2006-08-27

Teaching in Summer

I miss being a student, totally. This summer I got two teaching jobs; back to school but as an English teacher, I envied those who were just sitting there and listening. Yes, I miss the days of attending classes, taking notes, asking questions, working on assignments… Two years after the graduation, I start to miss the general feeling of studying a lot, absorbing new knowledge on various subjects every day, how wonderful that is!

Before this summer, I'd got quite a lot experience of one-on-one tutoring, but not much with big groups. Last November I was trying to become an English teacher, but it didn't work out the way I wanted, I quit before I even had a chance to meet any students. This time I was pretty lucky, I got two jobs easily, and both schools just threw me the text books and put me into the classroom. Though little pressure from the schools, without tough interviews or training or demo class presentation, I felt like I was not ready, I needed more time to prepare-- like improving my handwriting, reading grammar books, studying phonetics... But there's no time for anything, I got to know I was hired only a few days before the classes began; if I said no, I'd lose the opportunities and it'd be difficult to get other short-term jobs in summer. When I came back from Sri Lanka three months ago, I had a hard time finding jobs. I lost in touch with my old students and no luck of getting any new ones; I applied for many jobs over the internet but no replies either. I was getting tired of the situation that every time I come back from a trip I have to start all over again. In June I got seriously depressed, my weight dropped to 44kg and I constantly got a low grade fever. I thought I was sick, and the more I thought it that way, the weaker I felt. During that time I frequently went to hospital but there's actually nothing wrong with my body, it was more a psychological thing.

Working helped. The first job I worked in a primary school, my students are around 10, and they just started learning English. It's fun to be with kids, as well as writing on blackboard, correcting students' homework with a red pen, talking to them during the break... I felt a sense of achievement after one month's summer program, in the beginning they barely knew any English word, now they learned alphabet, numbers, greetings, colors... This class will be continued from September on every weekend, I'm looking forward to seeing these kids again. The second job was in Linhai, a small city three hours from Hangzhou. Even though I traveled a lot, it's my first time to work in another place. My students there are high school graduates who're going to universities next month. At first I was quite hesitant about accepting the job, these students are excellent, I was afraid my English is not good enough to be their teacher. But everything turned out to be fine, they liked my class and the boss even gave me a raise in the end and hoped I'd return next semester.

Now I'm back in Hangzhou. I enjoy the teaching experience this summer, and I made three times more money than I did last year when working in an English summer camp simply as a staff. That's a step forward for me, and I think it's time that I got paid a bit more. After last three months, I've saved enough money for another budget trip, but now I prefer working more and studying. Back to June I hated waking up in the morning, feeling empty and wondering how I could pass another long day. Now I finally feel myself again. Every morning lying on bed, I'm excited about what I'll be reading and studying today. Every night before I go to sleep, there's still plenty things I want to do, that's a good feeling, and that's me.

My Students:





2006-06-21

Lotus

My eye infection went worst last two weeks so I had to stop using computer for a while. After the rest I'm feeling better and from now on I'll be more careful with my eyes. Hangzhou gets really hot latly, the heat isn't comfortable but the strong sun brighten up the city and it's so green everywhere. And the lotus are blossoming around West Lake --










2006-06-01

''You're really scary!''

I'm still looking for more teaching jobs. Last week I was pretty lucky and earned 1100RMB; but this week is completely dead, so far there's only 50RMB income and two days ago I went to hospital because of eye infection, the medicine-- two tiny bottles of eyedrop took 70kuai away from me.

Most students pay me in cash after lessons, and then I'll put the money in my desk drawer. I like counting what I've saved, it definitely gives me a sense of accomplishment and makes me feel great about working. When I was a kid my family was doing some small business and my mom taught me how to count money professionally as the way they do in bank. Now I'm pretty proud of this skill and I like showing it off abroad. In some countries their currencies are really small, a huge pile of notes is probably just worth 10 dollars and everybody is millionaire. There I've got plenty of opportunities to count big amonut of money and many locals are impressed by how fast I am.

Someone left a harsh comment on my last entry in Chinese. Usually I don't justify what I write, yes sometimes I am inconsiderate, greedy and mean, but that's who I am and that's it. This is not a place to represent what a model citizen I am or how important Chinese values are. Anyway, I found the comment kinda amusing in an ironical way, here it goes(English version)--
Anonymous 10:26pm:
Once I liked reading your travelogue,
''She must be a knowledgeable and open-minded girl.'' I wondered.
But here, in 24/05's entry,
I only see a girl who wants to get her revenge at all costs.
All of a sudden you really frighten me.
Maybe that man is old,
Maybe he has his reasons,
But it's not necessary to expose his privacy like that.
You're really scary.
To me you're just like him,
Who's conceited for knowing some English and forgetting that you're Chinese.
Not to mention Chinese culture,
You don't even understand the meaning of ''respect''
In my eyes, you're both the same-- CHEAP
(I hope you can translate this comment into English, so the whole world will know how disgraceful you two are!)


OK, mission completed. Anonymous 10:26pm, I've translated the comment at your request. Oh did I ever mention ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' is one of my favorite books? And I think ''Kill Bill'' rocks. And I enjoy reading The Best Page in the Universe. But I don't think satire is your type, so please don't click that link, it's more scary than leylop!

2006-05-23

Liar, Liar

I got an email from a guy called Chris Lee--
Dear Laylop, (wrong spelling)
After reading your blog. I become very interested in Chinese culture and learning Chinese online form you Please let me know the price, availability and your method of teaching.

Thanks & best regards,
Chris

Well my readers probably know currently I'm looking for jobs and I always like teaching Chinese, so I spent half hour writing him back and explained everything about my online courses, hoping that he'll be interested in learning Chinese with me. For me teaching Chinese is easy and enjoyable, and I really need to have a bit more income. But after I sent out the message I noticed something strange, his email account(brothermoon0357@yahoo.com.cn) is at ''yahoo.com.cn'', which is Yahoo China site, and ''brothermoon0357'' looks very much like a Chinese person's email address. Out of curiosity, I googled it online, guess what I found?

Subject: Canton Fair Interpreter
Chris Lee Guang Zhou 2006-4-12
Dear Canton Fair Exhibitors & visitors,

I'm a 35 years old male chinese native freelance English interpreter, besides translation, I have also had many years of experience working in foreign companies. I also have work experience in many fields such as international trade,sourcing, Machanical engineering. I hope all of these could be helpful for your business. If you need such service during your exhibition in the coming Canton Fair. Please feel free to contact me at brothermoon0357@yahoo.com.cn


In Chris Lee's email, he said he becomes very interested in Chinese culture after reading my blog and also wants to learn Chinese with me, but it turned out he's actually a 35 years old Chinese man! I wrote back to Mr. Lee immediately--

Hi again,
I was just wondering how come your email address is ''yahoo.com.cn'', and I searched in google and found out this message--
''I'm a 35 years old male Chinese native freelance English interpreter...Please feel free to contact me at brothermoon0357@yahoo.com.cn..

Maybe it's a coincidence but you two happen to have the same email address! So does it mean you're actually a Chinese native? I have to say I'll be angry if you cheat me like that. If you want to know about my teaching methods, why don't you write to me and ask directly?? I would like to share my teaching experience with you. I like teaching languages and I feel proud more foreigners are learning Chinese. You don't need to pretend that you're a foreigner to get the information you want.


Mr. Lee, it seems you're also desperate for jobs at the moment. You said you've got many years of experience working in foreign companies, international trade... But I seriously doubt your integrity which would be very important in business, and I would never consider hiring you as my interpreter. You haven't replied my email and probably never will. If you're still reading my blog, I'm sorry to inform you that you might need to change your email address(Chris Lee:brothermoon0357@yahoo.com.cn). Because from now on every time somebody googles you, this post will appear, and it won't do any good to your reputation. That's my little revenge.

2006-05-21

South India Pictures

I finished editing the last album of this trip. So now all the pictures are here: South India, Sri Lanka and Hampi (town name). I like organising photos, those vivid images remind me so much of my travels. The photos might seem beautiful or exciting, the life on the road isn't always pleasant. This trip I was quite unsatisfied with the food. South Indian food is very spicy, I felt like I couldn't taste anything but spices. And I don't like coriander which is used a lot in Indian cooking. In Sri Lanka their main food is rice and curry. I like the taste of Sri Lanka curry, but most of cheap local restaurants and home-stays only have vegetarian food and not much variety. One month in Sri Lanka I pretty much lived on beans, potatoes and lentils. Chinese food is what I miss most every time I travel, now I'm very happy about being home again and I can eat as much as I want!













More South India Pictures Click Here