Planning the new semester (part 3/3)

The other half of my time at work I tour a few high schools. Usually I have the toddlers in the morning and the high schools after lunch. This is a great way to start the day with crazy energy and intuition and finish it with some more intellectually stimulating material. It is so different that it almost feels like a completely different job.

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays I teach at the Kunming number 28 high school. It is a girls' school. I teach 8 classes of about 40 girls a week. Half the classes are city girls and half of them countryside girls and there is a huge difference in attitude. Although I have my favorite and least favorite class, I pretty much managed to create a welcome language learning environment in all of them and the girls have an improving mindset about learning language. I have a great time teaching them. The salary in this school is not too high, but it's my oldest workplace and I just stay loyal to them.


My favorite class, the first one on Tuesday.


During class.


Do you understand?

Last year I started working for Kunming number 1 high school, in a special program for financially privileged students outlined by a British organisation called NCC. This program was focussed on getting the students ready for studying in universities abroad. I had a great chance to get some experience teaching the more complicated English that is needed for the IELTS and TOEFL exams. Apart from this I was asked to teach a course called "cultural studies". In those classes I had to guide the students in doing some individual research and writing a quasi scientific paper about the difference between the Chinese and Western education systems. Although the students didn't do a good job at all, I was very stimulated by the idea of a course like this.

Some of the NCC students performing a play, showing off their break dancing skills.

Obviously, the NCC program has been struggling. It starts from the completely false premises that it won't leave any students behind. This may sound very promising to rich factory owners with lazy kids, but it is just not coherent with reality. Some kids are just not made for school and especially not for university abroad. The exuberantly high tuition that parents pay for their kids made the management keep students in the program whatever happened. So with this greatly inconsistent strategy in place it was quite a struggle to motivate some of those lazy, rich kids to start working. The students were nice, for sure, and I liked being among them. But there was a great deal of motivation lacking. The management didn't handle those issues efficiently and was communicating indirectly to all parties. They indirectly communicated to me that they were going into the next inefficient reform, and that there was no place left for a part-time teacher. It proved to be a blessing in disguise...

Recently, I made some new contacts that offer me a course for high school kids. The kids are all planning to go abroad, and the course should prepare them for their time in a foreign university. As I have quite some experience with classes like this, the school asks me not only to teach, but also to develop a curriculum and syllabus. The parents are paying quite some money for this course as well, but as it is a private school, the kids are bound to be much more driven and motivated. I have started working on this curriculum as soon as I heard about the lessons. The first thing that I have to take into account that the lessons should be as fun and interactive as possible. It should also have a very solid outline and captivating lesson plans. A big mistake that foreign teachers make when they try to prepare Chinese kids for the much freer education systems abroad, is that they fixate only on the freedom. Doing this, the lessons tend to get chaotic and without any obvious goals.

In my curriculum I have quite a few important goals. Instead of only introducing the kids to the freedom of the system, like it is in their imagination, I try to project them as responsible international students that are studying mainly to enrich their minds and to get a more all-encompassing world view. With studying anything, it is crucial to understand that there should always be a combination of old fashioned rote learning and the use of creativity. In our lessons, we will look at some case studies about cultural misunderstanding about "the West" and "the East". The students will be asked to read, write, research, discuss and present about those case studies. As the whole thing is in English, the language learning involved in this course will be based on how much trouble the students have with grasping the material. I will be working together with two professional assistants, who will help me recognize those problems. My goals are to make the students more responsible, inquisitive, critical, assertive, open minded, worldly, objective, independent and aware. I can put a lot of my creativity and working experience into this project, and it is very stimulating. And eventually, it might turn out to be lucrative as well...

As you might have concluded, I'm very happy with my job as an English teacher in China. People sometimes react like: "Oh, yeah of course, a teacher..." or "Oh I'm so happy I don't have to teach." They tend to downplay the job like something everybody can do. They insinuate that it is just an unimportant and irresponsible way of making some easy money as a foreigner. But while there are probably plenty of people who don't take the job seriously, I certainly don't see it that way. I am definitely not tired of my teaching job and will keep on doing it for a few more semesters for sure.

Planning the new semester (part 2/3)

This semester I took on considerably more work in kindergartens. As uninteresting and uninspiring I thought it would be in the beginning, as exciting and stimulating it actually turns out to be. In contrast to the wrestling I had to do in the beginning, I now thrive on a kind of constant flow of ideas and don't need to do very much preparation. That doesn't mean it's easy. With the toddlers you always need to have something in backup. They won't give you a break if you fall quiet, no matter how much they like you.

Even though I know they would like it very much, I detest singing songs and I feel like I'm not up for it. So, as I mentioned before, the fun in the classes is mostly based on clowning and acting out a certain situation. I get better and better and this week I even started to (successfully) experiment with a slapstick act. Obviously, I try to balance the fun and the actual learning as good as possible, dependent on the class. The learning that takes place has the goal of the children getting used to the concept of another language and erasing structural mistakes that will affect their fluency on the long run. Most of it is practicing pronunciation. I developed a useful phonics system and get better and better to recognize where the crucial problems lie. And this means that I also train the staff at my new kindergartens to review those phonics.

As promised, I took some pictures Tuesday morning at work...


Throwing the imaginary pancake in the air, which will inevitably stick to the ceiling and ruin the imaginary cooking plans. Well, it was worth the try...


Excitement rises when they mimic the movement pattern at the start of every class.


Practicing the "K" sound without the Chinese "eeeeeeh" at the end.


"Now watch my mouth!"


"What did you say?"


Ready for class.


"Good morning!"

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PART 3 following soon about my high school teaching

Planning the new semester (part 1/3)

Last year I stopped posting when my job got too busy. My schedule is getting busier and busier at the moment, and to prevent me from ceasing all bog activities again, I decided it would be nice to write a little update on my weekly activities. There are quite a few people that can't make out what I actually do for a living when they read this blog, and that's a little silly.

As was probably already vaguely known, I teach English. I do this parttime at various locations in and outside Kunming. I do 30 hours of teaching a week, with 15 hours of commuting and 10 hours of lesson preparation. Currently I fill up the majority of my free time with studying, writing and sports.

Right from the moment I arrived in Kunming I started to work as a teacher. As I was new in the teaching scene here, completely unexperienced and unqualified, and not even a native speaker, I started working for some shady and untrustworthy employers. Sometimes my pride was put to the test as people hired me just to showcase a foreigner, no matter what the blonde monkey was going to do. Despite some of those discouraging and embarrassing situations, I soon developed a passion for the work and put all my energy and resources into it to produce the best possible results. My value as a teacher went up and while keeping firm grip on the fruitful and stimulating contacts, I systematically got rid of the rotten apples among them.

My first lesson ever taught was to a bunch of about fifty pure adrenaline driven primary school kids and completely unexpected. Me and my employer took the cab to the school and I remember that I was trying to make it as sure as possible that I was just coming in to see how the old teacher was organizing the classes and to get some insight into the materials. When we arrived at the school, however, the old teacher was nowhere to be seen. "Ok," said my employer. "Seems like you're gonna have to introduce yourself to the kids." The tremendous bluffing about years of experience working with big groups of children had suddenly made my options surprisingly limited. I was hammering myself cartoonishly on the head in my imagination when I walked through those corridors that lasts moments, desperately trying to come up with something exciting to tell those little bastards. From then on, I knew: Always have a backup plan. Never just rely on the situation. It were 40 long minutes, but I turned out to have made a reasonable impression on the class and my employer.


Some of the little devils in that first class. (May 2008)

Slightly later I started working with a group of adults that were working for a local branch of a German company. I came to their offices twice a week and offered a course on practical business English, so that they would get better in communicating with their German colleagues. We got to know each other pretty well and it was a great learning experience for both them and me.


Barbara, Echo, Kalen, Lena and me at Kurz. (September 2008)

With my initial teaching experience being mostly with adults and smart high school kids, I wasn't eager at all to start teaching small kids. I considered rationality a crucial part of the fun that I had when teaching and I didn't think toddlers would be interesting or fun to work with at all. However strong this feeling was, for some reason I ended up in a classroom with them anyhow. The people seemed nice and the pay was well above average. I could at least give it a try... The first lesson went worse than that first lesson with those primary school kids. During the 10 minutes they gave me everything that could go wrong went wrong. I stunned the kids with drawing a map of Holland on the blackboard and asking them far too rational questions like: "What kind of animals do they have in Holland?" "Do you take the bicycle to school like the people in Holland?" Even my juggling tricks to save the tense and distracted atmosphere didn't have any positive effect. I was very lucky that they decided to give me a chance anyway. After a few difficult and almost desperate weeks, patient coaching of the professional teaching staff slowly made me realize what was important when teaching toddlers. Gradually I started to experiment with crucial matters like timing, small kids humor, energy balancing and simplicity.

Currently, half the work I do is in Kindergartens. I teach an estimated 1000 toddlers a week. Every morning I start in a class with a bunch those freshly awoken bundles of energy and I now find it amazingly stimulating and interesting. Once I learned the ropes, everything turned for the better and the children and me were able to establish some kind of mutually beneficial bond. A big part of my task consists of clowns performance to keep the children happy and let them know that learning a language is fun and contact with a foreigner is nothing to be afraid of. As classes can get as big as 80, tight management of the energy levels in the group is of the utmost importance. It is something that I experiment with everyday. You can have a weak energy the whole class which isn't fun for either party. You also shouldn't hype the children up too much, for they will get burned out soon and probably after the first five minutes their energy will start to drift in all possible directions as it will not be able anymore to maintain a steady focus. Or it can be just enough, resulting in focussed children that enjoy themselves and absorb material at the same time. This is quite a thin line and makes me develop a great deal of useful intuition.

+++

PART 2 following soon with lots of photographs of the kindergarten teaching

Serge Christophe accompagné par Henri Debs et Son Combo - On Bel Ti Chatt'

I've been awfully busy again and didn't have time to post anything or to react to any of the kind and thoughtful comments. I will do that as soon as possible. In the meantime, please listen to this great tune uploaded by Naim. It has a great spring feeling and I listen to it all the time. Actually naim's profile at soundcloud showcases many great tunes that he recorded from his precious 45 collection. Please go there, enjoy the great music and leave some comments. Stay tuned...

Serge Christophe accompagné par Henri Debs et Son Combo - On Bel Ti Chatt' by Naïm

Anarchy in China (part1)

on the lawlessness and irrationality of Chinese logistics

“Hey, where did you learn to drive, you fool?” “Where do you think you are going, you shitfaced moron?!” “GET OUT OF THE WAAAAAAY!” A-social and irrational traffic behaviour is indisputably one of the most frustrating phenomena that I have to put up with living in China. Let it be clear; I taught myself from the beginning to use my native Dutch when I blurt out my grotesque and sometimes unjustified fulminations pointed at people involved in the ridiculously destructive traffic situations around me. Although the Chinese tend to be far from macho personalities up for the good old all-settling street fight, I still think it's better to avoid any unnecessary provocations. Let's have a look at how and why some people in China tend to make logistic decisions that completely contrast and downplay all the existing rules (written and unwritten) regarding safety, other people in general and above all; common sense.

I guess I would generally be considered as a relatively peace-loving and reasonable fellow who wouldn't judge people's behaviour without a fair reason. Whenever I'm participating in traffic, however, my alter ego awakes. I would never resort to any physical violence. But even the most secular person with only the slightest understanding of Dutch words would probably develop serious moral objections cycling next to me. Whenever I feel there is only the slightest injustice being suffered by me on my bike, I resort to the most horrific and shallow name-calling imaginable. I just can't help myself. And this is all the more true for Chinese traffic. Cars honking their way on the wrong side of the road through crowded bicycle lanes, Sunday drivers swaying slowly from lane to lane deliberately slowing down anybody else behind them, people cruising red and getting stuck to gridlock everybody who has a green light, people bluntly beaming their blinding fog lights in your face in the middle of brightly illuminated city streets, the list goes on; and it just keeps on firing me up.

Kunming traffic

Admittedly, as I only have the experience of living in Kunming, I can't really speak for the whole of China. Although I doubt it, people in the north might be far more alert and social drivers. But let's take Kunming as a representative example for the rest of the country. The Yunnanese are regarded as very laid-back and slow-paced by people from other provinces. If this is assumption is true, it seems to have a disastrous effect on the people's mentality in traffic. Driving trainers take their students to provincial roads and approvingly sit next them while they create massive traffic jams by driving fifteen kilometres an hour staring mindlessly concentrated at the road surface in front of them. After a few of those “lessons”, they are presented with their license and declared ready to take on the congested city streets. Those incompetent driving trainers are a result of a massive private car owning boom of the recent years. It hasn't been easy to cater to this sudden ambition of China's new rich middle class to own and drive their own cars while the only drivers that were known in their parents' time were drivers of buses, trucks or some agricultural vehicles like the tuolaji.

Another noticeable problem in Kunming that is probably shared by other new booming agglomerates is a narrow road system that is lagging behind the economical developments that result in more car usage. A few Chinese mega cities successfully dodged the bullet by swift anticipation. But a good share of them find themselves in the position where it will only be harder to recover the longer they wait or take missteps in their logistical planning. Situations in other giant Asian cities like Manila, Bangkok or Jakarta spring to mind. Corruption obviously plays an integral part here. In Kunming we owe our cramped streets for a big part to the former vice mayor Hu Xing (胡星). Mister Hu was responsible for the development of the Kunming road network and reportedly took 40 million Yuan in bribes without developing much roads. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2007 after a short disappearance to Singapore. Often, the Chinese government deserves credit for their courageous and effective decision making that obviously benefits the bustling country. But some developments are just not easy to foresee and react to with infrastructural projects that often take years or even decades. And you never know how many cases like Hu Xing's never surfaced.

Comrade Hu Xing being handcuffed in court

Finally, this nightmarish traffic story is a result of some kind of super strong anarchistic spirit that the Chinese possess. I recall an anarchistic Belgian friend of mine with somewhat extreme views once saying: “I hate China and the Chinese people. They just blindly follow their government and obey rules. They are the opposite of true anarchists [like me].” Since then I have been closely listening to people making incorrect assumptions about China, but never really heard one that was so totally wrong in its absolute completeness. Although it is true that Chinese people are subject to a mighty totalitarian government, they certainly don't tend to obey rules. This defiance is reflected in traffic situations in which stand-offs between traffic police officers and rule defying drivers are very common. Most people treat the officer like he is their 4 year-old nephew with a whistle in his mouth. People in China bend, ignore or ridicule the rules much more than most people would expect. Some branches of the police are wholly disrespected and bluntly cold-shouldered. Although Chinese people might generally be seen by many Westerners as law abiding, Politburo-fearing people, they are very true anarchists in their own special way.

Currently they are building a new subway system in Kunming. So with the most important roads partly closed off we are suffering for a few years to make everything better in the future. And although the car ownership boom is likely to stay soaring for another while, the amount of mountain bike riders is also massively increasing. To be honest, I'm somebody who just has a passion for cursing. Also when I participate in traffic outside China, I see some kind of art in it. I'll live. A big factor in the improvement of the situation, though, has to do with the Chinese willingness to respect written and unwritten traffic rules. The longer I live in China, the more I realise that this anarchism is a crucial realisation in understanding the country. The examples are all around us. Very often you hear foreign businessmen complaining about Chinese employees who refuse to work according to certain rules. Just open any book on China's booming monster economy and read about an economic system that is largely built on the notion of short-cutting or leap-frogging around certain rules. This notion is obviously material for a later post, depending on your enthusiasm and my schedule.

Kunming - Vientiane - Kunming 2011 - Itinerary

Initially I was planning to post a boring, dry and technical account of my trip and then tell some stories later. The stories will follow in the coming week(s) and please stay tuned. But as I planned I will first post this itinerary. My first draft was very boring and uninteresting so I added some pictures. But please don't think those pictures are in any way representative for the great time that I had on my trip. As I said, I am allergic to cameras especially when the moments are most memorable. I tried to take a few during the trip with blogging plans in mind, but it still is a meager attempt with a shabby result. Despite this, I hope it will make it a little bit more exciting. Real stories and thoughts will follow soon, first this practical summary.

KUNMING - VIENTIANE - KUNMING (2011)

Day 1 Sat 15 Jan

Kunming - Tonghai

Dist: 155 km

Cycled: 8 hours 30

Avg: 18,3 km/h Max: 50km/h

Weather: 4'C Snow

Terrain: Hilly with no real climbing

On the first day after a 100 kilometers. Wearing nearly all my clothes.

Day 2 Sun 16 Jan

Tonghai - Shiping

Dist: 120 km

Cycled: 7 hours

Avg: 17,1 km/h Max: 50km/h

Weather: 10'C Fog, rain

Terrain: Hilly with one 15 km climb

This road was an involuntary detour of around 40 kilometers.

Day 3 Mon 17 Jan

Shiping - Honghe

Dist: 85 km

Cycled: 4 hours 30

Avg: 18,7 km/h Max: 50 km/h

Weather: 10'C Rain, heavy wind and thunderstorms.

Terrain: 50 km descent and 15 km heavy climb

The clouds that caused the rain and muddy roads during my descent

Day 4 Tue 18 Jan

Honghe - Lüchun

BUS

Dist: 200 km

Time: 7 hours

Approaching Lüchun.

Day 5 Wed 19 Jan

REST

Resting in the charming town of Lüchun, drying my clothes and sitting around the fire with the friendly old lady that was running the guesthouse, eating delicious mountain honey. This is a silly snapshot from my balcony.

Day 6 Thu 20 Jan

Lüchun - Jiangcheng

BUS

Dist: 200 km

Time: 6 hours

Day 7 Fri 21 Jan

Jiangcheng - Mengla

BUS

Dist: 215 km

Time: 6 hours 30

The bus Jiangcheng - Mengla with my bike on top.

Day 8 Sat 22 Jan

Mengla - Roadside 40 km from China-Lao border

Dist: 110 km

Cycled: 6 hours 30

Avg: 16,9 km/h Max: 47 km/h

Weather: hot

Terrain: Hilly

The first time camping in an old shack with some chickens as my roommates.

Day 9 Sun 23 Jan

Oudomxay - Vientiane

BUS

Dist: 650 km

Time: 18 hours

Day 10 - Day 21 - Monday 24 Jan - Friday 4 Feb VIENTIANE

Day 22 Sat 5 Feb

Vientiane - Toutan village

Dist: 103 km

Cycled: 5 hours

Avg: 20,5 km/h Max: 52 km/h

Terrain: Flat/slightly hilly

Day 23 Sun 6 Feb

Toutan village - Kasi

Dist: 105 km

Cycled: 5 hours 30

Avg: 18,9 km/h Max: 52

Terrain: Hilly

I was getting more resourceful in picking good camping spots, like this one at the side of a river a few kilometers outside Kasi.

Day 24 Mon 7 Feb

Kasi - small village near Pho Kham

Dist: 100 km

Cycled: 6 hours 30

Avg: 15 km/h Max: 54 km/h

Terrain: Mountainous, climbed for approximately 70 km

During the 70 kilometer climb.

The camping place I found at the edge of the village was totally amazing. The picture made by this crappy photographer pulling out his I-phone doesn't show you the stunning view into the valley from the hammock. Unfortunately I was only able to record that in my memory.

Day 25 Tue 8 Feb

Pho Kham - Luang Prabang

Dist: 87 km

Cycled: 4 hours 15

Avg: 20,4 km/h Max: 56 km/h

Terrain: Started with big descent, afterwards hilly

Day 26 Wed 9 Feb

Luang Prabang - Hatgna

Dist: 30 km

Cycled: 1 hour 30

Avg: 20 km/h Max: 42

Terrain: Slightly hilly

The perfect way to hang the hammock, I was getting good at this.

Day 27 Thu 10 Feb

Hatgna - Wanghin

Dist: 100 km

Cycled: 5 hours

Avg: 19,1 km/h Max: 54

Terrain: Hilly

The sun started killing me in Lao. Naturally, instead of buying a sturdy jungle hat, the only model I could find was this silly one that is usually worn by babies.

Day 28 Fri 11 Feb

Wanghin - Oudomxay

Dist: 80 km

Cycled: 5 hours 15

Avg: 15,1 Max: 48

Terrain: Mountains with some significant climbing

Day 29 Sat 12 Feb

Oudomxay - Shanggang

Dist: 115 km ( cycled: 70 km, walked: 20 km, hitchhiked: 25 km)

Crappy dust road in Northern Lao (currently getting repaired by the Chinese). This is just before I crossed the border into China with a broken back wheel.

Day 30 Sun 13 Feb

Shanggang - Jinghong

BUS

Dist: 180 km

Time: 3 hours 30

Day 31 Mon 14 Feb

Jinghong - Menghai - Jinghong

Dist: 120 km

Cycled: 7 hours

Avg: 16,5 km/h Max: 43

Terrain: Hilly

The bike with lighter packing for the day trip to Menghai.

Day 32 Tue 15 Feb

Jinghong - Lüchun

BUS

Dist: 400 km

Time: 10 hours

The Mekong river in early morning Jinghong.

Day 33 Wed 16 Feb

Lüchun - Xiaowengbangcun

Dist: 115 km

Cycled: 5 hours 30

Avg: 19,5 km/h Max: 54 km/h

Terrain: Mountainous, mostly descending

Lüchun's main street by sunrise.

Friendly lads that invited me over for lunch.

Passenger transport by "tuolaji". Obviously the worst moment to time this picture as it is probably the least crowded one.

The bike with full packing.

Countryside halfway through the descent, just before riding into the banana fields.

Day 34 Thu 17 Feb

Xiaowengbangcun - Jinping

Dist: 83 km

Cycled: 6 hours

Avg: 13,7 km/h Max: 54 km/h

Terrain: Starting hilly with a tough 40 km climb at the end

Beautiful trees carrying bright orange flowers instead of leaf. They are quite plentiful but unfortunately I don't know their names. I've been told their Chinese name but forgotten just as quickly.

Day 35 Fri 18 Feb

Jinping - Manhao

Dist: 80 km

Cycled: 5 hours

Avg: 15,5 km/h Max: 45 km/h

Terrain: 20 km climb at the start, afterwards a long descent

Climbing out of Jinping (into a layer of icy foggy rain clouds).

Day 36 Sat 19 Feb

Manhao - Gejiu

Dist: 90 km

Cycled: 7 hours

Avg: 13,4 km/hour Max: 64 km/hour

Terrain: Massive climb all the way

40 kilometers of dirt road steeply ascending. The last day of biking was definitely the toughest.

The last picture of the bike resting against a village name sign, with the photographers right index finger blocking nearly 20 percent of the lens.

Day 37 Sun 20 Feb

Gejiu - Kunming

BUS

Dist: 270 km

Time: 4 hours 30

TOTAL:

25 days of traveling (3800 kilometers)

Traveled by bicycle: 1650 kilometers in 100 hours (17 days)
Traveled by bus: 2150 kilometers in 60 hours (8 days)

Maps:

Red lines represent cycling, blue lines are trips by bus.

Map 1 (Day 1 - 6)

Kunming - Tonghai - Shiping - Honghe - Lüchun - Jiangcheng

Map 2 (Day 7 - 9)

Jiangcheng - Mengla - Oudomxay [- Vientiane]

Map 4 (Day 22 - 28)

Vientiane - Kasi - Pho Kham - Luang Prabang - Oudomxay

Map 5 (Day 29 - 35)

Oudomxay - Shanggang - Mengla - Jinghong - Menghai - Jinghong - Jiangcheng - Lüchun - Jinping - Manhao

Map 5 (Day 36 - 37)

(Jiangcheng - Lüchun - Jinping -) Manhao - Gejiu - Kunming

I'm back!

Hi everyone,

It's been a year now since I last posted something on my blogs. A year of unexpected silence in which an awful lot has happened. While I was in the middle of some blogging activities March 2010, I suddenly got caught up in a very busy and serious schedule at work, and all of a sudden I was left without time to summon the inspiration or the courage to catch up with current events in blog posts. And then it was silent.

Anyway, today I decided to break the silence with some posts about my latest trip through Yunnan and Lao by bicycle. This might be a possibility for a more consistent kind of blogging in the near future. Which would create a trusting readership coming back for more and commenting where excited. I hope so.

I scanned my computer for some representative pictures of last year. Unfortunately I seem to have become almost allergic to any electrical device that comes close to resembling a camera, especially in special or memorable circumstances. As a result, that makes me completely dependent on others taking pictures of my life and sending them to me.

Well, although it might be a bit parsimonious, I managed to select a few.


This one shows me and Ben fully equipped on my motorcycle.


Here I'm teaching some kids using the "English Boxing Position" (never to underestimate)...


In this one you see me and Daniel during our "DJ Agbadza and his Voodoodrummer"-act.


This is me during a small stop over on a road trip I made with Jolieke to Jianshui.


This is me drinking tea with my good friend He Qijun (on the right) and some other guests.