Thursday 1st September
Still have no internet at school or my apartment, although one of the admin Chinese girls really likes my hair and let’s me use her computer to check emails when she goes to the toilet. Received an email today saying that the TTC contact will be here at 12pm and the teachers have re done my timetable so that I am teaching for 15 hours a week, but on site for 30 hours a week which is much better than being a teaching assistant. I am much happier with my placement now although I think I would still prefer to be in a Chinese school, immersed in the Chinese culture.
I did an observation today in an English class and then took children out of lessons to do one on one reading testing. The children are really sweet and call me Miss Pippa. The classes have a maximum of 15 children in grade 1, which is what I am working with (reception age) and the classrooms are all really modern with projectors, white boards and lot’s of resources for you to use. Grade 1 are all on the ground floor and there are 4 classes, grade 2 on the 2nd floor, grade 3 on the 3rd floor and so on up to grade 5, then on the 6th floor is where the Chinese teachers live, there are 25 teachers, 5 in each classroom (which are not that big to start with) all sharing one bathroom! I am so glad I live in an apartment. Each floor has a teachers office and there is a Chinese teacher and an English teacher for each class, so in my office for grade 1 there are 4 Chinese teachers and 4 English teachers and then the 4 TTC interns (including me) who were supposed to be teaching assistants but they have changed our job title to ESL Specialist teachers and we are actually teaching now. We each have a desk (although at the moment the chairshavn’t arrived yet) and on each door is a western toilet (you may think that is an odd thing to add but if you had seen the squat toilets you would know how important that is for me).
Had the meeting with the TTC contact and sorted out the main issues with the placement, although I’m working 10am- 4pm and I would rather do 8am-2pm. At 4pm one of the teachers took us to get internet sorted for the apartment, I should be connected in 7 day so I will be able to skype again as there aren’t any internet cafes around the apartment. At 6.45pm we met up with the other teachers as we had been invited to go and play football with them (football reallyisn’t my thing but I went anyway just to be sociable) Tried to buy a train ticket today so I can go exploring tomorrow but they had all sold out and I was told that you have to buy your tickets 7 days in advance as they sell out really quickly!
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