Paradox of the Lazy Good for Nothin'
We only have one weekend left of this long winter break and all I've got to say to that is THANK GOODNESS. I am so cooped up that I can't even motivate myself to leave the apartment. Make that any sense does?
Fortunately there is plenty of good reading material around thanks to a recent motherly care package.
And of course, there is always the planning of the future, which seems to be an ongoing project in my life. It involves flow charts, Ven diagrams, list making, parental consultations, groupthinks, and endless Internet research. I have made a full time job out of looking for a job. At least for now I have settled on a plan, and that is to head for the homeland after this summer and get myself a real honest to goodness license to teach. Not only for the big bucks, but darned if I don’t love how this job brings you something new everyday. Whether it be headstrong sixth graders or demure Chinese grad students, just lemme at ‘em. But maybe I need a little more formal training first.
Right now there is a man in Florida by the name of Quicksall who just might be panicking. But don’t worry, Dad; Jake can support me. Right, J?
Josh plans to stay in China until he can read the local newspaper, or at least for one more year. He will take another contract with Shandong University and terminate the contract with the Australian school he had agreed to work for next year. That might cause a little friction, but having worked for both schools for four months now, he can clearly see which one he would prefer to give another year to. We have gathered, from the talk of English teachers around town, that Shandong treats its teachers best.
And so there is the end product from many days’ worth of decision-making. The upcoming term will bring about a couple of changes. Our classes will be three hours long, and our students will be the half with the lower scores from the English proficiency test given at the beginning of school year—before we got here. Last term we taught the higher-scoring half.
We are to leave out writing skills and focus entirely on listening and speaking.
New students, longer classes, less content to cover; bring it on.
Fortunately there is plenty of good reading material around thanks to a recent motherly care package.
And of course, there is always the planning of the future, which seems to be an ongoing project in my life. It involves flow charts, Ven diagrams, list making, parental consultations, groupthinks, and endless Internet research. I have made a full time job out of looking for a job. At least for now I have settled on a plan, and that is to head for the homeland after this summer and get myself a real honest to goodness license to teach. Not only for the big bucks, but darned if I don’t love how this job brings you something new everyday. Whether it be headstrong sixth graders or demure Chinese grad students, just lemme at ‘em. But maybe I need a little more formal training first.
Right now there is a man in Florida by the name of Quicksall who just might be panicking. But don’t worry, Dad; Jake can support me. Right, J?
Josh plans to stay in China until he can read the local newspaper, or at least for one more year. He will take another contract with Shandong University and terminate the contract with the Australian school he had agreed to work for next year. That might cause a little friction, but having worked for both schools for four months now, he can clearly see which one he would prefer to give another year to. We have gathered, from the talk of English teachers around town, that Shandong treats its teachers best.
And so there is the end product from many days’ worth of decision-making. The upcoming term will bring about a couple of changes. Our classes will be three hours long, and our students will be the half with the lower scores from the English proficiency test given at the beginning of school year—before we got here. Last term we taught the higher-scoring half.
We are to leave out writing skills and focus entirely on listening and speaking.
New students, longer classes, less content to cover; bring it on.
posted by B | 4:40 AM
1 Comments:
I can back you up 100% on that one, Bets. I'm excited for all your future adventures, and knowing you I know there's good reason to get excited.
I hope the first day of school went well! I wonder if you're students would know what you're talking about if you told them "bring it on!"
-Jake
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