The conference
The conference, like most official Chinese 'things'. looked very grand. It was all about the difficulties and succeses encountered by
the 'foreign teachers'.
The conference was in bothChinese and English, but there were three distinct phases. The Chinese part, the mixed part and the Foreigners part. Itstarted with the Chinese part. The Chinese part was mainly to tell the foreign teachers all the relevant information about visas and regulations. As my friend said it was like having to read all the terms and conditions of opening an itunes account whilst all you wanted to do was press the "Accept" button. We all pressed the imaginary 'accept' button, but the terms and conditions kept coming:
"... and where it says 'name' that is where you put your name" etc.
ad infinitum ad nauseum. We then had a break becasue no one was listening any longer. We returned to part two wheich was a little lighter. People moved forward from the podium and there was a little interaction between the speakeer and the audience. This part finished too and we then had a tour around the Univeristy Museum. It was interesting, but I took only one photo. The Gents. I saw the sign, walked in, thought I'd gone the worng way, and walked out again, only to find that I had actually gone the right way.
Yep, you got it. Urinals on th eleft, stalls on the right, and a hu geground-level window on the end wall. Interesting!
We returned after the traditional Chinese two hour nap/lunch and got ready to listen to the foreigners sharing their stories, but just before it started we got a surpeise. One of the foreigners and one of the organisers did a bit of impromptu dancing!
The conference opened with the usual conference greetings, followed by a few songs from a local celebrity singer! I wasnt expecting that!
afterwards, we had the foreigners Foreign Affiars Officers talking about their triumophs and failures in Guizhou. Surprisingly, despite there being little or no contact between all the foreigners and the FAOs in the various areas around Tongren, many of the problems were very similar. Resolutions were made. It remains to be seen whether the resolutions will actually be followed.
The only idea my FAO came back with was that the children needed to be tested. No idea where she got that form. When asked why, she said it was to motivate the children. Maybe that's what motivates Chinese children, but Im not so sure. I'm also not so sure she relaises the logistics of it all either. We teach spoken English to 2000 children and to adminsiter a simple five minute test per pupil would require around 150 hours, and that's neglecting the fact that we dont yet have a common syllabus to test against! At this stage, I'll say no more.
 |
| Conference room |
"... and where it says 'name' that is where you put your name" etc.
ad infinitum ad nauseum. We then had a break becasue no one was listening any longer. We returned to part two wheich was a little lighter. People moved forward from the podium and there was a little interaction between the speakeer and the audience. This part finished too and we then had a tour around the Univeristy Museum. It was interesting, but I took only one photo. The Gents. I saw the sign, walked in, thought I'd gone the worng way, and walked out again, only to find that I had actually gone the right way.
We returned after the traditional Chinese two hour nap/lunch and got ready to listen to the foreigners sharing their stories, but just before it started we got a surpeise. One of the foreigners and one of the organisers did a bit of impromptu dancing!
afterwards, we had the foreigners Foreign Affiars Officers talking about their triumophs and failures in Guizhou. Surprisingly, despite there being little or no contact between all the foreigners and the FAOs in the various areas around Tongren, many of the problems were very similar. Resolutions were made. It remains to be seen whether the resolutions will actually be followed.
The only idea my FAO came back with was that the children needed to be tested. No idea where she got that form. When asked why, she said it was to motivate the children. Maybe that's what motivates Chinese children, but Im not so sure. I'm also not so sure she relaises the logistics of it all either. We teach spoken English to 2000 children and to adminsiter a simple five minute test per pupil would require around 150 hours, and that's neglecting the fact that we dont yet have a common syllabus to test against! At this stage, I'll say no more.
Comments
Post a Comment