I did a big demo class today. It is always fun to speak in front of a big audience, especially when it is for doing something as simple as teaching English. I taught them about the life of a Canadian university student, something that I thought they would be interested in. I guess they weren't really that interested because they didn't answer my questions or voulenteer to say much so I changed the subject to parties more quickly that I expected. Once I was on that subject, things went better and I was able to caputre their interest, especially for the game of truth or dare I staged. In the end, there were three or four students who signed up, which I think is not so bad for an event like this. Hopefully, some of the other students present will sign up later.
After I was done teaching, a girl came up to me to talk about Canada. It turned out that her uncle is living there. She said that he got his money by stealing it from the republic of China. I, being conscious of Taiwan, thought that she meant the Republic of China (the formal name for Taiwan). Upon mentioning this, serious awkwardness ensued. Just then, another girl came up and told me that she wanted to study in Canada. Of course, she did not know anything about Canada and only wanted to go there because it is eaiser to get a visa for than the US. I pretty much just told her that she should not go to UBC because her English would not improve at all. To be honest, now whenever I meet people like her I feel like telling them not to come to Canada at all. I just can not stand seeing people like Roger using my country and my government for a free education and free healthcare while cursing the country and people the whole time.
After the class, Victor invited me out for dinner. Victor was the Modern English manager I met when I went down to Henan. He was also sent by the head office to help them set up. Talking to him I found out that the Henan school ended up closing down at the end of the summer. They, or rather Shaun, lost a lot of money on the whole thing, it is really too bad. Of course Shaun was a non-English speaker with no experience in education or management so he didn't really know what he was doing from the start. Apart from the Henan school, Victor and I talked about language learning and the state of Modern English in general. I think he has a very bad, and very typically Chinese, strategy for learning a foreign language. Most of it is based on memorisation and imitation. After my experience in my current course, I could not disagree with him more, but out of politeness I nodded my head and said that memorisation is a useful tool.
Today at lunch, I had a sort of interview about a job that I might get. The good thing is that it is only two days a month and it pays 1500 for those two days. The bad thing is that it is an army run elementary school. I don't really like the idea of working for the 'people's liberation army' but maybe I can get over that feeling for some easy money. The thought of making half of what I made all last month in two days is really exciting and definately too good to pass up.
Tomorrow, I should get back to studying again. It has now been a few days and I think I might fall behind if it goes much longer. Practice is important, but learning new things is perhaps more important for me right now... I guess I should continue working at it...
It grows late, I didn't sleep enough last night...
After I was done teaching, a girl came up to me to talk about Canada. It turned out that her uncle is living there. She said that he got his money by stealing it from the republic of China. I, being conscious of Taiwan, thought that she meant the Republic of China (the formal name for Taiwan). Upon mentioning this, serious awkwardness ensued. Just then, another girl came up and told me that she wanted to study in Canada. Of course, she did not know anything about Canada and only wanted to go there because it is eaiser to get a visa for than the US. I pretty much just told her that she should not go to UBC because her English would not improve at all. To be honest, now whenever I meet people like her I feel like telling them not to come to Canada at all. I just can not stand seeing people like Roger using my country and my government for a free education and free healthcare while cursing the country and people the whole time.
After the class, Victor invited me out for dinner. Victor was the Modern English manager I met when I went down to Henan. He was also sent by the head office to help them set up. Talking to him I found out that the Henan school ended up closing down at the end of the summer. They, or rather Shaun, lost a lot of money on the whole thing, it is really too bad. Of course Shaun was a non-English speaker with no experience in education or management so he didn't really know what he was doing from the start. Apart from the Henan school, Victor and I talked about language learning and the state of Modern English in general. I think he has a very bad, and very typically Chinese, strategy for learning a foreign language. Most of it is based on memorisation and imitation. After my experience in my current course, I could not disagree with him more, but out of politeness I nodded my head and said that memorisation is a useful tool.
Today at lunch, I had a sort of interview about a job that I might get. The good thing is that it is only two days a month and it pays 1500 for those two days. The bad thing is that it is an army run elementary school. I don't really like the idea of working for the 'people's liberation army' but maybe I can get over that feeling for some easy money. The thought of making half of what I made all last month in two days is really exciting and definately too good to pass up.
Tomorrow, I should get back to studying again. It has now been a few days and I think I might fall behind if it goes much longer. Practice is important, but learning new things is perhaps more important for me right now... I guess I should continue working at it...
It grows late, I didn't sleep enough last night...
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