Another Week

This week has been pretty busy. Class was mind-bendingly dull though i suppose that should be my own damn fault. The students all gave speeches, which went okay, although one of my prompts was "why should I give you an A for this class", and the student's reply was "I think you are a boring teacher". For those of you playing the home game, I never pretended to be an omnipotent, impartial judge, giving grades based solely on the student's ability to speak english. Of course, this was my thursday morning class. Thursday in general is just a silly day - its my last day of the week and by this point i've taught the same lesson 4 times already so I'm bored and impatient, my first class isn't terribly good at speaking english, nor are they interesting/charming enough to compensate, and my second class has really bad attendance problems and gives me crap for trying to cut class short so I can go home for the weekend.

I know, I'm a bad teacher. Sue me. I don't let them out early anymore because I know how to fill up those awkward 15 minute gaps when i've run out of content and I can't think of anything for them to do. For would-be English teachers, here is my offical Protip: Bring your lesson plan to class and have 3 questions in there, vaguely related to one another. In case of emergency, write these on the board, and have your students prepare answers to the questions in groups. Then you can just walk around and make sure they're speaking english to each other, and it eats up like a half hour (an hour if you really want to lean into it but whatever).

This past wednesday I helped some of my students kick-start the school English Corner with a bang by showing up to it. There must have been a hundred students there. I gave a speech on how to effectively practice English (Answer: take how much English you are speaking now, double it) and then the student running the show (one of mine, i might add) broke the mob up into groups and had me walk up and shake hands, answer questions, etc. It was like running for Mayor of Englishtowne. Overall it was pretty fun, and I gave a sassy interview to the school newspaper. The exchange basically went like this:

Q: What do you think of Peihua students?
A: They are very nice, but I keep having to take away their cellphones.

Q: What do you think of China?
A: It is a very old country.

I'm fairly certain she'll just make up the whole thing, because i was being a dick.

I also just finished an 800 word article for Chinagrooves magazine on the XiaoZhai markets. They say they will publish it in the december issue, but its been a while since i wrote an essay so they might just say "no way, this is rubbish". Going out there and exploring/taking pictures, and then writing this business up took up the lions share of my weekend. It was a lot of fun. I went to a bookstore and read The Portrait of Dorian Grey in its entirety (in English), and found a subterranian clothing market. I think tonight I'll edit it again and send a revised copy to the magazine. It's really not very good.

This week I learned how to play Swing Low Sweet Chariot, which was easy because it only needs C, F, and G7 chords (which I learned from Greensleeves). I'm not sure what I'll set my sights on next. It's hard to find examples of piano parts from popular music because A) usually popular music only demands like just the 1 chord from their pianist and B) unlike guitar tabs, you are expected to pay real money for this. So, because I know an excess of 6 (SIX!) chords, I think I am fit to play in a shitty garage band. I could even have a solo, so long as the solo closely resembles swing low sweet chariot, or something equally simple.

So, I've been reading Don Quixote, listening to Jimmy McGriff, writing an article about the upscale-ish part of town, playing Metal Gear Solid, watching Start Trek (TOS), and teaching english. Life just seems more rewarding when you list it out. Wait no it seems trite.

Oh, and I'm thinking of applying for a job writing for Bioware. I'm not even sure if i want the job, but its nice to have a reason to check your email every day. That shining jewel of hope, even though were i offered the job i'd probably end up saying no. Those video game companies run you into the ground. Even if it is bioware, a company to whom i've given 100's of hours and paid them for the privilege.

I'm going to update my flickr page later tonight! Also, I need to use that to friend people so I know when you people are updating yours. I am referring mostly to Dave and Lexi here, I dunno if Andrew updated his since japan, or christina, but if you have a flickr page let me know and we can all be a big weird cult of photography.

peace!