Western Walmart

A couple days ago I led a field trip.

All the good kids get ice cream! And me!

Sure, I've been a participant in field trips before. Tons of them! But I've never led one before, until now. I took our giant class of FOUR advanced campers (and by that I mean students) to Walmart! I created a scavenger hunt for them, with questions to answer and new words to learn. It was a really fun morning, and I'm sure you remember how a good field trip is SO MUCH BETTER than another day at boring old school. I mean camp! It's not school... it's camp! Camp for learning English in a classroom.

One of the challenges was to find a piece of clothing that would look amazing on Andrew.

Checking out some English on a t-shirt.

I loved how relaxed a Chinese field trip can be. There were no permission slips or waivers, no strict schedules, and get this- the kids actually wanted to wear those giant orange shirts! We strolled over from the school, chatting, which simultaneously blew my mind that I can talk to Chinese 11 year olds in English so easily.  Since their level is so advanced for their age, it meant we could joke around and have fun while checking out everything in the store.

No matter what country you're in, Walmart will only open 2 checkout lanes.

A great class... now I just need to figure out something to do with them next week!

Thanks to Lily for the pictures.

Well it's About Time

Lately I became a paid videographer.

Ok, so I took June off- stop living in the past. But now my video is up and playing on my school's website! I'm pretty excited to have this freelance opportunity while out here in China, and I had a good time making it too. Based on all that, I'd like to make some more videos! Hire me.

Or, here's the video in its natural habitat on the school's website. 

It's Camp Again

This year I'll tell you about camp.

A lot of students, my teaching assistant Lee, and me.

This is my second bout of camp so far, but this time I can actually find enough time to tell you about it. For two months, July and January, myself and the other foreign teachers at my school have to work as much as actual teachers, and it always breaks me in half. There's more hours, more students, and more infectious diseases.

Now I call it "camp," but keep in mind that I'm in China, so "camp" is actually EXTRA, all-day English classes for young students during a rare break from their regular school. If you haven't heard it from me before- Chinese students are extremely diligent.

Back to work Paddy!

We're halfway through now, and this camp has been no exception to the aforementioned rules: class sizes have ranged from 25-30 students, and a couple staff members have already been in the hospital. It's a stressful time! But with this added stress comes a lot of enjoyment as well. Camp sessions tend to be less formal than our already informal regular classes, so we play a lot of games, and I get to have a lot of fun joking around with the kids in class. For example, it would be very inappropriate for me to sing while students are writing a test in class, but if they're only coloring during a camp session, it's fine for me to softly sing a song into their ear, making up lyrics as I go, about how Crime is the theme of the day. And yes, I made up that theme. We talked about theft and murder and then we made wanted posters.

Some very smart girls and me

Camp sessions also allows me to meet and teach many students that I don't have in regular classes, and I think it brings me closer to those I do have already.

So although camp can bring some good times, I definitely looking forward to what comes next: Spring Festival, going to Thailand, and getting back to our regular, lighter schedule. 

Saying Goodbye

Last week I said goodbye to this guy.

Phil on his last night in the fanciest hotel lobby in Jilin

That's Phil, and although he's the fourth teacher to leave my school since I started here, he's the first one that I worked with long enough to really get to know. The dynamic of a few English-speakers working together in a foreign city can create a pretty tight-knit group, and he was right in there. He extended his year-long contract with Kenneth's English, staying until just hours before spending Christmas with his family back in Canada. I'm really glad he stayed longer in Jilin, because over the last couple months we were able to spend more time having fun, and I appreciated that opportunity.

That being said, I'm starting to realize the tough aspects that accompany a job with so many temporary elements. Everyone signs a one year contract, which at first may seem kind of long. But with all these teachers coming and going, the discrepant, overlapping terms don't add up to very long. Not only that, I'm also beginning to wonder about what leaving my students after only a year would be like. Can I leave them after only teaching them for a year at most? Will I be ready to stop filling young minds with all my beautiful knowledge?

It's a lot to think about. But while I wrestle with that, I want to wish you all the best back in Canada with whatever you try next, Phil! Take care of yourself, God bless, it was nice working with you. So goodbye Phil..... still not completely sure what your last name was. Those temporary jobs will do that!

Oh and yes, part of this is just an experiment to see if he still reads my blog. All the best!

Making Dumplings

This week we made dumplings at school.

Every once in a while my school puts together an activity or outing to give us experiences with Chinese culture, and probably also to some degree secretly work on team-building, and this week it was making dumplings.

Gene, one of my managers, explains the history of dumplings to some foreigners

We got together at school, and with our team of teachers and staff, assembled over 600 of the little darlings. It just goes to show that great things can be accomplished with an hour and an army of Chinese workers. The Chinese staff was quick to help me out with my beginner dumpling-making status, but I'm afraid I have not mastered this delicate art quite yet. The good news however, was that there was a bevy of people who were WAY better at it to show me the way.

Photo by Noel M.

This was actually not my first time making dumplings, and I didn't see much improvement from the first time. One of the most common criticisms of my dumpling style is that I try to use too much filling. It's a bold move, on a dangerous line, but someone has to walk this soft, thin, floured tightrope and I'm up to the task. The problem is that when I made dumplings before, they all turned out very small... which inspired my Chinese nickname, Xiǎo jiǎo zi ("little dumpling"). So this time I really tried to hone my craft and make some reasonably sized ones. I think 1 in 5 turned out.

Photo by Noel M.

Now although this may not have been my first time making dumplings, it was my first time stuffing myself with more dumplings than I wanted to eat. This time, I wasn't in it for the delicious flavour- I was in it for the cash. You see, someone had secretly slipped coins into a few of the dumplings, and if you bit into a coin, you stood to make win big money! Think of it as a savoury version of Willy Wonka's golden tickets. Every new pan of freshly steamed dumplings brought on an ambush of eager eaters, all wanting to stab that mouthwatering coin.  

Attack!

Unfortunately, no matter how much I gorged myself, I couldn't find any metal in my food, leaving me with only a fantastic meal to soothe the stomach of a loser. I'll survive. 

Some of the money I'll never get- it's a Chinese tradition!

An American Thanksgiving in China

Yesterday I celebrated American Thanksgiving.

Nothing beats the authenticity of going all the way to China for my first real American-style Thanksgiving party, which as it turns out is very similar to a Canadian Thanksgiving party. Several of my fellow foreign teachers are American, so they planned the event and I was excited to be a part of it.

Now of course, being off the beaten path in China means that creating reminders of home or Western experiences is much more difficult. I've used the example before that sometimes I feel like I'm in the Swiss Family Robinson. Not everything I want is readily available, so I plan and search and improvise, and maybe by next summer we can have that treehouse built. But against the odds, this group of foreigners was able to create what I thought was an excellent feast.

You better believe those are Goldfish crackers!

The turkey was ordered in advance online, on Taobao, China's version of eBay on steroids. We had it all: mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, homemade pumpkin pie, pasta salad, chicken nuggets, coleslaw, popcorn, Chinese food... a real who's who of holiday favourites. We even had cranberry sauce, everyone's favourite dish to look at and never actually eat. Since I can't cook well enough for people to eat quite yet, I made some dip, brought more vegetables than you can shake a drumstick at, and a make-your-own-sundae bar. And to answer the question on many people's minds: yes, I ate the meal with chopsticks, and the mashed potatoes were definitely the most challenging part.

Mmmmmm fresh off the Internet and oh so juicy!

It was a great evening with fun people, and I'm really glad I have these folks around. Some people miss home during the holidays, and although we may not be at our original homes with our "real" families, we do a bang-up job of recreating simulations designed to make you feel right at home.

The Kenneth's English School gang

I recently heard that Americans celebrate Christmas as well, and it's coming up. I'm looking forward to that too- it'll be fun to see what an American Christmas is all about!

Just Getting Started

This week I became a teacher.

It’s been quite an interesting couple of weeks here in China, with both good and bad experiences. I had my first visit to a Chinese hospital and my first trip out to the lake in the same week, but the big takeaway here is that this past Saturday I started taking over classes, which means that my teaching career has officially begun.

For those that don’t know, I’m teaching English in Jilin, China, at a training center called Kenneth’s English School. The “training center” part means that our students come to us after school hours to learn even more, hopefully putting them at an advantage within China’s competitive scholastic landscape. Kids here are under a lot of pressure; the norm is to be working constantly. Even after a full day of school, it seems most are on their way to other classes, whether it be learning an instrument or another language.  Even when I see children rollerblading, they aren’t just doing it for fun. They’re in Rollerblading Class, and that instructor is telling them to SLALOM THOSE CONES!

So far my classes are going really well. The kids are energetic and eager, and that enthusiasm fuels me and makes class much more enjoyable. The programs at Kenneth’s are high-energy and hands-on, and give me a lot of room to incorporate my own ideas. It’s more like camp than class in some ways, with lots of games and plenty of children yelling. Happy yelling. Happily yelling vocabulary.

I've picked up 3 classes so far, with more on the way. The kids are grouped according to their level of proficiency; my kids are at Level 1 and are around 6-9 years old. Also, they are at Stage 38 cuteness, which is quite high for their age bracket; I can’t even look at some of them without my heart quietly breaking inside. This school offers training up to IELTS classes, which prepares students to take an internationally-recognized English test, so I’ll have opportunities to teach English at all levels.

Photo by Greg W.

I’m looking forward to these challenges. Whether it’s becoming an efficient lesson planner, getting more comfortable in front of a classroom, or making sure the kids are learning a lot in an enjoyable environment, I have a lot to learn but I’m excited about the prospect of becoming an awesome teacher.