I have had a lot of chances to do things with my students lately and thought I would share some of these adventures.
10 MAR
I had some more Chinese lessons from some of my students in the office. Relationships continue to build and am having more contact with them which is encouraging. Chinese is coming (kinda) but slow. I’m working on it.
11 MAR
Another one of my students has started teaching another teacher and myself Chinese history. She said she was bored and wanted to help people and asked how our Chinese was coming. It didn’t take long for her to figure out she could help us a lot and she decided to try her hand at teaching us some history. We went through the last 150 years and we will see how it goes.
12 MAR
I asked some of my students from last term if they would be interested in going out to eat sometime. They showed interested and I asked them lets pretend we set up a time such as Thursday night and we meet and go eat together. Fair enough, I thought it was straightforward. This happened on Monday, fast forward to Thursday. Some students came to me at lunch and asked if we were still eating together and where should they meet me. I chuckled a bit but agreed. I was hoping to eat with them but didn’t think that we had already set up a time but I am in China and things are always exciting and normally funny. We said to meet in the office after class. 12 students piled in, I did not have a clue how many to expect. By the time we were offcampus we had picked up another 5 to make a grand total of 18. I took them to a place the teachers normally visit once a month and when we rounded the corner I could see a server was standing on the second floor and saw me come around the corner…but this time with 17 students following me. Needless to say, her eyes became rather large and ran away to try and get some help. We had a great time and I am planning other meals with my other students. I have roughly 200 students this semester so I don’t think I will have a problem with keeping myself busy.
13 MAR
I got to play some ping pong after lunch downstairs in the basement/workout room. It is a funny place but there have to be about 30 ping pong tables. It is a funny sight. One of my students said they had a very difficult time finding tables in the US and wanted to know why I wasn’t terrible.
After business elective I got to eat with 3 of my old Olympic students. We went to a mall close by and got some noodles for dinner.
14 MAR
Had some fun relaxing with some basketball. I beat 4 of my guys in one on one. They are surprised that I can hang with them…I am pretty sure they think I am old and cant play anymore…which makes me wonder…anyways, I can hang with them and I am not old. That is the important part.
15 MAR
Meetings with my server friend continued. He picked a name this week: Willard. He chose it and liked it so I said its your name and you need to like it. Some of my students have great names so let me know if you ever want to know some funny names they choose for themselves.
16 MAR
I was able to work with a student clearing up some questions about business. We had a good time and were working on a paper and trying to explain equity some more. I also said something funny in class. “I ate a student on Thursday.” I didn’t mean to say I ate a student, I meant to say I ate with students. My English is rapidly declining and I don’t know why. I have found that the longer I am in China the worse it gets. I am working on Chinese but it is slow progress, but I knew it would be difficult. My students are very helpful and encouraging and compliment way too much because I know my Chinese is terrible. They tell me its good…but sometimes they slip and laugh a bit and smile really big when I say something. They are very willing to help and really respect any effort made to try to learn their language. We are trying. My advice is start a long time ago.
*no students were eaten…just so we are clear about that :)
I am doing very well and have truly been encouraged by opportunities to do things with students and am asking for more.
Caleb
