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My University started up again this week. I've seen five new classes so far, with two more to follow in a week or two. Class sizes are about 20-30, which is a lot better than some previous classes of 50-60.  Mingle Activity After some begging from me, all my lessons have been squeezed into Monday to Wednesday. This allows me to do IELTS examining on Thursdays and Fridays ...except that British Council have suddenly changed their examining days to Monday to Wednesday. Just my luck!
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 My examining week in Lanzhou is finished and I boarded the plane to Kunming last night, tired but generally pleased with my work.
Favourite examinee errors: "I want to travel to broaden my horizontals." "I own a small horse now but I'd like to get a big horse when I get older so that my grandparents can live in it with me." [...house!] View from my five star hotel...  View from my examining room...   I flew to Lanzhou in Gansu Province yesterday (a 2½ hour flight) for a busy week of work. The last time I was in Gansu was 25 years ago!!
 Another in my occasional series of "Flashbacks" looking back at blog entries made before this Weebly version started.
I was asked to do some oral English work today to help prepare half a dozen young men and women for their all-important IELTS exam which they need to pass to be able to study abroad. Unfortunately, the list of possible subjects to talk about had been translated from Chinese by a computer and most of the mangled topics left me scratching my head. See if you can work them out. My top ten . . .
I'm half way through my August IELTS examining commitments. It's a long day dealing with 19-22 candidates one-by-one, each expecting their 15 minutes of 100% focus from the examiner as, for many, it can be a life-changing exam. Some barely have enough English to form a sentence, some could speak OK if it wasn't for their crippling nerves and a few are talented enough to score well.  Security is very high with metal detectors, documents signed in and out and electrical recorders locked up over lunch. And no phones or cameras are allowed in the room - hence the mocked up photo above!
 Having finally qualified a couple of weeks ago, yesterday I started my new role, examining IELTS Speaking Tests for the British Council. Whilst I've practiced running dummy exams and graded recorded interviews, I've never before done both things simultaneously. It's tricky as you're aware that the things that you say, the timings of the activities and the consequent analysis of the candidate's ability are all monitored and posthumously assessed in great detail. So I need to concentrate hard and get everything right.
 Spent a few days this week back in ChongQing - smoggy city with a population of some 30 million. After a day of review and practice, I retook the 3-hour Certification Test and this time passed the thing. So I'm now a qualified Examiner for the British Council. I'm heading back to Kunming later today.
 flew back from my training last night, arriving home at 3am this morning, Up again at 6am to get JD to school and do two lessons at University. Unfortunately, some disappointing news was waiting for me when I got home this afternoon - I had failed the final 3-hour exam on the course. Only just, as it turns out, but it means I have to return to Chonging next week to resit the two parts on which I didn't get close enough. Disappointing, but apparently it's fairly common for people not to get through first time.
 I'm off to ChongQing today (a city with a population of over 30 million!) for a 2-day intensive training course run by the British Council. It's a 1½ hour flight away requiring an e-bike, walk, bus, plane, bus. taxi journey for me to navigate. I should be at my hotel by 1am, with the course starting early the next morning.
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 About the blogger
Paul Hider lives and works in Kunming (SW China) and updates this blog about his life there every other day. Past blog entries
August 2020
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