I am completely overwhelmed. Today was a napalm blast of epiphanies.
A week ago as I was walking home from class, a random student asked if he could talk to me (in English). I have been asked a few times the same request so I wasn't that surprised. As we talk he tells me his major in Chinese. Red flag!! (Heh, get it? China? Red flag?) It was a sign. PC told us to look for students who are Chinese majors to tutor us if we cannot find licensed teachers. I asked him if he would be my tutor and he accepted. Tonight was our first lesson.
I must preface this with a bit of personal disclosure - I am extremely hard on myself, especially when it comes to language learning. I forget to breathe, I beat myself up, my hands shake - the whole anxiety of it propels me to learn. My problem is that I know I am like this, but I know few people understand my process so I have even less patience with myself with new teachers. I want to be amazing at it right out of the gate. If I am not, or if they giggle or breathe a larger sigh than usual, I am even more pissed. That is exactly what happened. I was reading aloud a passage of pinyin when he began to giggle. I stopped and said, "Ok. I need some more patience from you. I know I suck, but I need you to not laugh at me."
His reaction was unexpected.
"I am not laughing at your ability. Whenever I thought that I could not learn English, my high school English teacher always said, 'Ofcourse you can! You speak very well. Look at Americans! They think they are number one, but they do not learn Chinese because it is so hard!'"
First lesson in humility learned. The rest of our time was very productive once I started to breathe again and see myself through his eyes. Silly American.
Second lesson.
I had my Junior writing class write me a mid-term reflection letter, letting me know how they are, how their other classes are, what I can do to improve as their teacher and what do they like about my class. I know many of my students put great pressure on themselves daily and I thought (again, silly American) that I could help them with stress management and teach them how to chill. All English majors take a ton of classes. My juniors take Writing, Oral English, English Literature, Advanced English, Foreign Economic Contracts, World Famous Plays, a second foreign language (French, German or Japanese) and finally Concepts of Chairman Mao...All in one semester.
Okay....Now why am I here again? I teach 18 hours to 200 students. I have 200 mid term papers waiting for me to grade and I feel impotent right now. Unable to even look at them, let alone grade them. Why am I here? Someone who has a problem with time management in a country where every minute of every day is dedicated to their studies. I took an early morning run Sunday through the campus. At 7 am. there are students standing in the middle of a field or sitting along the street reading, memorizing, reciting. When you ask students about their weekend, most of their time is spent in the library or in a quiet classroom studying. I have a sophomore Life Science major student who is very sweet to me helping me with my English, showing me books that she bought on how to improve her English vocabulary in order to do well on the GRE she plans to take TWO YEARS from now!!
Honestly, I am in waaay over my head, thinking that I can help these students. Again, life as a teacher - you learn more than your students. They will be teaching ME how to focus and use my time wisely. Compartmentalize. Suck it up and do it.
This is only the beginning of my third month teaching. I have two years of this. Waaaay over my head.
Plus! I was just asked to teach another class next semester. English Film Appreciation for English major freshmen. It would be once a week with 60 students. I told her I wanted to think about it and started to bend my sitemate's ear. We came to a brilliant compromise - we both teach it. He would take the first film and discuss it, I would take the next one, and we would work together prepping BOTH films. Our Department head liked the idea so much they increased the class size to 100.
Next semester I will be teaching 300 students. Just wanted to write it out loud. Whoa....
This is all good for me. I am awful at free time. I call it "duh time"for that is all I do - sit and drool and go cro-magnon.
So now..thanks to my kids and other random students, my schedule is much more rigid. Class time, badminton time, eating time, sleeping time, grading time, studying Chinese time.....ad nauseum.
Only 3 months!!! How will I survive two years of this? Honestly if I look at the horizon I convulse. I look at 15 min to an hour portions of the future.
How am I doing? Duh.....I have five more minutes of emailing and "freetime" before I go back to my Everest - mid term essays. Send supplies. I'm going in.....
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Weekend trip to Xiahe
My first weekend trip was a doozy - Xiahe (sheeya huh). Four hours southwest of Lanzhou is a small town that is 50% Tibetan, 40% Han and 10% Hui and home of the Lebrang Buddhist Monastery. Currently 1,800 monks live there. The monastery is enclosed by a wall of prayer wheels and covers 3 square miles. The town is nestled in a valley almost 10,000 ft above sea level. We took a tour with a monk that spoke English.
We got to see the main meditation hall which can fit 800 at a time. The place is amazing, as you would expect, but the feelings of sublime internal silence I was not prepared for. Like Telluride, Camp Agape, the yoga retreat I did in Nederland, Varanasi, and other places that shut me up, this one did the trick. I was feeling a little agoraphobic back at my campus - thinking that China was so big and so imposing and so insurmountable. One weekend and two buses exorcised that phobia for me. It was cold as you would expect, but the thing that killed me was that we didn't get as many stares as we usually do in Lanzhou. It was liberating, not to have so many eyes on your every movement. You relaxed in your own space.
We also went across the bridge and hiked along a dirt road, past yaks and sheep grazing, past yurts with their stoves heating up dinner. It had been ages since I roamed. And that is what we did; just walked around, sat down and were just still - nothing to think about, nothing to translate, no eyes on us. The food there was amazing. Tibetan meat dumplings, steamed (momo) and fried (paale), yak milk tea, yak butter, yak burgers - all so very very good and satisfying and belly warming. We left early in the morning to grab our bus back and as the overcastsky brightened, everywhere was dusted with snow. Snow has an effect onme - it stills me, warms me, again shuts me up. I like being silenced. My brain welcomes the shoxi (break).
Funny story: I was planning on buying this wonderful handmade boiled wool coat with decorative trim. In China, bartering is required,expected and actually quite fun. The tailor started at a price that was way more than what I had. We proceed to ping pong back numbers (in Chinese of course, last time I'll say that). When I was getting flabbergasted that he was so rigid and wasn't playing the game I said,"Wo shi laoshi, mei you qian!" (I'm a teacher, I have no money!). That stopped him. He said he will give me my price because I am a teacher and in a profession that is highly respected. He kept saying "FeichangHao" (excellent). No I am back, feeling rejuvenated and ready for another week of classes, which are going well, Chinese language tutor sessions and time to find ways to shut my brain up myself. Check out photos at picasaweb.google.com/macdirty
Nothing but love to you, Katie
We got to see the main meditation hall which can fit 800 at a time. The place is amazing, as you would expect, but the feelings of sublime internal silence I was not prepared for. Like Telluride, Camp Agape, the yoga retreat I did in Nederland, Varanasi, and other places that shut me up, this one did the trick. I was feeling a little agoraphobic back at my campus - thinking that China was so big and so imposing and so insurmountable. One weekend and two buses exorcised that phobia for me. It was cold as you would expect, but the thing that killed me was that we didn't get as many stares as we usually do in Lanzhou. It was liberating, not to have so many eyes on your every movement. You relaxed in your own space.
We also went across the bridge and hiked along a dirt road, past yaks and sheep grazing, past yurts with their stoves heating up dinner. It had been ages since I roamed. And that is what we did; just walked around, sat down and were just still - nothing to think about, nothing to translate, no eyes on us. The food there was amazing. Tibetan meat dumplings, steamed (momo) and fried (paale), yak milk tea, yak butter, yak burgers - all so very very good and satisfying and belly warming. We left early in the morning to grab our bus back and as the overcastsky brightened, everywhere was dusted with snow. Snow has an effect onme - it stills me, warms me, again shuts me up. I like being silenced. My brain welcomes the shoxi (break).
Funny story: I was planning on buying this wonderful handmade boiled wool coat with decorative trim. In China, bartering is required,expected and actually quite fun. The tailor started at a price that was way more than what I had. We proceed to ping pong back numbers (in Chinese of course, last time I'll say that). When I was getting flabbergasted that he was so rigid and wasn't playing the game I said,"Wo shi laoshi, mei you qian!" (I'm a teacher, I have no money!). That stopped him. He said he will give me my price because I am a teacher and in a profession that is highly respected. He kept saying "FeichangHao" (excellent). No I am back, feeling rejuvenated and ready for another week of classes, which are going well, Chinese language tutor sessions and time to find ways to shut my brain up myself. Check out photos at picasaweb.google.com/macdirty
Nothing but love to you, Katie
Friday, September 21, 2007
My Apartment!!
My place is adorable. Red hardwood floors, airy, big and comfy. I have a study that I have made into a winter storage / yoga room. I have great views of the mountains and am not 8 minutes away from where I teach. Woo hoo!
First Week of Teaching!
The first week is over and I am happy. Happy to be back in the classroom, happy to learn new names and faces, happy to learn how to teach in a completely different environment. I teach 4 classes (2 hours each) of Oral English to sophomores. Each class has about 24-26 friendly and eager faces. The main objective for this class is to improve their speaking, so it's mostly a confidence course; giving them opportunities to speak, learn new vocabulary and new things about Western and American culture and conversational dynamics. So far this class is a lot of fun - they are willing to try new things, stand up in front of each other and open their mouths. Here is where my energy is an asset.
Right now I also have 2 classes (2 hours each) of Junior English Writing - each class has about 50 students, but we are working on splitting them up to four classes of 25 students each, in order for everyone to get more attention. Their writing is incredibly sophisticated and their interest in poetry and literature is contagious. They want to be able to use their English with a Western perspective. We will be discussing active versus indirect writing.
As for the campus, we have freshmen, sophomores and juniors - seniors live and go to the main campus in Lanzhou. There are soccer, basketball, badminton, ping pong fields and courts and a new indoor swimming pool that hasn't opened yet. Weekly they show movies - last week was Harry Potter and Mr. Bean and Blood Brothers. Outside the campus there are three streets full of restaurants, internet cafes, KTV (karaoke), photo shops, stationary kiosks, eyewear stores and sports clothing stores. In the evening the fruit sellers come out with their grapes, pears and apples.
Weather here is gorgeous - mid 40s in the morning and the evening and bright sunshine 70s in the day. It takes less than 10 minutes to get to class and the streets are filled with students and not cars or bikes - not many horns blowing, brakes squeaking - very quiet.
We also have office hours in the Volunteer's Office - which is also an English library that students can check out books, magazines, DVDs. I just had my first office hours last night. Basically its students coming in and practicing their asking questions - how old are you? What do you think of Chinese food? Have you watched Prison Break (that show is HUGE here)? Many students are getting comfortable with me so they're asking more questions. We were given many food lists in hanzi, pinyin and english. I have them go through them and check off the ones that they recommend. They also give me walking tours of the town and campus - best restaurants, copy places, etc.
Life here is good. It's still new and I'm still trying to find my groove. I lesson plan most of the time, sometimes to the determent of my sleep or leisure time, but that's understandable.
I was flirting with loneliness but it hightailed out of my sight when I received care packages from some righteous people back in the States. Thank you, ad nauseum. It sustains my energy, my resolve, my contentment quota.
More later. Time to plan.
Right now I also have 2 classes (2 hours each) of Junior English Writing - each class has about 50 students, but we are working on splitting them up to four classes of 25 students each, in order for everyone to get more attention. Their writing is incredibly sophisticated and their interest in poetry and literature is contagious. They want to be able to use their English with a Western perspective. We will be discussing active versus indirect writing.
As for the campus, we have freshmen, sophomores and juniors - seniors live and go to the main campus in Lanzhou. There are soccer, basketball, badminton, ping pong fields and courts and a new indoor swimming pool that hasn't opened yet. Weekly they show movies - last week was Harry Potter and Mr. Bean and Blood Brothers. Outside the campus there are three streets full of restaurants, internet cafes, KTV (karaoke), photo shops, stationary kiosks, eyewear stores and sports clothing stores. In the evening the fruit sellers come out with their grapes, pears and apples.
Weather here is gorgeous - mid 40s in the morning and the evening and bright sunshine 70s in the day. It takes less than 10 minutes to get to class and the streets are filled with students and not cars or bikes - not many horns blowing, brakes squeaking - very quiet.
We also have office hours in the Volunteer's Office - which is also an English library that students can check out books, magazines, DVDs. I just had my first office hours last night. Basically its students coming in and practicing their asking questions - how old are you? What do you think of Chinese food? Have you watched Prison Break (that show is HUGE here)? Many students are getting comfortable with me so they're asking more questions. We were given many food lists in hanzi, pinyin and english. I have them go through them and check off the ones that they recommend. They also give me walking tours of the town and campus - best restaurants, copy places, etc.
Life here is good. It's still new and I'm still trying to find my groove. I lesson plan most of the time, sometimes to the determent of my sleep or leisure time, but that's understandable.
I was flirting with loneliness but it hightailed out of my sight when I received care packages from some righteous people back in the States. Thank you, ad nauseum. It sustains my energy, my resolve, my contentment quota.
More later. Time to plan.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Swearing In Ceremony
Well it's official; I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer. The US Ambassador to China, Clark T Randt, Jr. swore us in. We had a few more speakers and then each site did a small presentation - slide show, skit, etc. Our site did our favorite "Tian Mi Mi" - we added a couple of fan dancers and two solos - my friend Kehl and I. It was a lot of fun. The audience loved the song and clapped along. We had a buffet of Italian, American, Chinese and Japanese (sushi!!) foods.
Now we are relaxing and preparing for the 22 hour train ride tomorrow to Lanzhou. PC gave each of us two huge rice bags full of medical equipment, hepa filters, and water purifiers. Along with all the books I borrowed from PC head office library, the bedding I bought at IKEA (I realize - surreal) and all my other crap, I will be pleased if I am able to be supine on the ride at all. I start teaching on Monday. Woo hoo!! I cannot wait.
I actually felt it - becoming a volunteer. A shiver, small breeze. It was pretty powerful. Though you realize all that you've gone through and realize that it has only been two months and I still haven't started working as a volunteer officially. Two more years. It is so exhilarating and exhausting and overwhelming. I have done so much, yet this is just the beginning.
Stay tuned, loved ones.
Now we are relaxing and preparing for the 22 hour train ride tomorrow to Lanzhou. PC gave each of us two huge rice bags full of medical equipment, hepa filters, and water purifiers. Along with all the books I borrowed from PC head office library, the bedding I bought at IKEA (I realize - surreal) and all my other crap, I will be pleased if I am able to be supine on the ride at all. I start teaching on Monday. Woo hoo!! I cannot wait.
I actually felt it - becoming a volunteer. A shiver, small breeze. It was pretty powerful. Though you realize all that you've gone through and realize that it has only been two months and I still haven't started working as a volunteer officially. Two more years. It is so exhilarating and exhausting and overwhelming. I have done so much, yet this is just the beginning.
Stay tuned, loved ones.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Host Family Appreciation
Last night was Host Family Appreciation night. We met at a large banquet hall. All 20 of us with our parents and siblings gathered for an amazing meal. The banquets are usually bountiful with at least 15 different dishes to try, but last night we had at least 30 - some of our favorites and some of them came out of left field and left a big smooch on my heart they were so good. Most of the PC ladies wore our Qi Pao that we had made (traditional Chinese dress). I had a dress and a blouse made. The dress is for next week's swear-in. We looked hot.
All 20 of us sang a popular Chinese ballad from the 90s "Tian Mi Mi" - My Sweet Honey. It's a beautiful song. Can't get it out of my head. The banquet was a success. Afterwards we retired to our favorite garden of beer - this has been our place to get together, eat shao kao, drink Snow beer, celebrate birthdays and just enjoy our little neighborhood of Shiling Town. The other PC sites in Chengdu are located downtown so they get together a lot in western restaurants and bars; not us. I am so thankful for that.
As we were drinking and eating, a party of men stopped by, offered us beer, cigarettes and told us it was their friend's birthday. About eight of us made a beeline to his table and sang Happy Birthday in English then Chinese to him. Then we brought down the house when we sang "Tian Mi Mi" again. The crowd adored it. We ganbei-ed to his day of birth, to our beer gardens, to each other, to the stray dogs and cats, to the old ladies polishing our shoes as we imbibe.
Tonight my friend Amy and I took our families out for Huo Guo (hotpot). It was lovely to hang out with them and treat them to such a delicious and spicy meal.
Now at home, my family just gave me two bags of Sichuan specialty foods, a necklace, earrings and their wishes to maintain our connection. I plan on seeing them whenever I'm in Chengdu, which should be at least twice a year.
Tuesday we leave for the hotel. It has been exhausting, frustrating, exhilarating, comforting and overall an extremely incredible experience living with our families.
Saturday we leave for our apartments. I am so stoked to get to Lanzhou and start teaching and enjoy the solitude of my large apartment, but I will definitely miss my family here.
-- Be good, Katie
All 20 of us sang a popular Chinese ballad from the 90s "Tian Mi Mi" - My Sweet Honey. It's a beautiful song. Can't get it out of my head. The banquet was a success. Afterwards we retired to our favorite garden of beer - this has been our place to get together, eat shao kao, drink Snow beer, celebrate birthdays and just enjoy our little neighborhood of Shiling Town. The other PC sites in Chengdu are located downtown so they get together a lot in western restaurants and bars; not us. I am so thankful for that.
As we were drinking and eating, a party of men stopped by, offered us beer, cigarettes and told us it was their friend's birthday. About eight of us made a beeline to his table and sang Happy Birthday in English then Chinese to him. Then we brought down the house when we sang "Tian Mi Mi" again. The crowd adored it. We ganbei-ed to his day of birth, to our beer gardens, to each other, to the stray dogs and cats, to the old ladies polishing our shoes as we imbibe.
Tonight my friend Amy and I took our families out for Huo Guo (hotpot). It was lovely to hang out with them and treat them to such a delicious and spicy meal.
Now at home, my family just gave me two bags of Sichuan specialty foods, a necklace, earrings and their wishes to maintain our connection. I plan on seeing them whenever I'm in Chengdu, which should be at least twice a year.
Tuesday we leave for the hotel. It has been exhausting, frustrating, exhilarating, comforting and overall an extremely incredible experience living with our families.
Saturday we leave for our apartments. I am so stoked to get to Lanzhou and start teaching and enjoy the solitude of my large apartment, but I will definitely miss my family here.
-- Be good, Katie
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Finally - my babies!
My family, god love them, does not have a car. Other PC families have cars, so I did my best of mooching rides to any cultural destinations they might experience. My efforts paid off for I finally got to see the pandas. Chengdu has a world renowned facility to breed and raise pandas. Currently they have 40 at site - about 6 a year old, and 4-5 from 1 week old to 3 months old.
I was prepared. I brought all my money in order to hold one of the babies. This was something I needed to do in order to hit all my 5 essentials in my life (adventure, learning, making a difference, kids and animals). My friend Mike's family took us and paid for us. Extremely out of left field and completely appreciated.
We had a private tour - a lovely lady who took us around the grounds. When we got to the nursery I was googooing the babies and then someone whisked us off to put on scrubs. They sat us on a chair and gave us Xiao Wangzi - "Little Prince" - he was one of the smallest pandas ever to be born there (only 49 grams!), but now as a year old little tyke he is of normal height and weight. They placed him in our laps and gave him a honey dipped eucalyptus branch to gnaw on. God it felt good to hold him. I just cooed in his ear and watched him with awe. I wanted to reach out and grab his ear and nibble on it and roll around with him. Only two months away from animal love and I was feeling the DTs. I only got to hold him for about a minute or two but it was worth every second. I was skipping and singing the entire day. We took Mike's dad out for rice noodles and a small token of our appreciation.
It was really hot, so the pandas hung out inside, but I plan on coming back in the winter and seeing them again, and perhaps another snuggle with my xiao wangzi.
-- Be good, Katie
I was prepared. I brought all my money in order to hold one of the babies. This was something I needed to do in order to hit all my 5 essentials in my life (adventure, learning, making a difference, kids and animals). My friend Mike's family took us and paid for us. Extremely out of left field and completely appreciated.
We had a private tour - a lovely lady who took us around the grounds. When we got to the nursery I was googooing the babies and then someone whisked us off to put on scrubs. They sat us on a chair and gave us Xiao Wangzi - "Little Prince" - he was one of the smallest pandas ever to be born there (only 49 grams!), but now as a year old little tyke he is of normal height and weight. They placed him in our laps and gave him a honey dipped eucalyptus branch to gnaw on. God it felt good to hold him. I just cooed in his ear and watched him with awe. I wanted to reach out and grab his ear and nibble on it and roll around with him. Only two months away from animal love and I was feeling the DTs. I only got to hold him for about a minute or two but it was worth every second. I was skipping and singing the entire day. We took Mike's dad out for rice noodles and a small token of our appreciation.
It was really hot, so the pandas hung out inside, but I plan on coming back in the winter and seeing them again, and perhaps another snuggle with my xiao wangzi.
-- Be good, Katie
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Site Visit Review
A total of 50 hours in transit (via train, bus, cab, minivan) in five days. And now I am back in Chengdu.
Our waiban (Foreign Affairs Officer) picked us up at the Lanzhou train station and took us to the campus located in Lanzhou. We checked in to the Guest House and had a nice meal. Lanzhou University has 8 campuses - the one where we were staying was the Masters/PhD campus. Our campus (yuzhong) is for Bachelor's and is located 50 kilometers north of Lanzhou. The next day we arrived at our campus. Two fourth year students (Malina and David are their English names) gave us a tour of the campus and surrounding town. The campus is lovely - surrounded by NM like mountains, clear blue skies and dry sunshine. Our apartments are in the foreign teachers building. Downstairs are two Japanese teachers - across from us will be two German teachers. The apartments themselves are gorgeous - hardwood floors, airy and comfortable. The previous PCer left some winter coats, boots, bowls, utensils, movies and a guitar for me to enjoy.
We spent the rest of the day just enjoying our own space. To sit and space out. My campus also will be opening up the brand new indoor swimming pool this semester. And I am just down the hill from it.
I will be teaching 4 classes of Oral English to sophomores and 2 classes of Writing to juniors. The writing class is more formal - CVs, essays, etc. but I am looking forward to it. The writing classes will have around 50 students and the Oral English classes will only have about 26 students. We will also be having at least 2 office hours and 2 1/2 hour English Corner every week. Not a bad schedule. Also, they are working on finding us Chinese tutors.
We also inherited an English language library that the previous PCers started. Our job is to expand its hours and inventory.
David and Malina both said that most students think the University is amazing in terms of teachers and education, but the common gripe is that there is nothing to do. They're right. The town consists of 2 streets with fruit vendors, salons, small stores, restaurants and one small supermarket. To me this is heaven. The best part is that it only costs 6 RMB to take the bus into town. AND! As teachers we can stay at the guest house for free. So, if we want to hang out with the other PC people in Lanzhou but don't want to take a bus home, we can stay in Lanzhou.
The next day we went back into Lanzhou to meet our counterparts - Chinese teachers who teach English. Lucinda and Alice are wonderful. They gave us textbooks, our schedule, answered all our questions and then some. Very personable, sweet and eager to work together. That night we got together with some of the other PCers (12s and 13s) for pizza and beer gardens.
Thursday came as did Lucinda and Alice to take us hiking. Lanzhou runs along the Yellow River of the Mother River of China. On either end of Lanzhou (population 3 million) rests a mountain. One mountain is GauLan Mountain - a place of many Buddhist temples, a zoo, aquarium and tea houses. This is a popular place for many retirees who practice their Tai Chi, fan dancing, or impromptu opera performances. I love this place. This will be a great place to unwind.
Then we hit the next mountain, the White Pagoda temple mountain - Daoist temples with some amazing natural stone museum and gourd crafts.
About 1 in every eight Lanzhou-ian is Muslim. The food up there is not as spicy but oh so good in its own right. The lamb skewers bbqed and put into grilled flatbread is my new favorite. Or the beef noodles are known as a Lanzhou specialty.
We move back to Lanzhou in early September - just two weeks. Two weeks and I begin teaching again. I cannot wait. Now it's time to study - our final LPI (language proficiency interview) in Tuesday. Wish me luck! Be good, Katie
Our waiban (Foreign Affairs Officer) picked us up at the Lanzhou train station and took us to the campus located in Lanzhou. We checked in to the Guest House and had a nice meal. Lanzhou University has 8 campuses - the one where we were staying was the Masters/PhD campus. Our campus (yuzhong) is for Bachelor's and is located 50 kilometers north of Lanzhou. The next day we arrived at our campus. Two fourth year students (Malina and David are their English names) gave us a tour of the campus and surrounding town. The campus is lovely - surrounded by NM like mountains, clear blue skies and dry sunshine. Our apartments are in the foreign teachers building. Downstairs are two Japanese teachers - across from us will be two German teachers. The apartments themselves are gorgeous - hardwood floors, airy and comfortable. The previous PCer left some winter coats, boots, bowls, utensils, movies and a guitar for me to enjoy.
We spent the rest of the day just enjoying our own space. To sit and space out. My campus also will be opening up the brand new indoor swimming pool this semester. And I am just down the hill from it.
I will be teaching 4 classes of Oral English to sophomores and 2 classes of Writing to juniors. The writing class is more formal - CVs, essays, etc. but I am looking forward to it. The writing classes will have around 50 students and the Oral English classes will only have about 26 students. We will also be having at least 2 office hours and 2 1/2 hour English Corner every week. Not a bad schedule. Also, they are working on finding us Chinese tutors.
We also inherited an English language library that the previous PCers started. Our job is to expand its hours and inventory.
David and Malina both said that most students think the University is amazing in terms of teachers and education, but the common gripe is that there is nothing to do. They're right. The town consists of 2 streets with fruit vendors, salons, small stores, restaurants and one small supermarket. To me this is heaven. The best part is that it only costs 6 RMB to take the bus into town. AND! As teachers we can stay at the guest house for free. So, if we want to hang out with the other PC people in Lanzhou but don't want to take a bus home, we can stay in Lanzhou.
The next day we went back into Lanzhou to meet our counterparts - Chinese teachers who teach English. Lucinda and Alice are wonderful. They gave us textbooks, our schedule, answered all our questions and then some. Very personable, sweet and eager to work together. That night we got together with some of the other PCers (12s and 13s) for pizza and beer gardens.
Thursday came as did Lucinda and Alice to take us hiking. Lanzhou runs along the Yellow River of the Mother River of China. On either end of Lanzhou (population 3 million) rests a mountain. One mountain is GauLan Mountain - a place of many Buddhist temples, a zoo, aquarium and tea houses. This is a popular place for many retirees who practice their Tai Chi, fan dancing, or impromptu opera performances. I love this place. This will be a great place to unwind.
Then we hit the next mountain, the White Pagoda temple mountain - Daoist temples with some amazing natural stone museum and gourd crafts.
About 1 in every eight Lanzhou-ian is Muslim. The food up there is not as spicy but oh so good in its own right. The lamb skewers bbqed and put into grilled flatbread is my new favorite. Or the beef noodles are known as a Lanzhou specialty.
We move back to Lanzhou in early September - just two weeks. Two weeks and I begin teaching again. I cannot wait. Now it's time to study - our final LPI (language proficiency interview) in Tuesday. Wish me luck! Be good, Katie
Lanzhou Daxue
http://www.lzu.edu.cn/notice/English/default.htm
Population of students: 43,756
8 campuses: I will be at the BA level campus which is about 45 minutes outside Lanzhou (capital of Gansu)
Lanzhou University is one of the top universities under the China Ministry of Education.
Possible classes I will teach: Oral English, English Writing, English film, Culture
Possible secondary projects: DRAMA CLUB, maintain English language library previous PC created, establish hours, activities, etc.
(read between the lines - this place is perfect for me!!!!)
We leave for a site visit this sunday - 22 hour train ride. We'll be at our site for about a week - checking out the campus, the city, getting schedules, resources, cleaning our apartments, studying for our LPI (language proficiency interview) that is the next week.
-- Be good, Katie
Population of students: 43,756
8 campuses: I will be at the BA level campus which is about 45 minutes outside Lanzhou (capital of Gansu)
Lanzhou University is one of the top universities under the China Ministry of Education.
Possible classes I will teach: Oral English, English Writing, English film, Culture
Possible secondary projects: DRAMA CLUB, maintain English language library previous PC created, establish hours, activities, etc.
(read between the lines - this place is perfect for me!!!!)
We leave for a site visit this sunday - 22 hour train ride. We'll be at our site for about a week - checking out the campus, the city, getting schedules, resources, cleaning our apartments, studying for our LPI (language proficiency interview) that is the next week.
-- Be good, Katie
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Model school and then some
Today was the first day of model school - meaning we get a three week boot camp to teaching oral English with a small class that volunteer to be there to learn from a native English speaker. We team teach with another PC13. My dude is Nate, a Virginia native who is tall, redhaired and just as goofy as I am. We are teaching 18 middle school students.
We went a little crazy with our lesson plans. PC tells us to use this time to experiment with teaching techniques and to fail and make as many mistakes as possible so that when we get to site, we'll be rock stars. Some PCers are bouncing around with lessons, but not us. We have all three weeks planned: The first week is all about getting to know each other as a class; second week is all about getting to know American culture (weddings, sports, slang, holidays, family, etc); the third week is a larger picture of the world and learning to be global citizens. This class is a bit different than what we'll see at our site - there is an equal balance between male and female students. Most times at site, the class will be heavily tilted to the female side.
The students are great and are all over the place in terms of speaking ability. It should prove to be a great experience. I am excited to work with Nate. He's a neophyte who is eager for me to kick his butt. He's also willing and strong enough to kick my own heiny when needed.
I'm looking out my bedroom window at the moon, which has been obscured since we got here. As I was taking my after dinner walk, I got to see stars and families walking backwards, fanning their children, dodging students on mopeds (aka silent assassins - you never hear them come).
The weather has been quite lovely these past few days. Low humidity, light drops of rain, hint of a breeze. Nothing compared to the flooding in some parts of this province and farther southeast.
Language is amazing. Only three weeks and I feel flabbergasted that I can communicate as much as I can. We're only learning the pinyin, not hanzi (Chinese characters). You feel that you can communicate somewhat but you're illiterate. You can't read a menu, a store sign, a receipt, but you can memorize what is milk versus what is yogurt; usually in the same packaging. You can ask for your favorite dishes at a restaurant. You can figure out what is a tailor or a shoe store or an internet cafe. A month ago I only knew "ni hao".
As I'm writing this, my home stay sister and my mom come in and give me a wooden beaded bracelet and a monkeys sculpted out of bone climbing up a silk red rope to represent that they hope I go "up, up". When you live in the moment, things like this hit you in the heart like a medicine ball. You reel in the moment slow-mo and enjoy the discombobulation.
It makes you cry.
It makes you remember the other moments when you thought that you were a 'tard and were not learning enough, fast enough, integrating enough, thinking that you would have to go home in shame, thinking that you failed. Or the other moment that you thought you were the best person in the world, picking up Chinese so quickly, thinking that you were special, extraordinary (forgive me, I just watched the entire first season of "Heroes" and it's clouding my worldview).
Assimilating into the Chinese culture is like being a triangular block fitting into the circular hole - you fit somewhat, but you miss the intimacy, the feeling of being completely surrounded by the known. As long as you know that and not try to inflate your sides to be something you're not, you'll be fine.
-- Be good, Katie
We went a little crazy with our lesson plans. PC tells us to use this time to experiment with teaching techniques and to fail and make as many mistakes as possible so that when we get to site, we'll be rock stars. Some PCers are bouncing around with lessons, but not us. We have all three weeks planned: The first week is all about getting to know each other as a class; second week is all about getting to know American culture (weddings, sports, slang, holidays, family, etc); the third week is a larger picture of the world and learning to be global citizens. This class is a bit different than what we'll see at our site - there is an equal balance between male and female students. Most times at site, the class will be heavily tilted to the female side.
The students are great and are all over the place in terms of speaking ability. It should prove to be a great experience. I am excited to work with Nate. He's a neophyte who is eager for me to kick his butt. He's also willing and strong enough to kick my own heiny when needed.
I'm looking out my bedroom window at the moon, which has been obscured since we got here. As I was taking my after dinner walk, I got to see stars and families walking backwards, fanning their children, dodging students on mopeds (aka silent assassins - you never hear them come).
The weather has been quite lovely these past few days. Low humidity, light drops of rain, hint of a breeze. Nothing compared to the flooding in some parts of this province and farther southeast.
Language is amazing. Only three weeks and I feel flabbergasted that I can communicate as much as I can. We're only learning the pinyin, not hanzi (Chinese characters). You feel that you can communicate somewhat but you're illiterate. You can't read a menu, a store sign, a receipt, but you can memorize what is milk versus what is yogurt; usually in the same packaging. You can ask for your favorite dishes at a restaurant. You can figure out what is a tailor or a shoe store or an internet cafe. A month ago I only knew "ni hao".
As I'm writing this, my home stay sister and my mom come in and give me a wooden beaded bracelet and a monkeys sculpted out of bone climbing up a silk red rope to represent that they hope I go "up, up". When you live in the moment, things like this hit you in the heart like a medicine ball. You reel in the moment slow-mo and enjoy the discombobulation.
It makes you cry.
It makes you remember the other moments when you thought that you were a 'tard and were not learning enough, fast enough, integrating enough, thinking that you would have to go home in shame, thinking that you failed. Or the other moment that you thought you were the best person in the world, picking up Chinese so quickly, thinking that you were special, extraordinary (forgive me, I just watched the entire first season of "Heroes" and it's clouding my worldview).
Assimilating into the Chinese culture is like being a triangular block fitting into the circular hole - you fit somewhat, but you miss the intimacy, the feeling of being completely surrounded by the known. As long as you know that and not try to inflate your sides to be something you're not, you'll be fine.
-- Be good, Katie
PEACE CORPS CHINA
Also know as U.S. - China Friendship Volunteers
Since 1993 423 volunteers have been teaching oral English in the following provinces and municipalities - Sichuan, Guizhou, Chongqing and Gansu with Gansu being the youngest one.
Current # of volunteers in China: 94 (plus 64 from the China 13s)
How PC is different from other foreign teachers:
invited by the Chinese government
required to learn language and culture
expected to integrate into community
required to do a secondary project - whether that be running a drama club (hint hint), tutor group or other extra-curricular activities) work with counterpart to make sure implementations you make will sustain after your service is over
Teaching load 14 - 16 hours
Class size 35 - 40 (sometimes as large as 60 - 80)
Multi-level students
BRING IT ON!!!!! We find out where we're going on August 14th. Until then, we learn patience........
Since 1993 423 volunteers have been teaching oral English in the following provinces and municipalities - Sichuan, Guizhou, Chongqing and Gansu with Gansu being the youngest one.
Current # of volunteers in China: 94 (plus 64 from the China 13s)
How PC is different from other foreign teachers:
invited by the Chinese government
required to learn language and culture
expected to integrate into community
required to do a secondary project - whether that be running a drama club (hint hint), tutor group or other extra-curricular activities) work with counterpart to make sure implementations you make will sustain after your service is over
Teaching load 14 - 16 hours
Class size 35 - 40 (sometimes as large as 60 - 80)
Multi-level students
BRING IT ON!!!!! We find out where we're going on August 14th. Until then, we learn patience........
Summer Project
Right when we got to Chengdu, a 3rd year PCer asked me and three other PC 13s to do a presentation at his university. Every summer for 2 weeks PCers do a summer project, which is usually working at a university outside of your site teaching English to middle school teachers. We as 13s don't do one until next year, but because the four of us have middle school experience, they wanted to use us this year.
Mianyang Normal University is about 90 minutes north of Chengdu located on top of a mountain. The campus is small - only 1,500 students go there. Normal means that it is a teacher's college. In front of 150 middle school teachers the four of us talked about US Education (funding, history of, etc.), American educational culture and Language Arts teaching techniques.
We were picked up and first taken to a People's Park that had an amusement park, tea houses and mahjong tables everywhere. Then the four of us were treated to a very lavish buffet at a $1,000/night hotel with the president's wife and the waiban (foreign assistance officer). Ice cream, french fries, steak, all the western food that you forget about when you are loving Sichuan cuisine.
Our 2 1/2 hour presentation was in a large lecture hall with huge fans competing with our voices. The microphones were sketchy. The teachers wanted us to speak slower and louder. By the end of the presentation, we were all dripping with sweat. We had a Q & A session afterwards. They asked about teachers in the United States and were they respected, what was teaching at a high school like and to explain about extra-curricular activities. Chinese education takes the educational philosophy of "sage of the stage" - teachers are in charge of the students' education and the students are tabula rasa. We talked about the current American educational philosophy of "guide on the side" - teachers are merely advisors and students are in charge of their own education.
Afterwards, the waiban gave each of us a gift of a Chinese opera mask. We all agreed that we could totally do the lecture tour - fancy dinner, great audience, swag afterwards.
It was pretty incredible. It got me extremely excited about teaching. We start model school Monday. This is the 2nd year PC has implemented this program. Team teaching oral English to a class of voluntary students. I got a great guy who has taught before, but is really eager to work together. For the next three weeks we will be teaching for 1 1/2 hours to 15-20 middle school students, 1 1/2 prep time and 1 hour of reflection and evaluation. Then 2 hours of language. I was first hesitant to reduce my language class hours from 5 a day to only 2 ( I love my teacher Liu Laoshi), but getting into our classroom and our class list and realizing that this is a time to experiment and to hone our TEFL skills really revs me up.
Most of our students will have English names that they have chosen, but some won't. Based on the students' choice they can either chose one for themselves or the teachers can name them. I started to think I could use some of my students' names from Denver. That thought brought me down to the missing - how much I miss them, miss teaching them, being in their lives. I got out my pictures of my classroom and my AVID kids. My heart tightened. I have the best students EVER!!!
Honestly.....
Mianyang Normal University is about 90 minutes north of Chengdu located on top of a mountain. The campus is small - only 1,500 students go there. Normal means that it is a teacher's college. In front of 150 middle school teachers the four of us talked about US Education (funding, history of, etc.), American educational culture and Language Arts teaching techniques.
We were picked up and first taken to a People's Park that had an amusement park, tea houses and mahjong tables everywhere. Then the four of us were treated to a very lavish buffet at a $1,000/night hotel with the president's wife and the waiban (foreign assistance officer). Ice cream, french fries, steak, all the western food that you forget about when you are loving Sichuan cuisine.
Our 2 1/2 hour presentation was in a large lecture hall with huge fans competing with our voices. The microphones were sketchy. The teachers wanted us to speak slower and louder. By the end of the presentation, we were all dripping with sweat. We had a Q & A session afterwards. They asked about teachers in the United States and were they respected, what was teaching at a high school like and to explain about extra-curricular activities. Chinese education takes the educational philosophy of "sage of the stage" - teachers are in charge of the students' education and the students are tabula rasa. We talked about the current American educational philosophy of "guide on the side" - teachers are merely advisors and students are in charge of their own education.
Afterwards, the waiban gave each of us a gift of a Chinese opera mask. We all agreed that we could totally do the lecture tour - fancy dinner, great audience, swag afterwards.
It was pretty incredible. It got me extremely excited about teaching. We start model school Monday. This is the 2nd year PC has implemented this program. Team teaching oral English to a class of voluntary students. I got a great guy who has taught before, but is really eager to work together. For the next three weeks we will be teaching for 1 1/2 hours to 15-20 middle school students, 1 1/2 prep time and 1 hour of reflection and evaluation. Then 2 hours of language. I was first hesitant to reduce my language class hours from 5 a day to only 2 ( I love my teacher Liu Laoshi), but getting into our classroom and our class list and realizing that this is a time to experiment and to hone our TEFL skills really revs me up.
Most of our students will have English names that they have chosen, but some won't. Based on the students' choice they can either chose one for themselves or the teachers can name them. I started to think I could use some of my students' names from Denver. That thought brought me down to the missing - how much I miss them, miss teaching them, being in their lives. I got out my pictures of my classroom and my AVID kids. My heart tightened. I have the best students EVER!!!
Honestly.....
Ni Hao from Chengdu!
I have never been hotter in my life! For the next two months I will be living with this amazing law professor named Xiaoxia. She's my age and single ("haven't found the right man") in a 3 bedroom apartment on the fourth floor. Her parents live with her, but for now they are taking care of their granddaughter while Xiaoshia's brother is in Beijing. She is teaching me how to cook Sichuan cuisine - which is supremely spicy and amazing! Tonight she went to the market, picked out a fish and cooked it whole and made a delicious soup with garlic ginger hot chilies and some secret ingredients. The other dish was a succulent eggplant dish. I think I have found my new favorite food.
For the next two months the 20 of us have three hours of Chinese language and then lunch at one of the thousands of restaurants here and then 1 1/2 hours of classes to help us lesson plan, work with low level learners, Chinese pop culture, etc and then another two hours of language. Honestly, I could do another 2 hours of language. It's fantastic and exhilarating to learn. I love languages but this stuff kicks! Our teacher is Liu Rui and is so on her game. She's tough, rigorous, super smart and freakin funny. We periodically teach her American slang. Each group is about 5-6 people. My group has two other women and 3 other men. Each one is a die hard learner like me. Liu Rui not only teaches us the language, but she makes it accessible which then becomes ours.
Tonight I walked around the city with another PCer. Night time is when this place really wakes up. Fruit sellers with their wheelbarrows and cart of fruits and a bullhorn playing a loud recording "peaches peaches peaches!!" "watermelon! watermelon!" Families and small children are gathered around hot pots (Sichuan specialty) - skewers of pork, tofu, chicken around a pot of boiling chili oil. People selling stationary, pens, DVDs, shoes, anything. I went on a walk earlier in the day and you never see as many people out as you do at night.
Great story: one of our homework lessons was to talk to our home stay families and take a picture with them with us and ask them where can we print the pictures and bring the picture to class today. It was an exercise on talking with our families (most speak little to no English) and to have a picture of them so we may use it in our conversations in language class. I ask Xiaoxia about where I can go to print a picture. Instead she takes me to a street studio and had our pictures taken professionally. I totally got extra credit for that!
Chengdu University bought this property on the outskirts of the city in 2002. It has cafes, restaurants, pool, table tennis courts, basketball courts, indoor stadium, 2 lakes and some amazing architecture. In three years they are expecting the student population to double. We live in teacher housing on campus - probably similar to what I will be living in when I get to my site.
Right when I got home tonight from my walk, Xiaoxia gives me some watermelon and we sit and pass the dictionary back and forth. I tell her "thank you for hosting me and for letting me live with you." She says "we are good friends. No thanks is needed."
For the next two months the 20 of us have three hours of Chinese language and then lunch at one of the thousands of restaurants here and then 1 1/2 hours of classes to help us lesson plan, work with low level learners, Chinese pop culture, etc and then another two hours of language. Honestly, I could do another 2 hours of language. It's fantastic and exhilarating to learn. I love languages but this stuff kicks! Our teacher is Liu Rui and is so on her game. She's tough, rigorous, super smart and freakin funny. We periodically teach her American slang. Each group is about 5-6 people. My group has two other women and 3 other men. Each one is a die hard learner like me. Liu Rui not only teaches us the language, but she makes it accessible which then becomes ours.
Tonight I walked around the city with another PCer. Night time is when this place really wakes up. Fruit sellers with their wheelbarrows and cart of fruits and a bullhorn playing a loud recording "peaches peaches peaches!!" "watermelon! watermelon!" Families and small children are gathered around hot pots (Sichuan specialty) - skewers of pork, tofu, chicken around a pot of boiling chili oil. People selling stationary, pens, DVDs, shoes, anything. I went on a walk earlier in the day and you never see as many people out as you do at night.
Great story: one of our homework lessons was to talk to our home stay families and take a picture with them with us and ask them where can we print the pictures and bring the picture to class today. It was an exercise on talking with our families (most speak little to no English) and to have a picture of them so we may use it in our conversations in language class. I ask Xiaoxia about where I can go to print a picture. Instead she takes me to a street studio and had our pictures taken professionally. I totally got extra credit for that!
Chengdu University bought this property on the outskirts of the city in 2002. It has cafes, restaurants, pool, table tennis courts, basketball courts, indoor stadium, 2 lakes and some amazing architecture. In three years they are expecting the student population to double. We live in teacher housing on campus - probably similar to what I will be living in when I get to my site.
Right when I got home tonight from my walk, Xiaoxia gives me some watermelon and we sit and pass the dictionary back and forth. I tell her "thank you for hosting me and for letting me live with you." She says "we are good friends. No thanks is needed."
Thursday, June 28, 2007
staging
now in san fran for the staging. 64 people are coming with me to china!!! quite a diverse crowd - though we will all be educators when we get there.
four hours today and 8 hours tomorrow of reflections, discussions and getting to know yous.
it feels so good. honestly. two days before i left i felt the fear and the anxiety about crossing that bridge to this, but because of the extra day at home, that gap became the width of dental floss. i was ready and i wasn 't sad or anxious - it was time to go.
it's gorgeous here everything feels so and essential to me.
as i was reading the peace corps mission i realized this has been my life - sustainable development.
youth group - work is love made visible
teaching - teach students to be advocates for their own education
AVID - advancement via individual determination
everything that has made a difference in my life is working on sustainable development - giving interested people the skills to do what they need to do themselves. teaching people/students how to fish.
i don't know much, but i do know how to kick ass and motivate people.
when i became a teacher i felt a certainty that was overwhelming - a costco sized inhaler for my soul. it hurts - a soccer cleat punctuating my life purpose.
i'm crying realizing how much this is who i am)
i miss my family, my life in denver, my students...
but from my cold dead hand will you take this opportunity from me.
dammit....
Monday, June 18, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
brooklyn and then some.....
i left denver weeping. got together with a few people at the bull n bush (my favorite place) and did some shots and said our sayonaras.
now i'm in brooklyn with my 2 lovely nephews and having a ball. every time i come here i need at least one day to go into the city and explore and walk around. got a slice and then a cupcake at magnolias (yummiedum). i also got 6th row tickets to musical version of The Color Purple - one of my favorite books. unbelievable.
i also, after many days of research i bought a dSLR - Nikon D40. i am in gaga land. this camera is amazing. soon i will post the pics but man, this is fun again. i remember working for your photo doing the lighting and developing. ron would give me photo assignments - the flea market at the drive-in or castor beans. i have a lot of good memories from my twenties taking pictures - studio and outdoors and sequestering myself in the darkroom gleefully watching them come to life. this is the perfect camera to come with me to china. by the way, I'M GOING TO CHINA!!!
it hits me, rather floors me. i'm not scared at all. like staving off christmas - waiting until the absolute last minute to open your gifts because the baited breath part is the best. i read or research enough to keep the anticipation high. i want to be open to all surprises, all discoveries. i never want to feel that "oh yeah, i read about that".
the hardest part is feeling adrift - especially from my loved ones in denver. it's surreal to talk to them on the phone. and now here. niko will be huge and ezio will be walking when i see them again. i'm snorting them right now. getting as much love from them as possible. so much so that i feel dizzy. overdosing on the niko and ezioness.
being titi mumu rocks me like i never knew it could.
now i'm in brooklyn with my 2 lovely nephews and having a ball. every time i come here i need at least one day to go into the city and explore and walk around. got a slice and then a cupcake at magnolias (yummiedum). i also got 6th row tickets to musical version of The Color Purple - one of my favorite books. unbelievable.
i also, after many days of research i bought a dSLR - Nikon D40. i am in gaga land. this camera is amazing. soon i will post the pics but man, this is fun again. i remember working for your photo doing the lighting and developing. ron would give me photo assignments - the flea market at the drive-in or castor beans. i have a lot of good memories from my twenties taking pictures - studio and outdoors and sequestering myself in the darkroom gleefully watching them come to life. this is the perfect camera to come with me to china. by the way, I'M GOING TO CHINA!!!
it hits me, rather floors me. i'm not scared at all. like staving off christmas - waiting until the absolute last minute to open your gifts because the baited breath part is the best. i read or research enough to keep the anticipation high. i want to be open to all surprises, all discoveries. i never want to feel that "oh yeah, i read about that".
the hardest part is feeling adrift - especially from my loved ones in denver. it's surreal to talk to them on the phone. and now here. niko will be huge and ezio will be walking when i see them again. i'm snorting them right now. getting as much love from them as possible. so much so that i feel dizzy. overdosing on the niko and ezioness.
being titi mumu rocks me like i never knew it could.
Monday, May 28, 2007
The Great MacLean Zai Jian
Saturday was the going away party and it was lovely. My friend Lynn made this cake - five layers of chocolatey goodness topped with a sugar-shaped takeout container full of coconut!
Four days and I leave Colorado. June will be choc full o'family and friends. I'm lovin' it, but damn, I'm exhausted.
Focus on now - freakin' gorgeous sunny day.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
my aspiration statement
After they have accepted you into the program, they ask for a current resume and an aspiration statement; what you hope to accomplish as a PCV. Here is my little ditty:
During my tenure as a Peace Corps volunteer in China, I plan on using my extensive knowledge of literacy and grammar in the classroom. I am a big believer in meta- cognition – the ability to reflect on the learning process and to understand why and how one learns. I will be expecting my students to reflect regularly on their own learning process. Additionally I believe that my enthusiasm and willingness to reflect on my own learning will be assets in the classroom.
I am a flexible individual who is always searching for a learning experience. I plan on using this eagerness with my host country. I feel that my teaching and my own learning experiences create many opportunities; I am eager to teach in whatever capacity that would be most beneficial.
My main strategy in terms of adapting to a new culture is research; I am currently reading books and articles on Chinese culture, communication styles, history and geography. Also, I have many connections with individuals who have either worked or traveled in China with whom I will confer. I love learning new languages. During the pre-service training, I plan on using that passion to my advantage as I learn such a challenging language. Past Peace Corps volunteer experiences are essential to neophytes such as me. I will be contacting them and creating communication outlets for current and future avenues of support and information.
Peace Corps is an excellent opportunity for me. I am eager to learn how to teach English as a foreign language. I believe that the best way to utilize my professional experience is to have me teach Creative Writing, as well as reading and language courses. Also, advising a drama club would be a great way to utilize my interest and history with the theatre.
Peace Corps has always been a dream for me. I am looking forward to making that dream come to fruition. I believe that I will always be an educator. I look forward to exploring different aspects of teaching. I love my current position as inner city high school English teacher, but I feel that this is a perfect time to expand my world view of education and explore other educational opportunities.
During my tenure as a Peace Corps volunteer in China, I plan on using my extensive knowledge of literacy and grammar in the classroom. I am a big believer in meta- cognition – the ability to reflect on the learning process and to understand why and how one learns. I will be expecting my students to reflect regularly on their own learning process. Additionally I believe that my enthusiasm and willingness to reflect on my own learning will be assets in the classroom.
I am a flexible individual who is always searching for a learning experience. I plan on using this eagerness with my host country. I feel that my teaching and my own learning experiences create many opportunities; I am eager to teach in whatever capacity that would be most beneficial.
My main strategy in terms of adapting to a new culture is research; I am currently reading books and articles on Chinese culture, communication styles, history and geography. Also, I have many connections with individuals who have either worked or traveled in China with whom I will confer. I love learning new languages. During the pre-service training, I plan on using that passion to my advantage as I learn such a challenging language. Past Peace Corps volunteer experiences are essential to neophytes such as me. I will be contacting them and creating communication outlets for current and future avenues of support and information.
Peace Corps is an excellent opportunity for me. I am eager to learn how to teach English as a foreign language. I believe that the best way to utilize my professional experience is to have me teach Creative Writing, as well as reading and language courses. Also, advising a drama club would be a great way to utilize my interest and history with the theatre.
Peace Corps has always been a dream for me. I am looking forward to making that dream come to fruition. I believe that I will always be an educator. I look forward to exploring different aspects of teaching. I love my current position as inner city high school English teacher, but I feel that this is a perfect time to expand my world view of education and explore other educational opportunities.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
god, i'm going to miss this
end of second period and the kids are crazy and funny and so damn cool. i feel like crying. honestly, this is my job. i'm shaking my head disbelievingly (artistic license).
now we are entering the slash and burn phase - yard sale this weekend. woo hoo!
now we are entering the slash and burn phase - yard sale this weekend. woo hoo!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
a duh moment
only 79 days left. just got my final medical clearance and did a hurkey in celebration. now it's all about selling and organizing my crap.
teaching is still amazing - my kids are truly lovely - active, curious, loving, relentless, strong, intelligent.....
looking at st marks knowing that everything here is terminal - this will be my last 12 april here for a while. *gulp*
overcast day - just the way i like them - days to stay inside your head and sit with your thoughts, everything just moseying around you
i'm happy, difficult to admit, like wearing a sweater that you thought would never look good on you.
woo hoo!!
teaching is still amazing - my kids are truly lovely - active, curious, loving, relentless, strong, intelligent.....
looking at st marks knowing that everything here is terminal - this will be my last 12 april here for a while. *gulp*
overcast day - just the way i like them - days to stay inside your head and sit with your thoughts, everything just moseying around you
i'm happy, difficult to admit, like wearing a sweater that you thought would never look good on you.
woo hoo!!
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