Teaching time!

Hi Friends!

Since I last posted things have picked up around here. The students and teachers have come back from holiday and I am getting adjusted to my new routine.

I have met some of the other English teachers. Most are from the UK and Ireland. There are two other teachers from the US though who are with the same school as I am.

Today, Wednesday the 8th is my first day of teaching. I am teaching classes of Senior 1 students. From what I understand there are three levels of the senior class 1, 2 and 3.

As I stated before, I am in the city of Zhuzhou, which is in the south central part of China. The school I am at is called Nanfang. The school has three different branches all of which have a high school, middle school and primary school. The school offers boarding for students who do not live close by. As many of you probably are unaware, I was until I arrived, that the Chinese school day is different from that of a typical school day in the United States. First off, the students are woken up by whistles and music starting to play, which is to the tune of Yankee Doodle (I found that kind of surprisingly odd) at 6:20 in the morning. After the students then have morning exercise, breakfast and reading time all before their first class. The students then throughout the day have class and different chores they are to complete. Classes can run depending on the class until 9:30 in the evening. At my particular school the bed time for students is at 10:15.

My apartment is located South School, while I teach at the East School. I have been provided a bike and have been told that is about a 30 minute bike ride. I have yet to take this route because I am still getting familiar with the directions but most days that is how I will commute to and from school.

I will talk about some of the interesting cultural differences or customs I have encountered so far here in China in my next post.

I am about to head off and teach my first class! Wish me luck!