Blog

Last Latt

23/2/2019

Today was the end of what will almost certainly be my last training for "Lattitude". Volunteer numbers have dwindled over recent years and the In-Country Training Course has been gradually whittled down from 8 days to 2 days. Lattitude seem to have sidelined their work in China and, if I'm honest, my passion for the work has lessened too. Just three volunteers attended this time, all from New Zealand, on a very rushed and "less than professional" course. I feel this part of my work has come to a natural end.

Bullet training

3/3/2018

I spent this weekend in Suzhou, in the East of China, teaching five volunteers (from four different countries) on what is likely to be the last Lattitude in-country training course. It involved me taking a 6am taxi to Kunming airport for a three hour flight to Shanghai and a 3 hour bus trip to the College. The course had originally been an 8-day affair, later cut to 7 days but now crammed into a weekend. As such, a lot of important elements have had to be jettisoned such as language lessons, outings and teaching practice. It was rushed, to say the least.

My hotel was very pleasant [see above] and we enjoyed some good food. But all too soon, I was on my way home - taxi to the railway station, bullet train to the airport and ....seven hour delay on the plane! I arrived back home in Kunming just two hours before my first University class of the week, after 36 hours without sleep. Not good.

Last Latt?

13/9/2017

The 17th and latest Lattitude training course was something of a mess. Whereas we used to get 15-20 volunteers, this time there were only 4. One arrived a day late to get a cheaper flight and two had their visa applications rejected and arrived a week late after resubmitting them.

The usual 8-day course was therefore squeezed into 6 days for the first pair and 4 days for the second. Locked classrooms, misplaced resources, botched photocopying and having key personnel missing led to some very patchy training and more than once I was quite embarrassed about the low quality and lack of professionalism. All in all, I think this may be my last course - possibly one more by way of a handover - the timing has always been frustrating (coinciding with JD's first week at school, my first week at University and one of Jiajia's busiest fashion periods), the pay is fairly trivial and the volunteer numbers are dropping off fast. I've enjoyed the 10-year run very much, but I feel the end is in sight.

Dancing around town

1/3/2017

This week is crazy busy. Its my first week back at University, teaching Writing this term. JD returns to Kindergarten amidst tears. We also have two guests staying in the house, plus I'm training 8 teenage volunteers to be English teachers in Chinese Colleges as part of their gap year. It's a lot of teaching and an awful lot of driving around Kunming on my e-bike to get where I need to be for all the lessons. The volunteers' arrival flight was delayed on the first day. so we postponed their Welcome Banquet until today. We went to a restaurant with a Song and Dance show thrown in. At the end, the volunteers were persuaded to take to the stage and join in one of the dances, much to the crowd's delight [see photo].

Latt's Latt

1/3/2016

The latest week of Lattitude training course is over and six volunteers flew to their projects today to become Oral English teachers for 5 months. They were a good bunch and managed a 100% attendance rate until the last day, which fell victim to some excessive partying the night before! The picture shows some of their Teaching Practice preparation.

Six appeal

23/2/2016

It's that time of year again - a merry band of teenage volunteers arrived yesterday to complete a week of training before heading off to their placements for five months of English teaching. A small group of just half-a-dozen this time which should make it quite informal and fun.

Latt it show

13/9/2015

As the Lattitude training course draws to a close, the volunteers are asked to demonstrate what they've learned by giving a 50 minute lesson to real Chinese students at Robert's School. They did really well on the whole which bodes well for their projects where they will work for 4 months. They fly off tomorrow.

Out with the old, in with the new

31/8/2015

Today is my first day at my new job at the Yunnan University of Finance and Economics (YUFE) - a week earlier than I thought due to the University forgetting to tell me of a calendar change. It's just a 20-30 minute e-bike ride to get there, depending on traffic.

It's going to be a really busy few weeks for me with this new job, plus 11 Lattitude volunteers to be trained over 8 days, normal weekend lessons at Robert's School (soon to be handed over) and JD starting Kindergarten. Thankfully, the University have managed to arrange my classes so that I start avoid the first and last lessons of the day, allowing me to drop JD off at Kindergarten and pick him up at the end of the day (once he starts doing full days in two weeks time).

What goes around...

3/5/2015

I spent a few hours yesterday with three Lattitude volunteers from the last intake, visiting Kunming over the May Day holiday. I took JD and we met them at Green Lake Park on a warm, sunny day. One area was plastered with photocopied signs and photos. It turns out they were all advertising for a girlfriend/boyfriend, something I'd not seen in Kunming before. There were, as you'd expect, some surprising and amusing things; firstly, almost equal numbers of men and women, secondly all the pictures had been photoshopped with candidates standing by Big Ben, on Bondai Beach, in front of huge butterflies, hovering above the Great Wall, etc! Thirdly, I was initially amazed to see adverts for people aged 86, 89 and 92, until I later realised that these were birth years, not their age! And lastly, it seems your height is the one factor that is vital to include. Most signs had no photo, but all had their height displayed prominently. But not their weight. Odd.

In conversation with our new nanny, Molly, last Friday she mentioned that she was from a town called Eshan. I told her that I had visited the Minorities Middle School there a few times to check on the Lattitude volunteers I had trained. "No way!" she exclaimed, "I was taught to speak English by Lattitude volunteers ten years ago". Small world.

Attindance

11/3/2015

Yesterday was the last day and the Farewell Banquet for the latest Lattitude group of volunteers. They have been amongst the best, if not the best, intake we have ever had - nearly 100% attendance record, no "incidents" and particularly thoughtful and accurate answers in class.

Maybe the combination of five different countries helped. We normally have Brits and Aussies, but this year an American, two Canadians and five New Zealanders joined the mix. The Kiwis' pronunciation became the running joke of the week, as it happens. For example, they pronounce "when" as "win" and "pen" as "pin" - all quite confusing. So they enjoyed their "check-in soup" yesterday and today they head for the "airport chicken desks"! Their students are going to have fun.

Latter day saints

5/3/2015

The Lattitude volunteers started today with 1½ hours of Chinese language study, ending with a visit to a local fruit shop to use what they had learned [see photo]. Then I taught them for two hours before we headed to a XinJiang restaurant for lunch. Back for a birthday cake and a video of a previous volunteer teaching a class of 60. Two more hours of training from me after that took us to 6pm. At 7pm we met in their hotel lobby for a half hour walk to Kunming's English Corner by the Green Lake, where locals gather to practice their English [see photo]. I left them immersed in conversations by 8.30pm and got home by 9.30pm for JD's "going to bed" routine. A long day for all of us.

Threedom

30/8/2014

The three Lattitude volunteers did their Teaching Practices yesterday and flew off to their placements today. Their lessons went well, though they had to be felixble as the usual 12-14 student numbers unexpectedly dropped to 3-5 (many local schools had insisted that their students turn up - on a Saturday afternoon - to hand in their holiday homework!?). Now starts the real challenge for the volunteers as they face classes of 50-60 students on a daily basis. Good luck!

Ups and downs, over and out

3/3/2014

Tomorrow is the last day of my Lattitude training course. It's been a week of ups and downs. The volunteers' class attendance has been better than usual, but then so was their attendance at local nightclubs, until the knifing incident. They enjoyed a relaxing half-day in the sun at the Golden Temple last week, but showed signs of stress during their first Teaching Practices this weekend. There are mixed feelings too about leaving "dangerous" Kunming (surrounded by friends) and heading off to their various projects around China (surrounded by strangers).

Major knife attack

1/3/2014

No sooner had I told the Lattitude volunteers, at their Health and Safety briefing, just what a safe city Kunming is, than news starts filtering though of a gang of masked terrorists bursting into Kunming Train Station this evening and, in an obviously coordinated attack, knifing 29 people to death and injuring 130 others. It came totally out-of-the-blue and seems utterly senseless. Latest news is pointing the finger firmly at "Uighurs" from XinJiang Province, Muslims who claim to be a persecuted minority there. Kunming is a soft target for them and innocent train passengers clearly have no way to protect themselves. The police here shot 4 of the terrorists dead and captured another, but we hear 5 or more are still on the run. There is now an unofficial curfew in the city with businesses (including my school) being "asked" to close down after dark until further notice. All very unnerving.

Consul late

27/2/2014

Our 6-monthly influx of foreign teenagers is here once again (where does the time go?) and so I am busy running an 8-day training course for 18 Lattitude volunteers from Australia, UK and Canada. The usual stress was turned up a notch on the first day, too, by us being visited by the new Australian Consul-General, Nancy Gordon, and her retinue on a fact-finding mission. Despite being delayed by traffic, she managed to fit in a tour of our school, observation of some training and an informal chat with the Australian volunteers before a quick bite to eat and a hasty departure to other commitments. I shared a table with her over the buffet lunch and found her to be a really pleasant and down-to-earth person, despite being a rather important dignitary in China - one of only two female "Ambassadors" here!

The volunteers themselves have made a good start to the course with, as yet, no lost passports, upset stomachs or drunken stupors! But then we do have another 5 days to go...

Kelly Kang - Kountry Koordinator, Kchina

27/9/2013

My good friend and colleague Kelly [right, in photo above], got a nice little write-up on Lattitude's blog recently and rightly so. She is Lattitude's Country Coordinator for China, which means she sets up projects for the volunteers, liaises with the schools and Universities concerned and visits the volunteers once they are at their placement. That, plus coping with lots of admin and hassles (it's a role I myself once managed to "nearly" do for 6 months, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone!). She does a magnificent job though and we enjoy working together during the 8-day "Teaching Skills Course" which I run twice a year. She's also a part-time teacher at Robert's School, where I work, and a regular reader of this blog. So, she's diligent, unflappable AND blessed with great literary taste!! Great combination!

Fly bye

9/9/2013

My Lattitude course finishes tomorrow. Most of the volunteers have studied well and attended the training sessions with enthusiasm. The Teaching Practices at Robert's School at the weekend went well and today we visited a local Middle School to watch some lessons. After a final day tomorrow, the volunteers fly off to their projects around China for five months of teaching. I'm looking forward to a day off!

English language lesson in MinZhong School, with the Lattitude volunteers at the back.

Cornered

7/9/2013

My Lattitude course is continuing and we're already over the halfway mark. The other evening I took all the volunteers out to visit Kunming's "English Corner", next to Green Lake, where local Chinese, and some foreigners, gather together each week to practise speaking English in an informal setting. The arrival of ten foreign newcomers caused something of a stir and they were instantly descended on by dozens of eager English speakers, keen to practise! Everyone seemed to enjoy the experience though.

Tomorrow, the volunteers do their first Teaching Practice at our school and I look forward with interest to see the results of their studies and lesson preparation.

Noodles for new vols

5/9/2013

Regular blog readers may recall I train a new selection of foreign teenagers for Lattitude every 6 months. The latest intake - only 9 this time - arrived a few days ago and we are already in the middle of the 8 day course. There is a British and an American guy and the rest are Australians. As can be seen in the photo above, the welcome meal on the first evening was "cross the bridge noodles" with a free dance show thrown in for good measure!

I thorn I'd seen eat all

11/5/2013

I was part of a day-trip to ChuXiong yesterday, to visit two of the Lattitude vounteers I trained back in March. ChuXiong is a town or 200,000 people, about two hours drive from Kunming. Harry and Daniel are the first volunteers to be placed there, in a large Middle School (3500 students). We watched them teach two very successful lessons [see above] and visited their huge 3-bedroom apartment, followed by a meeting with the school leaders. Lunch comprised an interesting selection of local dishes, including one I'd never experienced before - some sort of wild plant with fairly lethal-looking thorns still in place [see below]. Tasted OK, though!

Off at Lastt

7/3/2013

The last of the Lattitude volunteers left yesterday (well, technically this morning as one had mis-booked his onward flight!) This intake made for a particularly busy time, being 29 volunteers strong, from five countries - a lot more than the usual 10-15 or so from one country which we have grown used to. But they were a good bunch and the course got excellent feedback again, which is encouraging. By now they have arrived at their 15 placements all over China to start 5 months of English teaching with classes of 50-60 eager students. I'm enjoying my first day off in 2 weeks before the weekend lessons start up again tomorrow.

Volunteenagers

3/3/2013

Arranging the 30 Lattitude volunteers' Teaching Practice and Observations in our school has been particularly tricky this time. Trying to give volunteers experience with students of a similar age to those they will be teaching in their placement. Informing the class teachers they will be coming and getting textbook photocopies from them to plan their lesson from. Arranging for class teachers to meet with volunteers to give advice. Co-ordinating which volunteers will be observing while others are teaching. Finding out which classrooms each lesson will be in. Advising on lesson structures and resource materials. Collecting and correcting lesson plans. Collating formal feedback sheets. Observing and being observed by the volunteers in my own classes ...while all the while trying to fit in my normal 14 hours of weekend lessons.

Pleasingly, the feedback from the class teachers has been very positive about the volunteers' lessons this time with no real disasters (...not that I've heard about yet, anyway!). Bodes well.

Wallcome

25/2/2013

It's that time of year again when our school welcomes a group of foreign teenagers for 8 days training, preparing them to be English teachers in Chinese school for 5 months. I do the majority of the training and co-ordinate input from six other teachers and five administration staff. This time we have 29 Lattitude volunteers from 5 different countries - our biggest intake yet. 25 of them arrived safely this afternoon, whilst 3 arrived late due to flight problems. One won't be arriving until later in the week due to passport problems!

Meanwhile, back at home, Ava is coordinating something altogether different. Workers have been in to build a wall (turning our balcony area into a room) and knock a door in our en suite bathroom to allow the nanny and baby to have access without having to walk through our bedroom. Once again, the house is full of tools and covered in a layer of dust. After some painting, we are doing no more major work until the baby is here and settled.

Assembly and departure

12/9/2012

We took the volunteers to Kunming No.1 Middle School on Monday as part of their in-country training. Before they observed a typical Chinese lesson they were fascinated to watch a whole-school assembly, with 3000 students on a huge playground being told to clap and thank their teachers for all their hard work (it was "Teacher's Day").

The volunteers fly or get driven on to their placements today, completing their transformation from happy-go-lucky teenage students to professional teachers. That's the plan anyway. They have been a good group overall and I think there will be few problems over the next 5 months. Their final-day written and verbal feedback on the training course was particularly complimentary too, which is really encouraging.

Trainees Prepared for Teaching Practice

10/9/2012

Yesterday saw my 15 Australian Lattitude volunteers doing observations and an hour's Teaching Practice with "live" students. Pleasing results overall, with nobody arriving late or unprepared, and the normal class teachers giving largely positive feedback about the volunteers' performance. We have two final days of training now before they head off to their various project placements around China.