Second Week continued

As I've had trouble getting that wifi hotspot I have been keeping an offline journal. If you are interested here was the rest of the week in review.

Wednesday 27th August 2008
I taught 5 lessons today each at 1 hour a pop. I’ve never taught 5 hours in one day. Fortunately the classes kinda wrote themselves and I was given a basic lesson outline by the other native teacher for each class so lesson planning wasn’t too bad. My voice however was another story. I tend to shout a lot in class not as in get angry just shout to be heard. So by the start of lesson 5 my voice was faltering, but the middle I was spluttering out words and by the end my throat was raw. I also discovered today that Amy and her family have actually gone to Taipei….this was never mentioned to me, not that it matters much but it is nice to know.

So far I have one class tomorrow. Whether I will get more later I dunno, I can totally live with 1 class.

Thursday 28th August 2008
I borrowed a bike from work yesterday. So today I left for work an hour early and rode around exploring more of the town. It really is a lot bigger than I imagined. I stumbled across the visitor centre and thought it would be a great opportunity to learn what is around…I figured they should be able to speak a little English. I figured wrong. Once again I spent a good couple of minutes trying to explain that I was just interested in a map of the town. I pulled out the phrasebook and just pointed at various words. In the end I got a few maps and some brochures about places of interest. Very little of it is in English.

I ended up teaching 3 classes, they were pretty easy for the most part some actually too easy I got through the material too fast. I’m still not really sure what I’m meant to be doing in the office when I’m not teaching or preparing lessons. The other teachers and always doing stuff and I just sort of sit around, occasionally I’ll help an individual student with their work but mostly I just sit around doodling and waiting for the next class. I’m sure there is more I’m meant to do but as I still don’t think I’m getting paid for office hours I’m not about to create more work for myself. So instead I sit around using the teaching books in reverse to teach myself how to write Chinese characters.

After work today I went back to the music store to try and get some more music. I got to talking with the owner, Brian who is just a wealth of information. He’s also a wealth of language as he speaks Mandarin, Taiwanese, Japanese, French and English. I also met one of his daughters. One of his friends came along and he invited me to go eat with them. I wasn’t really hungry as I’ve yet to really experience much Taiwanese food (as I don’t know what to order) I decided to tag. The food was delicious. As I couldn’t read the menu Brian ordered for me and I ended up with a kind of seafood soup. Very tasty but very filling. Brian told me that there is a Canadian girl around this area who also teaches English. I’ll have to keep an eye out for her as I would love to know how another foreign teacher deals with the huge language barrier.

After all that Brian didn’t have the cd I was after however we exchanged numbers. He told me I should take some kind of tour this weekend. The brochures have some great places that look really interesting so maybe I will have to try and check at least 1 out. I have between today and Saturday to try and decipher the map and figure out which attraction to go see. Unfortunately while there are times when my wifi connects in the apartment there is also a lot of down time. So once again I’m writing this not know when it will actually be posted.

Oh I found another temple today. Actually I stumbled upon it the other day and didn’t have a camera so today while I was riding around I found it again and this time managed to photograph it. Apparently it is quite historical. It even has signs in English. I also stumbled upon what looked like a Christian church. At least if I ever want to save my soul I’ll have lots of choice as to where to start.

Friday 29th August
Not much to report. I had 3 classes today, one was preparation for the GPAs or something along that line it is a major English test composed of reading writing and oral. I was helping with the oral component. Essentially there are 3 parts of this component. Firstly they need to listen and repeat. Then they have 1 minute to read about 7 sentences before saying them aloud. Then they have 7 or 8 questions they need to hear and answer orally. There were 5 students in the class all teenagers.

The other classes were pretty easy although one got a bit out of control. It’s hard because I need to keep the kids energized and excited but I can’t let them get out of control. I know there is a balance just sometimes I am damned if I can find it.

I have a 9am start tomorrow after a 10 pm finish tonight. Needless to say the most I’m doing tonight is going to the supermarket to stock up on bread and milk. Not the most exciting but eh.

The wifi connection I used in my house seems to have gone poof, at least for the most part the signal is too weak to hold if it manages to find it at all so once again I’m back to square one until my paperwork comes through. I have Sunday and Monday off and no idea what to do. I’m going to try and borrow a bike so at least I can explore more of the town. One teacher lives nearby so maybe I could meet up with her on Sunday but we’ll see. I don’t like imposing myself on others although when I get desperate I do.

At this stage I see myself spending every other weekend in Taichung just because at least there I know someone who wants to hang out with me. Also apparently people in JhuShan speak mostly Taiwanese which is different to Mandarin where as in Taichung the majority of people speak Mandarin or at least more than in JhuShan so if I want to learn Mandarin it’s probably better I spend some time in Taichung.

I got told today that I need to smile more in class and not be so serious. I also need to slow down even more. Honestly if I slowed down even more I think I’d be a tortoise but eh. I told them my concerns or my limitations and they seemed to accept them as valid, unfortunately I forgot to mention my severe lack of access to new teaching material due to the fact I’m not allowed to access the internet which honestly was always my saving grace when doing my practice teaching back home. There’s only so much I can get from the few books I brought with me. Next time I’ll have to bring that up.

Other than that everything is fine. I’m much better at navigating around town (although I’m still careful to note different landmarks in case I need to retrace my footsteps). I even have a map of the town…..of course it is all in Chinese but eh it’s a start.

Anyway I need to go shower before indulging in my new fascination….Grey’s Anatomy (in all fairness it’s the only English speaking show I know that broadcasts here free to air apart from the English teaching shows which I can only watch so many of).

Saturday 30th August
Today I got told my 'training' was about to finish and come next week I would have my own schedule. It doesn't seem much different to my past schedule only this time I at least know in advance when I'm teaching which is a nice change. Hopefully that also means I can have more time to prepare my classes. In theory at least that is how it will work.
I taught 4 classes today with the teachers Taiwanese teachers sitting in for some parts. They went ok, not brilliant but ok. One of the classes was GEPT prep again although this time it was vocab and listening. The class was also a lot bigger with about 20 students in total.
I have now claimed a bicycle as my own. Amy wanted me to borrow the scooter for the weekend instead but I'm still not confident enough on the roads to use a scooter.
After finding a wifi hotspot earlier in the week and losing it I've been sulking so today after work I wandered around the room with the laptop trying to find the hotspot again. It turns out it is on the window ledge so that is where I sit now. I actually really like this spot it is a perfect reading spot as I can look out onto the street below, and now it is a perfect computer spot heh. Hopefully this time it won't disappear.

I still don't know what I'm going to do with myself for 2 days in Jhushan but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Oh if you are interested my teaching schedule from now on looks like this: (although it may alter depending on how everything works)

Tuesday: (Office hours 2-9.30pm) Teaching hours: 5.30pm - 6.30 pm; 7pm-8pm; 8pm-9pm
Wednesday (Office hours 1-9pm) Teaching hours: 2-3pm, 4-5pm, 6.30-7.30pm; 8-9pm
Thursday (OH 2-9.30pm) TH: 4-5; 5.30-6.30; 7-8pm
Friday (OH 2-9.30pm) TH: 5-6pm, 6.10-7.10pm
Saturday (OH 9am-5pm) TH 10-11; 11-12.30; 1.30-2.30; 2.30-3.30; 3.30-4.30pm

I think I’m likely to die after Saturday.

Saturday mornings are the hardest as I have a late finish the night before and an early start.