Tomorrow (3 days later)

After a lovely weekend, we got back into the school week with lessons and whatnot. On Monday, Laura was contacted by the Head English Teacher at our school with an opportunity to teach at a primary school in Siyang. Apparently Anthony, the "American" guy who was raised in England, left and the school would be in trouble if they didn't have foreign teachers for the lessons that students were paying extra for. When they asked us to teach they said it would be 2 classes each on Mondays, and we would make some extra money and not have to change our schedules for the rest of the week at the high school. It sounded like a pretty good deal, but the more we talked we found out that 2 classes meant 2 grade levels, with 3 lessons each. So we would actually be teaching 6 lessons on Mondays and then 12 more throughout the week at the high school. They also were offering to pay less per lesson than what we already make. The extra money would be good either way, but with such a short time left in the semester and the amount of extra work involved, we weren't really sure if it would be worth the time and energy. We agreed to visit the school to take a look around, and when we got there they basically gave us teaching materials and a schedule, and told us they would pick us up on Monday. There was no discussion on whether we agreed to teach or not, they just assumed everything was legit and sent us on our way. We expressed our salary concerns to the teacher at our school as well as the dean of the primary school, and we were finally able to get them to agree to a higher salary, and they will provide us with some perks, like lunches, a driver to and from school, teacher's aids, and whatnot.

So we planned out our lessons and got to the school bright and early Monday morning. I have a class of 1st graders and a class of 2nd graders, and I see each of them for 3 lessons. The 2nd graders have a book and I am supposed to use that as my lesson guide, but the 1st graders don't have anything. Any the school has been somewhat hesitant to even talk about Anthony so I have no idea what they have learned yet or not. They told me just to teach simple English words and phrases, so I'm kind of winging that one. Primary school is a lot of work, because you have to have so many different activities to keep the kids motivated. Also, I can't talk with them the same way I do with my high schoolers, so that is a challenge. This nice thing is that my TA is able to translate things for me, and she handles a lot of the classroom discipline. And the children really are exciting to learn. Everything is interesting to them at that age, but it's a bit exhausting for me! Laura has 3rd and 4th grade, and I'm a bit jealous because that is the age I taught in Italy, and I know how fun it is to teach. Those students are at a point where learning is still fun but they have so many more tools for building sentences and ideas and everything. We'll only be teaching at the primary school 6 weeks, and already have one behind us. The primary students know a bit more about Christmas than the older students, and the school even said they would give us a tree for our flat. I'm so excited about that! We also have a Christmas party to go to, and a Christmas dinner, and my students will put on a show on Christmas day.

I am lucky enough to have a holiday on the 23rd and 24th because senior 1 has exams, but I don't really know what I will do during the free time because not many people will be doing Christmassy things, and Laura will still have to teach because her students have exams over the weekend instead. Oh well. I think we'll be buying our tickets home before Christmas, which is very exciting. Time seems to be moving along rather well, even though so days it feels like forever. Christmas is a week away, and New Years just a week beyond that. We'll be going to Nanjing so that should be a blast, and even this weekend we are most likely going to Huai'An, a nearby city with shopping and things, just to spend a day doing something! It's getting quite cold here...especially without good heating, but I'm glad I have my Wisconsin genes, I can handle it better than a lot of people. Even my students think I don't wear enough clothes to stay warm.

As I start to think about coming home, I have a lot of things to worry about such as a job, money, new things I'll need, and just settling into a new life after university and China. But I'm also thinking about all of the things I want to do. My students asked me to put together a lesson about places to see in America. I made a powerpoint with some good tourist spots in the States, and realized that I haven't even seen half of them. I've been to 10 different countries, seen the Great Wall, the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum, but I've never seen the Grand Canyon, or Niagara Falls. Perhaps when I can afford to go on holiday, some American road trips will be in the cards. That's a long way off though, and not worth worrying about while I'm here. For now, I just need to work on some lessons, plan out a bit of traveling, and enjoy what's left of my time in China. Sometime I just want to check out get ready to go home, but I really do want to give my students the attention they deserve, and, in all honesty, I'm sure it will be hard to say goodbye when that day actually comes.