Teaching English
My Commute
I’ve lived and worked in a lot of places, all with different commutes. When I lived in New Hampshire and worked at a local stationary store, my commute was a 10 minute walk along a river. Once I saw a moose. When I lived in L.A. I had one of the worst commutes on the … Continue reading
I Thought it Would be Fun……
My writing students keep a weekly “adventure journal.” Every week at the start of class I tell them a new adventure to go on some point during the week. Previous adventures have included keeping a dream journal, having a conversation with a tree, and trying a new type of food. The purpose of the adventures … Continue reading
Chicken, Worm, Bunny and Cops: The Many Shapes of China
Recently, the China Daily Show had a funny article about the importance of Tibet and Xinjiang not because of political or economic reasons, but because of the shape. A senior Ministry of Interior Affairs official has claimed that the principal reason behind China’s annexation of Tibet and Xinjiang was to ensure future maps of Chinese … Continue reading
Horrors in the Lunch Line
Sometimes I’m busy and just don’t want to deal with going to a restaurant and wasting my lunch break. So I eat at the school cafeteria. The quality is just as dismal as you might think (lukewarm food, prison issue metal trays) but they tend to have a wide variety of dishes and it’s quick … Continue reading
The Bank of Becky’s Class
I’m teaching history this year, which is not my field of expertise. In fact, you could call me a history dummy. Oh sure, I know about, say, Lincoln’s assassination, but if you asked me the date of when it happened I have no idea. I’m not into things like dates and numbers. I prefer the stories … Continue reading
Is China Preparing for an Attack?
I’m awoken at 6 am.m by the sound of marching feet and screaming soldiers. “One, two, three, four,” the officers shout. “One, two, three, four” the soldiers shout back in unison. What’s going on? Are we being attacked? Is there a national crisis? Has the sleeping dragon woke? Nope, it’s just the yearly military training. … Continue reading
Tea Parties, Handmade Books and More!
So I have successfully completed my first full week of the new semester. And what a week it’s been. This semester is one of my busiest, with class everyday (last semester I had class only 3 days a week) and Chinese class 4 days a week. We’ve also had dinner after dinner, special events and … Continue reading
School Bells a Clangin’
With 4 months of freedom year, sometimes it’s hard to remember that I came to China to do a job. But the school bells a ringin’ and class started up today. My schedule this year isn’t bad, I requested teaching multiple subjects with my favorite classes so I get to see them each twice a … Continue reading
Another, smaller, Goby
This is unrelated to China, or traveling, or writing or tea drinking, but as I was writing the Gobi desert post, I kept thinking of my former high school science teacher Mr. Goby. It might come as no surprise to you that I was not much of a science person. Instead of biology or chemistry … Continue reading
Peek into a Chinese Classroom
Classes are long done, and students are off at home (being bored) so I thought now would be a good time to give you a peek into what a typical class looks like. Here is a picture of the students all being quiet and well behaved. I’ll be honest and admit that they are not … Continue reading