Teaching ESL in China

Hello all!

Long time no update! It's been a hectic week. First day of school came up very quickly, and there was a lot to do to get prepared -- oh, how I miss the days of my youth when all I had to do was go to class and pay attention. Now I have to worry about things like lesson plans, and making assignments and tests. Makes me really appreciate the teachers I had that were really prepared for class, and generated all their own worksheets. One of the issues that I have is that I don't have a set textbook, so I have been spending (wasting) a lot of time trying to figure out what I want to cover next.

So I am teaching ESL, Writing and Grammar. Three different levels of kids, all around 16 or so, they're enrolled in an intensive year of ESL (listening, speaking, math, vocabulary, and reading) to get their reading levels up to speed to enter into the BC curriculum next year.

The kids work very hard and are very polite. If they see you in the hall, they will call out "Good morning, Teacher!". I was expected to be called "Mrs. Woo" here, but most of them call me "Teacher". In other news, I am also constantly covered in chalk. I haven't mastered the art of writing things on the blackboard and clearing it off without 2 sticks of chalk rubbing off onto my clothes. And for some reason, I brought mostly black pants and skirts. There's going to be a lot of laundry this year!