Jetting Educated

I work at a preschool in China as an English teacher. I am surrounded by the Chinese language but I'm still pretty clueless about it. This week I've been thinking about names. Here are a few of the nice English names that the schoolchildren have: Here are the name cards of some students  with some unique English names Its so useful that students have English names in addition to their Chinese names- remembering 120 Chinese names like 'Wang Jia Yi' which is Wendy's Chinese name, would be quite a struggle. Whilst I am thankful for their binomial nomenclature, having a name that's written in English and having 'an English name' are not one and the same.  Example: The child who is called “Chocolate’’.  Whilst I can't deny that her name is written in English... its not a name I'd expect to hear anywhere in the UK! Equally eyebrow-raising the name Herny- though I think he’s supposed to be Henry. If I could communicate with th...

Working Lapland is quite different to other seasonal jobs that I have done. For one, I've never been this tired in my life. When I worked in the Alps I could comprehend the reduced energy levels: we were living at 1850 meters above sea level which is always reason to eat more, plus I spent loads of time exerting myself on the ski slopes.          But here I actually feel more exhausted and all I'm doing during the day is talking to people. Plus we're barely at 400 meters so the altitude is not much of a factor. After work we never exert ourselves- we'd sooner watch a film or sit in the sauna. So why the endless tiredness? Well I've been thinking about it and come up with three reasons that working in Lapland will eventually put you into a coma. Hannah heading to work in the dark, at 9am Firstly we've gotta mention the darkness situation.  Its been said that Finland's high suicide rates could be linked to the mischief that the...

"You have to see it to believe it" or "You had to be there" People often say this it does remain true: If you've not done it, it is hard to accurately imagine what it is like. What goes on the McDonalds' kitchens or  within the Argos warehouse? Well my sister says that the kitchens gave her burns from hot fat, and I'll tell you that the Argos warehouse is very well organised and dusty- but not exciting. Experiencing it kills the mystery, and in those cases the mystery is the only interesting part.  I knew little about the summer school before I began. When I was there I got involved with so much: outings, sports, cookery, crafts, mealtimes, experiments, boarding houses, and other fun activities. The enjoyment can only be realised if you're there; once you get acquainted with the summer school life that you can appreciate how brilliant it is. As ever, me going on about how much I liked it is not terribly interesting. What would be ...

I was thinking recently of what I have learnt from the season, and it has been nice to reflect on it as its been quite long and varied. Its been a great experience but in fairness, I've not learnt too much. Thanks for the makeover kids... not I've never really had to comfort children before, as working in a school everyone is within an environment they are used to and, other than the odd bullying incident, most of my children were happy. Here though, some children cry incessantly for their parents even though they are only away form them for a few hours. It is true that they are doing an exercise that most beginners are shit at, with people they don't know in a new environment. But don't cry about it.           I've learnt a bit about working with younger children, having been with Spritelets (3-5 years) and nursery (4 months- 3 years). Mainly its been reinforced that children like it when you act like an idiot, which I have some experience w...

One of the things that I loved about being a teacher was the relationships that you develop with your kids and how you can progress from being just another adult, to a person who they look up to, respect, and even actually like. Here in La Rosiere I wasn't sure how different it would be with only seeing children for one week. It depends on what shifts I work but I can end up seeing some children quite a bit during their time here and getting to know them. Often, the more I get to know a child or a group of children the more fun the job is. A few weeks back I was working with a 12 year old boy with Down's Syndrome. I went on his skiing lessons and was at his chalet for lunch and high tea (what the company calls dinner time), so I spent loads of time with him.  He was usually not difficult to work with but he had his moments, as every child does. The first shift I spent with him I was telling someone how well behaved he had been, but then I recalled some of the things...