The Challenging Side of China-a rather Gastric week

Sorry this title is a bit off-putting.And there aren’t going to be any wonderful glossy National Geographic type pictures this week.That’s because today is a “bad China ” Day. I appear to have Gastroenteritits. Two weeks ago  I had a nasty tummy bug.I took antibiotics (purchased over the counter) as I had done last year in Lin’an. And was fine for 2 weeks except I got a cold.Then this week it came back with a vengeance.Felt dreadful.Discovered a bunch of other people in our block also felt pretty off colour.Renee and Barry came down for the weekend and Barry was also stricken with the dreaded tummy bug,which rather dampened our enthusiasm.I went out with Renee and showed her a bit of Jimei which was great.But felt bad for Barry that he couldn’t come,and D stayed home with him to keep him company.

The next day he felt a bit better so we went off to Gulangyu island,and it being a Saturday the island was crowded to bursting point,very different to our experience the previous times we have been there.I think they still had a good time,but I found it a bit disappointing.Then Renee and Barry returned to Shanghai on the Sunday morning fast train,Barry feelng much better.And on Monday night I was felled by this terrible bug.I am sure you can appreciate that when you get sick the last thing you want is to be in some foreign land without home comforts and doctors who understand you.In addition,D had a weird burning sensation on his leg making it hard for him to walk.So this morning,Friday,instead of having a day off we took a taxi to the Taiwanese hotel in Haicang that we have visited before.3 hours later we headed home each with a collection of pharmaceuticals to take for our various ailments.Tomorrow should be a Saturday but due to the May 1st weekend we have to work Saturday and Sunday to make up for having off Monday and Tuesday.! Crazy,right/ Well this is China.At least we are over half way through the semester.And if my calculations are right by June 13 we will be done with teaching and paperwork and we can head off into the sunset to …hmmm,South Korea? Japan? Taiwan? Xinjiang? Yunnan? WE just don’t know yet.We have a month before our flight home July so we shall be going somewhere.Assuming my innards are okay of course!

 

The weird and wonderful world of Chinese bureaucracy

This month has been very bizarre.This is a kind of continuing post from the previous one as we are still in limbo-in fact things seem to have just got more and more confused. All the teachers at our Uni except one who were offered contracts for next semester turned them down for various reasons.That one has signed but may just blow them off if he has a better offer.His girlfriend apparently wants to return to her province. Now all the other teachers (like us) who were not offered new contracts are peeved,mainly because nobody told us we are not being rehired.Various rumours circulated that maybe there will be a second round of hiring.Then there were rumours that they want to vacate all our apartments and give them to party hacks or people with “guangxi” (connections/proteczia etc) but all of this is just surmise.So all of us got annoyed and started looking around for other jobs. Meanwhile the school is advertising all over the Internet for new teachers.We can’t understand why A. they don’t just tell us who is hired and who isn’t and B. why they would go looking for more teachers if they have people here who are sane and sentient and are wiling to stay on.

It’s all very mysterious but apparently in Chinese culture it’s bad for to say no to people in person and better to just say nothing and let them draw their own conclusions. Needless to say we feel a massive cultural gulf in this situation and we don’t really undestand what we are supposed to do.We may go elsewhere or just go home.

Today it’s pouring with rain (although warm) and seems to match my mood.We are supposed to go away next weekend for a long weekend as it is Qing Ming (Tomg Sweeping Festival) but since D has not yet got his passport back from the police we can’t buy triain tickets yet.We are planning on heading down to Guangzhou and Huizhou,a city which our neighbour Shannon has much praise for,as he taught there last year. It may be our new home but the way things are looking right now everything is unclear.

Socially we have met some more nice people-a Chinese teacher called Michael who wants to hang out with us,Laura another member of our department who lives on the island with her husband and came to see one of my classes and David Liu also a deaprtment teacher who has tried to find out for us what is going down,but not with much success.

Last week I went for an interview at a place called “Xiamen City University” which was more of a Polytechnic or Vocational College.It was pretty nice but they have only one job there and they have small rooms for teachers and give only a little subsidy for an apartment off campus and flats in Xiamen are REALLY expensive to rent.

We have sniffed around Jimei University and Huaqiao University here in Jimei but nobody seems to know if they are hiring yet so it’s the same all over.

That’s about it for now.Looking forward to our friends Renee and Barry coming down next month to visit from Shanghai. Hope it stops raining by then.

XMUT sports day (when it wasn’t raining)

 

Back in the Holyland- and the Laura Linkup

Well we are back in Israel for the summer after a rather weird journey back but first I want to pay my dues by writing up the wonderful linkup we did at the end of June between Danny’s Middle school kids and my friend Laura Shashua’s class of Middle school kids in Holon,Israel.It was Laura’s idea to do a joint lesson between the Chinese and Israeli students using Skype.So having discussed the content of such a class and preparing the kids for the meeting,the day arrived.It was logistically tricky due to the time difference and the original date was postponed because Laura’s class suddenly had their lesson cancelled,it finally took place in Danny’s last lesson ,before our trip to Chengdu.

Henry answers a question from Israel

We checked all the connections on the computer,had a dry run with no students and checked whether we could hear each other on the skype. The screens were not so clear,and the sound not so great but it was passable. WE had two Chinese English teachers with us, and there were twice as many Chinese students as Israelis. Never mind. When the bell rang we had two classes facing each other from across the globe. Laura had worked hard to prepare her kids,and they had a huge Israeli flag at the back of the room ,and the kids all had their names written on cards, in Hebrew and English.We quickly scrambled in Lin’an to find a Chinese flag and only found a small one,and made the kids name signs too.The plan was to have the kids ask each other questions about their lives,for the kids do demonstrate how to eat with chopsticks/knives and forks, and at the end to sing “My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean” together.

Danny and the students

The main thing that was clear was how shy the Chinese were compared to the Israelis.The Chinese kids were very reticent but we finally got a kid who was happy to ask and answer questions. We had the Israeli kids greet their friends with “Ni Hao!” and the Chinese respond with “Shalom!” there was plenty of waving and smiling, the food eating demonstration was partially marred by technical problems but the final rendition of “My Bonnie ” was a roaring success,and all in all we think it went pretty well.

Hopefully we can try this again in future.

Lin’an students show how to eat with chopsticks

Hotpot with Professor Deng

So we have just arrived back in Lin’an after a great 6 days in Chengdu,Sichuan Province (bottom left hand corner of China for those geographically challenged),and all at the expense of Sichuan University Intensive Language Centre, our future employers.

We arrived about 2 hours late,and there was a poor little student waiting frantically to pick us up with a school car. They took us at 11pm straight to the teachers’ accommodation only to discover that we were to be put up in the University Hotel, so we finally got there around 11.30pm.

The hotel was not luxurious but quite nice and clean. WE were then instructed that Professor Deng was out of town but would meet us on Sunday (this was Friday night). The next day I arranged to meet up with two foreign teachers, Roger an American and Elisa from Liverpool. These two met us and took us for lunch at an Israeli owned restaurant called The Spot,which serves hamburgers and other western delights exactly 5 minutes walk from the campus. It was rather funny to be speaking Hebrew after so long and the owner Amir told us there are about 30 Israelis living in Chengdu, and about 3,000 foreigners – a bit more than in Lin’an!

Anyway it was very pleasant and not too expensive. Amir, who is from Jerusalem, the Yerushalmi family, is married to a Chinese girl and also owns the nightclub next door called the Jellyfish. We enjoyed walking around the University area and finding lots of bars,restaurants and shops.On Sunday we met Professor Deng who came over to the hotel and took us for lunch. The department had planned to take us for the required medical and to register at the police on Monday but we asked the secretary of the office to put it off till Tuesday as we had some questions to ask Professor Deng about the job etc. She said no problem. So over lunch we asked Professor Deng all about the job and what each of us would be doing. It all sounded great and the more time we spent with him the more we felt that Chengdu would be a great move. The campus is not as beautiful as here in Lin’an but it is very green with lots of trees, a(small) lake etc. and it is slap bang in the centre of town. The city is much bigger even than Hangzhou,apparently the population is around 11 million. It has one metro line and more being built. The train station and airport are only about 30 minutes from campus.There is a ton of things to do there, music, theatre, Sichuan Opera, museums and so on. But it doesn’t feel noisy like some big cities. There are loads of tea houses as well and a river.But we didn’t see so much really just the area near to the University. The others told us that there are Metro and Carrefour foreign supermarkets where you can buy whatever you need. The buildings look much older than here and rather tatty,but the classrooms of the language centre have air conditioning unlike here. There are computers and screens but no internet so you need to use your USB if you want to show movies etc in class- no big deal.

Lily Pond on campus

So the next day we went with one of the office helpers Xiao Wu to do the medical- no problems (and they told us no point in going to the police station because we don’t have all the paperwork yet) and to open a bank account to get refunded for the flights and to get paid next semester! Wow, it was all happening. We met some other foreign teachers- Ryan from the US, already fluent in Chinese,Oz (Oswald ) from Oxford and Nottingham University who took us for a curry after the medical, and apparently there are many more teachers some part time. We also met a nice Spanish architect called Pedro who is temporarily in Chengdu with his company.

Sichuan Hotpot

I told Professor Deng who is such a charming and pleasant chap, that I wanted to observe a lesson and so it was arranged that we would go to his office on Thursday morning and watch Roger teaching the course of students preparing the exam to go to study abroad. This was fine, and the students seemed to be more mature and self confident than my students here (they are postgrads and teachers already) but their level of English was not so great.

So the journey back here to Lin’an was a bit insane. Professor Deng took us for traditional Sichuan Hotpot lunch with Elisa,and we went back to our room to pack up. He took us to the airport in his own car and the flight was supposed to be at 16.30 arriving Hangzhou 18.50.Of course it was delayed and we arrived at 19.45 and the last bus to Lin’an is at 21.00. We had to run out of the airport and jump into a cab across town in Hangzhou to reach the Huanglong bus station in time to get the bus,or alternatively get a private taxi from Hangzhou to Lin’an. Of course we made it and arrived at the bus station at 10 minutes to nine! It was a riot, got on the bus and back to our little room in Lin’an by 11pm.

Next stop -trip to Qingdao to visit Andrea another foreign teacher from Couchsurfing.org and then Shanghai and Tel Aviv! Weird life,right?

New Baby # 2

Well I don’t know if good things come in threes or not- but at least for us this month has been a veritable treat.After our lovely holiday in the Canaries and my sweet little Piglet (see below) and buying our tickets to Santana’s concert in Juen,  I got another cutie new prezzy – a Hyundai i20 RED! Now I am really spoilt. Just hope it’s not true what the car salesman said that police stop people in red cars more. We shall see. Meantime I feel that everything is a little incongruous what with all the terrible world news from Haiti and all .It makes me feel a bit Oscar Wilde-ish decadent.

Then I feel what the hell- there are plenty of people more well off than me,right? There will always be people better and worse off than you are in this oh so consumer world Here is a pic of new baby #2

new Baby #2

Adorable isn’t it? Thinking of calling it Rudolf except that sounds a bit too Germanic. All suggestions will be seriously considered…

The school year which was plodding ponderously along seems suddenly to have speeded up ,with the Winter Bagrut upon us and the end of the first semester and the Purim holidays not far away.So can I start dreaming/planning for the summer holidays, and Japan? Of course I can !

Observed a lesson for my student Michal this week,for the first time.

I was actually very impressed with her classroom control and her rapport with the kids, despite her having to deal with multiple disruptions and even a pillar punkt in the middle of her classroom. She did pretty well and my impression was the most of the kids were actually with her and willing to participate.

Hope she sticks it out – she will be a good teacher. I again reflect on the necessity for novice teachers to have some kind of support and mentoring,without which our job is impossible, frustrating and soul-destroying to say the very least. And again I think how nice it will be to retire early… dream ,dream,dream… etc

Musings on the classroom experience

Have just come home from a session with my trainee teacher,and,as after each session with him, I thought a lot about how much I discover I have learned as a teacher during my 29 years.It was amusing to read this New York Times article  about what makes a good teacher, and how people making a career move into teaching in mid career often drop out quickly ,despite their previous job experience. We (teachers) all know that NOTHING prepares you for life at the “chalkface”.
I am not sure that I agree with the statement that you either love it or you don’t, because I frequently find myself both loving and hating it simultaneously on the same day in different classes, or in different situations.
However, there is no doubt that no training course can prepare for the shock of 40 pupils all trying to get your attention at the same time, or alternatively, ignoring you totally.
The tiredness one feels after 7 straight classroom hours is like no other that I know, and that doesn’t improve after 29 years.
Add to that the fact that the majority of teachers on the teacher training courses have not set foot in a high school classroom for some years, and it is clear that you can only learn how to teach by just doing it.

Back at the chalkface

Well here I am back in the school year again… and the sabbatical year is rapidly whizzing off back into the dim and distant past.

I knew that after 2 days back at school it would seem like a whole lifetime away.All those wonderful ,lazy mornings getting up at 9am, having endless coffees out with my friends, idling away evenings at the movies .And now here I am back shouting my lungs out to a bunch of gormless adolescents who are totally oblivious of my presence, and certainly with no interest at all in paying me any attention whatsoever.

Well I have decided to keep my cool ,think of the paycheck and a prospective early retirement and,as my dad used to say “do my little best”.

Anyway, at least the Twelfth grade girls seem really sweet and very happy to do Romeo and Juliet,as long as they can watch the Di Caprio movie,and they really responded very well to the Sonnet we did yesterday, so thank goodness for that! And even the weak 10th are quite manageable,especially since there are only 20 or so of them.So I will make it through till the New year and then hopefully the two nasty classes will stop coming and it will be downhill from there on..

Thoughts on education: summer course

Okay so here’s the thing. You walk into the classroom.It’s sweltering 35 degrees and the fan is pushing the hot air from one side of the room to the other.You look at the new kids, grades 9 and 10 who have shown up for the summer course, to make it into a better class next year, or because the school demands it of them.

Now you know they won’t learn enough in 10 days to make a difference, and you know that it’s a money- spinner for the school .But you can’t do anything about it….

Some of the kids are really trying hard. I mean they don’t know that New York is a city and not a country but they really are prepared to make an effort. However, once they finish the course and are put in the weak group ,their frustrations will begin to come through. And then,when faced with the Bagrut (matric) paper which is really more of an intelligence test than an English test, they will look to cut corners.I have seen it now so many times,but it still frustrates me. I can’t help them .I can’t change the system.

There are a lot of teachers out there trying to change it , but apparently there are too many “powers-that-be” who stand to make revenue from it and so the chances that we will ever be able to get the Bagrut cancelled are minimal.

On the other hand, it was nice to go back to the classroom after my sabbatical and see that I don’t hate it.I was scared I would not be able to make it through the day, especially as the mercury climbed even higher by 3.45 ,the last period.

Now I am back to earth,having delved into wikis, flat classrooms, cooperative classrooms and suchlike in my virtual life this year, I bumped down to the reality of no air condtioning, no laptops and no freedom to do what I would really like with these kids.

The Internet Maze

The main problem seems to be overload. The more sites you find ,the more you get carried further inward.

I constantly come across wonderful people doing incredibly creative things, saying really insightul things about the use of the Web in the classroom,or the trouble with the Web, or introducing me to fascinating new concepts in language learning. So I bookmark them and surf on. And on.

And it’s endless. There is always another page, another site, another brilliant person waiting to be read.

In fact today I found a splendid blog by a gentleman called Tom Hemingway, an American educator resident in Turkey .Now the thing is one needs time to read his blog and THEN to proceed to read all the wonderful references he gives to other people’s blogs. I mean it’s completely endless.And now I am on Sabbatical so I have time to pursue these things at leisure ,but what will I do when September rolls around?

I also joined the Flat  Classroom Project Ning and Wikispaces with the hope that I will incorporate these things into my teaching next year. But on the other hand, how do I know that I won’t sink back into the miasma of mundane book exercises and worksheets, taking the path of least resistance?