I've been looking forward to this day since October! I'm very excited and can't put it to words! I've decided to let the venerable Mr. Spock do the talking for me.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Semester 1 is finished!
It is with great joy and happiness that I write this post, for today is the Friday that brings with it one month of glorious holidays. I have just completed 95 working days as a full-on kindergarten teacher. It's been the toughest job I've had so far for sure. Luckily, I have turned out to be a pretty good teacher. If I was a worse teacher things would have been a lot worse!
I've been looking forward to this day since October! I'm very excited and can't put it to words! I've decided to let the venerable Mr. Spock do the talking for me.
I've been looking forward to this day since October! I'm very excited and can't put it to words! I've decided to let the venerable Mr. Spock do the talking for me.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Lack of male teachers in kindergartens a worry
On the weekends I usually read the China Daily, the country's national English newspaper. It's an OK read since I understand it, but I find it a bit fluffy as it's too full of feel-good stories about people returning large sums of lost money to rightful owners, or families being reunited. One small snippet in the ChinaScene column on page 3 attracted me though. Here it is:
Lack of male teachers in kindergartens a worry.
The grandmother and mother of Qiang Quiang, a boy in Hefei, Anhui province, have visited almost all the kindergartens in the city, but have not found any suitable for the child - because non had male teachers.
Qiang Qiang's father is reportedly working outside Hefei and the boy stays at home with his mom and grandma.
The women fear the child would become too feminine without any male contact and have been searching for a kindergarten with male teachers to make him more masculine.
An official at the Hefei teacher's college said the lack of male teachers is a "national problem".
Onee male teaching graduate told reporters he and his classmates would not work in kindergartens as long as the salaries remain low.
Maybe I should try and renegotiate my contract for the second semester, since it looks like I'm a commodity!
Lack of male teachers in kindergartens a worry.
The grandmother and mother of Qiang Quiang, a boy in Hefei, Anhui province, have visited almost all the kindergartens in the city, but have not found any suitable for the child - because non had male teachers.
Qiang Qiang's father is reportedly working outside Hefei and the boy stays at home with his mom and grandma.
The women fear the child would become too feminine without any male contact and have been searching for a kindergarten with male teachers to make him more masculine.
An official at the Hefei teacher's college said the lack of male teachers is a "national problem".
Onee male teaching graduate told reporters he and his classmates would not work in kindergartens as long as the salaries remain low.
Maybe I should try and renegotiate my contract for the second semester, since it looks like I'm a commodity!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Hokey Pokey
I sing Hokey Pokey with my kids, and I'd say it's their favourite song. They love putting their left hand in, taking it out, and shaking it all about! I never thought children could get so stoked about songs, but these 3 year olds squeal with joy whenever we sing Hokey Pokey. So, it was with special interest that I read the following, sent to me by Heather:
Sad News
With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the
moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very
important person, which almost went unnoticed last week.
Larry LaPrise, the man that wrote "The Hokie Pokey" died
peacefully at the age of 93. The most traumatic part for his
family was getting him into the coffin. They put his left
leg in - and then the trouble started.
It doesn't matter who you are...that's funny!
Sad News
With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the
moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very
important person, which almost went unnoticed last week.
Larry LaPrise, the man that wrote "The Hokie Pokey" died
peacefully at the age of 93. The most traumatic part for his
family was getting him into the coffin. They put his left
leg in - and then the trouble started.
It doesn't matter who you are...that's funny!
Monday, January 7, 2008
Slow News Day
So, it's a slow news day here at jvd.evenflow. Well, not really. I just haven't been in a writing mood. I'm slugging through the last few weeks of school until a month of glorious, well earned holidays.
I was going to do report cards today, but I guess I'll do them tomorrow. They're due the next day. I never thought I'd be doing report cards when I came to China. This job doesn't seem like your average "teaching English in Asia" job... I thought I'd just swoop in, teach some words, and leave. I've been given much more responsibility than that. Participating in parent/teacher home visits, planning crafts and science lessons, teaching the kids to count and read...it's been good, but difficult since I have no formal training in education. (Don't tell that to the parents and the other teachers. Apparently everyone thinks I have TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages?) because the woman that hired me off the street has told them that.) Oh well.
Anyway, here's a funny picture that I'm going to post for no reason.
Have a good Tuesday.
Clickity to see bigger size.
fukung.net
I was going to do report cards today, but I guess I'll do them tomorrow. They're due the next day. I never thought I'd be doing report cards when I came to China. This job doesn't seem like your average "teaching English in Asia" job... I thought I'd just swoop in, teach some words, and leave. I've been given much more responsibility than that. Participating in parent/teacher home visits, planning crafts and science lessons, teaching the kids to count and read...it's been good, but difficult since I have no formal training in education. (Don't tell that to the parents and the other teachers. Apparently everyone thinks I have TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages?) because the woman that hired me off the street has told them that.) Oh well.
Anyway, here's a funny picture that I'm going to post for no reason.
Have a good Tuesday.
Clickity to see bigger size.
fukung.net
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
I love Chinese cell phone users.
I wonder what people in China would do if a solar flare suddenly knocked out all cell phone service. Wait! I don't know what they'll do, but I have a good idea what they won't be doing:
Parents won't be answering their cell phones while participating in parent day in the classroom.
Teachers won't answer their phones and text while I'm teaching in their classrooms.
Teachers won't answer their phones and text while they're teaching in their classrooms.
Teachers won't talk on their phones in the middle of parent-teacher home visits.
Bus passengers won't yell into their phones like they're talking to someone across the street.
Bicyclists won't be flapping into their phones as they absentmindedly ride at 5 km/h in front of a ten tonne bus going 30 km/h.
People will no longer set their ring volumes to a level a few decibels lower than Rolls-Royce Trent 700 aircraft engines.
Girlfriends won't talk to their friends for an hour while they're on a date in a nice restaurant. Boyfriends will no longer have to feign interest in said restaurant's interior design.
Girls won't be able to use their phone's video camera to apply make-up.
Phones will no longer be worn around the neck like gaudy jewelry.
China Mobile would no longer have to maintain the cell stations installed along the entire Guangzhou subway system.
People won't use their phones as scratchy portable stereos, allowing everyone around to enjoy their music choices.
I will no longer be tempted to steal all these people's phones and hurl them into fountains, rivers, or into the path of 50 stampeding elephants.
Parents won't be answering their cell phones while participating in parent day in the classroom.
Teachers won't answer their phones and text while I'm teaching in their classrooms.
Teachers won't answer their phones and text while they're teaching in their classrooms.
Teachers won't talk on their phones in the middle of parent-teacher home visits.
Bus passengers won't yell into their phones like they're talking to someone across the street.
Bicyclists won't be flapping into their phones as they absentmindedly ride at 5 km/h in front of a ten tonne bus going 30 km/h.
People will no longer set their ring volumes to a level a few decibels lower than Rolls-Royce Trent 700 aircraft engines.
Girlfriends won't talk to their friends for an hour while they're on a date in a nice restaurant. Boyfriends will no longer have to feign interest in said restaurant's interior design.
Girls won't be able to use their phone's video camera to apply make-up.
Phones will no longer be worn around the neck like gaudy jewelry.
China Mobile would no longer have to maintain the cell stations installed along the entire Guangzhou subway system.
People won't use their phones as scratchy portable stereos, allowing everyone around to enjoy their music choices.
I will no longer be tempted to steal all these people's phones and hurl them into fountains, rivers, or into the path of 50 stampeding elephants.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Hong Kong 2.0
Carol and I went to Hong Kong a couple of weekends ago. You can read about our reasons for going and about my train ticket fiasco here.
We arrived in Hong Kong at about 10:30 or 11 in the morning. Our plan was to visit the world's biggest bronze, seated in a lotus flower, outdoor Buddha. I wonder where the bigger indoor, standing, non-bronze Buddha is?
The Buddha is at the Po Lin Monastery, on Lantau Island. To give you an idea where it is, Hong Kong's newish airport is built on reclaimed land off the north coast of Lantau Island. Big Buddha is 26 meters high, weighs 220 tonnes, and took ten years to make. It's roughly in the middle of the Island.
To get there from the train station, we got on the subway, made a transfer, and rode to the end of the line. From there, there are usually two ways to get to the Po Lin Monastery. You can take the Nong Ping 360 Cable Car (very similar to the Blackcomb Excalibur gondola, or the one at Mont-Sainte-Anne) or you can take a bus. Lantau Island has a few bus routes, but no subway. We only had one option though, because back in June, one of the gondola cabins on the Nong Ping 360 fell off. Luckily it was after operating hours. Recent reports indicate that children will be invited to participate in trial runs of the repaired gondola system. Hide your children everyone!
The bus ride was about 50 minutes long, and took us through the beautiful Lantau Island countryside. It was a very nice change from downtown Hong Kong. There were beaches, little houses, fewer people, and lots of nature.
We got to Big Buddha, and it was a gong show! There were people everywhere! There were 300 steps leading up to the Big Buddha, and both the up lane and the down lane were packed. It was really hot and hazy that day too, and I began to get a headache. The crowdedness, haziness, and the hotness made me grumpy!
(Remember, if you want to see the original,enlarged version of the picture,click on it and the picture will open in a new window.)
Carol fared better than I, and enjoyed posing with the big guy.
The landscape surrounding the Big Buddha was my favourite part. There were steep hills with a few pagodas emerging through the trees, paths zig-zagging up, down, and across the mountains, and nary a tall building to be seen.
After seeing the Big Buddha we paid for and ate a special vegetarian meal at the Monastery. We thought this meal was a requirement for seeing Big Buddha, but right beside the restaurant there was a cafeteria that served similar looking food for a whole lot cheaper. Oh well...the meal was good. As you can see, I have a deft touch with my chopsticks. If given a bowl of peanuts, I would tuck into it no problem, eating them all with confidence. I'm pretty happy about that.
After we ate, we took a walk along the Wisdom Path, a sidewalk that wound through the woods. It was definitely my favourite part of the day. There were birds in the trees, hikers heading out or coming back from a day in the mountains, people relaxing, and it was great. I even saw a mountain biker walking his bike. It was great...I would have rather walked on a dirt path instead of the concrete swath, but I was happy anyway! I hadn't been in the woods or anything close to nature since the beginning of October. Since then, it's been all classrooms, buses, streets, smog, subways, taxis, and the odd patch of grass you're not allowed to walk on. So this path through the woods was great! It was also very cool in the shade, and my headache went away.
Carol and I explored the path, and after about half an hour decided to head back and take the bus back to the subway line. Even though the excursion had started with me being in a foul mood, it ended with me being relaxed and happy. We got on the subway, and headed back to the city to figure out our lodgings for the night.
Stay tuned for Hong Kong 3.0.
We arrived in Hong Kong at about 10:30 or 11 in the morning. Our plan was to visit the world's biggest bronze, seated in a lotus flower, outdoor Buddha. I wonder where the bigger indoor, standing, non-bronze Buddha is?
The Buddha is at the Po Lin Monastery, on Lantau Island. To give you an idea where it is, Hong Kong's newish airport is built on reclaimed land off the north coast of Lantau Island. Big Buddha is 26 meters high, weighs 220 tonnes, and took ten years to make. It's roughly in the middle of the Island.
To get there from the train station, we got on the subway, made a transfer, and rode to the end of the line. From there, there are usually two ways to get to the Po Lin Monastery. You can take the Nong Ping 360 Cable Car (very similar to the Blackcomb Excalibur gondola, or the one at Mont-Sainte-Anne) or you can take a bus. Lantau Island has a few bus routes, but no subway. We only had one option though, because back in June, one of the gondola cabins on the Nong Ping 360 fell off. Luckily it was after operating hours. Recent reports indicate that children will be invited to participate in trial runs of the repaired gondola system. Hide your children everyone!
The bus ride was about 50 minutes long, and took us through the beautiful Lantau Island countryside. It was a very nice change from downtown Hong Kong. There were beaches, little houses, fewer people, and lots of nature.
We got to Big Buddha, and it was a gong show! There were people everywhere! There were 300 steps leading up to the Big Buddha, and both the up lane and the down lane were packed. It was really hot and hazy that day too, and I began to get a headache. The crowdedness, haziness, and the hotness made me grumpy!
(Remember, if you want to see the original,enlarged version of the picture,click on it and the picture will open in a new window.)
Carol fared better than I, and enjoyed posing with the big guy.
The landscape surrounding the Big Buddha was my favourite part. There were steep hills with a few pagodas emerging through the trees, paths zig-zagging up, down, and across the mountains, and nary a tall building to be seen.
After seeing the Big Buddha we paid for and ate a special vegetarian meal at the Monastery. We thought this meal was a requirement for seeing Big Buddha, but right beside the restaurant there was a cafeteria that served similar looking food for a whole lot cheaper. Oh well...the meal was good. As you can see, I have a deft touch with my chopsticks. If given a bowl of peanuts, I would tuck into it no problem, eating them all with confidence. I'm pretty happy about that.
After we ate, we took a walk along the Wisdom Path, a sidewalk that wound through the woods. It was definitely my favourite part of the day. There were birds in the trees, hikers heading out or coming back from a day in the mountains, people relaxing, and it was great. I even saw a mountain biker walking his bike. It was great...I would have rather walked on a dirt path instead of the concrete swath, but I was happy anyway! I hadn't been in the woods or anything close to nature since the beginning of October. Since then, it's been all classrooms, buses, streets, smog, subways, taxis, and the odd patch of grass you're not allowed to walk on. So this path through the woods was great! It was also very cool in the shade, and my headache went away.
Carol and I explored the path, and after about half an hour decided to head back and take the bus back to the subway line. Even though the excursion had started with me being in a foul mood, it ended with me being relaxed and happy. We got on the subway, and headed back to the city to figure out our lodgings for the night.
Stay tuned for Hong Kong 3.0.
New method of posting pics
So, I'm testing a new method of posting pics on this blog. The photo publisher I usually use takes forever. So, this picture is a test to see if my new way works, and if I'm happy with the way it sits on the page.
This picture is one my friend Dave took in Whister. He found a secret trail that you have to either hike up from the bottom, or cut through someone's backyard to get to. Either way, it was worth it!
This pic was taken two biking seasons ago. The drop I'm about to hit has now been tamed. A wood plank has been put in, so you can roll it if you want. I'm glad I did it when it was tougher.
edit: It's huge! But I think I'll leave it since I like this pic and it reminds me of biking. I think I'll stick to the other way of posting pics in the future though.
This picture is one my friend Dave took in Whister. He found a secret trail that you have to either hike up from the bottom, or cut through someone's backyard to get to. Either way, it was worth it!
This pic was taken two biking seasons ago. The drop I'm about to hit has now been tamed. A wood plank has been put in, so you can roll it if you want. I'm glad I did it when it was tougher.
edit: It's huge! But I think I'll leave it since I like this pic and it reminds me of biking. I think I'll stick to the other way of posting pics in the future though.
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