6:30-7:00am: Wake-up call and stretching exercises. This is the least favorite part of the day because the Bugle Call is played at full strength over the loudspeakers of my school, followed by half-an-hour of Chinese "calming" music for stretching. It is not calming, but infuriating, and there is no sleeping through it. The only upside is that one of these songs has helped me learn my Chinese numbers since it just repeats “1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8” over and over again.
7:01-8:30am: Relief that the musical torture is finally over, followed by an attempt to fall back asleep that is generally unsuccessful.
8:30-9:45am: Shower, breakfast, review of lesson plans for the day. I know it’s going to be a good day if I have hot water.
9:45-10:15am: I head to my classroom. Although the walk to my class should only be five minutes, it takes me ten to get there since every Chinese student on campus (all 6,000) are moving between classes. I stand patiently in line for the stairs and manage not to get trampled. When I get to my class, which is all freshmen, they are already sitting and waiting attentively even though we still have fifteen minutes until class starts. This leads to an awkward period where, after I write the day’s plan on the board, we have nothing to do but sit and stare at each other. Five people pull out their phones to take a picture of me.
10:15-11:00am: The bell rings and the lesson begins. Today I start with a brief lecture describing the American education system. After examining some differences in other countries in small groups, the students write letters to a fake American student explaining the Chinese system. One of my students who speaks absolutely no English asks to “go to the bathroom” and never comes back. When I go through the letters at the end of the class, I have two letters that are identical down to the handwriting. One miraculously has his name signed to it.
11:00-11:10am: The bell rings again, signaling break. During break a student from my Thursday freshmen class comes in to tell me that our class is cancelled tomorrow. She is a bit unclear about why, something to do with the whole group having a mandatory class. Used to last minute schedule changes without reason I just shrug and enjoy the thought of a shortened Thursday. Although this means I will probably be asked to make it up on Saturday or Sunday.
11:10-11:55am: Class resumes. We talk in groups about what qualities make good and bad teachers, then do an activity that involves analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of several candidates for an English teaching job. Despite my pushing for the other more qualified fake applicants they choose the guy who is a Chemist at Harvard. He has never taught and has no relevant experience, but I guess the Harvard name carries weight here too. We end the class with a game of Simon Says because they love it.
12:00-2:00pm: Lunch time. I grab food from a street stand or my bakery on the way back to my apartment. Then I spend a few hours reading, revising lesson plans, practicing Rosetta stone, or watching TV.
2:30-4:10pm: Second class of the day, this time sophomores. I only have five people on my roster for this class. However, only once have all five students come to class on the same day. My average is three. Today is a great day because four have shown up. We do a slightly more sophisticated version of the Education lesson I had planned for my freshmen. During break, one of my students informs me that Monday I have to be a judge at the annual English department’s speech competition. She has no more information on a specific time or whether I need to prepare anything.
4:10-5:45pm: My second break of the day filled with reading, walking around, or watching TV on my laptop.
6:00-7:00pm: English Corner. Seven people show up, which is a huge drop from the fifty that came the first time. Luckily the group has dwindled to the students who are actually there to speak rather than just stare at Justin and me. The day’s topic is Tourism and the Environment, but no one has the ability to actually speak coherently about that. Instead we discuss food and weather. Except when one girl out of the blue suddenly announces to us that Colonel Gaddafi is her hero. Justin and I both look shocked and then try to diplomatically explain why we don’t agree. Then we quickly drop the subject for the risk of saying things that might get us deported.
7:00-8:00pm: Justin and I head to dinner with whichever of the students have invited us out this week. I have more lunch and dinner invitations here than I know what to do with. We head to a local place on campus and they order me an eggplant and rice stir-fry. Relieved that it is not something worse that I’m going to have to politely pretend to like, I discover that I genuinely enjoy this eggplant dish and mentally write it down on my Safe Foods to Eat list.
8:00-11:00pm: Back in my apartment. Wind down the day with Skyping friends and family, reading some more, making adjustments to my lesson plans for the next day, and usually watching a movie. Then early to bed in anticipation of my 6:30am wake-up call the following morning...
Just another day in China.
i liked reading this! miss youuuu
ReplyDeleteditto ^ Love this. Might have to copy a post like this. DEFINITELY still need to skype with you.
ReplyDeletethis was awesome and i'd like to see your safe foods to eat list!
ReplyDelete