Apparently this never posted...?
I opened LJ to make a post, and this came up as a saved draft that never posted. Keep in mind that this was a month ago....
Hello, everyone! It’s time for another post!
Work:
Well, the semester’s over (though I’m not through grading yet), and I’ll be much relieved come Monday (Sunday’s the last working day). My coworkers are impressed with my rubrics and with how well I use word to create pretty documents. However, I’ve found some loopholes in my rubrics that will be closed next semester. It’s funny, most of my colleagues are 23-26; I feel like the average age of the teachers here is seriously low. Also, the English level of many of the teachers here… shall I say, leaves something to be desired?
Take Lu. Lu is Jahn’s team leader. Basically she’s his direct supervisor who is responsible for telling him what to do and how to do it. I don’t think she really gets this (but then again, the entire school isn’t really foreigner-friendly. There are no English documents for us - including our schedules!). Jahn doesn’t read or speak any Chinese, so when Lu told him during week 21 of this semester that two of his classes were culture classes, NOT oral English, he was a little stammered. This led to problem two: Lu took Jahn out of those two classes which he had been *incorrectly* teaching, and put another teacher in to teach them Western Culture (this sounds like a good idea… take the Westerner out and put a Chinese in to teach Culture).
What the Chinese teacher taught the kids :
-A dog’s bit is worse than his bank
-We all eat salad and beefsteak every day
-“A friend in need is a friend indeed” means that a true friend will always be there.
Stupid? Of course not… but it gets better! Then Lu has this other teacher give these kids a final exam on a book that they’ve only used for the last two weeks! Better still… she gives the half-graded (WTF?) papers to Jahn to grade. Know what Jahn did? He said “Okay”, then put them aside. He put the papers on Lu’s desk right before leaving for vacation. Sucks to be her. Just to clarify - Lu’s speaking is very poor and her listening is even worse. Jahn’s going to try and get into another team for next semester.
Okay! Enough about Jahn… No one reads this to hear about a 70-year old Norwegian.
This break (Feb. 4 - Mar. 5), I think I’ll travel a bit, perhaps go to Shanghai, then head south down to Guangzhou. I look forward to getting out of polluted Dongyang (Though we had three “Blue Sky” days last week, bringing the yearly total to 5).
Coming back after break will be nice. I have a slight reduction in classes here (from 18 a week to 16), but I’ve picked up some extra work on the side (4 classes a week in the evenings paying 125RMB/class). I’m hoping to put some money away.
I think I will stay another year here… sorry Grandmom. I’d like to squirrel away some money before I head back to the states permanently.
In other news… how’s this for buried in my post?... I have a new girlfriend. I’ve been reluctant to post about this for obvious reasons, but she is a part of my life, and I believe I should tell you all about her. Her name is Jane; she’s 25 and a Taurus (as the “Dating Game” theme music plays in my head). She’s a lot of fun, actually. I was a little surprised that I’d be dating again so quickly, but then again, being single for too long hasn’t been something I’ve really been able to do since college. We have a lot of fun together, and I’m *hoping* that she’ll be able to get a tourist visa this summer so I can introduce her to everyone. I’d like that a lot.
In conclusion, I’d like to share with you the following, taken from a student’s speech (who, oddly enough, didn’t get the lowest grade in the class. The lowest grade went to someone who spoke well under the time limit, earning a -10, and plagiarized, earning an automatic 0, for a combined total of -10!):
People sailed to America in 1962 to find religious freedom.
Take that! Stupid history books.
Hello, everyone! It’s time for another post!
Work:
Well, the semester’s over (though I’m not through grading yet), and I’ll be much relieved come Monday (Sunday’s the last working day). My coworkers are impressed with my rubrics and with how well I use word to create pretty documents. However, I’ve found some loopholes in my rubrics that will be closed next semester. It’s funny, most of my colleagues are 23-26; I feel like the average age of the teachers here is seriously low. Also, the English level of many of the teachers here… shall I say, leaves something to be desired?
Take Lu. Lu is Jahn’s team leader. Basically she’s his direct supervisor who is responsible for telling him what to do and how to do it. I don’t think she really gets this (but then again, the entire school isn’t really foreigner-friendly. There are no English documents for us - including our schedules!). Jahn doesn’t read or speak any Chinese, so when Lu told him during week 21 of this semester that two of his classes were culture classes, NOT oral English, he was a little stammered. This led to problem two: Lu took Jahn out of those two classes which he had been *incorrectly* teaching, and put another teacher in to teach them Western Culture (this sounds like a good idea… take the Westerner out and put a Chinese in to teach Culture).
What the Chinese teacher taught the kids :
-A dog’s bit is worse than his bank
-We all eat salad and beefsteak every day
-“A friend in need is a friend indeed” means that a true friend will always be there.
Stupid? Of course not… but it gets better! Then Lu has this other teacher give these kids a final exam on a book that they’ve only used for the last two weeks! Better still… she gives the half-graded (WTF?) papers to Jahn to grade. Know what Jahn did? He said “Okay”, then put them aside. He put the papers on Lu’s desk right before leaving for vacation. Sucks to be her. Just to clarify - Lu’s speaking is very poor and her listening is even worse. Jahn’s going to try and get into another team for next semester.
Okay! Enough about Jahn… No one reads this to hear about a 70-year old Norwegian.
This break (Feb. 4 - Mar. 5), I think I’ll travel a bit, perhaps go to Shanghai, then head south down to Guangzhou. I look forward to getting out of polluted Dongyang (Though we had three “Blue Sky” days last week, bringing the yearly total to 5).
Coming back after break will be nice. I have a slight reduction in classes here (from 18 a week to 16), but I’ve picked up some extra work on the side (4 classes a week in the evenings paying 125RMB/class). I’m hoping to put some money away.
I think I will stay another year here… sorry Grandmom. I’d like to squirrel away some money before I head back to the states permanently.
In other news… how’s this for buried in my post?... I have a new girlfriend. I’ve been reluctant to post about this for obvious reasons, but she is a part of my life, and I believe I should tell you all about her. Her name is Jane; she’s 25 and a Taurus (as the “Dating Game” theme music plays in my head). She’s a lot of fun, actually. I was a little surprised that I’d be dating again so quickly, but then again, being single for too long hasn’t been something I’ve really been able to do since college. We have a lot of fun together, and I’m *hoping* that she’ll be able to get a tourist visa this summer so I can introduce her to everyone. I’d like that a lot.
In conclusion, I’d like to share with you the following, taken from a student’s speech (who, oddly enough, didn’t get the lowest grade in the class. The lowest grade went to someone who spoke well under the time limit, earning a -10, and plagiarized, earning an automatic 0, for a combined total of -10!):
People sailed to America in 1962 to find religious freedom.
Take that! Stupid history books.