Kelly and I landed safely in China yesterday. After 36 hours traveling I was relieved to finally get back to my apartment and pile my bags in the entry way, mind you half are still sprawled there as I dug through to get out the few things I needed. 

My trip home was worth all the trouble. It provided a much needed relief and a fresh start to the upcoming semester. With a roommate now and a new found determination to learn Mandarin it is already shaping up to be a great semester.

The trip began with me eating my words I gave the previous day to my friend Maria. When dropping her off at Bakersfield to head home I’d teased her about the Prop-Plane at the Airport. I’d never ridden in one and hoped never to have to. Everything comes back to bite you I’ve learned and sure enough before I knew it i was boarding a Prop-Plane to LAX. It was everything and worse I’d imagined!

Upon exiting the Prop-Plane my purse broke! I’d always made fun of luggage and bag stores in Airports, I mean come-on by the time you are getting onto the plane shouldn’t you already be packed!! But here I was stranded with a broken purse still facing another 24 hours of travel, I was willing to pay anything for relief! I found a tacky Hollywood bag at Hudson News and headed to my next gate to settle in for a long layover. Poor Kelly, we were to meet up at LAX and catch the same flight to Beijing together. She got stopped at every security check and pulled aside for further scrutiny. We tried to change seats to sit together but it was a full flight.

As they began boarding we ran to Starbucks for a last meal. Fiji water, blueberry scones and shrink-wrapped turkey sandwiches. I found my seat and was relived to find yet another window seat. I’m sticking with Expedia, since adding a window seat preference, that’s all I’ve scored on flights through them. I’m finally learning the trick to sleeping on international flights, oh another dozen and I should be a pro! Flights went smooth. In line after costumes I ran into the Sorensons, the BYU teachers from Jinan. I had ran into them going through security at LAX when flying home in January. We all had breakfast then headed to our domestic flights.

The puddle jump from Beijing to Qingdao was quick and James was waiting at the luggage carousel. It was intriguing watching Kelly’s reaction to Mainland China on the two hour drive home. I felt relieved to be done with flights and back into a normal routine. Qingdao to Weifang seems to be practically a Tulare – Visalia run most weeks.

James took us out to lunch before heading to the apartment. Lunch was wonderful. I’m thrilled to no longer be the novice with chopsticks, knock on wood. Kelly is reminding me of all my first experiences that have now become casual everyday events. Lunch was a usual conglomerate of vegetables, meats and tofus, chopped, diced and sauced up! With a hot bowl of noodle soup for the main course.

Once back on campus and in the apartment I finally felt I could relax after 36 hours of travel.

It’s good to be home and settled back in!

A few weeks ago I was approached by a student about judging and English competition I figured I’d wait for Wendy to mention something before I made any inquires. I’m not going to lie, I was hoping the comment would come to nothing, what do I know about judging an English competition.

No luck, Wendy approached me last Friday and asked if I would be willing to participate. Of course, for Wendy I’d do anything. As the Foreign Teacher I was to ask questions for the practical application section.

2009 Business English Speech Competition. Yes, I know it says 2008 but "Welcome to China!"

The competition consisted of three parts. First: Read a provided text regarding business. [Students would be judged on pronunciation, intonation and fluency]

Second: Provide and explanation on a graph displayed. The topics varied and so did the graphs. [Students would be judged on content, clarity and explanation]

Third: My part, Answer questions from the foreign teacher using an advertisement provided. No pressure just direct the questions and confuse the poor nervous participants.

I’ve never participated or even watched a language competition before, so can some one please tell me how I qualified to be a judge. Yes I know I speak English but what qualification is that in the world today?

Some examples of the above stated advertisements.

Questions: What three services are provided by this company? Is this a convenient service for the customer?

Questions: To what group of people is this advertisement marketed towards? What are the selling features of this product?

Robinson and Roxanne hosted the event, their English was great! I'm not going to lie they are my top students.

During an intermission a few students sang songs, it took me about two verses to figure out these girls were singing in English.

Matinda took 1st! I felt it was well deserved. (She is my Chinese tutor, she teaches in English)

The panel of judges and winners.

After the competition the teachers presented me with a beautiful kite.

"Zhou Jing" one of the Seven Beauties in Chinese Literature

I walked into class feeling completely prepared with a min by min planned lesson. It never goes as planned, the children caught be off guard from the very beginning. I decided to make the board festive and drew a Christmas tree, I left it blank as I continued setting up for class.

Ke Xin the student I walk to class with proudly shouted out “Christmas Tree!”  “I decorate?”. I wasn’t expecting much, but boy did she knock my socks off.

First she added strings of lights, bows, bells, stars, candy canes and ornaments. I was shocked, well her English teacher in school was thorough. So my lesson was not going to be as planned at that point. I was thinking vocabulary lesson here but instead we moved to sentence structure and prepositions. I at least learning to think on my feet.

My favorite had to be the Primary song “Once There was a Snowman.” First we built a snowman on the board and sang the song and helped in melt.

While building they corrected me I had cut buttons for the eyes but they insisted using them for the body. They keep me honest that’s for sure.

Yes I’ve fallen in love with my children’s classes.

Wednesdays are always horrible days for me. They are my busiest. The first change I make next semester is my Children’s night class. I’m putting my foot down and refuse to do it on the night of my craziest day. A full day of classes and then a night class just about does me in.

I woke this morning in a slight depression no real reason but I just can’t seem to shake the funk. Thank goodness tomorrow is Thursday and I get to see the rest of the gang for lunch. Okay if I can just make it through the afternoon and then the evening things will brighten.

Well off to class.

I know this post might be coming out from left field for some but to catch you up to speed here is a post just recently finished but posted on a much much earlier date. http://blog.addingstamps.com/2009/10/i-think-the-world-is-coming-to-an-end/

As I continue my Children’s Oral English class I have begun falling in love with the students. I love them all but of course I have my favorites, Rose is just this bundle of joy who has a smile that could melt any Ice Queen, yes I’m the Ice Queen here, and then of course there is Gary. He is the youngest at 6 and the smallest 6 year-old I’ve ever seen. For a kid who’s missing his two front teeth he has great pronunciation and his reading skills are amazing.

Next is Ke Xin, she meets me at my apartment each evening and walks me to class. Half our walk is her correcting my Chinese and the other half is her giggling her way through prompted English questions from her mom. Margaret is 10 and is my co-teacher, at times translating where needed and encouraging the other students.

Oranges from YRC & a card from Ke Xin

I never thought I’d go by Miss Kayte but hey it beats Miss Reagan (not that I don’t love my last name, which I do greatly and don’t plan on giving it up in the next decade or anything) it is just so old sounding. My students have begun bringing little gifts to class which always make my day.

The gifts are always straight from the children’s hearts, a chocolate here and a little wrapped candy there. YRC’s little package was quite inventive. From the size of the package I thought he had confused the vocabulary. Upon opening the bag I was delightfully surprised. I’d heard about the tiny oranges but had not had the pleasure of trying them yet. They are quite delicious!

Juicy and sweet!

After five weekends of traveling and nonstop activities I was looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend curled up in my apartment only seeing people for my scheduled cooking lessons. But alas such plans have been ripped from my grip once again.

Wendy called me yesterday morning two min after I had fallen out of bed. She asked if I would meet with the President’s daughter on Saturday so she could talk with me. I was still groggy and out of it, yes I know it was 8:30 but I had had another late night. I was confused and asked if we could chat over lunch.

So my new plans for Saturday, hang out with the President’s daughter who will be coming into town for the weekend to visit with her father. She would like to practice her Oral English. Dantzelle already had plans to go to Qingdao and Adam is swamped with homework and finals for school back home. Luckily Wendy will join us. I am completely nervous. I’ve never met the President! Wendy didn’t make me feel any better when she admitted her nervousness. I know, I know really how bad can it be but let me honest people in high places in China make me a little nervous.

We have been offered a University car for our disposal, but I have do idea what to do? Am I suppose to be planning the agenda? I don’t even know how old this girl is. Luckily I have Wendy for translation I would be terrified if it was just me. Well I guess tomorrow I will find out! Wish me luck.

As I sit at the half way mark in the semester I am beginning to question my abilities. What did I sign up for? Why did I think that getting my TEFL certificate, was going to turn me into an English Teacher? Seriously how does a 120hour course turn a novice into a professional even if only marginal. People go to four years of school to be a teacher and here I am thinking I could do it after taking an online course with a weekend workshop.

I feel as if I am slapping all real teachers in the face with my certificate. I have no book and no experience to draw from. Oral English is the biggest joke. What is an Oral English class suppose to be? My idea was a class where you practiced conversations. Not reading and listening skills but on your feet conversations that will better prepare you for the real world. When traveling you will not be able to stop and write a dialogue. You will be forced to respond in a matter of seconds to the speaker at hand. Life is not a script, Oral English is to prepare a student for that fact but none of my students seem to feel that way.

They can all write dialogues great but heaven forbid they answer a question with a complete sentence. What am I suppose to do? I try to make class engaging but I don’t know how to get my students to talk. Discussion groups on guided topics turn into cellphone time or nap time. Reading lyrics to music doesn’t do any good. Chorally reading is the only way I can get at least half the class speaking in complete sentences but I guarantee they have no idea what they are saying they are just repeating words. Is that really helping?

My waiban has suggested debates but my students don’t seem to be at that level if they can’t respond on their feet. Maybe I’m just under estimating their abilities. Who knows.

DAD WHAT WAS I THINKING??

To prepare for class I wiki-ed Halloween (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween). I didn’t have a firm handle on the origins of Halloween and its traditions and I wanted to be prepared. Intriguing article by the way, really sad that most reported cases of candy poisoning actually turn out to be the child’s parent’s fault.

1st class: I begin by explaining the origins of Halloween, the Celtic belief that on October 31st the Spirit world had power to cross into the real world and haunt the living . People would dress up to scare the spirits and keep evil at bay. Halloween began being celebrated in America in the 1840’s when the Irish, fleeing from the potato famine, brought over many traditions.

We still dress in costumes today but not all are scary. It is a time now to dress up in fun costumes that can represent anything.

Jack-o-Lanterns we originally carved into turnips and were passed of a fable about a man named Jack who tricked the Devil into the trunk of a tree and then was cursed to roam the earth with the only light he had at the time a candle.

2nd class: By the second class I had dropped the part about Halloween being brought over by the Irish and where Jack-o-Lanterns originated from.

3rd class: The Celtic tradition was gone by the third class, it was just getting to hard to explain and they really didn’t get it.

4th class: I think I finally had the structure down but trying to explain costumes to a culture who never dresses up is depressing. I would ask them to think about what they would be if they went trick-or-treating, it was liking pull teeth! For heaven sakes who doesn’t have a costume on the tip of the tongue? Even if that might not be really what you want can’t you just think of something, anything?

5th class: I had watered it down even further and just gave examples of what we did rather than try to explain why we did it. Costumes: Scary outfits most popular, Children often wear fun costumes. Parties: Bobbing for Apples, the String game (what do we call that game?), watch a scary movie or go to a haunted house. Jack-o-Lanterns a fun tradition to scare away evil spirits.

6th class: To be honest I’m glad I had watered it down because the last time I gave the lesson it was to my most difficult class. I had a hard time keeping their attention with this version. I can’t imagine if they had been my first class.

The blackboard by the end of the lesson.

they’re letting me teach an English class to children!

Wendy came to me a few weeks ago with a proposition, the English teachers on campus proposed an Oral English class for their children twice week if I wanted an extra job. Okay for those of you who know me, know my initial reaction, an absolute NO WAY JOSE! But if China has taught me one thing it is to hold my tongue until all the chips have fallen and even then it is just best to swallow and keep opinions to oneself. Besides the extra cash would be nice for traveling. I agreed to meet with the parents and see the students levels first before agreeing to anything.

Wendy agreed to do all the translating and help with the negotiations. 10 students between the ages of 6 and 10 years old. 2 nights a week for 1 hour. I’m too much of a Reagan to do much negotiating which will change next semester that is for sure. If there is one thing about the Chinese I’ve learned they will squeeze you for all your worth and still try and make you feel like they are the ones getting the bad end of the deal, but because you’re you and you seem alright, they will live with the decision although you really should understand they are the ones suffering here. So with that said, I have to work Friday nights and underpaid in the tutoring world.

From Left to Right: Xuan, Rose, KeXin and Margaret

I did request all the students be given English names as I know it would be pointless to slaughter their Chinese names class after class. When speaking to the parents they just suggested I name the children as I saw fit. Maybe I’m uptight but that just didn’t sit well with me. Naming children is the responsibility of the parents in my book and I told the parents I would feel more comfortable if they discussed with their child and selected a name. Of course this method left the door open and I still have two students who have insisted on their Chinese name so Xuan and Ke Xin it is and slaughtered each week they are.

I have to admit the more I teach the more excited I get about the class. I don’t know what is happening, I think the world is coming to an end and I am growing a soft spot for children. For the first time in my life I am beginning to understand my parents love for kindergarten. The absolute joy on the children’s faces when they understand a new word or get an answer correct. Then of course there is they’re sweet smile and burst of applause at any Chinese I use.

Preparing for the one hour classes is labor intensive and I put more time into that one hour than anything for my college students, sad to say, but then the return is so much more from my ten children than all 8 classes combined during the week.

My only real run-in when teaching this class is getting the parents to accept the fact that I am an American, born and raised with a Western Education with two amazing parents who do not encourage parroting teaching. I finally put my foot down and told the parents if they wanted a Chinese style class they would be better off getting a Chinese teacher. Chinese students are great readers and boy can they memorize, some of my students can knock your socks off with their vocabulary but get completely confused the moment you give them a complete sentence. The parents and I had a little disagreement on simple sentences and what was appropriate for their children.

What it really all boils down to is the definition of what an Oral English class is. Unfortunately, that is not a question I’ve been able to get answered by anyone in this country so far, not even for my college classes. The parents where upset with the simple “I have…” sentences I had the students practice when I asked them about their body. When I give a direct question they are able to answer but when given a simple instruction to describe something they freeze.

I’m slowly and at times painfully learning but all in all I am happy I took this job and who knows by the end of this semester I just might be able to say I like teaching kids.

Okay maybe a little extreme, but extreme actions call for extreme retorts and these were my favorite jeans! Not to mention 1 of only 2 pairs I brought with me, yes only bringing two pairs of jeans was not one of my brighter ideas in packing.

The cursed cement block!

They have been tearing up and replacing what seems to be all the pipes on campus. They moved to the ones next to our building just this past week. It wouldn’t have been so  bad if I just went around but there is a little bridge like thing and it is a whole 5 seconds faster.

On the bright side it is on the inside seam and they are dark pants.

So running to meet up with James one afternoon I snagged my jeans on a piece of re-barb protruding from one of the displaced cement blocks.  I was relieved I didn’t get scratched and my tetanus shot has been updated! But all the same these where my favorite jeans!!

As for construction around here I just know I’m killing brain cells every time I walk past their work areas. The chemicals and materials just reek of dangerous fumes not to mention the metal and plaster dust kicked around.

I would just love to see CalOsha take one look at the work sites here!

Main street on campus leading to the dinning halls.

At least this bit of pipe is between bulidings.

As streets and sidewalks are interchangeable in China it has been a challenge with the roads cluttered to make room for traffic when walking.

Let's circle what seems to be hazardous here. Oh let's just save time and circle the whole picture!