From 0 - 60 in one lesson...

Hello, Ms. Jenny here...Of all the things that are challenging here in China, I did not think that teaching would be the most difficult. I knew I would have difficulty with the food, and the language, and even the loneliness from feeling, and actually being, so far away from home and family.

But I'm realizing now that my new career is the most challenging aspect of my time here in China.

Let me begin by saying that last week, I did not have to teach at all! Well, initially I was first told that I would have to teach on Tuesday and Friday only. It was not until I got prepared on Tuesday, dressed, then biked over to my school and showed up to teach that I was casually told I was not needed today. With a smile they said I had a holiday. Grrr...

When the same thing happened on Friday I bit my tongue and just accepted that this is not a communication problem; it is just how it is here in China. From another casual broken English explanation, this time it was because of exams and then there was also a “Tomb Sweeping” holiday that my students had a few days off to celebrate.

So they decided to let me know about it when they could(?)..Sigh...

Sean also had a few days off as well, and the same communication issue happened to him too, but we did relax about it and ended up taking a few trips to some local towns, Nanjing and Suzhou. I will talk about them in another blog.

During our few days off I took some time and prepared a few good lessons for my students. I came up with a game called “The Alphabet Challenge” which is fashioned after the board game, Scrabble. The alphabet is written up on the board and points are awarded according to the first letter of the word used by the students and the amount of letters in a word. As soon as a letter is used it can't be used again so I felt like this game would be a good way to get my class enthusiastic and perhaps creative about English - I think I went overboard.

They went fanatical!

I chose to split the class into two teams... the Chinese are very competitive. And I mean competitive! And no matter how many times I explained that I only wanted one person from each team up at the board to write a word - they would not (maybe could not) listen! It was Mayhem!

They were as driven as I have ever seen them. I think that I even saw a few elbows. Lets just say, it was not how I pictured the class would play out, but it sure was fun to watch. Sean and I discussed the progression (or sheer loss of control - 55 Chinese students yelling and pushing is loud!!) of our classes during lunch and even after making a few adjustments, I am still finding myself being attacked by word hungry (point hungry) students.

I will bring my camera with me tomorrow and take a video of a class as they attack the board like hyenas on a lion’s carcass. Like I said, it sure is fun to watch.

“Are they learning anything?” you may ask... yes, I think so. We do review the words that are written and correct any spelling mistakes and I also give them new words to think about.

At least I am not hearing “This is boring!”.

Next week, I have decided to bring in the lyrics to some American songs by bands such as ColdPlay, Avril Lavigne and Back Street Boys. I will bring in the music and we will sing songs together while reading the lyrics on the overhead. Yes, I will sing with my class. This is something that every teacher is expected to do, the students absolutely love to sing, and I have put it off until now. I did sing a song (by myself) in our English Club two weeks ago. I sang Desperado and Sean sang a song by Stone Temple Pilots (of all groups!). They loved it...at least they clapped and cheered like they did.

Until next time... Keep smiling! :)

A day in the life...

Hey! Jennifer and I just got back from a weekend in the same city we went for Valentine's Day dinner, Nanjing, and I was sitting on the train whisking through the countryside at around 170mph when I had a flash of brilliance. :)

My passion for traveling is equaled only by my frustration and angst when trying to convey the joy of the experience to others. For many, traveling is about finding solitude and peace in the middle of a completely different world, such as Elizabeth Gilbert's, Eat, Pray, Love. I on the other hand, enjoy immersing myself into wherever I am and soaking up all of the unique surroundings using as many sense-sponges as possible - I eat voraciously, talk incessantly, watch non-stop, hear acutely, and even over here in physically aloof China, the occasional connection of a hug lets me touch my host world.

All these new experiences give me volumes to chat about with friends, family, the guy drinking the same beer as me at Four Green Fields, the taxi driver in a new city who happens to be chatty - I enjoy telling everyone who will listen all about the crazy places I've been - but my words and descriptions always fall short. Especially when compared to the power of pictures.

So I decided to try a photo essay. Many of you may not know that I was enrolled to begin my graduate work as a Journalism major at USF but decided that Education gave me more options for traveling (since I'm too old to be trekking through war torn quagmires such as Iraq, Afghanistan, or New York City). And since writing, and taking photos is a passion of mine, why not put together a collection of photos and text that describes what a day teaching is like for me here in #1 Sr. High School in DanYang, China?

I like to begin things on Monday's, and mine began at 6am when I popped out of bed to the clanging and clattering of construction directly beneath our window and grabbed my camera and starting shooting. I kept it with me through the whole day, shooting everything I felt would be interesting. It ended with a Chinese feast in a private restaurant generously provided by the parents of one of my students who are asking if I will consider tutoring her privately as she is heading over to the United States soon and wants to learn more English asap!

On my way to watch the Chinese Flag raised for the morning, I grabbed a short video of the students as they formed up and then ran out to the track to line up for the weekly student speech. Click to watch..be patient, the web is still slow sometimes.



I'm putting some captions with these shots so you get the full effect of the experience...it's not glamorous over here by any stretch, but I hope I can convey how much I/we enjoy it.

Here are a few of the more interesting pics, to see the whole photo essay of my day, click on any picture to review all the photos.

Tip: When you click on a picture, or a video, in the blog, you are automatically taken to the viewer called Picasa. Once you are in Picasa, click the Slideshow button in the top left corner underneath the name of the photo album, DayInTheLife. Using the slideshow, you can adjust the time each slide appears so you can read all of the information provided in the captions.

Enjoy!












Zie Jian!

All in a day's work...

Click for more pictures of my school and studentsDanYang_Jenns

Hello, Ms. Jennifer here again! With a new week comes a new lesson, and a new attitude. I last wrote about the difficulty I was having with trying to get my students to speak English. I search and search each week for the perfect lesson that will motivate my students to speak and stay interested in my class. Much to my dismay however, I do not think there is one!

Click for more pictures of my school and studentsDanYang_Jenns

So my plan of attack now?...I have several lessons to choose from during the week. This way, if one fails or they are just not engaging, I can try the next. It also breaks up the monotony of teaching the same lesson 18 times in a row. So far, it has been working (of course, it's only Tuesday!).

I have also come to the conclusion that I can not reach everyone. There are just some students that don’t want to learn how to speak English. As I go around the room I have some students that are very interested and then some that could care less. For those that could care less, I give them a solid chance, then I pass right over and move on to the next student.

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It's just a fact that I have too many students in my class for me to waste valuable time on a student that does not want to participate.

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I even tried handing candy out to the students that volunteered to speak. I thought it was a good idea but I have since changed my mind about that also. I now have a system of going around the room and picking people in random order to speak English. If they are disinterested, I will just tell them thank you and let them sit back down. For the students that want to try, I spend more time asking them questions and engaging them in conversation (that is what the school is paying me for afterall!).

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My hope is that the students who want to learn to speak will have an opportunity to speak in the 40 minutes a week that I teach them. The other students that don’t want to learn will at least be forced to listen to us speak. But I have also had trouble keeping the other students quiet as I go around the room.

Click for more pictures of my school and studentsDanYang_Jenns

I will first politely say “SHHHH”. Then I will ask them again, “Please do not be rude to your classmates when they are talking”. Then if that doesn’t work, I will shout “Anjing!” which means stop talking in Chinese - but more importantly it is what they hear yelled at them from their Chinese teachers so I do get them to be quiet after I shout that! Well, at least most of the time.

I do have one class that I am starting to dread teaching. Class 6 on Monday’s has been a problem from week one! There is one boy, in particular, that mimics what I say and talks Chinese to his friends while I am talking. I have asked nicely and I have taken him aside after class but nothing works.

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This week, he would not be quiet after repeated requests so I made him stand in the back of the class room against the wall. A method of punishment I learned from other students. He kicked desks and stomped his way to the back of the class! I try not to let it appear that I am angry and I continued my class with a smile.

This boy doesn’t realize who he is dealing with. He might find himself standing the rest of this semester!

Again, I am having a great time teaching though. I have so many students that are very happy to see me, they bring me gifts and stickers, they invite me to go with them to places in town…it is for these students that I love to teach.

Click for more pics of my school and studentsDanYang_Jenns

I brought my camera with me this week to show you some of my classes and my school. I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures and I will blog again soon.

Bye. Bye.

Click for more pics of my school and studentsDanYang_Jenns