My placement

It's been awhile since I wrote an entry on here, so I think it's time to update more often. I just got the internet in my accommodation set up, so now I can keep in touch with people more easily. I'm writing this from my room in Shenzhen. But I'll tell you a little about my stay in Beijing, where I spent a month on the TEFL course.

I've had a wonderful 4 weeks in Beijing. Our training was so much fun, I met a bunch of people and experienced many great things. We had two tour days, we saw the Great Wall, Summer Palace, the Water Cube, Bird's Nest, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and more. We were busy most of the time. There was not much time to write home, since we had to finish all of our assignments the last week. These assignments had to be good, because they were evaluated and influenced our placements. Towards the end of our stay, we received quite a lot of information. We had Contract Signing, and a few meetings. We had Teaching Practice for four days (February 14th- 17th) at a Beijing school. We were divided into groups of 4-5 interns. Each group had one class by themselves. My group was in Middle School, teaching 15- 16 year old students. I remember that the first thing I noticed was the cameras in front and in the back of the classroom- recording everything that happened. But I was never once bothered by them when I was teaching. The four of us had 30 min. each in front of class. It was a very character building experience. The fourth day we were being observed by our Canadian tutor, Robert. It was our last day, and a bit sad to have to say goodbye to all of the students.

Our Graduation ceremony was on the evening of the 17th. We went to a local restaurant. We received our TEFL certificate (theoretical part). Once we complete our placement at our school, we will get the practical part. After dinner, we were taken to a bar, where we met the people from the other programme (some of us TTC people are placed with them) They took the TEFL course online, and didn't have Teaching Practice. We could stand on the roof and view the spectacular last fireworks in the sky (this was Lantern Festival). Because of Chinese New Year (which was in the beginning of February) fireworks were being blown off everywhere for 2 weeks straight. It sounded like a war zone, but eventually we got used to it and I managed to sleep well despite the constant explosions.

A few days before our departure date, a list on the wall revealed our future home in China. According to the list, I was going to Dongguan (in Guangdong)- teaching primary school at Little Oxford Foreign School. This southern province was my first choice when I signed up, so I was lucky! Most of us ended up in the southern region, and we're fairly close to each other so it's possible to meet the others on the weekends. When our plane landed in Foshan February 19th, I was still set on going to Dongguan. We were 8- 9 people on the same flight. We were being picked up at the airport by our contact person, Danfer. We all managed to get inside this tiny van, but it was very uncomfortable, with all of our luggage on our laps. We were on our way to our schools, when our packed van, suddenly pulled over. Danfer talked to someone on the phone. When he got back into our cramped vehicle, he said: "Cecilie, there's been a change" I asked him what the change was, and he told me that me and another participant in the van just switched cities, so I got Shenzhen and he got Dongguan. I was fine with this, because I knew other people going to Shenzhen, but I knew nothing about the school. So I arrived without any expectations.

When we finally got to Shenzhen (which took hours because of complications along the way). We stopped at our school. Shenzhen Oriental English College. We were greeted by the vice president. One of the first things she told us was: "You look so smart, and so beautiful!" She showed us around the campus. First of all, our campus is really big, like an university campus. There's so many departments and buildings, but I know my way around it now. It was dark when we arrived so we didn't see much. But I saw an outside swimming pool and a skating rink. It's surrounded by lovely, green mountains. Our first afternoon we went for a walk up the mountain path, we went almost all the way to the top- but the path goes on several km. into the mountains. All the greenery and humidity here is much preferred to the gray, icy air of Beijing. The second I stepped out of the plane, I thought "Already so much better than Beijing". Although the air might be as polluted, it still feels better. We were taken to our accommodation the night we arrived. Our rooms are on the 7th floor. I'm glad I don't have to carry my suitcase down all those stairs for another 4/5 months. The first days/nights in Shenzhen were very cold. But today it started to warm up a bit, and the sun managed to break through the cloudy sky.

Our first day teaching was February 21st. I have 13 lessons a week (one class once a week) Two 1st Grade classes, two 2nd Grade classes, two, 3rd Grade classes, two 4th Grade classes, two 5th Grade classes and three 6th Grade classes. I have primary school and had three lessons that Monday. 2x 5th Grade, and one 6th Grade class. These students can be a little troublesome, because they're at that age when they just have so much energy and many are easily bored in class. Today (Thursday) I had two classes (one 3rd Grade class and one 1st Grade class) Both lessons went well, but the first graders get out of control sometimes. I have only one class tomorrow, (3rd grade) and can leave for the day when I go for lunch. We've been eating at the canteen a lot. It's not as big as the one in Beijing, but the food is OK. It's mostly rice, cooked veggies and mysterious meat/tofu.

Tomorrow we're thinking about going into Shenzhen City centre, to explore more. So far, we've been to our "local street" a few times. There's not much to do there. There's a supermarket, a couple of restaurants and a few narrow streets lined with shops- selling cheap stuff. We can take the school bus from outside our dorm. We've also taken it to the "community" a commercial centre 25 min. away with a bigger supermarket, KFC, McDonald's and other Western restaurants. There's supposed to be more to see in that area- so I'm eager to go back and discover what else there is to see. I think it's important that I don't get too comfortable in my room (which I doubt will ever happen). My accommodation is basic, but at least I have a western toilet and warm water anytime. Some were less fortunate, with warm water only supplied 2 hours a day and a Chinese toilet. I have a little balcony- with a kitchen. There's a fan- but no stove. I looked in the cupboards and found an old, rusty lump of metal that used to be a gas stove, I will never dare to use it. But if I feel the urge to cook something myself, I can probably find a hot plate somewhere.

Many people are placed around us, because apparently this is a big school area. Everyone might meet in Shenzhen city soon, which would be great. I miss everyone I met in Beijing. Hopefully we'll meet some of them here and hear how their placements are like.

I will upload my pictures on here soon. But for now you can check out:
http://iesglobal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=47&Itemid=146

We were almost 100 participants, so don't expect to see much footage of me. But at least you can see what we've been up to.

- Cecilie