While I didn't ask for this teaching gig, and I by no means think I'm cut out for it long term, I am slowly beginning to enjoy it. Well, a little bit, anyway. The kids can be absolutely hilarious. As people, they're wonderful, and as students of English, they're entertaining. As overly tired teenagers, however, they're monsters. Regardless, like any other situation in life, you get what you give and as I am teaching, I find that I am also learning. For example, I came across this nugget of wisdom today and thought it would be nice to share :
HELPFUL TIP: When you meet new world friends, try using expressions like "Oh really?", "How interesting!" or "No kidding!" in a genuine way to show you are interested in them.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Where is that line?
If you really used to like going to see live music and hadn't had exposure to any, except Chinese opera, for several months, would you be tempted by a band that describes itself as
"often embrac[ing] odd time signatures, or odd phrasing, and we enjoy abrupt changes. Most of the pieces are dominated by the bass & drums, with the guitars pulling textures and occasional melodies from the rhythms. You can think of us as a 'Progressive Chinese Country Math Rock' band...or you can think us as a schizophrenic farrago of sound. If you can appreciate new kinds of music, or you have an eclectic taste in music, then you just might like what we are doing."
They aren't playing until April 7th, so I have some time to think about it. I think, though, that the fact that they throw in an occasional melody is the clincher. They're just going to be too tempting to pass up.
"often embrac[ing] odd time signatures, or odd phrasing, and we enjoy abrupt changes. Most of the pieces are dominated by the bass & drums, with the guitars pulling textures and occasional melodies from the rhythms. You can think of us as a 'Progressive Chinese Country Math Rock' band...or you can think us as a schizophrenic farrago of sound. If you can appreciate new kinds of music, or you have an eclectic taste in music, then you just might like what we are doing."
They aren't playing until April 7th, so I have some time to think about it. I think, though, that the fact that they throw in an occasional melody is the clincher. They're just going to be too tempting to pass up.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Karma, part two
I've never been a great student. That's not to say that I've flunked out of anything (okay, except for Math. I'm math illiterate and always will be.) but I've never really cared either. Very early on, I learned to walk that line between doing 'okay' but not putting in any unnecessary effort. Since I see almost all effort as unnecessary, it didn't take me too long to perfect this.
Consequently, I didn't go to school too often. (How telling is it that I went to school before big brother instituted all types of mechanisms to ensure that kids are not able to leave campus without everyone being aware of that?) I learned to know the difference between what I could intuit and what I would need to study for, and I learned to cram really hard at the last minute. Highly ambitious, I was not.
Nowhere did my skip class and intuit my way through the assignments manifest more than in English class. I like writing, and, not too be too cocky, but I don't think I'm too bad at it. I figure that I've grown up speaking it. I've been listening to it all of my life. And I like to read. How hard can writing be with that type of exposure? I have the basics. I know where capitals go and what they do. Ditto with periods. And I kind of have a grasp of how different combinations of words and sentences create different effects. Heck. I even know what effect means and what affect means. The rest of it was filler for me. Dangling participles, prepositions, complex clauses, erm....?
These were functions of language that I saw as something to simply get through. Fake my way through an exam and forget them forever. Well. I sort of did forget them, and wow, is it coming back to haunt me.
As we have moved schools recently, we have lost space and we have also lost a few teachers. Consequently, all hands are pitching in and that means that I am now in charge, not only of the library but, the development of grammar, writing and listening skills of 23 Chinese students. Somehow, it feels like the fates are having a good laugh right now.
Consequently, I didn't go to school too often. (How telling is it that I went to school before big brother instituted all types of mechanisms to ensure that kids are not able to leave campus without everyone being aware of that?) I learned to know the difference between what I could intuit and what I would need to study for, and I learned to cram really hard at the last minute. Highly ambitious, I was not.
Nowhere did my skip class and intuit my way through the assignments manifest more than in English class. I like writing, and, not too be too cocky, but I don't think I'm too bad at it. I figure that I've grown up speaking it. I've been listening to it all of my life. And I like to read. How hard can writing be with that type of exposure? I have the basics. I know where capitals go and what they do. Ditto with periods. And I kind of have a grasp of how different combinations of words and sentences create different effects. Heck. I even know what effect means and what affect means. The rest of it was filler for me. Dangling participles, prepositions, complex clauses, erm....?
These were functions of language that I saw as something to simply get through. Fake my way through an exam and forget them forever. Well. I sort of did forget them, and wow, is it coming back to haunt me.
As we have moved schools recently, we have lost space and we have also lost a few teachers. Consequently, all hands are pitching in and that means that I am now in charge, not only of the library but, the development of grammar, writing and listening skills of 23 Chinese students. Somehow, it feels like the fates are having a good laugh right now.
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