Happy Teacher's Day!

Last Monday was Teacher's Day here in China.  One of those days that will never be forgotten.

The day began with an early morning ceremony.  The entire school community gathered on the school field for 3 hours of speeches and awards.  Generally speaking, not the most thrilling of experiences, but I did get a decent adrenaline surge when it came time for my speech, in Chinese.  The students were the perfect audience- enthusiastically interactive and attentive.  As no Chinese event is complete without a ridiculous amount of fireworks, the ceremony finished with a rousing snap, crackle and pop.

About half of the student body

During my afternoon classes that day, I received some adorable gifts from my students.  Each class mentioned something about a 晚会, or evening party.  They were all very adamant that I must attend.  I didn't quite understand what was meant by evening party, but I got the impression it was kind of a big deal.

Gifts from my students

After classes all the teachers gathered in the cafeteria for a big dinner celebration.  That meant unlimited food, beer and cheers-ing.  During dinner, more students asked if we would attend their class' evening party.  Our dinner ended with a beer chugging contest with the English Department Head Teacher.

A little buzzed, we then walked straight into the lion's den.  The classrooms had all been decorated with streamers, tablecloths, ribbons, food... it was incredible!  One class had a giant heart made of thank you post-its on the blackboard.  As a teacher, and especially as one of the foreign teachers, it was expected that we make as many class appearances as humanly possible.  I took my first couple visits quite leisurely and stayed for 10 or 15 minutes, but then caught on to the Chinese teachers' technique of only staying for a couple minutes.  So many to see, so little time!

Decorated blackboard

It was a whirlwind evening, but I got into a groove.  It was the same routine for every class- you would walk into a classroom and the students would start cheering and yelling, THE FOREIGN TEACHER!  HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY!  SPEAK CHINESE, SING A SONG, DANCE MONKEY!  ...something along those lines.  I pulled out all the stops: I sang My Girl a cappella, played musical chairs, solo danced to Justin Bieber, attempted (and failed) to sing a song in Chinese, wore a leaf crown, and stuffed down every food item offered.  It was a time to break out of teacher mode, make a complete fool of myself and have a blast doing it with the students.  Apparently Shane did the worm for a couple classes he visited.  Definitely a team effort on the foreign teacher front.

All in all, an excellent day full of celebrations and laughs.  I'm trying to soak in every minute of this experience, including evening playtime...

Ping pong with the crew

First week of classes

We are officially done with our first week of classes!  I'm already enjoying teaching way more than I originally anticipated.  Here's a break down of my students...

Junior 1s are the youngest students on campus, about the US equivalent of 7th graders (but they look much younger).  They know little to zero English and are absolutely adorable.  For my students, I am probably the first foreigner they have ever seen.  As a result, they go nuts when I walk into the room.

One of my Junior 1 classes

Junior 2s are similar to Junior 1s, but with an extra year of OYY experience.  They are a bit more subdued, but still very sweet.  I only see my Junior 2 students once a week (I see the Junior 1s twice a week), so it will take longer to build relationships with this group.

The third level I teach is Senior 1.  Senior 1 students are the youngest students in the high school program.  Their English is decent and they are only just beginning to feel the pressure of the Gaokao.  As these students are older and more mature, they have the most friend potential for me.  I had them write self introductions for me, so I can get to know them and assess their English levels.  It has been such a pleasure reading their responses... except for the boy who wrote, "I come from the moon and don't enjoy doing anything fun."  Clever.

One of the tasks as a foreign English teacher is assigning English names for your students.  I held the English name giving ceremony for my Junior 1 students on Friday.  I called them up, one-by-one, and presented to them a name card with their new English name.  They all waited in anticipation to be called to the front, and then each graciously accepted the name card with both hands.  Then, the fun part- I brought my camera and took pictures of the students with their new name cards so I can attempt to remember all 150 of them.  They LOVED the pictures and were absolutely hysterical.  I'm not sure who had more fun- the students or me.

Next Monday is Teacher's Day.  We will have an opening ceremony at the school where I will give a speech in front of the entire school community- close to 3,000 people.

Who's up for a run?

Shane (other foreign English teacher at OYY) and I went for a lovely run this morning.  I brought my camera and took some pictures to share...

The back gate of OYY

Here we go!

360 degree view of rice paddies and mountains

 

Motorbike coming up the path, complete with umbrella for sun protection

 

Back to the school

One final shot

Recap post

This past week Shobana and I have been transitioning into our new life here in Hunan.  We are just about ready for classes to start on Monday.  It felt good to finally settle in for the year, especially after almost 40 hours of travel by train from our training site in western China to our small town in Hunan.

Our apartment is comfortable and now complete with A/C, internet, rice cooker and a few “friends”.  Within days of our first cockroach sighting, we armed ourselves with several varieties of roach repellent.  The effectiveness is questionable, but we’ve learned to wait a couple seconds after turning on any lights to allow time for our roommates to hide.  Out of sight, out of mind.

The school where we live and teach is about a 15 minute walk from Xintang Town.  Xintang is small, but it has enough- restaurants, supermarket, veggie/meat market, printing shop, school supplies stores.  Everyone in town recognizes us as the new foreign English teachers at the school.  Today was the big move-in day for all the students and we ran into many of them in town.  A couple girls helped us buy rice and cooking oil.  I’m learning our relationships with the students will transcend the classroom walls.  The students will not only be my job for the next year, they will be my social life as well.

Hunan food is famous for being spicy and damn good, and everything I’ve had lives up to that reputation.  90+ degree weather and spicy food has me sweating all day long, but it is so, so worth it.  After a big spicy meal in town, you can cool off on the ride back to school on the local taxis, i.e. motorbikes.  The motorbikes are everywhere in town, and you can just wave one down, hop on the back and go to where you need to go.  Perhaps one day the motorbikes will feel routine, right now they are just awesome.

If you exit the school grounds through the back gate, you immediately enter the rural countryside.  A small path takes you through rice paddies, past small village homes, over rolling hills, as far as my energy level can handle.  Definitely the most stunning running course I’ve encountered.  I usually pass people working in the paddies or sitting in front of their homes; we always exchange greetings.  Running friends- this course alone is reason enough to come visit!

More to come on teaching.  I’ll post some pictures of the town and running path too.

Qinghai Lake

Yesterday 2 other volunteers and I traveled to Qinghai Lake for the day.  Located on the Tibetan Plateau, at an altitude of about 10,500 feet, Qinghai Lake is the largest salt water lake in China.  I had heard good things about the lake and it did not disappoint.

Qinghai Lake was absolutely beautiful- clear skies, blue water, green mountains, lots of goats and yak.  You really felt the vastness and expansiveness of the Tibetan Plateau.

You also felt the altitude.  Our driver dropped us off near the bottom of a mountain and then we hiked up to get a bird's-eye view of the lake.  The hike up was short, it took us about 30 minutes to get to the top, but at 10,000 feet and with very little acclimatization, the hike felt much harder than it should.

We made it!

 The drive to the lake was also excellent.  At one point, our car got caught in the middle of a sheep crossing, we also had to wait for some yak to cross the road.  It was refreshing to get out of the city and into this more remote area.

We are in our final week of training- teacher training has ended, and we are now in the language training portion, which means Chinese class all day.   This Friday morning, Shobana (my future roommate and fellow Hunan volunteer) and I will take a 30 hour train ride to Hunan, where we can finally settle in for the year.  I will be sad to leave the Xining community we have formed, but am feeling ready to begin my new career and lifestyle as an English teacher living in rural China.

Rebgong Reflection

Where to begin.  I am on a total high.  We recently returned from a small trip to a town about 3 hours outside Xining.  We were in Rebgong (Chinese name: Tongren) for about 4 days; the goal was to gain more classroom experience.  When we left for this trip, I was a bundle of nerves.  By the time we had to leave, it was hard to say goodbye.

Rebgong

This is a beautiful town- mountains everywhere.  There is a monastery in Rebgong and as a result, you see monks, of all ages, everywhere- eating in small restaurants, talking on cell phones, driving cars.  We had to walk through the monastery to get to the school every day.  Sometimes you would hear chanting.  After crossing through the monastery, we had to walk up a muddy path with a drop-off on one side.  It rained a few times during our visit, that made the upward hike extra exciting.  At the school, cows would wander onto the field where we were dancing or playing ultimate frisbee with the students.

The monastery we walked through every day

 Teaching

We came to Rebgong for more practice teaching- each new volunteer taught four 50 minute classes over 2 days.  Those 2 days of teaching were so intense.  As much as I would try to plan ahead of time, I still found myself lesson planning within minutes of my class starting.  We were also able to observe each other teach.  I am so grateful for this classroom time.

I taught a class on music and to explain what “genre” means, I introduced the students to some classics: CCR, Eric Clapton, Glee, Kanye.  They really liked the Glee song, and they said Kanye was scary.  For my class on the Olympics, we talked about the meaning and value behind the Olympics and then I asked the students to share what they value.  They gave the most touching responses- it took some control not to tear up in the middle of class.

A view of the walk to the school

Students

The students at this school are very special.  They come from all different places in western China, mostly from nomadic or farmer communities.  They are chosen to attend the Rebgong school and they truly appreciate this education.  The students are excited to learn, sociable, personable... perfect for a new teacher.

On our first day in the town, the students greeted us outside the school and gave us all kha-btags, which are Tibetan ceremonial scarves.  On this first day, I was given a Tibetan name: Tserang lhumo, which means “goddess with a long life”.  The students gave me 3 choices and I got to choose my favorite.  Afterward, one of the boys sang a song for me about my new name in Tibetan, a cappella.  Amazing.

One day after class, the students and teachers gathered in an apartment and the students taught us how to make traditional Tibetan food: tsampa and dumplings.  It was so fun to share in their culture and interact outside the classroom.  After stuffing ourselves, we shared songs, alternating between the students and the teachers.  I led the crew in a rendition of “My Girl”.

On our final day in Rebgong, we went to the school in the morning to spend some final moments with the students.  We held a cultural exchange of dance.  The foreign teachers taught the students some “traditional” American dances: the Macarena, Cotton-Eyed Joe and the YMCA.  The students then taught us an actual traditional Tibetan dance.

It was difficult to say goodbye to this beautiful community.  I walked hand-in-hand with one of the girls back into town and she helped me buy some fruit before parting ways.  We hugged and promised to never forget each other.  I think I’m really going to like this whole teaching thing.

On our final day we went on a hike through the mountains

Practice Teaching Round 1

Yesterday we had our first practice teaching session.  After a couple full days of training, we are eased into the classroom, first with two days of group practice teaching (3 volunteers for a 40 minute class), and then we will have 2 days of solo teaching (we will each teach 2 45 minute classes each day).  We all get to observe each other which is both nerve-wracking and really fun.

My group led a class of about 20 students on "places to go".  By the end of the class I was sweating profusely, partly because the classroom was so hot, and partly because of nerves.  Overall, I would consider the class a success.  Since the teacher to student ratio was so high, we were able to divide and conquer and give each student personalized attention.  Unfortunately that will not be a reality for my future classes of 70, but it was still extremely helpful to practice leading a class and interacting with students.  Tomorrow we having another practice teaching session with the same students we taught yesterday- I'm excited to see them again.  My goal for tomorrow is to practice giving clear instructions.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday...