We met the other teachers at our school too. They were extremely eager to get our input and work with us. I felt sorely unprepared since I have no idea where my office is or what my schedule even looks like. I'm just prepping this week's lesson plan to be clear on class rules and keeping students accountable for misbehavior. I'm going to double-check about whether I'm supposed to be giving grades or not. It didn't sound like it, but I don't want to be caught at the end with nothing to show either. I'm excited because I'm finally here and doing what I came to do (and the stupid pun I used for my blog name is finally applicable) and I made my mistakes during practicum so I have a firmer grip of what to expect than when I first arrived in the Changsha airport at 1AM. 14 classes of around 60 students each...It's almost like if I went back to California and took all of Redwood Middle School on as my students. I'll do my best to reach out to all of them since my job is never really done until I've gotten through to all my students.
I can't believe I've been here in my new apartment for about a week. I've never had so much space to myself in my life and so many appliances! Nearly everything in here is new too! I have a tv and my liaison told me that CCTV4 is the international channel. They seem to keep replaying a program on ice dancing but I also saw a program that follows a Chinese man and a non-Chinese girl as they travel around China. It has English subtitles and reviews some of the grammar used in the program so I'll have to see about watching that more often to improve my Chinese. I seem to be getting a little better at reading everyday. I'm sure I'll be a master at recognizing radicals by the end of the year from counting the strokes so I can look things up in the dictionary. This is the non-tech option for people like me who are too proud to get a convenient app or tablet that allows me to write out the character. It's actually not too bad, and I think I've actually managed to internalize and understand the characters a little better since I have to take them apart to find the pinyin and then play with the pinyin to make sure I've got the right character. I've started keeping a list of the characters I see. I write the pinyin next to the word then write the character 4 or 5 times. I can now confidently ask for a bottle of Sprite, a watermelon smoothie, a Cola, and a few fruits. Mostly though, I've been getting by through pointing and saying "zhi ge!" ("This!") or "na ge" ("That!"). My new challenge is the settings on the washing machine. The only one I can figure out is wool or knits. It's easier for me because I know the character for sheep, but the picture of a ball of yarn was kind of a dead give away too. I really can't figure out the rest since the translations I've received are: "big opponent", "normal", "monodesilyation(?)", "drift off", and one more set of characters I have to search through. It's like when I was struggling to learn the difference between cuts of beef in Italy and the US all over again. I still don't know which part of the cow is the "fin". It's been a busy week too. I moved in on Monday with the other WT volunteer two floors below. The first couple of days we had to get our foreign expert certificates, set up a bank account, and get a cellphone all set up. We also had people running in and out nearly everyday to set up the internet, set up the television, change the locks on the door, or bring in more furniture. Just when I thought we were done 3 people showed up with 4 chairs and a dining table! Thankfully, we live in a pretty central area so everything is within walking distance or we can hop a bus. We actually live across the street from a shopping center called Vanguard which has everything from a large two-floor market to KFC and Pizza Hut, a donut shop, a coffee shop, a KTV, a movie theater, a bunch of clothing shops, some children's recreation area, a few drug stores, a cell phone store, and a jewelry shop. I may have missed a few there. Basically, just about anything I could want is across the street if I can make the crossing or within walking distance given that there are a ton of shops around the train station too which is just down the street. I feel incredibly spoiled given that I came in thinking I should be ready for anything I see. Instead, I have a well equipped kitchen, a room I never use because this is more than enough space for me, and fridge. I guess you know you've been living on your own for a while if the idea of having your own kitchen is really exciting.
We met the other teachers at our school too. They were extremely eager to get our input and work with us. I felt sorely unprepared since I have no idea where my office is or what my schedule even looks like. I'm just prepping this week's lesson plan to be clear on class rules and keeping students accountable for misbehavior. I'm going to double-check about whether I'm supposed to be giving grades or not. It didn't sound like it, but I don't want to be caught at the end with nothing to show either. I'm excited because I'm finally here and doing what I came to do (and the stupid pun I used for my blog name is finally applicable) and I made my mistakes during practicum so I have a firmer grip of what to expect than when I first arrived in the Changsha airport at 1AM. 14 classes of around 60 students each...It's almost like if I went back to California and took all of Redwood Middle School on as my students. I'll do my best to reach out to all of them since my job is never really done until I've gotten through to all my students.
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AuthorI'm a 3rd year WorldTeach volunteer. Archives
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