So I am finally all set to start teaching. On Thursday I met with my contact in the Hebei Normal School of Business, where I'll be teaching oral English classes, and got my schedule. I'm contracted with the school to teach up to 18 hours a week, but for at least the first semester I'm teaching less then 9. Doesn't bother me much since I'm getting paid the same, but that does mean I'll have a lot of extra free time. Hopefully I can find some side jobs to make some extra cash.
I'm both excited and a bit nervous for the start of class, though I'm sure it'll go fine. My plan for the first week of classes (which only includes three of my five classes...first years start a few weeks late because of military training) is to have the students do activities that allow them to get to know me, for me to get to know them, and for me to see how good their spoken English is right now. After that I'll be able to start developing lessons based on their current level. All of my classes are based around their majors (like Management or Economics), so at some point I'll start putting more specific English material that appeals to their majors into the curriculum.
I'm teaching at Hebei Normal's new campus, which is still very under construction. That is, the place is currently a giant mess of dirt, construction and trash. The buildings and classrooms are nice (and they should be...their brand new), but I'm sure as the year progresses the new campus will look much better as construction wraps up.
This past Wednesday six of the teachers here in Shijiazhuang on a bus for a few hours to see Cangyan Shan, an ancient temple complex outside the Shiz. It was a gorgeous place, and a nice change of pace. Ang Lee actually filmed the final scene of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" there, at the mountain's famous bridge. I remember seeing that movie for the first time and being amazed at how beautiful everything was...I certainly never imagined I'd visit any of those places. The bus ride back from Cangyan Shan was less fun (got stuck in massive construction traffic, so it took about twice as long to get back then it did to get there), but it was still a good experience. I took a bunch of pictures there so check them out above.
Tonight Jason Esch, a former CCEP participant who is now in China starting his third year, is taking us Shijiazhuang teachers out to a pizza buffet that is supposedly pretty good (and probably pretty expensive). I must say, even if it's crappy pizza, if it has cheese on it I'll probably be happy. I think we've definitely started getting cravings already for Western food, especially when watching TV shows or movies and seeing it. A few of us were watching Arrested Development last night and simultaneously commented on how great a sandwich looked that someone was eating. Not that food here is bad at all...quite the contrary. I'm still amazed at how you can buy yourself a delicious and very filling meal on the street for less than $1. We've been going to restaurants a lot before starting to teach, but once we get into the swing of things I think the cheap street food will be a much more popular option.
So that's that. I'll post again after I start teaching...I'm sure I'll have some interesting things to share.
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