Stephen

Ramblings of a seriously bored person in Hainan, China

The key to teaching in a private English class

Today... today I finally learned how to guarantee yourself your job at a private English tutoring lesson.

Before, I figured that if I could get the kids to like me, than the school would like me and keep me.

How wrong I was.

The key is the parents. The parents have the final say in all the private schools here, I learned that even if the school doesn't like you and wants to change you with another foreign teacher, the parents will have the final say. For if the parents aren't happy, they withdraw their students from the class, and the school has no business.

This morning, our kindergarden's head mistress informed the class that they would need their parents to enroll their children for the next semester of our English lesson. The school likes me, the teachers like me, and the students like me, but the head mistress wanted to have me teaching newer children to help them along, because a semi-experienced teacher could now teach these children for their English level was high enough.

Bad idea.

There were two parents who when they heard that, said "no." "If you want to change teachers for this class, we parents will have a practice class for the new foreign teacher, if we don't like him, we keep Stephen, or our kids will not come here anymore."

Try answering that one.

Then I realized how much the parents really have a say in all of this, and then it dawned on me, I somehow, unintentionally, got the parents to really like me, or my teaching method, and they wanted me to stay.

That was the end of that discussion. I'm still teaching that class now. Ha ha.

So, I am still teaching at the kindergarden, yesterday I traded in my playstation 2 for a "playstaion portable (PSP)", it's really nice, and it's kept me occupied while i've been bored.

Well, that's all for now. Write more later,

 

--Stephen

 

 

posted by: stephenthegreat at 21:11 | link | comments (3) |
china, hainan, haikou city, teaching english

Boring.. boring life

Well, it's not that i've been too busy to write lately, it's just that, to tell the truth, nothing has happened to write about. Don't believe me? Check out my schedule,

9:00 - wake up

9:15 - 12:00, play my ps2.

12 - 1:00, eat lunch

1-6 play my ps2. ( i take a nap sometime, and on thursday to sunday i teach at the kindergarden)

6-9:00, go play basketball. (the coach here is desperate for help with his team.. so he recruits me to help him out, and jamie, i've improved dramatically since last time you played with me, so don't think the school team is THAT bad)

and then.. play ps2, and at mightnight go to sleep, and repeat that day the next day! Great life huh?

Well.. this Wednesday I have three friends from the States coming in, that should make this summer a little more interesting, although they are all ps2 phanatics like me, I have a feeling  we will spend a lot of time in front of the TV, most likely playing NHL and NBA. Possibly some football also...

Getting bored yet?

Mr. Telecom (hence called because he's the boss of China telecom for this school) (you might remember me talking about him before ) he's the one who is destined to hospitalize someone every time he plays basketball, well, he is back, with a vengeance.  Somebody in Xin Jiang made him mad, and he's taking out his anger on the poor 5'5" 120 pound college students here. He broke 2 ribs on a guy the other day... and gave another guy a decently serious asthma attack, for scaring the crap outta him. I'm smart, I just play on his team. :) Even then though, you learn to stay out of his way.

It's midnight... and I think i'm gonna go play on my ps2 a little more. Yay!

---Stephen

 

posted by: stephenthegreat at 00:59 | link | comments (4) |
china, hainan, haikou city, teaching english

Workshop is over!

Well, the workshop ended last week, (PHEW!) It was a long month, but.. I guess it was fun..

There were a couple of highlights in this years workshop, I had my first hospital stay in Baisha. It all happened like this, in the last post, I told you about Rebekah - the other teacher who came to teach the kids... well, Rebekah is a volleyball player, and well me, I stick to basketball, I could count on one hand the times i've played volleyball.. she decides that this one day we're going to go out and buy a volleyball so I can bump with her. Everything goes good the first day, but it was my 2nd day heroics that earned me my first hospital stay. Rebekah hit it kinda off, so I started running, (in flip-flops might I add) and slip.. and the sharp end of a rock goes into my leg... and well... 3 hours, a bunch of stitches later, i'm home. But the craziest part is, while we were about to leave going to the hospital, Rebekah has to be carried down the stairs because she decides to have an asthma attack! Oh the look on all the Chinese teachers faces when they saw 6 Chinese men carrying Bek down the stairs... they didn't know what to think.

 

All the teachers left this Monday.. that was after  taking me through a gruesome 6 hour shopping trip.. (2 days in a row) - and telling me they're working me out for my future wife, what guts! but I guess it could have been worse, I got free pizza outa it! woohoo!

Besides that, i'm back teaching at the kindergarden, and enjoying my last month of summer off! I'll try to write more sooner than I did last time - bye

 

--Stephen

posted by: stephenthegreat at 00:34 | link | comments (16) |
china, hainan, haikou city, teaching english