This past week has been rather crazy and busy. We arrived in WeiHai Saturday, July 11 in the afternoon. We had a few short hours to unpack our bags and get settled in our new apartment—a “flat” with a large living room, kitchen, a bathroom (2 showers and toilets), and 5 bedrooms. The bedroom we are staying in is considered to be the “girls’ room”. In our room there are 4 sets of bunk beds and 8 lockers. This is where the six single female teachers sleep. There is another bedroom (the guys’ room) that has 2 sets of bunk beds. Here the 3 male teachers sleep. There are 2 bedrooms that I believe are “master bedrooms” (with a bathroom in them) where the 2 couples are staying. Oh, and did I mention that our apartment/flat is the sixth floor of the school? Well, it is, which means that during the week we don’t get out of the school very often.
Anyway, after settling in, we had an orientation meeting—the basics of what we’re going to be doing the next 4 weeks here at Jian Hua Foreign Language School—teaching, planning, leading E-zone (a place for students to come and practice their English), and keeping the apartment clean. Our teaching days are split up into 6 sessions. We have three 45 minute sessions with 15 minute breaks in between. Then we have a two hour lunch break and three more 45 minute sessions with 15 minute breaks in between. The four lower levels only meet in the morning while the two higher levels meet all day. I am teaching the third level, so I am only teaching in the mornings. Those who are teaching the higher levels have a teaching partner so that they only have to teach for three sessions—either the morning or the afternoon.
Monday we started our teaching. After spending the day Sunday going to church, exploring a bit of the city, and going over to the principal’s flat for tea and biscuits (they’re British), I was up late planning my lesson for Monday. After the first session on Monday morning I started to freak out. I was wondering why I was here and what I was doing. During our break I talked to Lorraine (one of our hosts who stepped in as my translator for the first two days). She encouraged me and gave me advice on how to improve. By the end of the morning I felt much better about how things went, but I still knew I had a lot more to improve. I also came up with lots of ideas on how to make things go smoother and be more exciting for my students. Of course I spent the afternoon and evening preparing for my class on Tuesday as well as finding things to decorate the room. One thing I added was a world map—I found out that my students didn’t know many of the English names for countries. So I found a world map in Chinese and added English names to it.
Tuesday seemed to go better than Monday, but still wasn’t the best it could have been. I was more prepared for Tuesday. On Monday I was able to complete everything I had planned in the first two sessions and made it up as I went in session three. Tuesday I actually had enough stuff planned for the day. Once again, I got advice from Lorraine on how to teach better and how to get and keep my students’ attention. The biggest thing was not to focus on grammar—that’s what they get in school. They’re mostly here to practice speaking their English. Tuesday afternoon, as I planned my lesson for Wednesday, I got excited. I found activities in the teacher’s book that allowed the students to speak more and the topic of family trees came up. I got excited about ideas that came into my head—build a family tree on the wall with pictures of my family (yes family, you are hanging up in my classroom =D).
Excited about Wednesday, I didn’t realize that I had planned too much. I didn’t get to the family tree, but I could tell my students were enjoying class more—they did more than just sit at their desks and work with their partners. They were allowed to get up, work with groups, and practice speaking more. The only thing about Wednesday I wasn’t too sure about was that Lorraine was no longer my translator. She was leaving in the afternoon and wanted to sit in on the other girls’ classes. Instead, one of the full time staff members became my translator—only she doesn’t speak near as much English as Lorraine and she doesn’t translate near as much as Lorraine did. Although, over the past few days I’ve come to realize that’s okay (and probably better for the kids), but it was adjustment I had to make. Right after lunch, Sarah, Bettina and I had to say goodbye to Lorraine, which was very hard—Lorraine lived with us for 4.5 weeks, she became a dear friend, and we didn’t want her to go. :’( But we said our goodbyes and kept on planning and teaching…
Thursday I was able to cover the family tree. Wednesday afternoon I was able to set up the family tree in my classroom. I was going to add grandparents, but then realized that if I added them, I’d have to add my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Which, for some people, wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but after drawing it out on a piece of paper I realized I shouldn’t—I have 17 aunts and uncles and 27 cousins. I did however draw my entire family tree out to show my students—it was fun to watch their faces as I told them I have 27 cousins. It’s rare to have more than five cousins here due to the one-child policy. Also on Thursday I had the students tell us about their families and do other activities that got them to practice their English. I believe that Thursday was my best day teaching thus far.
Friday I gave the students a test over the first 2 modules that we covered. There are 15 modules and 7 tests that we’re supposed to get through in these four weeks. However, after looking at how things went this first week I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get through all of the modules. Anyways, I gave the test in the first session. Second session I was evaluated by one of the staff members here. It was rather nerve racking, but she said I did really well and had a lot of good things to say about what I did.
Yesterday (Saturday), we relaxed, watched a movie, went to McDonalds for lunch and shopping afterwards. We also went to the beach with some of our students. The water was chilly and the waves were rather big. I wish I went in, but I wasn’t wearing my bathing suit and you had to pay to change (I’m too Dutch :P). It was nice to stick my feet in the water. I brought along my Frisbee, which was rather fun to play with our students—I don’t think any of them had ever thrown a Frisbee before, let alone seen one. It was a fun, relaxing day.
This next week will only get busier. We are starting to lead E-zone this week. Our team (Sarah, Bettina, and I) are leading on Monday and Thursday this week. This past week the regular staff members led it and we came along to see how it works. This week we actually have to lead it, but we don’t have to go every night, which will be nice.
I hope you all have a wonderful week and hope to write again near the end of the week.
