Party on a School Night

Some of the lessons were quite hard today. It may have been because I had planned them a week ago or that being away on holiday made it hard to settle in again. In my G.10 class today they were learning new vocabulary about the city and the countryside. I drew a mind map with words about the city and the countryside, and drew pictures to explain some of the words they did not seem to understand. I then got them to copy down the mind map and asked them to write a sentence about what they like about the city and what they like about the countryside. However, I had not explained some of the vocabulary clearly enough so their sentences didn’t make sense to me. One girl had written ‘I like the countryside because of poor public transport’. So I definitely need to work a more thorough plan for their next lesson.

The rest of the lessons went well though. In my G.12 class I introduced them to new vocabulary as well. We were looking at problems that can occur in a house, such as a water leak or an ant invasion. I used the traditional method of a mind map and put down the issues you can have. I then extended it and explained what you do as a solution. Aum was translating various words and phrases, so the students managed to guess some of the solutions, such as fire fighters. After copying it down I then gave the students hand written card each and they had to get up and find the student that matched their problem or solution. This worked quite well. The students had to translate some words and phrases, but I only found two pairs that did not match, so I think it went well for a first lesson. Hopefully this will mean they won’t need to spend too long on it.

This evening we had a small dinner party with Aum, Yang and Dong, the Chinese teachers, and the principle. Tonight we had hot-pot, which is basically a quick slow cooker that goes on the table and is filled up with stock. After the stock is boiled, you start throwing in the ingredients and wait for it to cook. You then refill the hot-pot when it empties. We had pork with shrimp, crab sticks, cabbage and some noodles. It was really nice. Somehow after four portions of hot-pot I managed to fit in a small dessert of bananas in coconut milk. It was incredibly sweet but a good contrast to the Chang we were drinking. During dinner we introduced Aum to snapchat, so we won’t get too bored in the staff room. We’re also organising to go to visit him in three weeks; hopefully we’ll be able to book a bus or train soon! So I’m going to bed very late, hopefully I’ll still wake up at 7.