Friday was the last day of model school. I'm a little glad to be finished with it, but I will miss the kids. It was hard to know we'd only have them for two weeks and thus not get too attached. For the last day of class, they presented their mini-plays they'd been working on and then we had a party. We brought Coke and Chips Ahoy! and played 20 Questions and Would You Rather...? They seemed to really enjoy it.
The funniest moment came when we were giving out certificates. One student wanted to get pictures in classic diploma pose (take with the left, shake with the right), so I did it for all the students while Ross photographed. One boy shook my hand, and then, right as Ross snapped the picture, threw his left arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a hug. So basically there is this great picture of me being pulled sideways off-balance with a funny look on my face as he beams and clutches his certificate.
I also taught our primary school surprise class for two days this week. I co-taught with another trainee, which was definitely a good system. We had 22 kids from 4 or 5 to 13 or 14 with some speaking no English beyond "Hello! Hello!" and some being nearly fluent. It went shockingly well. They were extremely well behaved, and yes, sometimes it was controlled chaos, but we were able to move through a lesson plan. I don't think I could have done that with an analogous American class. We taught them parts of the body and emotions. Obviously, that necessitated multiple renditions of "Head and Shoulders," "Hokey Pokey," and "If You're Happy and You Know It." They were a little baffled, but they really got into it. Many Chinese love singing, and most children do anyhow.
Today, Saturday, we had a whole-group morning session which was nice in that we got to see other site folks and actually hang out with them. A group of us went to lunch and then to see Harry Potter. The movie was in Chinese, and I liked it pretty well. I'm sure I'd get more of the subtleties by watching it when it comes out on DVD (aka next week here!). Purchasing the tickets entailed a hilarious conversation which I will repeat here for your amusement.
Of our group of six, four stopped at a store and two of us went ahead to buy the movie tickets. At the counter:
[in Chinese]
Me: Hello, I'd like six tickets for Harry Potter, please.
Clerk: [very slowly] There...are...two...of...you. You...need...two...tickets.
Me: Yes, but my friends are coming to see the movie too. Six tickets.
Clerk: You have six friends?
Me: No, five other people and me. Six tickets altogether.
Clerk: What movie do you want?
Me: Harry Potter
Clerk: The one at 3:30? [Considering the next showing isn't for four hours, yes!]
Me: Yes, 3:30, six tickets.
Clerk: You know the movie is in Chinese, right?
Me: Yes, I know.
Clerk: And you still want six tickets.
Me: Yes, please.
Clerk: Well, ok. I guess I can sell you six.
Me:...thanks.
:-)
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Leshan
We went to see the big Buddha in Leshan today. It was a two hour drive followed by observing current PCV’s teaching at a teacher training institute. They were mostly doing student-centered activities, which is good, but not particularly useful to observe. After that, we had a tasty lunch.
The actual Big Buddha was slightly disappointing. It’s a…really big Buddha statue. I’m sure if you are a Buddha aficionado, it is a more meaningful experience, but it wasn’t a big (ahah) deal to me. The trip was salvaged by going to a teahouse after our boat ride and playing cards and majiang for a couple hours. That was great.
Finally, I leave you with some food funnies:
-I came home the other day to find a turtle swimming in a plastic aquarium in the living room, complete with fake trees. The family was cooing how cute it was and had named him WuWu. I thought we got a pet turtle to get go with the pet cats. Turns out he was dinner, and a very tasty one at that!
-Roasted or boiled eggs here are served in halves with the shell still on. Take note.
-Sichuan is famous for ma peppers which have roughly the same effect as novacaine. They're amazing at making your mouth all numb, but oh so tasty with green beans!
The actual Big Buddha was slightly disappointing. It’s a…really big Buddha statue. I’m sure if you are a Buddha aficionado, it is a more meaningful experience, but it wasn’t a big (ahah) deal to me. The trip was salvaged by going to a teahouse after our boat ride and playing cards and majiang for a couple hours. That was great.
Finally, I leave you with some food funnies:
-I came home the other day to find a turtle swimming in a plastic aquarium in the living room, complete with fake trees. The family was cooing how cute it was and had named him WuWu. I thought we got a pet turtle to get go with the pet cats. Turns out he was dinner, and a very tasty one at that!
-Roasted or boiled eggs here are served in halves with the shell still on. Take note.
-Sichuan is famous for ma peppers which have roughly the same effect as novacaine. They're amazing at making your mouth all numb, but oh so tasty with green beans!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Hot Pot and Eclipse
I got to see a total solar eclipse! Well, I didn’t actually see it because it was quite cloudy, but we did get to go outside. It was three hours of sunset collapsed into two minutes, three minutes of cool darkness, and three minutes back to a sunny Wednesday morning. It was a creepy feeling to be standing in the dark at nine in the morning, and we talked about how terrifying it would have been for ancient peoples who didn’t know an eclipse was coming.
More classes and model school today- mostly same old, same old, but I’m having SO much fun with my students. They’re really great and especially enjoyed the (prepositions practice) game where they got to tell me what to do :0)
For dinner, my host family took me to a restaurant where we sat around a boiling pot of broth and chili oil. Sounds crazy, I know, but amazingly good. They bring out raw meat and veggies and you dip it in and cook it. Then , you plunk it in your personal bowl of sauce to cool it and eat it. We were all drenched with sweat but full when we left. It was the good, sauna feeling sweat that makes you feel purified and not the icky humid kind of sweat. So, now that I’m full and relaxed with clean pores, I’m off to finish planning tomorrow’s lesson (Friends and Roommates)!
Monday, July 20, 2009
First Day of Model School
I named someone today. What a bizarre feeling…
It was the first day of model school. Everything went off perfectly, almost too perfectly. It was glorious. The activities took an appropriate amount of time, the students moved around and participated well, and they laughed at all my jokes. I am so pleased it went well. The only bad thing was the heat it was 95 F with 85% humidity! Whew! Our classroom had neither air conditioner nor fan, though we are promised one for tomorrow. So, after teaching for ninety minutes in a shirt, skirt, and hose (what was I thinking?!), I looked like I had been swimming. However, as that’s a common look around here, it wasn’t so bad, and the students were just as hot.
The students themselves are great. They are generally 18-24 and intermediate level, with some exceptions to both items on each end. The activities for today worked out well, and now I have an idea of what to plan for tomorrow. I’m only teaching half the day so Rosstin gets a turn, too.
There’s been some swapping of the schedule since we found out today that one class is twenty-two 5-12 year olds. That’s quite the news item when were told to prepare for 15 university students. The people who got that class were troopers, but we’ve arranged a system where they will join another team of teachers to teach a normal class and we will all take turns teaching the kiddos on our days off. I mean, how hard can it be to teach 22 small and not so small children for 90 minutes? Famous last words.
Tomorrow will be great! We’re doing an apartment hunting game and then a lesson on prepositions in the context of household objects (the bed is next to the table, etc.)
It was the first day of model school. Everything went off perfectly, almost too perfectly. It was glorious. The activities took an appropriate amount of time, the students moved around and participated well, and they laughed at all my jokes. I am so pleased it went well. The only bad thing was the heat it was 95 F with 85% humidity! Whew! Our classroom had neither air conditioner nor fan, though we are promised one for tomorrow. So, after teaching for ninety minutes in a shirt, skirt, and hose (what was I thinking?!), I looked like I had been swimming. However, as that’s a common look around here, it wasn’t so bad, and the students were just as hot.
The students themselves are great. They are generally 18-24 and intermediate level, with some exceptions to both items on each end. The activities for today worked out well, and now I have an idea of what to plan for tomorrow. I’m only teaching half the day so Rosstin gets a turn, too.
There’s been some swapping of the schedule since we found out today that one class is twenty-two 5-12 year olds. That’s quite the news item when were told to prepare for 15 university students. The people who got that class were troopers, but we’ve arranged a system where they will join another team of teachers to teach a normal class and we will all take turns teaching the kiddos on our days off. I mean, how hard can it be to teach 22 small and not so small children for 90 minutes? Famous last words.
Tomorrow will be great! We’re doing an apartment hunting game and then a lesson on prepositions in the context of household objects (the bed is next to the table, etc.)
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Faux Pas
Also, I've just discovered that at the end of meals, I've been going around saying "Thanks, I'm delicious." instead of "Thanks, I'm full."
Oops.
Oops.
Bookstores and Lotus
This weekend, I got a lot of lesson planning done, including a nice polished one for tomorrow. The others are still rough because I still have no idea what my students’ level is. Tomorrow night will be a lot of planning for sure. Today, we went to the largest bookstore in Chengdu. I was hoping to pick up an English novel as a reward for a good first third of training, but all the English language books were very expensive, about 110 yuan. (For reference, lunch costs me 5-8 yuan.) I still had fun looking at the entire floor of GaoKao material and the language books. They have “Learn Chinese!” materials for native speakers of English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, Korean, Japanese, and Russian. It was very impressive.
After a delicious lunch, we went to IKEA, which is exactly like the American ones, except they set the tables with chopsticks. They also had a good selection of woks, but they might have that in American IKEA, too. The rest of the kitchen items are geared for Western cooking. We had a good time exploring, and I told/mimed/described to my host family the functions of brownie pans, pizza cutters, egg slicers, muffin tins, apple corers, and the various types of pots and pans. In return, they told me how to pick out a good wok, something that might come in handy very soon.
Finally, we went to Flower Town, which consists of a giant pond/lake full of lotus and the area’s largest flower market. It was very pretty, and we got fresh veggies for dinner, but it was so very hot. We all came home and ate cold fruit, which is surprisingly refreshing!
After a delicious lunch, we went to IKEA, which is exactly like the American ones, except they set the tables with chopsticks. They also had a good selection of woks, but they might have that in American IKEA, too. The rest of the kitchen items are geared for Western cooking. We had a good time exploring, and I told/mimed/described to my host family the functions of brownie pans, pizza cutters, egg slicers, muffin tins, apple corers, and the various types of pots and pans. In return, they told me how to pick out a good wok, something that might come in handy very soon.
Finally, we went to Flower Town, which consists of a giant pond/lake full of lotus and the area’s largest flower market. It was very pretty, and we got fresh veggies for dinner, but it was so very hot. We all came home and ate cold fruit, which is surprisingly refreshing!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Week Three!
We’ve been with our host families a while now. It’s going pretty well! My family consists of a 25-year-old (my host “mother”) and her parents. She is married, but her husband is getting his doctorate in another city, so he’s not around much. They are really sweet and super accommodating. I have the master bedroom and my own bathroom with a western-style toilet and everything. The food is really good, and the house is comfortably cool against this crazy Sichuan heat. Last weekend, we went shopping in Tianfu Square and saw the giant Mao statue there. We also went to SW China’s largest indoor market, where they sell literally everything. One stall of buttons, one of zippers, one of purses, one of backpacks, and an entire street of baby clothes. We also went to Jinli Street, a “preserved ancient street.” It offers traditional handicrafts as well as restaurants, tea shops, and a Starbucks. (Be sure to check out the pictures!)
The 80 trainees who were all living in the hotel together have been split into four training sites. I like the people at my training site, and I’m looking forward to getting to know them better, but the people I’d been hanging out with are mostly at other sites. It’s a good chance to make new friends! We’re all together at least once a week, so that will be fun. I’m sure there will be some hanging out after those sessions.
Training marches on. It’s mostly more of the same. There have been some very helpful practical sessions from current and exiting volunteers telling us what activities have worked well in their actual classrooms of Chinese students. It’s also been good to hear first-hand about their very varied experiences with different types of students, different sizes of schools, and different locations in the countries.
Next week, we begin model school. They recruit Chinese students to take two weeks of English classes as guinea pigs for us to try out new lessons plans and to give the less experienced teachers time to get their feet wet. We are paired off into mentor/mentee pairs, so that the mentee can watch the mentor teach for a week before teaching his own week. Since my “mentee” has taught before, we may do some team teaching. Our theme is “Modern Life in New York,” and we’re doing sub-themes on apartment living/apartment hunting, roommates (aka personal description), and occupations. We plan to wrap it all up by having them invent a person who is moving to New York and present these facets of their lives in groups. Maybe they will have a poster or something, too. I’d better be off to finish up planning for my week now. Happy Friday/Saturday!
The 80 trainees who were all living in the hotel together have been split into four training sites. I like the people at my training site, and I’m looking forward to getting to know them better, but the people I’d been hanging out with are mostly at other sites. It’s a good chance to make new friends! We’re all together at least once a week, so that will be fun. I’m sure there will be some hanging out after those sessions.
Training marches on. It’s mostly more of the same. There have been some very helpful practical sessions from current and exiting volunteers telling us what activities have worked well in their actual classrooms of Chinese students. It’s also been good to hear first-hand about their very varied experiences with different types of students, different sizes of schools, and different locations in the countries.
Next week, we begin model school. They recruit Chinese students to take two weeks of English classes as guinea pigs for us to try out new lessons plans and to give the less experienced teachers time to get their feet wet. We are paired off into mentor/mentee pairs, so that the mentee can watch the mentor teach for a week before teaching his own week. Since my “mentee” has taught before, we may do some team teaching. Our theme is “Modern Life in New York,” and we’re doing sub-themes on apartment living/apartment hunting, roommates (aka personal description), and occupations. We plan to wrap it all up by having them invent a person who is moving to New York and present these facets of their lives in groups. Maybe they will have a poster or something, too. I’d better be off to finish up planning for my week now. Happy Friday/Saturday!
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