Digging the latest WP update although I’m not big on the default typeface. First time reading about Matt Mullenweg after seeing his catchy blog title: Wrong Number Flirt. I often wonder what my life would be like if I had continued web programming and maintained my online moniker – keymistress. Too much catching-up for me I reckon, after I painfully incorporated some AJAX form validation into the last website I had to maintain (which was totally out of my job scope because I was supposed to be an assistant photography teacher).
Enough rambling. My English Corner (EC) was smooth sailing today, thanks to the snazzy flash website, YourSingapore.com. I thought my EC was tomorrow and hadn’t prepared for it yet, but I had been toying with the idea of doing one on Singapore. Food formed the main part of my presentation with really interesting questions from my students during the evening session:
What are the top universities?
Do the Malays get along with the Chinese?
What’s the military/defense like?
The class was on fire compared to my previous topic on Bhutan. I was rather disappointed with the lack of enthusiasm from them and judging from their response for the other feel-good theme on Earth Hour, the Chinese students really don’t give a shit about the environment or such. I’m now wrecking my brains for my next English Corner, suggestions appreciated.
Jinhan and I had a one-hour conversation over MSN, cracking our heads to find the difference between ‘in spite of’ and ‘despite’. Being the geeks that we were, we began to permutate positive and negative clauses after reading a suggestion on the web that they have different connotations. In the end, I checked with John Doe and confirmed that the British Council still wins.
The only difference between in spite of and despite is the ‘of’. – Learn English, British Council
Mark’s learning Chinese and was really pleased to learn the phrase mei ban fa which means I can’t do anything or tough luck. It’s a very common phrase in China handy in many situations, especially to shrug responsibility. I decided to ask my Satoyo-sensei what the Japanese equivalent is and she was quick to explain that the Japanese would never use mei ban fa on a day-to-day basis because it would be “too rude”.
Meanwhile, although my Japanese grammar is improving with the lessons, my listening and speaking are still bollocks. Mei ban fa…
I got a very strong reaction from a student the other day when I said I hope to work in Japan in the future. He told me that he hates the Japanese and Korean. “Don’t you know what they did?” he exclaimed. I was surprised to see how events that happened generations ago would be so deeply rooted in a 20-year old.
After some research on the internet and visiting a few schools personally, I finally settled for private tuition with a native Japanese teacher from Peace Bridge. The classroom is very small and the school is located near Dawanglu station, if you want to attend the group classes. I’m paying 236rmb for a 2-hour lesson at my apartment, inclusive of a 10-minute break in between. Satoyo-sensei seems experienced from the way she seamlessly ended the class on the dot; new teachers usually run over.
Newpower has many branches all over in Beijing, including one right next to the school I’m teaching at in Xizhimen. Looks legit but the receptionist didn’t seem too keen to enrol me and introduced herself as ‘张老师’ (teacher). Very low school fees but I find studying from 09:00 to 12:30 on Saturdays and Sundays before working till 19:00 not appealing at all.
ちび丸子ちゃん
Another school I shortlisted was Sakura Nihongo at Xizhimen. Very posh and centrally located. Got a nice DVD and other promotional materials when I went to inquire. The exorbitant school fees of 20,000rmb for three months says it all.
My ex-Japanese teacher from the Hougang Japanese Language School in Singapore very kindly sent me some notes for the next level so I could self-study. Meanwhile, Satoyo-sensei is helping me revise using my old Minna no Nihongo 1 before proceeding to book 2 in the same series. I’m currently keeping a simple Japanese blog and watching Chibi Maruko-chan; gives you a feel of how (very) low level my Japanese is at.
One of my colleagues reckons he’d leave China just so he could get away from English Corners. What is an English Corner? At my school, it’s a class with no capped student size with a teacher facilitating the discussion of a particular topic.
I was pacing up and down, jittery over my virgin English Corner. The turnout rate of my Sunday class was smaller than I had anticipated, turned out I probably don’t have that many fans in the school. Found myself shouting rather than speaking loudly as I tried to compete with the ongoing road show in the mall where my school’s located. I don’t have strong vocals and my voice breaks into a rasp when I try to speak loudly, gotta work on that.
Made a pretty IWB (interactive whiteboard) presentation; always gives me satisfaction and pride.
Started off with an Earth Hour video, also available on Youku for those in China. Got the students to participate in a little Be Bright pub quiz from the WWF in between an article and some discussions. Did you know that rhinoceros horn is made of hair?
Materials: Paper
Students are to write the name of a famous person on a slip of paper. You could shuffle the slips or put them into a bag and let students draw one each without looking (or sneaking a peek) at what was written. Chesting the slips, students ask one another true/false questions to find out who they are.
This game can be modified for different levels of students from guessing adjectives and locations to occupations using have/has or have to/don’t have to, as suggested in Penny Ur’s Grammar Practice Activities.
Anticipated errors: Students say I know who am I instead of I know who I am.
Tip: Set students to ask three questions, then get them to change partners.
I had a hard time getting them to swap partners today because I didn’t set a limit and found myself shouting and urging them to do it a couple of times during the game.
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Tagged activity, adjective, book, don't have to, elementary, Grammar Practice Activities, has, have, have to, intermediate, locations, occupations, Penny Ur
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Nick’s been teaching some preschoolers and amongst them, here’s Yoyo:
One little, two little, three yellow fingers
Four little, five little, six yellow fingers
Seven little, eight little, nine yellow fingers
Ten yellow fingers on my hand
A four-year old who creatively altered the lyrics of Ten Little Fingers to Ten Yellow Fingers.
My trainer has a CELTA Pass A and we had the same CELTA tutor – the magnificent John Doe. You can probably tell what an awesome trainer I have by the resources she use – The Oatmeal, refreshingly witty comics on a pretty website.
Something I learned today on preventing distracting echoes:
Controlled speaking practice
Students work in pairs. Each pair receives a card with the same sentences numbered 1 to 5. Get pair A to start from 1, pair B from 3 and pair C to work from 5 backwards.
I love the school a little more each day.
China Working Visa
A temporary working visa because my tourist visa expires on 28th March. Went to the police station (派出所) to update my Residence Registration Certificate – something which you need to do yourself unless you are living in a hotel or hostel – failure to do so would result in a written warning or fine (and serious implications) for repeated offence. My school’s ‘visa expert’ said she would extend my Z-visa after she settles my Foreign Experts Working Permit, a leet looking dark blue passbook of sorts.
Training starts on Monday, a 40-hour TEFL course. Reckon it’d be an excellent refresher course; not too worried about it because I know my CELTA tutors trained me well. Looking forward!
Kegan’s post reminded me to write a long overdue review of Trusling‘s services.
Reasons you may want to retain your mobile number:
- It’s so pretty that everyone wows the first time they hear you utter it.
- More practically – you don’t want to send generic messages to everybody on your contact list informing your discontinuation of your current mobile number.
- You want people whose numbers you’ve lost or didn’t record still be able to contact you.
- You just signed up for a two-year contract with M1 for a crappy LG phone, right before leaving Singapore. (Painful when M1 finally got the rights to sell the iPhone 3GS the very next month.)
Trusling allows you to divert all the calls made to your Singapore (local) mobile number, to your new China (or overseas) number. Friends and families will reach you as per normal at local rates and you get billed local rates too. Works best if you’ve got a free-incoming subscription, like me! You pay a small fee, arguably ten times more than Skype, but you get to retain your local number and continue to utilise your subscription. For more information on how it works, please visit their website.
Admittedly, they are pretty new and there were some hiccups initially. However, they really impressed me with their friendly and efficient customer service. They replied my e-mail enquiries promptly and even called me on my mobile phone to personally iron out some technical kinks. I’m a happy customer!
