Wednesday 29 June 2011

"Just eat around the Chicken Feet"

So bloody hectic week, it began with several long and tedious hours of being taught how to teach (something we may have covered in my TEFL course) and finished with me settled in my new house with a working washing machine, fridge and internet (currently in progress)

So like I say I have a new house, well more of a studio flat that greatly reminds me of living in halls. The vast majority of people living on the complex are students or fellow teachers, there are very few families as all of the flats are one room. I have my own bathroom which is actually a wet room, which makes cleaning it really easy just turn around when showering and voila, clean bathroom. My bed is tiny and has been hidden away behind a shelving unit to create the illusion of a separate room and some privacy, amazingly it works. When I am sat on my sofa it does actually feel like a different room and so if I have people over its not immediately obvious we are sat in my bedroom. Kitchen; small but functional or at least it will be at 11am tomorrow when my landlord finally gives me a fridge and cooker. Until then I have been forced to go and eat in the hundreds of small backstreet Chinese places about here, damn shame. Sadly my Chinese is still limited so I am living in varieties of noodles and fried rice (actually we ask for fried rice and seem to get everything but, never mind though all tastes good.)
School is going really well; I have had to observe what seems like hundreds of lessons, but is actually only seven. Watching is far more tiring than actually teaching as I cannot join in or talk to anyone; I sit in the corner and take notes on the same games and lessons over and over. This week is the first week of the holidays and so we are having a games and activities lesson. I am paining hard boiled eggs for the next two days and then have Friday off. Saturday we are having an old school sports day with games.

Well to is now after my first completely solo class for Shane school and I have to admit I am amazing. Of course it helps that 5 year old kids are fickle and giving them a balloon at the end of class makes them love it, (naturally I did not tell them that I had catered the class to be a little on the easy side for me as I have a cold-balloon volley ball lasted ages!) Unfortunately I was only told about my lesson about half an hour before I had to take it and so was amazingly under prepared. God bless TA’s and egg painting! Regardless it went really well.

This week has been stupidly stressful but I have achieved loads, today alone I set up a bank account, installed the internet, had a very thorough health check that left very little unchecked if you get my drift and taught a last minute lesson. Bloody productive day, so my now sitting in bed and watching Jaw’s again is thoroughly deserved.

Tomorrow I will be teaching the same class again but to slightly older kids, fingers crossed they too can be bribed by balloons, if not I am screwed! (Updates to follow.)





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