Don't carry a red handbag if you're traveling with a lot of monkeys, and other valuable lessons

Buckland school in Yangshuo

I just finished my one-week orientation at the Buckland School to prepare me for teaching in a small town in central China. On Monday, we're leaving for HuaiYa, a village approximately 100 km from Xi'an, of Terra Cotta Army fame. We've been to Xi'an before and liked it, and it will be good for Matthias to have such a large place nearby (2 hours by bus) and it will be a good place for us to go on weekends as well. I found the orientation to be very helpful, and I it prepared me sufficiently to teach a class of 80 students! But I suppose I'm as prepared as most of the others - many of whom are fresh out of college without any teaching experience. Then again, a lot of them took the trouble to learn some Mandarin before they came. That's something I have to work on.


Orientation

We learned a lot about Chinese culture and potential problems we might encounter, and I've poured over the blog of the guy who taught in HuaiYa last year (there is a link to his blog on the left.) Probably a little too much, in that I'm making myself crazy. And that's one thing NOT to do here - just have to let things happen. I've been told that my job is relatively low-stress - I'm just supposed to help students with their spoken English. NOT to teach new grammar, NOT to prepare them for exams...they have other teachers for that. I'm also going to be some sort of a 'public relations tool' for the school - basically there so that they can say: "we've got a foreign teacher!" Works for me. Hopefully I'll be able to help some of the students get more comfortable speaking English (most of them learn the mechanics of the language just to pass exams, helps them advance in school, but never really learn to speak. I remember that from High School Spanish!)


Just a few fellow teachers (and Buckland CEO) at dinner. Watch out China!

Enough speculation - I'll have more to write about my experience once once it actually starts. But so far I'm quite happy with Buckland, which runs a few English schools and recruits foreign teachers for public schools throughout the country. The orientation was comprehensive and somewhat exhausting - starting at 8:30 in the morning and ending at 9pm (with a 2 and a half hour break at lunch.) But that's how just about everyone works here, and the kids go to school for just about as many hours per day, too. We got practical tips from previous teachers, as well as some seemingly sound advice on what we should/should not do here (the red handbag and monkeys story was about someone who had his passport swiped by a monkey (they seem to like red things.) Oh, and Chinese people (particularly men) like to drink, and often have drinking "competitions" (I have already been asked: how much beer can you drink? Not that I have ever found my limit...)It's something to beware of when school officials or other teachers invite us out to dinner. Many toasts, lots of strong alcohol. I had better stick to beer (which is fortunately pretty weak here.)


Something stronger than Chinese beer

More photos are on the Picassa Web Album site. Next posting from HuaiYa!!