First day of solo teaching 10/21/2010

So not only is today my first day of officially being an English teacher, it is also my 30th birthday. I made my way to the high school with a very crude sketch of the layout of the school and where my classes were located, it made no sense to me. I asked my fellow teacher (British Mike) to help me out which he kindly did. Ok, here is whats happening, I have 4 classes to teach today, all in different classrooms throughout the school. My first and third classrooms are side by side and the other 2 are on floors 1 and 4 (4 floors total in the school). Mike and I both ask a Chinese teacher in the hallway where room 11 is and he points to a door and says "the next one down". So I walk to the next door down and walk in. The Chinese teacher is in there and he says nothing, he sits down and lets me do my job, although while I am doing this I am receiving odd faces from the teacher. I just thought he didn't like me or was trying to understand what I was saying. The class goes really well, I gotta say that I surprised myself on my teaching ability. I mean, ive taught before but never in a classroom setting like that. It was kind of empowering yet humbling at the same time, difficult to describe. It was like all of those students were looking to me for answers and at the same time I could feel how small I was in a world that until then was fairly ignorant to. The kids liked me, or at least thats what I gathered. I had a powerpoint slide show talking about where I was from and what I like to do. Of course I put several pictures of Cooper in there and they ate that up, especially when I told them that he had come with me to China. I also put good ol John Denver on there. They had no idea what West Virginia was which didn't surprise me one bit. Hell, not even everyone in the States knows about WV. If I had a buck every-time I told someone I was from WV then they proceeded to tell me that they had family in Richmond, I would have........ at least 100 dollars. Anywho, So my first and second class go very well, I even moonwalked for them when I told them that I liked Michael Jackson. Between classes 2 and 3 I am sitting in the break room and a Chinese teacher comes in and in his best English tells me that I went into the wrong classroom for my first class. Remember how I said that my 1st and 3rd classrooms were side by side? Well instead of going into my first classroom I went into my 3rd. No wonder the teacher was making faces at me! The thing that gets me is, why did he just let me go on with my lesson? He knew that it wasn't time for English class. Oh well, no biggie. Now I have a free period because the time alloted for English class is gone and they must keep to the schedule, oddly enough. So I just sit in a lobby area beside a vase that is 3 feet taller than I am and freeze to death because the government is in charge of the heat and they don't turn it on until early November, and even when it is on, you have no control over it. So I leaf through the English text book that I am given and I come across an essay about British soccer hooligans. I read it and it basically says that the English are a bunch of drunken fighters that would love nothing more to get wasted and beat up everyone they see. I literally laughed out loud, then instantly looked around me for an Chinese authority figure. They even called it "The English Problem". That was too funny.

So its time for my last class of the day and they are my most advanced class. I give my powepoint and then start to ask them questions like : whats your name, how old are you, where are you from, and what are your hobbies. The Chinese teacher pulls me off to the side and says that this is all easy for them and that all they want to do is ask me questions about American weddings and culture. Hey thats fine by me! I was getting bored of doing the same thing over and over again. The students ask me questions about basketball and highschool life in the states and yes, they ask me about weddings. I just told them that all weddings were different because of all the different religions or lack there of. The female students flirt with me a little telling me how handsome I am and how pretty my eyes were, and asking if I was coming back next week. Funny Stuff.

After school I arrive back at the English First building and there is a big cake waiting for me! That was too kind of them. Later some co-workers and their friends took me out for dinner and a couple drinks. I go to the bathroom and when I come back they tell me that they told the waitress that it was my birthday and that I got my meal free, but I know that they all pitched in and paid for it. That was very nice of them considering I've only known them less than 2 weeks.

All is well. My next lesson is an hour and a half private lesson for a college student. We'll see how that goes....