The school we are at is YuCai Primary #4. It is a cutting edge, five-year old school that is so beautiful! It has such a beautiful theatre that we will be suing for the performances. And very nice classrooms and equipment. Everywhere in the building or little bilingual character signs encouraging polite, good behavior.
First day of teacher training which includes our Chinese teacher colleagues. There are twenty teachers who were picked to be part of this experimental process. They are from many parts of China originally, so this is quite a chance to get to know many different types of people.
The training is trying to get all of us caught up and on the same page in terms of teaching together.
A big task when you are crossing language and cultural barriers. We all cleaned up pretty well. No more tank tops and shorts but slacks and dresses and skirts. We need to look the part of distinguished foreign teachers. We were divided into our age level teaching groups and had the chance to begin building relationships with the Chinese teachers, as well as the people in our individual groups. I have a great group working with me: I have the performance aspect, Holley (a long term kinder teacher) will do reading and stories, Jake (young and enthusiastic teacher, who looooves music) has music, Jessica (young teacher with great classroom experience) has games, and Leigh (an artist, florist and wedding planner) has visual arts. Our Chinese teachers are: Michael, Billy, Yuki and Aileen (not their Chinese names….)
Th The Chinese teachers will each be assigned a group of children that they will follow through each day. They will also be our lifelines to understanding what we are supposed to be doing. We spent the day working really hard at cross cultural communication, plus just understanding all of the logistics of this highly complex, multi-disciplinary threes weeks that we have embarked on. It is exciting and sometimes nervewracking. Tomorrow will be another half day of training.
Still trying to get settled in as to what our days and routines will be. The truly serious jocks have found a fitness center to work out at. The shoppers are getting their beads set on where the deals and really fine dress shops are, massage will be a staple for some of us.
I am so far getting by on drinking a Folgers coffee singles in the morning for my coffee fix….not idea. There are some Starbucks, but not in easy walking distance. I will have to see those this all works out.
Being in China in some ways doesn’t feel real yet. But here we are!
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