Monday was my first day of teaching and I got up early because school starts at 8:00 and runs until 5:30 each day. At each entrance are guards to ensure student safety and as I walked through the gate the guard used some kind of hand-held scanning device to scan the retinas of my eyes, like scanning fingerprints.
The foreign teachers have an office and we each have a desk there. When I got there I met with Jeannie Ivanov from the UK, who is teaching Grade 3 like me. We sat down to discuss the expectations and how we were going to achieve them. I am going to teach eight groups of Grade 3′s with 16 students in each group, three times a week, which amounts to 24 classes or sixteen hours a week. I teach about five classes a day except on Friday when I teach three and I ‘m finished by 3:00. I’m glad I live near the school so when I’m not teaching I can go there.
My first day back was hectic like all first days of school, and I taught five different groups. The homeroom teacher comes with the class to help and that makes it much easier especially with language. Sometimes I ask them to explain something in Mandarin if I think the children don’t understand.
The children are very friendly and working with a small group also helps but Chinese children are like children everywhere, they like to play and talk to their friends, even when the teaching is talking!
While I was at school Paul went walking and exploring the area nearby, and found a small grocery store about 15 minutes away, where we can buy things like fruit and shampoo. On Tuesday we walked there to buy some things we needed. The items are meant for the local market and we tried to figure out what they were. Most of the things are cheap but the few Western products we saw such as Pepi and Lays chips are expensive. We spotted a Snickers bar and bought it as a treat. It cost 80 cents and was worth every penny! We hadn’t had sweets since the mocha ice cream on Sunday.
Part of the school
Taken from the hotel window
Next to the hotel
Hi
It sounds like your settling in . What a culture change for you both. I love reading your blog.
Not much happening here at home. Our weather is very nice …sunny and warm !!!!
Maybe we are finally getting some sort of summer.
Roz
Hi Roz,
Great to read your comments. I’m glad you are enjoying the blog.
The weather is nice – cool in the morning and warm in the afternoon. Beijing has four seasons like Canada.