My regular classes wrapped up at the end of June. The dean of my department and some of my colleagues decided to offer a one week summer camp for middle school students using the campus facilities. I was invited to join the effort. I'd never worked with this age group (12 to 15) but enjoyed it immensely. I think for most of the kids, this was their first experience in a classroom with a native English speaker. My style, mannerisms and teaching methods are quite different from the more formal lecture style that they are used to.   

The first class with the students was advertised as a "demonstration class" and any interested parent or teacher could sit in and watch the foreign teacher in action. Gulp. Imposter syndrome, anyone?  The faculty had decided upon the theme of the camp -- "My Dream" -- and they decided the kids would study Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech and would memorize and deliver a short speech themselves. The "Dream" speech has very challenging language for ESL students. It's stuffed with biblical allusions and has so many metaphors that if metaphors were candied fruit, "I Have a Dream" would be fruitcake. So I thought I'd better get the kids started on recognizing metaphors and similes, No problem for low-intermediate kids, right? ...

One of the China expat blogs I follow is called "Writer, Traveller, Tea Drinker," and it's written by Becky Ances who teaches at the university level. She recently posted an entry on her blog describing her decision-making process for finding a new job in China. Good and valuable advice for anyone thinking of coming to China or switching jobs once here.

She notes that beautiful sea side cities like Qingdao or cities with great climates like Kunming attract so many applicants that the wages there are comparatively low. But other, less glamorous cities have trouble attracting and keeping teachers. I think some folks are nervous about going to any city they've never heard of -- and some of us have heard only of Beijing and Shanghai. I'd certainly never heard of Zibo, where I am now. But after visiting Beijing, I appreciate Zibo all the more. The cost of living is much lower here than in the big city. People are friendlier. And while I am amazed at how pervasive the Western influence is, it is very much a Chinese city filled with people carrying on customs and ways of life that stretch back for generations.  So give it some thought -- do you want to experience the real China?  Think outside the big cities...

This is stale news by now but I didn't have time to write about the school year-end when it was happening, nor in the following weeks when I was busy with summer camp and then dashing off to Beijing. I just wanted to mention that because the final exams for all my classes were oral English exams, I had the chance I wish I'd taken at the beginning of the semester -- a chance to sit down and talk one-on-one with each of my students.  I got to know the quieter ones better. I got to know more about their family backgrounds, lives and interests.  

At the beginning of the semester, I was still in Canada, doing the paperwork hurdles, so I hit the ground running with the students; classes had already started.  I had about 80 students spread over three classes, unlike some university teachers who have far more. In my case, it was possible to learn all their names (I only partially succeeded there) and certainly I knew all their faces and whether they liked to sit at the front, or sit at the back, looking at TV shows on their cell phones, or hide behind their long hair when it looked like I might call on them...​

So I've been trying to guide Ross around his new adopted city of Zibo but most of the bus routes are still a mystery to me.  It took us several tries, two bus rides and one very perplexed taxi driver to get us to the mobile phone store I wanted to patronize. But that's okay. We see and learn more about the city every time we go astray. Getting lost or stranded in Beijing was more frustrating. Not only could I not find my way around Beijing, I could not find my way around inside the Dongzhimen subway station.  I actually paid my two yuan, went inside and walked through the wrong exit without riding the subway.  Uh, twice.  And I wasn't trying to ride the subway. I was just trying to get across the street because it's also a pedestrian underpass. We did ride the subways but avoided the rush hours. 

In Zibo, taxis are plentiful and cheap. In Beijing, they are scarce, expensive and the drivers refuse to take you to nearby destinations; it's just not worth their while. So getting from "A" to "B" is problematic. Okay, enough complaining. Here's what we enjoyed: