Mine is the "ROBERT" poem top left.
Weekends are always busy for me, but this one was perhaps the most hectic ever! Last week I was asked to think up some fun activities for the school's tenth anniversary and they were all implemented. So, for example, this weekend we've had 3500 students playing a treasure hunt game, tracking down eight animal posters hidden around the school which together spell out "Robert's School of Languages". And each class has also been competing to build the highest "Jenga" tower, (representing building the school ever larger). My classes only managed up to 27 but I was told the overall record was 33! Then, for older students, there was a multiple-choice quiz about the school's history (...our school has taught over 15,000 students over the ten years, and has a current staff of 95!) Each class was also tasked with creating a poster reflecting their thoughts about the school, plus there's also been a staff competition to design a new logo for the school. So it was a bit of a breather to simply monitor an exam for one of my classes [see below], especially as the other two today were "Open Classes" with parents observing their kids being taught and then quizzing the teacher (me)! I'm so looking forward to the next two weeks of holiday! A "Kunming TV" crew arrived at my house at 10am today wanting to trail me on a typical working day. Interviews in both English and Chinese followed, with some method acting thrown in ("...pretend you normally water the plants"!). Then they wanted to film me driving to work and, after a brief lunch, teaching a couple of classes. A further interview with me and my students and they left to edit the footage into a "National Day" documentary. I'm told the likely audience is in the millions! This school weekend looks set to be the most manic ever for me. I have one class doing an exam, two "Open Classes" (with visiting parents), games and activities for "Robert's School's 10 Year Celebrations" (which I've been involved in organising) and also I'm due to be followed by a Kunming TV crew all day tomorrow for an upcoming documentary.
My new term starts today, though the other foreign teachers aren't due back until next weekend, due to a calendar mix-up last term! We had our usual whole-school meeting yesterday, preceded by a finger buffet! Our teaching building has a lovely little rooftop garden, owned by the residents of the next-door building. But we got special permission to use it for the afternoon, and had sandwiches, cakes and fruit to kick off the meeting. A nice change from the usual "meeting+banquet" format". The main item on the agenda was the school's tenth anniversary celebrations next month. The school have decided to update their logo, which currently shows the union of (Chinese) dragon and plum blossom with the (British) lion and oak branch [see above]. Having won their last competition to create a slogan ("Education for Communication") I'll have a go at this one, too. The winner gets a pair of tickets to a beauty spa, which caught Ava's interest! A teacher/artist combination ...we can't lose! After last Halloween, I rescued two large zombie cardboard cutouts, attached them to the doors of our school staffroom and labelled them "Robert" and "Rachel" (my bosses). Oh, how we laughed! But today I found they've been replaced, and replaced by a large poster featuring myself as "Paul" (an alien of the same name which featured in a recent film). All fingers point to the graphics team, though I doubt they got it printed up without sanction from the leadership. Revenge is theirs! Robert's School has 5 branches now and I've been keen to visit the one in the north of the city for some time. Vicky, who runs it [left in photo], came in especially today to help me find it once I got close, by bus. It has a bright and airy feel to it, but small in comparison to my own branch - they have 7 teachers and 600 students, we have 50 teachers and 3500 students. It's nice to have a mental picture of the place now, though. The branch there is part of a larger office complex which is used by other organisations teaching painting, board games, belly dancing, piano, etc. The Kunming English-speaking Christian Fellowship meet there too and I asked Vicky if she had had any contact with them. Yes, she said, they accused us of stealing their chairs and threatened to call the police! Christians, eh?
On the bus journey home, I had a typically surreal "China moment". I was standing, listening to my MP3 when I realised an old wrinkly man with a white wispy beard was shouting at me, quite angrily. I took off my headphones to find out what I'd done. In heavily accented English, he was bawling, "The Communist Party are corrupt. The Chinese Government have no right to lead us. They do not represent the people!" The other passengers were all staring at him, and at my reaction but thankfully nobody else seemed to speak English! I murmered "Err.. maybe, yes" as I swiftly left the bus. I wish I'd been able to speak to him more, but there's a time and a place, and a public bus ain't it! I had my last Chinese lesson of the term yesterday with Mr Liu (right) patiently teaching us... [L to R] Ali (Palestinian), me, Sam (Pakistani English) plus [not pictured] Andrew (Canadian) and David (Hungarian). A very international group of students, then, and with varying skills and ability levels. Suffice to say, I would be better off in a slightly lower level class, if there was one!
Ava had a nightmare trip to Shenzhen. I left her at the airport at 8.30pm for her 9.30pm flight. But there was chaos due to a heavy incoming thunderstorm. She texted me at 2am this morning to say she was finally taking off (I was awake anyway because of the ferocity of the thunderclaps). She managed to arrive at her Shenzhen flat at 5.30am, due to catch a bus to her first factory at 7.30am! She must be exhausted, poor thing! ...and talking of magazines (see last entry), I appeared in one myself yesterday, following my interview with a journalist a couple of weeks ago. I can't actually read what is written, but I'm told it's about teaching philosophy and giving students encouragement to open their mouths and risk making mistakes for the sake of their learning. All good stuff. The magazine is called "Young World" and I'm assured my appearance there isn't intended as ironic! My school's foreign teachers, and the admin staff that support us, enjoyed a really nice evening at Robert and Rachel's (my bosses) house yesterday, despite heavy bursts of rain which put paid to any vague badminton plans (not that I could have played with my gouty foot). We shared a delicious BBQ, prepared by our hosts and Andrew (a foreign teacher who used to be a chef), and later played table tennis and various Wii games together. Really nice bunch of people - great fun. It's that time of term again, when my evening adult classes draw to a close and the school braces itself for the doubling up of children's classes (presumably to deny the poor kids any chance of a break!). So last night was the end-of-course meal with the adults. Most of the regulars were there - a nice bunch of talented young adults [L to R: Arex, Rebecca, Linda, Andrew and Ava]. Andrew is off to study in America shortly, but the rest (except Ava!) are talking about continuing next term, which will be great. When my school colleagues said they had clubbed together to buy me a wedding gift, I had visions of flowers, vouchers or a vase. I didn't expect a ball and chain, duly attached to my leg and which I was told had to be worn for the remainder of the teaching day. Highly embarrassing, but a vivid reminder that I am no longer a free man. Happily so, I hasten to add! Ava and I fly to ChongQing this evening to apply for her UK visa on Monday (with ball and chain removed!). You start to believe that Kunming is no longer a "poor Chinese city" when you see someone pulling up to the city's first, and newly opened, Starbucks in a stretch limousine [see photo]. But then, seconds later, you spot an old and filthy lady carrying a 2m high pile of rubbish on the back of her tricycle. It's certainly a place of vivid contrasts. At least my school tries its best to balance these extremes a little; charging high prices for "VIP one-to-one lessons" to those that can afford it, whilst offering free training to English teachers in poor schools on the outskirts of the city.
Another cracking Scrabble evening for the foreign teachers at my school last might, with two boards on the go and "online computer adjudication" for any dodgy words. It was good to welcome ex-RSL teachers Mark and Eve back to Kunming on holiday from their new home in Wenshan. And we all enjoyed Ross' palatial "new" apartment. I left too late to catch a bus, and in the wrong street direction to get home directly by taxi (one way systems), but it was worth it for the bragging rights of, "played 3, won 3", including the only seven-letter word of the evening, "untuneable"! Mum and Dad came to watch me teaching today. When our students finish a textbook they take a final exam and then have an Open Class to show off their English skills to their visiting parents. I'm used to performing in front of the students' parents, but it was weird to find my own parents watching today too! Dad was in his element this evening, exploring Robert's huge house (my boss), eating roast lamb cooked by Rachel (my other boss), followed by apple pie and English tea! Then, loosens his belt a notch and relaxes on the comfy sofa in their barn-size lounge! Back at my flat (tiny by comparison, but cosy), more signs that Dad is around, such as his hand-made sign reminding him where to deposit the toilet paper! A cold night expected tonight with temperatures plummeting even further. Hard to believe we were complaining about the heat just two days ago! The new term started yesterday with a whole school meeting [see photo, left]. I had to do a little talk about the upcoming Lattitude training course. It was also announced that I have been "promoted", with a new job title of "Director of Studies". It doesn't mean any different or extra work really, but I can now tell the administration staff what to do instead of just asking! Power!! Afterwards, we all went to a posh Muslim restaurant [see photo, right]. Having lamb for a change was a real treat.
It was hard to keep a track of all the teachers at school who got really ill in the last few weeks of term (myself included). But two of our foreign teachers took things a step further. Jay has been in hospital for four days with a raging temperature and Ross [photo left] managed to collapse in the street! After a night in hosital and many tests, he's now convalescing at my flat for a few days. The tests didn't give a definitive reason for the pavement-dive, nor does he have any recollection of it happening. But school staff saw him 5 minutes beforehand and somebody, somwehere called an ambulance which got him to hospital. All a bit scary and mysterious. He's making a slow recovery, having cancelled the holiday flight he was due to take today. Poor chap! ... what is it with the Chinese feeling that no photo is complete without a "V" sign?? This was our school's end of term meal last night. They are big affairs these days with about 100 staff attending. I was on my best behaviour, as usual! It's good to have some rest options ahead. I've been quite poorly of late (again!) and am currently on antibiotics for two separate infections! A warm invite to all my blog readers outside of China, to click here and watch a video of me playing a demo language game at the recent Grand Opening of a new branch of my school in Qujing city. For thise living in China, I'm afraid this is one of the many sites blocked by "our" Government, bless 'em! I was discussing "censorship" with my class of (normally fairly canny) teenage students today, and they seemed blissfully unaware of the level of internet censorship in China, bless 'em! I spent a fun afternoon today at a Christmas/New Year festival laid on by an "experimental" school in Kunming's suburbs. I was invited by an ex-teacher of Robert's School who I've kept in touch with over the years. Her school needed a "foreign face" amongst the guests of honour, especially as the school prides itself on having bilingual lessons. The students' English was extremely good and all of the performances, from the younger ones dancing, to the older ones acting, were produced in both Chinese and English. The photo above shows the Big Bad Wolf (left), a Chinese Romeo (right) and Aladdin, the Rabbit Dance and Sleeping Beauty (top to bottom). The 90 minute variety show ended with me and the other special guests being dragged into a High School Musical dance routine!
I had a fun time yesterday, helping to celebrate the opening of a new branch of Robert's School (the 5th). This is the first one outside of Kunming, being based in QuJing city - about 2 hour's drive away. QuJing is Yunnan's 2nd largest city, although with a population only 10% of the size of Kunming's 6 million. It holds special significance for Robert, however, as he was posted there some 15 years ago with VSO (at the same time I was starting my own China experience with VSO in neighbouring Guizhou Province). The new school is on the 17th floor of a newly constructed high-rise block which looks pretty grotty from the outside (for now). But the school itself inside is freshly decorated and well-furnished. It's seven small classrooms, with cartoon characters painted on the walls, look very inviting, and the reception area is ready to welcome newcomers [see photo]. The main event was a large, variety-filled, meeting to which leaders, prospective parents and children were invited. There was seating for 200, and a pleasing 150+ turned up. The show included speeches, songs, a great DVD presentation about the school, some juggling, life-size cartoon characters, a domino toppling finale, a short demo lesson and a visit from Father Christmas (the last two of which were my contribution). It all went smoothly enough (and looked very professional) with the exception of the dominoes, set off by a winding ball bearing run [see photo] which, despite umpteen practise runs, failed to work on the night! The ball simply slowed down and rolled back to the start! Fortunately, the audience were too distracted by the main screen showing a DVD close-up of a previous successful run to notice that the real thing had ground to a halt! The dominoes fell over to spell ROBERT (...or should have done!). The clear stars of the evening were the Disney-esque cartoon characters wandering around. The children got very excited and the queue for photos seemed longer than the Great Wall of China at times. The actors inside were great, giving umpteen high-fives, posing cutely and managing to ignore the more violent of the boys who thought it might be fun to poke and kick Mickey and his friends! Here is one of my students using some of the medical props mentioned in the last blog entry. With a home-made medical cap, wearing a toy stethoscope and clutching a syringe, "Windy" is giving advice to another student who has a range of illnesses. The role-play was part of a 40 minute "Open Class" where parents come to watch their children demonstrating their English skills. They then get feedback on their child's strengths and weaknesses and can ask the teacher any questions they may have. Each class has one or two Open Classes a term. I'm always a bit wary of these as half my classes are "Special Classes" where parents with gifted children pay more for a smaller class size and a "top" teacher. Some of these parents can speak English themselves and all expect fast and noticeable progress for their "single child". So far this term, they've been generally very happy with how things are going, and I'm also more prepared with slick answers to their likely questions! Robert's School celebrated it's 9th Birthday yesterday with a Fancy Dress Performace Party for all the staff. The Chinese staff had been practising dance routines for weeks, but the foreign teachers only heard about the party 3 days beforehand. Most already had other plans and couldn't come. However, I managed to cobble something together. Ava lent me an old wig and I turned up as "Yao Ming's Mother". Yao Ming is the most famous Chinese basketball player. At one point I was dragged into a dance contest [see photo above], winning a tube of toothpaste as a consolation prize! However, my rather odd clothes did later win me a £20 prize for "Most Unusual Costume"! Robert and Rachel [my bosses, photo right] came as Mr Darcy and... whoever Darcy's other half was (I must have missed that day at school!). The various branches of Robert's School now employ over 90 staff and teach 4000+ students each week. It's doubled in size in the 3 years I've been there - an impressive feat considering the world economy and increased local competition. More photos below: |
AuthorPaul Hider lives and works in Kunming (SW China) and regularly updates this blog about his life there. Past blog entries
April 2024
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