Hi Everybody!
Wow, 3 weeks now since I last put something here.
There's been a lot of restructuring and preparation going on here - new semester, new plans and designs, some total overhauls, and going to classes on top of it all.
First I'll start off with a picture of myself from the start of the term (nearly 2 weeks ago) after I went to barber shop and said "帮我理的越短越好". This roughly translates to "the shorter, the better".
Reactions have been mixed in regards to this change - some of my students giggled when they saw me like this, some of my colleagues thought I pulled it off quite well, and some asked me if I'd lost weight.
I took this picture two weeks ago and I still look pretty much the same.
Aside from removing natural insulation from my scalp I also tackled the problem of the floor in my apartment. I don't know if the last guy living here was just as much of a slob with the floor as he was with the fridge or if the seals between the tiles in the floor are starting to degrade, but there has been crust in the spaces in my floor tiles since before I moved in here, so I decided before classes started that I would do something about it.
Here's what my floor looks like after putting up all the chairs and using a kitchen counter cleaner in the cracks - it's an improvement I assure you.
And here is the room in its present condition.
And here's the kitchen in IT'S present condition.
This (not so) little guy I found near the steps leading up to my apartment and I'm not sure whether to be simply sad that the poor guy is dead, relieved that it's definitely not in my room, or wary that there's now a confirmed possibility that there could be others near about.
This week I finished looking through my students' holiday journals, and after reading their stories, seeing where they're strong and where they need some work (as far as writing goes) I have a number of plans for what to teach them in the coming weeks.
Next week - review of past tense.
This afternoon and tomorrow morning I have to listen to some make-up final speeches from several students that didn't pass last semester's final exam. One of the students is sick and in hospital, so I'll test her when she gets back.
In other news we have a new colleague working at City College to replace Carl and Willamin (who went back to Canada and are now teaching in Harbin). His name's Robert, he's from the U.K. and he's been teaching in Zhejiang Province for six years now.
Hearing that really made my six months look small and unimpressive by comparison.
My colleague Riz recently loaned me a book written by Dr. Vince Jacobs of Linfield College - the first foreign teacher in Wenzhou (1990). I've only gotten through the first five or so chapters, but they've only covered the first couple weeks he spent in China and it's hardly even mentioned Wenzhou.
Reading about his travels made me think about what I'll do this summer - where might I go and what would I want to see?
So far I'm thinking I should go to Xi'an (西安) if only to see the Terracotta warriors (I came all the way to China, can't very well go without at least catching a glimpse). I'd also like to see the gardens in Suzhou (苏州), the karsts in Guilin (桂林), and a trip back to Dali (大理) for a week or so would be AWESOME!
I think about all of this now because after winding up with essentially nowhere to go during winter vacation I figure I should get on the ball with arranging trips before things start getting booked up.
Classes are going better this term - yesterday I clocked the time I gave students for conversation (I have a stop-watch this semester) and found that I gave them a full 50 minutes of conversation time out of 90 minutes of class.
In addition to timed intervals I'm also using the journals as attendance tools and group organizers. Now the students have to call out names in English and don't keep interacting with the same people all the time... it's going good.
Oh, and the last thing to add: I enrolled as a student in a Chinese speaking and listening class at the International Cooperation College. So now, as it was back in the undergraduate days last year, I'm officially both a teacher and a student.
Last time I had this setup both pursuits weren't totally complementary (teaching was in more general science, learning was in evolution) but they were still in the same overall focus and language. Now I teach one language while I learn a very different one.
...not as easy as it sounds.
