans!
