while reading that last post i can see just how many mistakes there were. sorry every one.
my only excuse is that i was feeling sorry for my self as my throat hurt....
i know not much of one there but.................. my computer hasn't been fixed as much as i though it had, internet is just about working, is not slower than should be expect, but any .exe files don't seem to work and my video isn't working at all, i have a feeling the framework is messed up,,, (any ideas?)(Simon or any one else with computer knowledge who reads this????)
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Friday, 27 February 2009
Understanding
after going out last night and having one drink before returning home, i have found out what makes school teachers and kindergarten teaches different.
the other teachers have different classes each day so they dont bond with the children, they are seening roughly 2000 kids per week and have no connection with the kids, nore is one needed. however the other kindergarten'ers do, this bond is vital for the little kids to learn and to become familiar with the english language being spoken,
today i am going out to buy a english dvd as i have mostly fixed my laptop (last night i got came in and started pleying around with it, installing and un-installing different things) Yay. a working laptop.. i still havent been able to connect my camera to the computer, i think i will have to pick up a card reader and do it that way.
my flu is getting worse, now my noise is blocked up, my throat hurts, and my head feels a tad worse for wear.
i am now fast running out of cheap paricetamols, and good deodorant.
The city today is very smoggy, or foggy i cannot tell which. but i can not see 150 meters to the sky scraper on the end of the compound, (a little lie there, i can see the out line of the base but to vanishes into white after the 5,6 or 7th floor, i cannot tell which as i cannot see the windows)
I better start packing today. cannot wait to see my new apartment, as it is closer to the edge of the city i should get a really nice one, but i think it will be smaller than my current flat. ooo the anticipation.
the other teachers have different classes each day so they dont bond with the children, they are seening roughly 2000 kids per week and have no connection with the kids, nore is one needed. however the other kindergarten'ers do, this bond is vital for the little kids to learn and to become familiar with the english language being spoken,
today i am going out to buy a english dvd as i have mostly fixed my laptop (last night i got came in and started pleying around with it, installing and un-installing different things) Yay. a working laptop.. i still havent been able to connect my camera to the computer, i think i will have to pick up a card reader and do it that way.
my flu is getting worse, now my noise is blocked up, my throat hurts, and my head feels a tad worse for wear.
i am now fast running out of cheap paricetamols, and good deodorant.
The city today is very smoggy, or foggy i cannot tell which. but i can not see 150 meters to the sky scraper on the end of the compound, (a little lie there, i can see the out line of the base but to vanishes into white after the 5,6 or 7th floor, i cannot tell which as i cannot see the windows)
I better start packing today. cannot wait to see my new apartment, as it is closer to the edge of the city i should get a really nice one, but i think it will be smaller than my current flat. ooo the anticipation.
Lost my kids today
Today i have lose my kids. i feel surprisingly sad. I have a bond with all 60 of them, even if the bond isnt a good one. saying good bye to them all was heart breaking,
Below (i hope they will be below this time) are some pictures of the brightest 5 year old i have ever seen, can speak, read and write english, chinese and pinyin,
There she and her friend are holding up some of there work, then i had the students make paper aeroplanes, then had them all stand up, put there hands in the air, jump and scream and shake there hands around, the whole class woke up at this point. although i may have got them a bit to hyperactive. still, i had a good time and they had a good time and the TA's and english and chinese teachers went mad as they tryed to control the students. but a quick glance at me and my antics soon got them back into a load rabble. hehehe, i have been asked to come back by one of the teaches when i have some free time, i think i will.
Well im off to the bar now to try and cheer myself up with some other teachers.
bye bye
Below (i hope they will be below this time) are some pictures of the brightest 5 year old i have ever seen, can speak, read and write english, chinese and pinyin,
There she and her friend are holding up some of there work, then i had the students make paper aeroplanes, then had them all stand up, put there hands in the air, jump and scream and shake there hands around, the whole class woke up at this point. although i may have got them a bit to hyperactive. still, i had a good time and they had a good time and the TA's and english and chinese teachers went mad as they tryed to control the students. but a quick glance at me and my antics soon got them back into a load rabble. hehehe, i have been asked to come back by one of the teaches when i have some free time, i think i will.
Well im off to the bar now to try and cheer myself up with some other teachers.
bye bye
Monday, 23 February 2009
transfer?
Firstly a big hello to the people who joined me on the TEFL course in england, i am glad you have taken the time out to come and read what is going on with me (also to every one else a big hello as well(dont want you feeling left out now))
i may be transferred to the other side of the city as i will be starting my new post in the new kindergarten on monday, so i will have to leave my lovely big flat,,,, we will wait and wee, there was tlak of a private car taking me to and from work each day, but if that is the case then i will have to also force that i am taken home during lunches and brought back again, i am not spending 5.1/2 hours of my lunch break sitting in the staff room.. no way...
my marking yesterday went very well and my class's this morning went well. Amy, one of the sweetest kids i have, has finally returned to school after being ill, only for another one of the good children to be off,,,, these are the kids i will miss when i leave this post to go to another, however, with such a new position the first months classes will be easy as there will only be 4 or so children in each class. my current classes are any where up to 30.
(not easy keeping control of so many kids)
my lessons this after noon will consist of a basic lesson in english followed by much praise for there pictures (most of the pics from the year below are better) and a shouting competition, TODAY IS COLD, YOU CAN EAT SNOW, DONT EAT YELLOW SNOW.
All very entertaining and the kids understand but the adults do not,,,, even though they may translate. i think there is something with age here that makes your imagination deteriorate at a rapid level.
Still i get my good TA today, the TA is actually a english teacher but she is so good that i have roped her into being a TA for what is meant to be her free period.
most the TA's here haven't been trained (well except in university) and dont understand you unless you put on an american accent.
I am going to do a seating plan, this will annoy the children no end, but the kids at the back of the class dont know there alphabet yet. and there for are falling more and more behind, while the ones at the front of the class and the right hand side are now very good at english, hey can read and speak and are starting to learn how to write,
i may be transferred to the other side of the city as i will be starting my new post in the new kindergarten on monday, so i will have to leave my lovely big flat,,,, we will wait and wee, there was tlak of a private car taking me to and from work each day, but if that is the case then i will have to also force that i am taken home during lunches and brought back again, i am not spending 5.1/2 hours of my lunch break sitting in the staff room.. no way...
my marking yesterday went very well and my class's this morning went well. Amy, one of the sweetest kids i have, has finally returned to school after being ill, only for another one of the good children to be off,,,, these are the kids i will miss when i leave this post to go to another, however, with such a new position the first months classes will be easy as there will only be 4 or so children in each class. my current classes are any where up to 30.
(not easy keeping control of so many kids)
my lessons this after noon will consist of a basic lesson in english followed by much praise for there pictures (most of the pics from the year below are better) and a shouting competition, TODAY IS COLD, YOU CAN EAT SNOW, DONT EAT YELLOW SNOW.
All very entertaining and the kids understand but the adults do not,,,, even though they may translate. i think there is something with age here that makes your imagination deteriorate at a rapid level.
Still i get my good TA today, the TA is actually a english teacher but she is so good that i have roped her into being a TA for what is meant to be her free period.
most the TA's here haven't been trained (well except in university) and dont understand you unless you put on an american accent.
I am going to do a seating plan, this will annoy the children no end, but the kids at the back of the class dont know there alphabet yet. and there for are falling more and more behind, while the ones at the front of the class and the right hand side are now very good at english, hey can read and speak and are starting to learn how to write,
Pics of class
This is one of my classes i have, they are drawing pic's for me to look at and choose the best one.... doing this worked so well i added it to my next class, in fact all i did to day as have children drawing. very use full for a monday,
Below are pics of my pre school class, and a teacher doing my job for me while i walked around taking photo's
Saturday, 21 February 2009
follow on from last post
any way as i was saying
interesting things.
While out and about, in a taxi, on the main roads. beggars will come up to the window of the car. however as the glass is tinted they have no idea if the taxi has any one in it, i have seen someone tapping on a window on the other side of a taxi, but where i was sitting facing the sun, i could see the taxi was unoccupied. and she stayed there until the lights turned green.
they have a interesting way of advertising unlike any i have seen, in a unmarked car sitting at the lights (again) a guy comes running down the middle of the duel carriage way popping business cards through open windows and jamming them into the seal when the window is closed, this happened on the first day when a car was sent to pick me up., i couldnt help but laugh,
people love to be seen with westerners, even when walking along the road you will oftern get people walking right beside you going at whatever pace you are, and when you stop to look at your phone they will walk for 1 or 2 more paces stop and look round at you, (as if you are walking some where together) then when you start walking when you draw even they will walk with you again, not to close to pickpocket you but close enough for any one who is watching to think you are friends,
Taxi drivers will oftern let you off a few RMB when going to school, being a teacher you are held with high regard, ever other time they charge you to the 0.1p.. yes thats right 1 tenth of a penny.
the lowest note value is 5p and the lowest coin value is 0.1p, the highest note value (the big red one that looks a bit like a 50pound note) is 10.00 pounds. (sorry they dont have the pound sign on the keyboards here)
fire works are still exploding around the city.
if you want to get drunk and have a good night out, you can. just make sure you take with you 5 pounds, that will cover taxi's a packet of ciggy's, 11 pints of good beer, and still have change to get good food on the way home.
i am allowed to work in jeans and a t-shirt, as long as the jeans dont have holes in, if they do, make sure they arent to ig, if they are, make sure they match on both sides, if they dont, make sure your not late for work, if you are, make sure it doesn't happen again, if it dose, then dont worry about it to much. (a bit of a pain as i am the only person who turns up in a shirt and proper trousers, as this is most of what i brought.)
on the 450 pounds a month i get payed i can easily support 2 people and run the big 2 bed flat i have near the centre of the city. (except i buy things like rice cookers, flash mobile phones and next month a microwave,)
you cant get a proper slice of toast here, its all there really weird bread that tastes very sugary.
while doing the washing up i have developed a nasty rash, i got it checked out and the washing up liquid has caused hundreds of tiny cuts on the back of my hands where my skin is thinnest, (bloody stuff) so i have now invested in washing up gloves as when i stopped washing up to let my hands recover, Yang took over, even though i had bought a different brand of washing up liquid, i can see her hands and back are starting to develop the cuts, (she puts her hands on her back after washing, i think to dry them but im not to sure,,)
i am sitting in a internet cafe, eating lolly pops and smoking, in a soft arm chair thingy. (a bit like a mini sofa) and the key board dosent work very well, so i am constantly going back to repair my words.
Being white, when the guards stop you from entering somewhere and you just speak english, they get board and let you though, i made it to the third floor of the police station, looked in a few rooms on the way, got given a cigarette by a police man who tried to communicate with me, finally a police translator questioned my presence there. then had me escorted down the the ground floor, and the main desk. then sent to another police station to get my self registered,
Ok thats all for now. i will post some pics of my apartment up tomorrow... or later on tonight.
interesting things.
While out and about, in a taxi, on the main roads. beggars will come up to the window of the car. however as the glass is tinted they have no idea if the taxi has any one in it, i have seen someone tapping on a window on the other side of a taxi, but where i was sitting facing the sun, i could see the taxi was unoccupied. and she stayed there until the lights turned green.
they have a interesting way of advertising unlike any i have seen, in a unmarked car sitting at the lights (again) a guy comes running down the middle of the duel carriage way popping business cards through open windows and jamming them into the seal when the window is closed, this happened on the first day when a car was sent to pick me up., i couldnt help but laugh,
people love to be seen with westerners, even when walking along the road you will oftern get people walking right beside you going at whatever pace you are, and when you stop to look at your phone they will walk for 1 or 2 more paces stop and look round at you, (as if you are walking some where together) then when you start walking when you draw even they will walk with you again, not to close to pickpocket you but close enough for any one who is watching to think you are friends,
Taxi drivers will oftern let you off a few RMB when going to school, being a teacher you are held with high regard, ever other time they charge you to the 0.1p.. yes thats right 1 tenth of a penny.
the lowest note value is 5p and the lowest coin value is 0.1p, the highest note value (the big red one that looks a bit like a 50pound note) is 10.00 pounds. (sorry they dont have the pound sign on the keyboards here)
fire works are still exploding around the city.
if you want to get drunk and have a good night out, you can. just make sure you take with you 5 pounds, that will cover taxi's a packet of ciggy's, 11 pints of good beer, and still have change to get good food on the way home.
i am allowed to work in jeans and a t-shirt, as long as the jeans dont have holes in, if they do, make sure they arent to ig, if they are, make sure they match on both sides, if they dont, make sure your not late for work, if you are, make sure it doesn't happen again, if it dose, then dont worry about it to much. (a bit of a pain as i am the only person who turns up in a shirt and proper trousers, as this is most of what i brought.)
on the 450 pounds a month i get payed i can easily support 2 people and run the big 2 bed flat i have near the centre of the city. (except i buy things like rice cookers, flash mobile phones and next month a microwave,)
you cant get a proper slice of toast here, its all there really weird bread that tastes very sugary.
while doing the washing up i have developed a nasty rash, i got it checked out and the washing up liquid has caused hundreds of tiny cuts on the back of my hands where my skin is thinnest, (bloody stuff) so i have now invested in washing up gloves as when i stopped washing up to let my hands recover, Yang took over, even though i had bought a different brand of washing up liquid, i can see her hands and back are starting to develop the cuts, (she puts her hands on her back after washing, i think to dry them but im not to sure,,)
i am sitting in a internet cafe, eating lolly pops and smoking, in a soft arm chair thingy. (a bit like a mini sofa) and the key board dosent work very well, so i am constantly going back to repair my words.
Being white, when the guards stop you from entering somewhere and you just speak english, they get board and let you though, i made it to the third floor of the police station, looked in a few rooms on the way, got given a cigarette by a police man who tried to communicate with me, finally a police translator questioned my presence there. then had me escorted down the the ground floor, and the main desk. then sent to another police station to get my self registered,
Ok thats all for now. i will post some pics of my apartment up tomorrow... or later on tonight.
Friday, 20 February 2009
ppic
well here are some pictures of hebei
The picture of the great big hole in the ground is an example of Chinese engineering.
It is right next to a bridge,,,(dosnt fill me with confidence)
and the other pic is of the some students from one of my classes as they are trying to form a horse shoe,
When it snows here, there are people i can see from my window that are on top of buildings cleaning the snow, ie throwing it down to the ground where people are walking, it becomes very tricky to get out of my complex without getting snow shovelled on to you.
While taxis are plentiful, between 7.30 and 9.00 i becomes impossible to get one. so i leave from work at 7.20 then wait around at work until 8.00 when my lesson starts. i tried waiting from one at 7.30 on my first day, but the chinese have no sense of order and as soon as one comes its a free for all,
Last night we (me and liyang) went to a club, there was live music there and when there wasnt live music there was the DJ playing and dancers got up onto stages that are mechanised and lift them above the ground, veyr entertaining, also at about 11.00 the lights were dimmed further and glow sticks were issued to every one free of charge.
Interesting things:
1) you can go out in a group of 6 people, all eat and have food taken away and have 4-5 creates of beer delivered to your table, (each create is 11 pints ish) and pay a wallet breaking £4.00 each.
and my computers gone into slow mo so i will update later.
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Here is my teaching assistant, (one of 6 i have now) cutting napkins for the kids into smaller ones to save paper. :-) it would be one ply thick by the time she has finished, almost see through and around 3inchs square. good old chinese thinking.....
"you can have more if you give less" hahahaha..
any way this was more of a test pic to see if it works. my camera dosent upload to the computer so i will have to take more pics with my new phone. yay. i can look like a stupid tourist again. :-)
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
teaching day 2
WAW
first class, and no bribes needed, amazing, i made full use of 1 of my two Teaching Assistants in that class room, the other seems to want to do other things and is a distraction to the kids, both classes went well in the morning.
Second class.
started ok, went bad, i brought out my bribe and it held there attention for about 30 seconds then they carried on, i think i may have made them a bit hyperactive, o well. i gave two sweets out at the end of class two one of my favourt in that class and another to a girl who didnt make as much noise as yesterday and was relativity well behaved, i am hoping that tomorrows class will go better as word spreads that sweets will be given out at the end of class for the best students.
well im jusst bout to head of to Blakes house to have a beer and talk about the job, he started kindergarten then left as he want to teach people a bit more........ sensible..... or something like that. i will find out tonight. he was on red bull for the first 2 weeks of kindergarten and as i havent touched a drop yet, i hope to have earnt a little respect.
any ways. i will check in with more details of hebei and life here in the next 3 days. many interesting and some funny things i have seen. i will try and get some pics up asap.
Good night all
first class, and no bribes needed, amazing, i made full use of 1 of my two Teaching Assistants in that class room, the other seems to want to do other things and is a distraction to the kids, both classes went well in the morning.
Second class.
started ok, went bad, i brought out my bribe and it held there attention for about 30 seconds then they carried on, i think i may have made them a bit hyperactive, o well. i gave two sweets out at the end of class two one of my favourt in that class and another to a girl who didnt make as much noise as yesterday and was relativity well behaved, i am hoping that tomorrows class will go better as word spreads that sweets will be given out at the end of class for the best students.
well im jusst bout to head of to Blakes house to have a beer and talk about the job, he started kindergarten then left as he want to teach people a bit more........ sensible..... or something like that. i will find out tonight. he was on red bull for the first 2 weeks of kindergarten and as i havent touched a drop yet, i hope to have earnt a little respect.
any ways. i will check in with more details of hebei and life here in the next 3 days. many interesting and some funny things i have seen. i will try and get some pics up asap.
Good night all
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