I have been at my
apartment for one week now. I have cleaned most of my apartment and gotten a
lot of the things I need, after three trips to Wal Mart. I’ve eaten with Mary in the student cafeteria
and the staff cafeteria every day. I
have relished all the free time this week, and I spent a lot of it Skyping with
other volunteers, watching movies and TV shows, and doing a some crafts. I have also spent some time getting ready to
teach next week, but at this point it’s hard to do very much because I have no
idea how good my students’ English will be.
I have brainstormed a list of topics that would be interesting to talk
about with my students. I pretty much
know what I will be doing with my students this first week.
In spite of it all I
still feel really unprepared. Throughout
these days, I have moments of uncertainty bordering on panic when I think of
having to teach and be in control of a bunch of students when I have basically
no experience. And when I say a bunch, I
mean a BUNCH: I am teaching 14 different groups of students and each will have
probably 50-60 students. That’s a little
mind-boggling, to say the least. There
is just so much uncertainty as to what my students will be like and what my
schedule outside the classroom will be like, and even what day exactly I start
teaching (I was told Monday but then I heard that freshmen don’t start until
Wednesday). I have heard many volunteers
talk about the last minute notice and changes that is typical of Chinese schools. Apparently even Chinese teachers feel
frustrated with this- it’s not just something that bothers the foreign
teachers.
Like I said before, I have found things to fill my time this week but I’m ready for the next thing. I haven’t felt lonely because I Skype with people and I eat with Mary. I haven’t felt bored because I have many things at my fingertips to occupy me. I haven’t felt in need of anything because I can find almost everything at local shops and at Wal Mart. I think the best way to describe how I feel right now is unfulfilled. I want to integrate and get to know the students but there are just so many that it’s kind of overwhelming. It’s hard also because I am not much older than them so sometimes I feel like a new student at the school, but I have to remind myself that they aren’t my peers. Mary says that once I get to know my students they will be very friendly and will often want to do stuff with me. But at this point I am just waiting for the semester to start. Then I will have my own students and I can get to know some of them. Once things get rolling I will probably feel happier and more at home.
Here are some pictures of the lovely countryside by my school and apartment.
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| This is rice. |
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| Rice again. I also thought it grew in water because that's what all the pictures show. There are so many rice fields like this in my area! |
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| Look at these cuties that I saw on my walk today!!! |
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| Ducklings!!! |
14 groups of students? 770 students? (if you calculate by 55) is that what you're saying?
ReplyDeleteYeah!!! You got it right. It's a ridiculous amount. It's because so many students need to take an English class with one of the foreign teachers, and there are only two of us!! So it will be very interesting. I will invite small groups to my apartment so I can get to know them and let them practice English. We will also have English corner for them to practice. I hope that will make things a little better.
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