A Smoggy Day in Xining and Lesson Planning 101

On Saturday we were taken out by a couple of the Chinese teachers from the complex.
First stop was South Mountain, sadly today was so smoggy we couldn't see anything! We couldn't get to the top because they were 'firing seals'- literally what one of the teachers said. Suddenly a scene from the apprentice pops into my head but the candidates are SEALS. Much hilarity was had. Other scenes included seal firemen and firing seals out of a cannon. All reduced us to fits of giggling. Turns out what the teacher had actually meant was that they were sealing the mountain with fire, Xining is very dry so I think they were control burning.

Next stop was a book store! Books in China are so CHEAP! You could buy a good Shakespeare anthology for £8! The English books they had were limited to the classics but it is good to know that if I am desperate for a classic I can get one for about £3! We picked up some teaching resources which were cool (and about £2). Most of the store was lost on me due to the fact it is all in Chinese, it felt a lot like a library though because there were Chinese people everywhere just sitting and reading.

Next was lunch and we went for a kind of sizzling hot pot place, the food was really nice. I am getting sick to death of the amount of chili they put into everything. I'd kill for some variety! England has got it pretty sweet, a month of eating nothing but rice, noodles and buckets of chili is taking its toll. Don't even know if I am losing weight or not! The food is nice, it is just the same all the time. Breakfast - roll, pickled veg and an egg.
Lunch- rice, vegetables and some gristly meat. Dinner- rice, various meat dishes and green tea.

After lunch it was time for more shopping! We all wanted things to aid our teaching so we hit the stationary shops and toy shops before heading to the supermarket!

THEY KNEW WE WERE COMING.

Carved apples

Turtle/Tortoise for £4, don't think its being sold as a pet though...

After stocking up on essentials (fruit, fruit juice, tea, toilet roll etc.) at the supermarket we were ready to head back to the complex. Will was complaining that he was hungry (despite it only being a couple of hour since lunch) so they took us all to a noodle place for some beef and noodle soup. Most of us were still stuffed from lunch!

Yesterday was a day of confinement so we could chill out and do our lesson plans. I'm not complaining though! Writing a lesson plan for a 3-hour long class of 20 7-11 year olds is quite challenging! I think I managed it though! My first lesson is all about getting to know one another, I have prepared a slideshow about myself and I have come up with 60 English names for the kids (I have been asked to assign names!).For the actual language teaching I am telling them how to introduce themselves and talk about their families. I am expecting a lot of one child households though... I have made a worksheet and everything!

Teaching language to primary is easier than teaching them about British Culture, there is so much you can do with culture but it seems to be aimed at older age groups. I settled on a guess who picture round and having them come up with some questions to ask famous Brits.

Its all about variety when teaching children! I have put in loads of moving around games and competitions, I have even put down to learn the YMCA! Anything to get them out of their seats! I think my lesson plan is good but whether or not it will work we shall find out tomorrow!