Well there has been a lot going on since last I wrote here. Mostly classes for the first time! Let's start here; I was really nervous and excited for teaching that I couldn't sleep the night before I left. To get to the Gaomi campus I must get up at 6:00 am so that I can catch the bus by 6:30, then catch the university bus by 7 am. It takes another hour and a half to get to Gaomi once on that bus. Total travel time=2 hours each way.
Wednesday, the first of 2 days that I teach I have three classes, the first is a listening and speaking class for sophomores. I had and have been having a few technical difficulties, but over all the first day of classes went well. That is until my last class of the day: Culture for sophomores. Apparently the university told my students that there was no class.... they didn't tell me though. As I awaited my class to arrive one girl informed me of what was going on and that she called all her class mates to gather in the room anyway. About half the class was missing, so I was left to improvise. I felt it was unfair to teach some of my class and not the other. If I was in that class and was told it was cancelled, I would have also gone off to do something else. So instead of a normal class we did a very informal Q and A session outside in one of the court yards. I hope my students enjoyed it.
That night I had to plan lessons for the next day, only 2 thank goodness, but still. I had good materials for my freshman, my first class, but I was most concerned about my sophomores who were the next class. The class went fairly well overall, except that the students and I have completely different books! So after stressing a lot about how the teaching was going I now have to get a new book and start completely over. The main issue with this is that it will make my next week very difficult if I cannot get the book before Wednesday.
Otherwise I had been coming down with a cold since Tuesday before my classes. I got through both days completely fine, minus normal cold stuff and then in the afternoon of Thursday completely lost my voice. It was quite funny as I was trying to tell my colleague that I would not be able to teach my extra class later that night because I couldn't talk. That was Thursday and it is Saturday now and I'm still not quite right. Well either way wish me luck for next week!
Wednesday, the first of 2 days that I teach I have three classes, the first is a listening and speaking class for sophomores. I had and have been having a few technical difficulties, but over all the first day of classes went well. That is until my last class of the day: Culture for sophomores. Apparently the university told my students that there was no class.... they didn't tell me though. As I awaited my class to arrive one girl informed me of what was going on and that she called all her class mates to gather in the room anyway. About half the class was missing, so I was left to improvise. I felt it was unfair to teach some of my class and not the other. If I was in that class and was told it was cancelled, I would have also gone off to do something else. So instead of a normal class we did a very informal Q and A session outside in one of the court yards. I hope my students enjoyed it.
That night I had to plan lessons for the next day, only 2 thank goodness, but still. I had good materials for my freshman, my first class, but I was most concerned about my sophomores who were the next class. The class went fairly well overall, except that the students and I have completely different books! So after stressing a lot about how the teaching was going I now have to get a new book and start completely over. The main issue with this is that it will make my next week very difficult if I cannot get the book before Wednesday.
Otherwise I had been coming down with a cold since Tuesday before my classes. I got through both days completely fine, minus normal cold stuff and then in the afternoon of Thursday completely lost my voice. It was quite funny as I was trying to tell my colleague that I would not be able to teach my extra class later that night because I couldn't talk. That was Thursday and it is Saturday now and I'm still not quite right. Well either way wish me luck for next week!