Thanksgiving, Midterm Exams and Planning Trips

The other day while I was writing my lesson plans for my classes I asked a fellow teacher what the date was, to my surprise, he said it was December 1st.  I couldn't believe that I had already been in China for 3 months! On the one hand, I felt as if I had just arrived here, but on the other I felt as though I'd been here for a lot longer. I've been out of the US for over 4 months now, its really hard to believe sometimes.  Cambodia seems so far away now in my mind, but I do miss it also.  Halloween and Thanksgiving have already flown by and now Christmas is just a few weeks away.  It's nice having other foreigners around because they like to celebrate the holidays together so you don't feel so alone or homesick.  We will be doing Secret Santa for Christmas and I will be baking more cake! 

Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in China, is really only celebrated in the US, but since it is a Western holiday my school celebrates it.  As I am the only American in my school I was asked what Thanksgiving was all about and what to do for activities for the kids; I told them I would think about it. When I was in school the only things I could remember doing for Thanksgiving was making Indian hats and making turkeys out of our handprints.  So my school did a turkey decorating contest, which was sort of cool because you could tell for the younger kids when the parents did most of the work.

Midterm Exams were taken last week and this week.  I was so worried about my students ability to pass their exams and that it would be my fault that they failed.  It turned out that the majority of my students got very decent grades, even the ones who never did very well in class.  My school, as I am constantly reminded, is a business so most of the students will pass whether they deserve to or not.  It really sucks to hear this because you know that some of the students shouldn't be moving forward because they don't have the knowledge, yet.  Each student has a passport (grade book) which has about 11 categories in it, which the student is graded 2x before the midterm exam (each is out of 5 points), then you add those together and that is their overall assessment.  You add their overall assessment to their midterm exam grade and that is their grade for the 1st term.  You also have to write their strengths and areas to improve and exam comments on the next page.  These passports are very time consuming.

It's very easy to teach the younger kids, although you use up a lot more energy at times and if they are all in a bad mood then it makes the class a lot longer.  But it is becoming harder to teach the higher level classes, most of the time I learn the material a week before class, trying to remember that grammar point being taught to me back while I was in school, which wasn't always taught to me.  Some of the grammar I just know because I've used it before, but others I have to re-teach myself.  C8, one of my higher level classes, is very difficult to teach without a teacher to help me translate the grammar point, as it is hard to explain in English let alone explain it t kids who don't speak English very well.  It's challenging every week, but I believe it has helped me improve my English.

I plan to go to Beijing in February during the Spring Festival (we know it as the New Years festival).  What's cooler about China's New Year's is that they have 7 days off where they just drink, party and shoot fireworks (morning, afternoon, and night).  I will be staying with a friend, who is studying to become a doctor.  He is from Australia and he is very nice and willing to take me around Beijing for the week.  I will be traveling there by train for 14 hours I believe, which is a long train ride, so I will be getting a Soft Bed (which means it's a room where there are two bunk beds which you share with others but there is a door you can close so it's more private then the Hard Bed where there are no doors).  I will be traveling with a friend that I teach with so we will get beds in the same room, we will also be traveling back together.  While I am in Beijing I will also be doing some interviews to see if there are any jobs available for me in August.  I do love the city I am in now, but I think I want to experience a different part of China and see what it has to offer me.