Hello and welcome back! Today I (Erin) had my first classes at a private kindergarten. These classes are still part of my contract with Aston, but are fulfilled in another location to fill extra hours. I got up nice and early to greet students as they arrived to the school at 8am. For the first half-hour my job was simply to stand in front of the school and say “Good morning” and “Give me a high five!” to kids as their parents dropped them off. I think the general idea was to impress parents that their children’s English classes would be taught by a real English-speaker. I was very happy with this arrangement, as it’s getting warmer and is much easier than running around a room with flashcards.
It should be known that this school is very swanky. Parents drive up in their BMWs, Audis and yes, even Hummers to drop their kids off. This status parade s is a car company’s dream, because it is clearly the size and price of a car that is most important. (The wealthiest also made sure 8’s were included on their license plates.) I find the contrast between the dirty, run-down look of houses, shops and restaurants with flashy, new, bright cars to be quite interesting. I guess a car is more personal and portable, and thus works better as a status symbol or representation of “face.” Also, I guess I am just more accustomed to homes being a major status symbol, so when you live in a country of over a billion and property is scarce, the appeal of a car is even greater. I had to laugh when I saw a suped-up VAN with rims and leather interior, because the whole point of owning such a car is that it’s just BIG. Unlike most of China, only one student arrived on the back of a bicycle. (Did I mention, parents do NOT get out of the car, a young teacher lifts their kid out of the seat and escorts them to class.)
The inside of the school was incredible; nicer than any building I have seen thus far in China. I have attached pictures, but it was decked out with couches, bright colors and very clean! It definitely made me question whether the “strict function” of things is really as important an ideal as the Chinese say, or whether money may change this equation. Either way, I respect a good combination of form and function! The classes were pretty standard, I taught 4: 1/2 hr sessions to groups of about 15-20 three to five year olds. One or two in each class were incredibly good at picking up the vocabulary, which was exciting. I think it’s fun teaching the little ones, but they are about done after 20 minutes…and so am I. There are only so many ways you can go over 5 vocabulary words.
There were also two other English-speaking teachers who were quite characters. I have heard that there is somewhat of a prejudice against Filipinos and gays in China, but these two men defied both odds! They have actually been living in China for 7 years and just recently came to Tangshan for work. They were extremely energetic and funny, and hopefully I will hear more of their story in the upcoming weeks.
One disappointing aspect of the school is that “We happy every day” is posted everywhere; it’s even built-in to the exterior of the school walls. Eddie told me that this could be due to the fact that the manager of the school is not a principal but a businessman who seems to value money more than a legitimate education. I just find it so counter-productive that these kids are trying to learn English in an environment that isn’t helping them do so. Learning English is already so complicated, but having wrong information literally posted all over schools (there have been similar signs in Aston, too) and teachers that are constantly saying and pronouncing really basic things incorrectly is really disheartening. I can deal with these mistakes on menus, in stores or anywhere really except an institution that is actually trying to teach a subject the correct way.
Lets see…you have been asking for pictures of the bikes and our dungeon of a bathroom, and I finally remembered to take both! Pictures of our city and apartment will be forthcoming. I wanted to give a shout-out to Jane, who skyped us on a whim last night, and it worked out! Also, to my extreme satisfaction, Joe Warren proved that reading our blog is not only entertaining but useful, as he used his newly gained knowledge about the Mandarin number 8 in trivia last night, go Joe! David and Eric also wanted me to mention that amazingly, David watched the Gtown basketball game LIVE last night on his computer. Shout out to technology!
As you may know, the Chinese celebrate Labor Day during the first week of May and National Day during the first week of October, which means that we will have at least a few additional days off from classes at that time. This also may mean that hotels and flights are more expensive, but could be a good time to visit!
I was very excited to find out today that there are TWO St. Baldrick’s events being hosted in Hong Kong this year! They are both in April and although I don’t think we will be able to take enough time off right now to make the events, I have started doing some research about getting involved with some more head shaving over here. (PS…check out www.stbaldricks.org if you haven’t already. My former co-worker Brooke Everhart will be going bald in Georgetown in one week, so please donate to her if you can: http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/participantid/374247) Also, St. Baldrick’s Charlottesville is still alive and kicking for its 5th year…and will host their event in 2 weeks: http://www.stbaldricks.org/events/mypage/eventid/3998/eventyear/2010)
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