finally

though i have been going to work for three days now I finally got to step in front of the classroom again today. It has been a really long time since I got to be in front of a class and I must confess that I still really enjoy it. I was a substitute teacher today for a teacher that was gone yesterday as well and thus the students have fallen behind. I got them caught up some and managed to have a lot of fun in the process. It is kind of odd being in front of a class of 25 boys that are all 18-19 years old. I actually had one of them ask why my father didnt buy me a car. Why did i need a taxi. So bizarre the ideas and entitlement that people have. I think the job itself will be fine the students seem excited, eager and energetic. It wont be a problem getting the to talk as it sometimes was in China. other than that life is fairly routine with the glaring exception being that I have to work on sunday. I get two days off in a row they just fall on thursday and friday. So my weekend is full of no football, no highlights just call to prayer. I will live but it would be nice to go to a bar and have a cold one and check out the big screen.

class

I have one group of students that, let me take that back. It is flabbergasting the difference in students and expectations that students in the US and china face. While most students here will tell you that they study very hard and have no free time, I have made an informal questionnaire of students and found that almost none of my students work and go to school at the same time. I am amazed by this. It was so common for students in the US to hold a job at the same time as going to school. And it isnt as if the requirements here in china are so much greater than those of college students in america. If anything I would say the students here are more pampered, walked through and hand held. Let me give you an example. We all remember our college right? Ok I only remember some of it but that is another story. Well in college the students are responsible for making certain that all requirements for matriculation are met. If there are questions then the student must seek the counselors to answer them. Here in china the students are given their schedules complete. Told when and where classes will be, told what electives they will take. Everything is done for them, in no way do they take responsibility for their educational experience. Another example, I didnt fail any of the classes while in my college nor did I pass/fail them. But here there is no pass/fail option for the students. If they fail the entire semester they are given a make-up exam to try again. In the school I worked at before this make-up exam was never graded never looked at by any teacher, never, never, never. I was asked at that school to administer some make-up oral english exams and I was told not to grade lower than a 60 so all students passed. Show up and be told what classes you will take, dont learn, dont work and in four years there it is your college educated. I just dont get how this is good for the country and for the world. I actually expect my students to learn to show me they can think and they freak out. They act like it is the first time in their life they have had to do that, and perhaps it is. I just wonder what it is that the students think they will find once they get out of school. I am not saying that all the classes I took in college were tough and some certainly were shit and could be walked through but even in the easy ones I had to think critically about the topic. I guess it is like they say, different folks college hoax.

the power and the glory

I have it all now. I have had another lazy day and still managed to get many things done. Planned almost all my lessons, did the laundry, made banana bread, and went for a run. If I were any more productive it would hurt. Though I do have a bit left still but I have all day tomorrow to do that. If I get a chance I will invite the french student and the turkish one to a game of soccer. It could be a good time. I havent played in a really long time and I want to get out there and kick a ball around. With the weather being so nice it is hard to stay indoors and work, lucky for me this week I get to spend a rather good deal of the time explaining basic concepts like citation for papers and how to do a presentation. I know it sounds like the simplest of tasks but if one has never been taught how to do it I can understand why it would seem difficult. Now my only choice left for the day is one beer with dinner or three?

party

I made it through another week at the old job. It seems that the days go by so fast now. It is already the 6th week of the semester and I only have 10 more weeks of work then I am done. I feel like some of the classes have been good and productive and the students have learned somethings from me but the class I teach about reading is really hard to judge if they are getting it. I know they are college students and they should be responsible for their own learning and it isnt the job of the teachers to care if they pass or not (my teachers never cared) but still it is nice to know that you are doing your job well. The house has come along nicely all unpacked and settled in. I was wanting to go back this weekend to my old town to see some friends and celebrate but with mid term exams and grading and planning it isnt going to happen which bums me out. Perhaps after the mid terms I can find a weekend to go visit. Other than that I am deciding if I want to go meet some friends out tonight for a drink and if I do where should we go?

T T T oh my

The teachers class that I have to teach here at the school is really quite interesting. Today I started with a topic on the death penalty and asking about why have it so on. The conversation was going well until....there is little room in china for individual thought and less room for a devils advocate. Not that I advocate the devil(I know him hes an ass) but I actually had on of the teachers tell me in a none too subtle way that "most of us here are party members" I informed her that I was aware of that and though they were party members I was still interested in what they thought. The party can tell you many things but can they tell you how to think, I inquired. That didnt go over too well. I may be reading too much into it but, right now I am a bit concerned. If suddenly this blog stops being posted or disappears send help fast. I am just kidding. Dont send help, I can take care of it. Anyways the rest of it was them trying desperately to set up a "the United States is not perfect so blah blah blah" and I find that the best way to stop that nonsense is to tell the that first. Somehow the people I meet have gotten it into their heads that we americans believe that our government is infallible. I tell them straight up some of the things I think were wrong and that those things need changed. It freaks them out because if I can admit the wrongness of my country why cant they? You can see their brains trying to process it. We ended up talking about some more safe topics. But the safe topics are boring. Who really cares about TV? Or the movies? thats shit I dont even do at cocktail parties with people I kind of like . Why have small talk for an hour every week when it is a chance to explore the vast chasm that divides our ability to see the world through each others eyes. Some people will never get it i think. It is a shame though, because I miss out on an opportunity to learn from them. Ah well if they want safe and easy I can do that too.The Ts are T aiwan T ibet And of course T ienanmen not allowed to talk about them.

making paper

As the new school year approaches and I prepare to start teaching a new set of subjects I have a new and daunting task in front of me. The school when it hired me told me that I would be teaching Intro to Western Civilization. That was cool as it was my major in college and teaching history is something I actually really enjoy. Now when I got here they told me that there was no book for the course and that I would need to consolidate some other books into one book for teaching. Crazy people. I now have six american college textbooks that I need to read, organize, get copied and prepared to teach. I have no idea what level the english is of the students, I have no idea what they have learned in their high schools, I have no idea what the chinese standards for college students is. I have no idea. I am doing it anyways trying to make a 15 week course that would interest me if I were a student while touching on the main themes that helped to shape and define what western civilization is all about.