February 2, 2017
11:15 pm
Beijing, China
Today was an interesting day. On most Thursdays, some of the teachers are off, so the office isn’t as crowded as it is the rest of the week. Because of the holiday, though, that was not the case this week. To even out days off, everyone was required to be in the office today at 1 pm. We had a teacher meeting, where we discussed preparations for Winter Academy. Winter Academy is a two-week period during which EF offers intensive courses in phonics, storytelling (learning to tell old nursery rhymes and other stories to practice fluency), and performance. These new courses require different training and a lot of preparation, so our meeting was rather long.
It started off with a small Hongbao present from Emily. Hongbao are small red envelopes that are customarily given as gifts during Chinese New Year. They often contain a small amount of money and are used to wish others good luck and fortune in the new year. We also had a nice arrangement of various fruits, all of which hold a symbol of some wish the host would like to bestow. It was cool to hear about, but I don’t have a strong enough memory to tell you all of the various meanings.
After our small celebration, we got right down to business. Winter Academy tends to be an exhausting and difficult time for the teachers due to the intense increase in teaching hours. Since our normal classes don’t stop during these two weeks, our days are often full; starting in the morning and ending late at night. Luckily, due to the high number of new teachers, our schedules are a little more manageable than they’ve apparently been in the past. The crazy schedules were the major topic of our meeting and took the most time to discuss. While we covered a few other items, that was basically it for the main teacher’s meeting. Afterward, the lead teachers (those in charge of the three courses we’re offering) stayed for another meeting to discuss material preparation. You’ll never guess who managed to get one of those jobs. Unfortunately, the course that I’m leading with another teacher is the one with the most materials and the most classes offered. The rest of the day, except for an hour teaching my class, was spent preparing materials and answering all of the other teachers’ questions about the courses. It was an exhausting day to come back to. And I feel really frustrated, because I have no idea what is going on. I mean, I did the regional training that EF provided, but it wasn’t actually helpful (like, at all) and people are asking me questions as if I know exactly what to do. Unfortunately, I only have a tiny, tiny bit more knowledge than the other new teachers in the office. As a result, today was a bit overwhelming. That said, I’m okay with it and ready to face the questions again tomorrow.
Once work was over, the day improved dramatically. Brian (who is back from his holiday) and I left as soon as we could to meet some others for dinner. Joining us were Alana, one of Brian’s friends who lives in our building, and Emerson, Brian’s boyfriend. I’ve heard so many stories about these two, and it was finally nice to put faces to names. We had a great time getting to know each other over hot pot meals. Alana and I had a lot to talk about, although no matter how much British television I watch, I still had to ask her to repeat what she’d said to make sure I heard correctly. Emerson is great. His family is from China and both he and Brian just spent New Year’s with them this past week. It was nice to have a native Chinese speaker with us to translate and help us order. I probably would have been lost if I’d been there alone. In addition to meeting the two of them, it felt good to catch up with Brian. Although we texted a few times, we hadn’t spoken much during the holiday, so I loved hearing all of his stories from Nanning. Fun fact: Emerson’s family is from the same area of China as XiXi is.
So there are my stories from today. Time for rest before heading back into the trenches tomorrow.
Night, all,
Kristen
