School work

Well the in betweens I am sure you can imagine but suffice to say I have survived (only just) three days of teaching and I am convinced more than ever that this is not my vocation! I will Leave Mick to write his own saga for you regarding his fight about teaching Micro-Economics and Songs (KRTC would be welcome here I think).

For me it has been stressful but no doubt as I get into the swing of it I am sure it will improve. I have 7 classes of double periods - shock #1. I thought they were 40 mins long turns out they are all 1.5 hours long!

Each class has 50+ students in it -Shock #2. I was told there would be less than 40.
The classrooms have fixed double desks and very little spare room so there is little facility for moving around and organizing group activity.

All my pre thinking about the interesting subjects that we would be able to use to stimulate English oral work, and my visit to Heritage Canada to obtain books and info about Canada and lug the whole lot to China causing my overweight baggage, - you guessed it - Shock #3 There are textbooks (fortunately in English) which I must use, pretty boring and complicated. Lesson #1 - Discussion about the repercussions of passing students who should have failed. An American book no less!

Added to this are two classes of Reading - again with a less than exciting text!

It is fascinating working through this maze of misunderstandings and after the initial frustration it is quite funny and the reality is I can only do what I can do and I'll do my best so......

I ignored all this for my first class with each group and did Introductions. Their questions to me - from all classes - centred on :

Why did I ALLOW my daughter to firefight in the forest as it is dangerous and not for a girl? (Allow is not an issue for grown children)
Is my hair it's natural colour? (Yes like my mother's)
How to I appear so healthy and stay slim when I live in North America?(Exercise and sensible eating)
Am I a grandmother? (No)
Do I like Chinese food and can I cook it? (Yes and I am trying)
What do I think of China? (Very beautiful and more Western than I thought)
What are the differences between Canadian and Chinese students? (Canadian students are not glued to their seats and move around when asked to do so!!!!)

They let out a great Ohh when they discover I have three children.
They cannot believe that my parents are still active at 85 and 87.
They cannot understand that I do not eat meat..... and so it goes. It is interesting to say the least.

I am so glad that you all encouraged me to write this blog as it helps me to get things into perspective and realise just how fortunate I am and how many things are good here although I haven't focussed too much on that yet.

Mid week the weather SUDDENLY turned warm and we are already hot during the day (although our apt is still chilly).

The great thing this week that happened that we got our phone and we are now on Skype so hopefully when we get the times all sorted then we can connect more often. I even have a video on my Mac so perhaps we can show you around at least as far as the internet cord will stretch. I have downloaded World Clock Delux so that I can see what time it is in London and in Kelowna whenever I feel like calling you so I won't wake you in the middle of the night!!!!