Students

As for our students, Amy, Angela and I all have "8th" graders. We are
not exactly sure what that means as they have told us they are 15 and
16 years old. Karen noted that they start with kindergarten a little
later than our students do, but we aren't positive as to what year they
are. They average 48-50 in a class, and they are not your
stereotypical "chinese students." They are well versed in repeptition
and rote memorization, but they are very chatty and I was told that all
three of my classes are "very naughty." Awesome. I was really
surprised at their behavior, particularly at the opening ceremony where
many of them were talking through the headmaster and director's
speeches. Oh well- I guess that's just how they roll. They are funny
kids, and they really want to learn more English- well most of them
anyhow. It is very hard for us though, to try and teach out of the
book that they gave us, (as many of the English teachers have told us
its too easy for the students) and to get some cultural things in with
the limited resources that we have. I tried to pull up pictures today
of the high school and of course, the power went out and we could not
get the projectors to work. At any rate, Karen teaches every morning
to 5th and 6th graders- she has some really naughty students I guess.
Angela, Amy and I (in addition to two other teachers from Rochester)
teach alternating afternoons and mornings. We each have three 45
minute classes- and we are working to fill up that 45 minutes. I ended
up singing Backstreet Boys with my kids today as they found a "sing a
long" type website on-line. Our apartments are nice, the beds are of
course hard as is the case all over China (unless you are in Tibet,
then you only have the box spring) but the airconditioning works (thank
goodness) and we are doing well. The students start at 7:40 each
morning, and go through 11:15. Then they have lunch and "make a rest"
until 2:00 when their afternoon classes start. They have dinner at
5:00 and then some go to additional classes or do homework after
dinner. It's a tough schedule, and the kids really work hard- even
though they are naughty every now and again. We are struggling with the
food, and I anticipate we will try some of the places Bob recommended
to us sooner than later, as the amount of carbs we are getting is too
much for any of us.

that's all for now- we'll write more later!