Demon Class - by Chris Schave, CE Adviser in China

I have completed three days of teaching and for the most part, it all went well. The children also, for the most part, are well behaved. I had my worst class yesterday. It was the first class of the day and they would not stop talking. I sat one boy at the front of the class, then another on the other front side. I would say that there were about 6 that were just being very rude. It makes it even harder when I don’t speak their language and they really don’t speak mine. The funny thing is that I was teaching them classroom etiquette. English words like “be quite please,” and “hands down.” I ended up taking one kids chair and putting it outside the door because he felt the need to scream randomly. Not really sure why, but it made him happy. After that he just pretended to shoot me through the window. It really made me mad that these kids were being so rude. I didn’t care that they were being rude to me, but I could tell a lot of the class wanted to learn and were getting frustrated that the guys were acting out.

Today, I had the two classes that I had Monday. The first class today was awesome. They really listened well and responded well. The second class started off a bit rough and ended a bit rough, but did much better than the demon class of yesterday. One kid had another in a choke hold and I had to separate them. These kids just go crazy on their breaks between classes. Fighting and running around, screaming the whole time. It is very interesting to compare to our schools. One more day of it tomorrow, then we’re off to Yangshou for two weeks. The first week I will be teaching, and the second is a trekking week.

Last night I made dinner for the group here. The cook helped me, but I think I scared her when I was trying to fry potatoes. She thought that I was killing her pan. I also got a whole chicken at the market that the cook shopped up for me. She is a villager and is very nice.

Just noticed a mosquito bite on my forehead… Not cool at all! Other than that, I am excited to get to Yangshou this weekend. It’s Chris’ birthday on Sunday, so we’re going out Saturday night.

Chris- Adviser Abroad China

Cultural Embrace @ www.culturalembrace.com

www.flickr.com/photos/cschave

Best Class!