tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-200304362024-03-07T16:11:09.603+08:00Worldtour in ChinaFollow worldtour and get some perspective on teaching in China. Thinking about teaching in China? The Worldtour in China blog will help you should you decide teaching English in this fascinating country is for you.worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-27930894423844063092009-05-01T11:40:00.004+08:002009-05-01T12:35:03.933+08:00What's wrong with Chinese students?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj_g2x2UKYrG-hV9hp6Qr119gn5ZE-_Ueq9pf0uHjyuPsAX4YIBR7x-aRm9fkuzsZt1Yq3fSfRObloeYK2sRoCT6ySUdy3nm1g-diEj9L58GIym6akEVgg9T1mQxYiW4QLiMG9/s1600-h/P0000013.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj_g2x2UKYrG-hV9hp6Qr119gn5ZE-_Ueq9pf0uHjyuPsAX4YIBR7x-aRm9fkuzsZt1Yq3fSfRObloeYK2sRoCT6ySUdy3nm1g-diEj9L58GIym6akEVgg9T1mQxYiW4QLiMG9/s320/P0000013.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330696975129682370" border="0" /></a>I should probably preface this with the statement that most students are likable enough on a personal level but what I want to write about today are some of the endemic problems. Today is May Day a national holiday. So I have a little time to reflect on this subject. The first problem is that getting into a university can be a real grueling process. Once they are accepted only a few students proceed with the same vigor as before the final test that gets them to the university. I really don't have any knowledge about the rest of the subjects they take but from the perspective of an English teacher I can say that most of the students I have taught at the university level are mediocre at best some are downright pathetic. <br /><br />I teach the same book in my sophomore class as I teach to a class of 12 and 13 year old students. Needless to say the level is not that difficult considering they have had ten years of English classes. My new class, the freshmen are quite a bit lower than my sophomore class. This means that 75 per cent of them can't respond to a question, listed in the book with a complete sentence. They are so used to fill in the blanks that they treat an oral English class like a test, responding with a one word answer. This happens time and time again even after instructing them that it is not satisfactory, meaning their listening skills are even worse. This is not difficult to understand as their former English teachers teach English in Chinese. The same backwards logic is prevalent in many aspects of their daily life. In my experience Chinese are the most illogical people I have ever come across.<br /><br />They don't have much choice as they are required to take English to graduate. One major problem with schools in China is that nobody fails at the University. You pay your money you get your diploma, even if you never come to class. So if you are planning on coming to teach here you should realize that the propaganda you here in the west about how great Asian students are is a total crock of, you know what. For my last classes before this holiday 75 per cent had already left for home or decided to have a five or six day holiday from their classes. I literally have some students I don't know who they are as they have attended one class so far this semester. So in reality they are just shipped away from home and it is four years of play time. I can honestly say most students have more interest in their phones than in learning. <br /><br />Did you know that the best university in China is not in the top 200 in the world? The sad part, or I should say another sad part about this situation is that the men, boys, will probably get the better jobs and the women will get the left overs. Of course this is a generalization but everyone knows there is preference for boys. Speaking of boys and girls, because that is what they are, 19 and 20 year old children, let me give you a picture of what boys are put through here. The one child law produces a sickening kind of doting from mothers that for most westerners are not accustomed to. The mother don't really seem to control them in one way, discipline, and then totally control them in other ways. Producing what we call in the west, Momma's boys. Everything from hand feeding them to accompanying them everywhere, resulting in no independence at all. Perhaps it is just an example of what is expected of them when their parents get older, total responsibility for them. Thank God, my 80 plus parents are still independent and have planned for their future. From what I see most don't have a lot of contact from fathers.<br /><br />So, what is the product of this system? College grads who have never had a job, don't know how to do anything, have skated through college and are now totally unprepared for life, love and anything else life may throw at them. They will probably will live with their parents until they marry or even after. Of course the "lucky" ones will have their parents give them a place to live, so they wont' really have it much different than in school as some students bought their way into the universities in the first place. They are easy to spot, they have better clothes, never come to class, and attract nice looking women, who then don't come to class either as they know which side their bread is buttered on. The women will probably be divorced by the time they are through bearing children. You can see that life is not much fun when you walk down any street and look at the etched scowls of women and some men who have not been blessed to be born into the elite. The rest are smiling in blissful ignorance of an over extended childhood where everything is just given too them with little responsibility. <br /><br />Next post, I will get into what kind of capitalism is in China.worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com167tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-20919334246421069922009-04-29T22:34:00.003+08:002009-04-30T00:09:27.073+08:00Late Night Post<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrywpViD5fj8SB1haD4RzMCJ64Kk9Cwex3wjddBeCQNoOsAmWtK1VMDoTENAKIo4_znlyD1CQp0Z6gu7ZUYVWoIRJeAGmOsGg6paj4edzjCHpMhO8MY7TvvAMcOMP0n1c7B_i9/s1600-h/Rawstock+066.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrywpViD5fj8SB1haD4RzMCJ64Kk9Cwex3wjddBeCQNoOsAmWtK1VMDoTENAKIo4_znlyD1CQp0Z6gu7ZUYVWoIRJeAGmOsGg6paj4edzjCHpMhO8MY7TvvAMcOMP0n1c7B_i9/s320/Rawstock+066.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330137603245945042" border="0" /></a>As summer approaches I look forward to spending some time on Center Street here in Harbin. Have a few of China's best beer, Harbin Beer and catch a performance at one of the beer gardens. Another simple pleasure of the summer is to have an evening meal on the sidewalks. Another nice aspect of the city is winter has it's IceLights and in the summer there are many nice sculpture of living plant shaped as dragons, pandas. For teachers who chose to stay on through the summer this can be a great time for travel or just to kick back and enjoy life away from the responsibilities of teaching. Or for those that are more ambitious, you can make some extra money if you have the right set up. As long as your paperwork is up to date, you can always pick up work at some of the local schools who usually receive an influx of students during the summer holiday. You know, Chinese don't get much of a break, they are constantly in classes. Too many in my opinion but it does work to my advantage if I want to push for more classes and therefore more cash. Hey the way the economy of the world is at this time I hark back to my roots, make hay while the sun shines.worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com263tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-72589284855631337412009-04-24T16:37:00.003+08:002009-04-24T16:58:23.692+08:00Time Flies<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbCWpt8nGqpx-rL0U7qeNni-abDC4fPvypeEvTjuE5X4qBGutvq3az4M2aqxyfO1gJlpfseQD4H92M8N4FqCjY2qN93cVkX04FiwT1Be3i6t7AnhFUwXKw6ds_nE8of_KoZoba/s1600-h/Rawstock+077.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbCWpt8nGqpx-rL0U7qeNni-abDC4fPvypeEvTjuE5X4qBGutvq3az4M2aqxyfO1gJlpfseQD4H92M8N4FqCjY2qN93cVkX04FiwT1Be3i6t7AnhFUwXKw6ds_nE8of_KoZoba/s320/Rawstock+077.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328175284299270786" border="0" /></a>It has been a long time since I posted, let's just say that I have been very busy. If you have read much of the blog you know I teach for a couple of different reasons. One, I like it most of the time and the other reason is to make a living. Nobody will get rich on a foreign teachers salary but it certainly is sufficient to provide a comfortable experience. <br /><br />I guess it is just not in my nature to want to be an employee. It doesn't make much sense when you can build a good following and a good income from teaching. Currently I am doing about 24 classes a week. Which is an extremely heavy load. Most teachers at a university teach no more than twenty hours, averaging around 14 hours a week. So I work over a full 40 hour week. If you can navigate through the culture and get some help you can always increase your income here in China. <br /><br />I'm currently getting my status from a business university and I have 6 classes freshmen and sophomores each class for two hours a week. Not really enough time for each class but one of the teachers had a mishap and could not continue his contract. So it seems they just adjusted the students schedules to the number of teachers available. <br /><br />In future posts I will get into some of the challenges that you might face as a teacher. Hope it is not going to turn into just another rant. Ha ha.<br /><br />Worldtourworldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-20899357350130354422007-06-08T10:25:00.000+08:002007-06-08T10:58:12.866+08:00Young students for success<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5vc_BQdGd7u__dDA43zHt8IRewNBE15aUr38AJbbJR_demQYvutUck0R2gyR9CgL9-p50bYrY2qrcoxspGvZ4joRuTxP1wVHF9kVAbhF4auTlk3hRk847nvaJyOKzqexSXHI/s1600-h/Rawstock+090.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5vc_BQdGd7u__dDA43zHt8IRewNBE15aUr38AJbbJR_demQYvutUck0R2gyR9CgL9-p50bYrY2qrcoxspGvZ4joRuTxP1wVHF9kVAbhF4auTlk3hRk847nvaJyOKzqexSXHI/s320/Rawstock+090.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5073516459679590562" border="0" /></a>I am now in my fifth year of teaching English in China and during that time my students have become younger and younger. I never really planned this, it is just the way things have developed. Because language acquisition at an early age usually depends more on repetition and drills, you can have a slightly larger class with the younger students. By doing this you can effectively teach up to about twenty students at a time. This means a good income. One of the problems you encounter in China is that by the time students reach middle school their schedule is so packed that they often drop out of English lessons. This is most unfortunate for the student and also for the school or independent teacher. You are always losing students to a busy schedule, right at the time when the students could really be making major strides in fluency. Another aspect that is on a more personal level is that you never really are able to have any kind of intellectual conversation, as the students seldom stick around for the the higher levels of classes. This has been a problem for me as my largest classes have over time become my smallest classes. Sooner or later, you must combine classes, or raise your prices. My highest level classes have about six students. So you are faced with some tough decisions. I want to reward my students who have been loyal but the reality is there is very little loyalty. When you can replace a class that brings in 50 to 60 rmb per hour with a class that brings in up to 250 rmb per hour there is little to consider. This will happen if you become a successful teacher. Getting students at a young age become effortless as word of mouth spreads and if you are independent that is a great thing. But eventually, those classes will start to get smaller as you move into their second or third year of learning.<br /><br />There will also be some students who cannot move forward for one reason or another and that will make some parents question your ability rather than the study habits or capability of their own child. There is some truth to the saying that there are no bad students only bad teachers, but with some students you can just see the lack of connection inside by the evidence outside. In my experience there will always be three groups within a class, the standouts, the steady learners and the dullards.<br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" alt="Add to My Yahoo!" align="middle" border="0" height="17" width="91" /></a><br /><br />worldtour aka Larry Rhoeworldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-74257951299689444332007-05-30T15:41:00.001+08:002007-05-30T16:00:30.937+08:00Teacher Torture in Beijing<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxJeRTjjRojSrm83I7bY7-V-QJ46u_leL25YXlYBKoQb6Yu4DJFbyX0yh5Pj7a2wKqILYIl-rW3dqtitZ8aNjQr0qS1uV9QuXtlagI_9ffGKt6hlPwri6XQkMf9M-RvCBXIco/s1600-h/yurui.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxJeRTjjRojSrm83I7bY7-V-QJ46u_leL25YXlYBKoQb6Yu4DJFbyX0yh5Pj7a2wKqILYIl-rW3dqtitZ8aNjQr0qS1uV9QuXtlagI_9ffGKt6hlPwri6XQkMf9M-RvCBXIco/s320/yurui.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5070255965255389682" border="0"></a>I don't usually post twice in one day but I just had to today. I frequently search out other blogs and see what is out there on the teaching front. This post is from the front lines of the battle. If you are in the West you know that there are problems in Schools. It probably depends on your age how you relate to this, but surely all of us knew trouble makers or perhaps you were one of them. The behavior that you will see on this video is probably a teachers worst nightmare. What you have is an elderly Chinese teacher showing considerable restraint in a near hopeless situation. I'm not saying that all schools are like this but certainly this kind of problem exists in other parts of China and the world. One university I taught at which admitted anyone who had the money had similar problems but just to a lesser degree. <br /><br />I don't have these kind of problems at my school but I do see a lack of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">discipline</span>. I see parents who just let their kids run wild, climb on my furniture, put their dirty shoes on my walls. Chalk it up to the one child system, cultural differences or whatever. They are good kids most of the time but contrary to what we often believe in the west there are lots of young punks who just don't have any respect for their elders. We as teachers or would be teacher hear that teachers are respected in the East. I think this is generally true, but there are some really bad cases too, just like in the west. The difference the punks don't have access to firearms so there aren't as many headlines, like the recent massacre at Virginia Tech. Here are two links that will show it to you as it happened. It doesn't say much for the future of China, but it did draw serious outrage and an interesting reprisal. You can see it <a href="http://www.shanghaiist.com/">here</a> at The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Shanghaist</span> and see some comments <a href="http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/05/28/china-student-hits-teacher-video/">here</a> at Global Voices online.worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-40074793513763152022007-05-30T08:03:00.001+08:002007-05-30T08:44:26.192+08:00To Translate or not to Translate, that is the Question<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6mLe_vNlXLTddyGReVr1Vw1d-R0xvE8dcZNNuGXXdUoIJ6PlSJfgpjKc2wnRK5Zydp1GwrBY-LrbFFyH7G4BZ_QwHiyjMDP5Db3lQ8s5fJN8kxRWJubOhYWytY_eufgo-cDXm/s1600-h/Class_Book1+015.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6mLe_vNlXLTddyGReVr1Vw1d-R0xvE8dcZNNuGXXdUoIJ6PlSJfgpjKc2wnRK5Zydp1GwrBY-LrbFFyH7G4BZ_QwHiyjMDP5Db3lQ8s5fJN8kxRWJubOhYWytY_eufgo-cDXm/s320/Class_Book1+015.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5070138549439451618" border="0" /></a>If you have taught ESL for any length of time you have probably seen some very interesting translations, or perhaps you have tried to make sense of some instructions for some kind of electronics you may have purchased. That is a real challenge. One reason that I enjoy teaching younger students is that they learn a new language in much the same way that they learn their first language. If a student writes in their first language and tries to translate it into English it surely will be a mangle of bad grammar, word order and vocabulary. Some languages follow similar word order and sentence structure, others do not resemble English, so I always recommend that students do not translate writing from their first language. When a student writes in English they can usually produce a far superior piece of writing. This idea is also true in the oral area of language acquisition. Chinese is quite "flowery" and I'm sure it possesses a very poetic nature, but it just does not translate well without high level skills. So you must insist that the student write from what they know in English.<br /><br />This brings me to another point that I feel is critical to the development of the students language skills. Many students want to be placed in the more advanced classes, before they have really mastered the basics in the beginning levels. This is really a big mistake. Surely, it is easy to understand that they want to attain higher levels but moving into the more advanced classes is sure to stunt their growth. They frequently cannot comment on the lesson or the concepts. Here in China this is especially true because the system of education does not foster that kind of critical thinking. It does not mean they cannot think for themselves, it only means they are unaccustomed to extrapolating information and forming an opinion, since most of their classes have only one point of view, the teachers. So it is often quite difficult to start or maintain any discussions that require personal opinions. The culture promotes a certain don't talk don't tell attitude. This is quite normal considering the history of free expression. It is not that they can't it just is drilled into them socially. This is changing somewhat as information and ideas flow into their world via the net and other sources. There is a new generation of students who have access to a more worldly view. A few years ago it was practically unheard of to have a student disagree with a teacher. This old view of education, the Greek idea of a discussion between the teacher and the student perhaps is making a comeback. It will certainly be a challenge to the teachers in China as they will have to reeducate themselves in how to teach in this way.<br /><br />So don't be tempted to place students in higher level classes before they have mastered the easy classes, translate only for vocabulary, and conduct your classes in a way that creates a never ending flow between the text and speaking about it out of the book and your students will begin to think in English and develop good grammar. If you get them at a young age the will be learning in a similar way that students learn in their first language, which translates to accelerated learning.<br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" width="91" height="17" border="0" align=middle alt="Add to My Yahoo!"></a><br /><br />worldtour aka Larry Rhoeworldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-57166575304430179792007-05-24T10:15:00.001+08:002007-05-24T10:51:16.316+08:00Why Chinese Children drop out of English Classes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-JyHecUX21hB9It3hYSWqiei1E3m2EA4ciHMuS1XI5L4Cr-wOJ1e-B5RNHKD_CPIjBfp-FvO3tWdKthBr_7GO0oLTFbR1FvzYwPpgITgTrQOO7Xsv5Dg3sqJl7EnTT6ntndLw/s1600-h/Rawstock+050.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-JyHecUX21hB9It3hYSWqiei1E3m2EA4ciHMuS1XI5L4Cr-wOJ1e-B5RNHKD_CPIjBfp-FvO3tWdKthBr_7GO0oLTFbR1FvzYwPpgITgTrQOO7Xsv5Dg3sqJl7EnTT6ntndLw/s320/Rawstock+050.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5067946548455428562" border="0" /></a>For anyone who has taught English as a second language, the problem of turn over, or drop-outs, is a never ending battle. There are many reasons for this which include, scheduling problems, learning problems, differences in ability, teaching styles, and the most difficult one to deal with, parents. I continually have problems with parents who for some reason or other think they know how their children should be educated. Perhaps they have a unexplainable faith in the Chinese system of learning, rote learning, or they site inability to understand, or sometimes it is just overbearing individuals who must enforce their will on all around them. These are the worst type. I told one of my classes that had a mother like this that I was not going to let anyone dictate to me how to teach. Logically this should be easily understood. They come to me as an expert, which has been certified by the authorities, but then they want me to be more like the Chinese teachers. "They don't understand you". Well yes, at first they don't understand much but neglecting the oral side of learning and the listening means they will never be able to have a conversation, other than one that is read from a book. It's such a simple concept, language first and foremost is spoken. The majority of high school and even college graduates cannot have a meaningful conversation beyond "where are you from" and "can you speak Chinese". For those people that have a chance to travel to a English speaking world, this becomes painfully obvious as they are not able to talk to anyone, even after studying over a decade. Many schools cater to the wishes of the parents, reasoning that it is a good business practice. This is a fatal flaw in thinking. There is no reasoning with this sort of person. It's just the wrong thing to do. Stick to your guns. You are the expert. There will be drop-outs no matter what you do, so just conduct your classes in the way that will foster all of the skills needed to become fluent. You really can't teach English by teaching it in Chinese! This has been proven beyond a doubt by the vast majority of students who study for ten years and cannot understand a basic conversation or speak about anything beyond the mundane.<br /><br />If you are a good teacher, you will receive excellent word of mouth advertising. Of course, this may just fill your bosses pockets with cash or if you're smart and willing to make teaching a full time job for yourself it will fill your own pockets. Fortunately, good teaching will be reflected in the marks that your students receive in their schools, if your grammar lessons are effective. Unfortunately, speaking is not yet tested, but that is changing as the Chinese testing system begins to realize it is just as important as being a good test taker.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">worldtour</span> aka Larry <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Rhoe</span><br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" alt="Add to My Yahoo!" align="middle" border="0" height="17" width="91" /></a>worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-39465369477176403942007-05-17T09:13:00.000+08:002007-05-17T09:31:35.906+08:00Where is the theater in China?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://themainstreetschedule.com/photos.html"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKnufSkVEt4p9hsFZCtzC8u8n1NRGsaCBLqim1AxTTQ09dS6aJLNjNWYbtkAxHKgO3yccc4FsSgbPbIgih5qmT4iLLqi5SxRjSjr2q5XHxhAH0HR_4m11V4SiSt6k57UQfRBQ4/s320/entrysignthemainstreettheatr.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5065331630631702978" border="0" /></a>China has a long history of performance, but most of it is traditional. There are fine productions in television and movies, but there is little live theater. I recently received an email from my brothers theater group in Vancouver Washington asking for some help in finding a way to get a tour going in China. A tall order but I want to try and help. I want to reach out to any teachers here in China who may have contacts with English departments who may be agreeable to work with this idea. When I taught at Beida, Beijing University, Peking University, I saw a professional production of Arther Millers "The Crucible". It was a good production and drew some good crowds from the University and the public.<br /><br />English is such a priority for students, so if you have some contacts, please contact me so I can pass them on to the planners. The picture above shows the name of the repertoire theater group which is headed by my brother Llewellyn Rhoe. You can click on the picture to view some photos from the website. It is <a href="http://themainstreetschedule.com/photos.html">The Main Street Theatre.</a><br /><br />I would guess that fewer than one or two percent of the students have seen a theater production. Any help in this project would be greatly appreciated and may also help you too, as you may see your stock rise. If you have any contacts who may be interested in helping with this idea please let me know, as it is a large undertaking. Be assured these artists are talented and would love to bring some culture to your school.<br /><br />worldtour aka Larry Rhoe<br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" alt="Add to My Yahoo!" align="middle" border="0" height="17" width="91" /></a><br />__________________________________________________________________worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-35818640961966253872007-05-16T11:34:00.000+08:002007-05-16T12:05:22.606+08:00Spring has come and so have the Lilacs<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3FKdNudT3IV94OPD3cKCesk0rw3YObb50SPntnCZ2_JfHIVF1ifIPexDr9RogKpmXRyS17PgOjBdU0N5TyXoS9X7gq3vjDf4Id1H3yfMMx7-akpcle9P6NTXN_kvB26Fkqwy/s1600-h/Rawstock+014.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3FKdNudT3IV94OPD3cKCesk0rw3YObb50SPntnCZ2_JfHIVF1ifIPexDr9RogKpmXRyS17PgOjBdU0N5TyXoS9X7gq3vjDf4Id1H3yfMMx7-akpcle9P6NTXN_kvB26Fkqwy/s320/Rawstock+014.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064997752759013810" border="0" /></a>Spring has finally come to Harbin. That means that the lilacs are in bloom which is the cities official flower. They are everywhere. I must say the city has done a good job at trying to plant trees and shrubs to make the city a little nicer. There are crews out planting new trees every spring and summer. Through out the Northeast of China you will find trees being grown. This is a good thing and probably due to the deforestation of much of the land. Coming from the Great Northwest of the U.S. , I can say that is surely one thing that I miss, the forests and abundance of trees. Where I live in Washington state, some of the forests have been harvested and renewed 3 times. Most of San Francisco was built from the forests where I live on the Hood canal and Olympic peninsula. So it is really nice here in Harbin when it finally after the long winter finally ends and the buds start. There is one thing that is common here that is a little hard to understand. The Chinese are obsessed with trimming trees, so after the first leaves show up they disappear and the tops of trees are whacked off. The effect is a little strange as it creates streets filled with no tops, and the growth of the trees are shaped in a particular fashion.<br /><br />On the teaching front classes are going well and I'm pretty much booked up to capacity. I want to point those teachers who may be working for around 5k rmb towards a very doable doubling of their salary, with about 4 extra classes a week. If you have a large enough apartment you can easily start some classes during your off time. If you are a university teacher your weekends can bring in an extra 1000 rmb with 4 classes. If you keep your prices below the language schools and are a decent teacher the word will spread and you will not have to advertise. If you are a private language school teacher you will have lots of free time in the week to have some after school classes or just one per night at around 5:30. If you want to focus on young learners you should be able to schedule an afternoon class around 1:30 as many students in that age group have one day per week that is a half day of classes. So it presents a good opportunity to double your income with a few extra hours of work. Most teachers have 14-20 hours of teaching per week so there should be lots of time, unless you are having to do all the curriculum and have lots of testing to mark. Of course if you are here to just to spend money or time on your interests then this model may not be for you.<br /><br />worldtour aka Larry Rhoe<br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" alt="Add to My Yahoo!" align="middle" border="0" height="17" width="91" /></a>worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-37125478872080229602007-05-01T18:40:00.000+08:002007-05-01T21:16:57.993+08:00Work Work Work<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOnIzSu8TFRRYMAGySfIZMmk_DinEXdVEQmxXJ1UH9R5ixst1NWYri_l3GZ8ga6-gfng-gwB5rdyjOou8p5sC_XgOY7jiAg9ov14YmFJa1bezHaSFYzvvGoaxjHzFi1OL4_4KV/s1600-h/mayday.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOnIzSu8TFRRYMAGySfIZMmk_DinEXdVEQmxXJ1UH9R5ixst1NWYri_l3GZ8ga6-gfng-gwB5rdyjOou8p5sC_XgOY7jiAg9ov14YmFJa1bezHaSFYzvvGoaxjHzFi1OL4_4KV/s320/mayday.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5059540679251442514" border="0" /></a>Oh, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. No the ship is not going down it's just workers day. You know, it's not really celebrated in the States. We do have Labor Day but it is not the same thing. Behold the Glorification of the worker. These vintage posters are always interesting. But since I am not Chinese it really is just another work day. The parents of my students wanted classes so I was happy to crank out another lesson. If you want a jump on the competition just bite the bullet and hold class. It was rather nice this morning, much quieter than usual. No rubber hoses pounding on plastic buckets announcing another collector of recyclables. Not the usual horns honking incessantly, or the chop chop chop of food reducing to chopstick size bites. Oh the joys of the holidays.<br /><br />Seriously, work is a good thing, it will always be there for you. Your friends and family may let you down but work will always be there for you. It is a bit different here. That kind of attitude is not so common. If you can bring your work ethic with you and focus on what you want, there is more opportunity here in China than most places I have traveled to. I never fancied myself as a businessman, I just knew I could teach well. I don't run my business like others, I offer good value at very reasonable prices. This seems to work anywhere and it has worked well for me. So raise a glass to those who keep the wheels greased.<br /><br />worldtour aka Larry Rhoe<br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" alt="Add to My Yahoo!" align="middle" border="0" height="17" width="91" /></a><br />_________________________________________________________________worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-6779486160538254432007-04-29T20:15:00.000+08:002007-04-30T10:24:22.642+08:00The Power of Bingo and ESL<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAlvuU0FsZz1bcEhBr0mh39JOuPBZ-y5j0o2hIs-X_qQDUCGD_oKjW-Q_safcFTBcEKziixrkZfMAwbwFl9rvtn99cFIlM0mm9l7UKndRWLgc557978N85wLF258tEmtyT_w0F/s1600-h/Class_Book1+010.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAlvuU0FsZz1bcEhBr0mh39JOuPBZ-y5j0o2hIs-X_qQDUCGD_oKjW-Q_safcFTBcEKziixrkZfMAwbwFl9rvtn99cFIlM0mm9l7UKndRWLgc557978N85wLF258tEmtyT_w0F/s320/Class_Book1+010.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5059025360485333826" border="0" /></a>Teaching English can get a little redundant, especially if you are using the same books for a long time. One way to break up the boredom for both teachers and students is to regularly play some games. Bingo is probably one of the best listening games you can find. It really helps the listeners pay attention as they are usually pretty competitive, especially here in China as the whole of their educational experience is pitted against all other students at their level. So they take to it likes ducks to water. The best place I have found for resources for bingo is <a href="http://www.mes-english.com/flashcards/bingo.php">Mark's Esl Pages</a>. I have plugged his site before in general but he can never get enough credit for the sites he has put together. Here is what I suggest. Use the flashcards in classes, make some bingo cards, and hand out the handout pages to build the vocabulary, familiarize the class with the word and the image. They will be begging you to play. This is what you aim for. Get them excited and involved in their learning process. It is such a change from their traditional style of class in their Chinese schools that it is sure to be a winner.<br /><br />Another great game that you can use to improve their listening is the old tried and true "Simon Says" game. I'm not sure which one my students like best but both can really energize and create a lot of excitement in the classroom. You can use Simon Says for the really young kids or the older higher level classes. You may want to do it in coordination with the introduction of commands. These lessons usually come pretty early at least they do in the books I use. The Cambridge for young learners introduces open your books, raise your hand, open the window in the first 10 lessons. You want to try and trick them too as you physically do the action or command without the Simon Says. I also make a buzzer noise vocally which always gets a laugh or two. This game always gets the parents laughing and they pay attention to the class too. It's a great way to demonstrate that their children are learning the language as they respond to your commands.<br /><br />I just wanted to say a few more words of praise for Mark and his teaching skills and dedication to sharing his work with others, thanks Mark!<br /><br />worldtour aka Larry Rhoe<br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" alt="Add to My Yahoo!" align="middle" border="0" height="17" width="91" /></a><br />________________________________________________________________worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-16458422181321561122007-04-28T09:56:00.000+08:002007-04-28T10:23:07.128+08:00Getting teaching materials<a href="http://www.sitesforteachers.com/cgi-bin/in.cgi?id=lrhoe" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.sitesforteachers.com/images/sft_approved_banners/sft_logo_full.gif" alt="Sites for Teachers" border="0" height="60" width="400" /></a><br /><br />Often when teaching, you may be required to supplement the teaching materials that you use, or in some cases, you may have to supply all of the teaching materials. The web provides lots of ESL materials. One of the best is "Sites for Teachers". Not all of them are specifically for Teaching English as a Second Language, but most can be used in your classes. If you have not yet discovered the site mentioned above please take a moment and check them out. <br /><br />One thing that you might find is, that when dealing with websites and the administrators of websites, it can be time consuming. I found that "Sites for Teachers" has a responsive admin and can get listed with them easily. I received approval and was placing the code to the linking in less than 24 hours. That's an excellent response time. <br /><br />In order for your site to attain a decent page rank and receive search engine traffic you will want to have links pointing to your site. These links are more valuable when the page rank of that sight as high or higher than your own. This is just one way that you can get more traffic to your site.<br /><br />So if you don't have the time to make your own exercises, or you need some new materials, please take a look at "Sites for Teachers" and some of the other links that I have in the sidebar.<br /><br />Worldtour aka Larry Rhoe<br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" width="91" height="17" border="0" align=middle alt="Add to My Yahoo!"></a>worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-43444971449379855912007-04-27T12:14:00.000+08:002007-04-27T13:13:00.035+08:00Travel and Homesickness<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi34i6KNnlWAdMZDUm70WhuFJqG7aAb_LCxQdSlOMGAdF36kDCjo49cLocKrmyaV5GGEN4qbtxWefu-BSUdPhygPg0R42nPtgn8B-saEoPG0zhM5s78urUBnZ8bA5JV47h6EVui/s1600-h/PICT0641__3_.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi34i6KNnlWAdMZDUm70WhuFJqG7aAb_LCxQdSlOMGAdF36kDCjo49cLocKrmyaV5GGEN4qbtxWefu-BSUdPhygPg0R42nPtgn8B-saEoPG0zhM5s78urUBnZ8bA5JV47h6EVui/s320/PICT0641__3_.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057957627320580914" border="0" /></a>For anyone who has lived outside their own country for any length of time, homesickness is something they are familiar with. I have not been home in over four years. That is one of the reasons why I am so happy to get mail from friends and family. This photo was sent to me by my brother and shows the Tulip Festival in Western Washington where my family lives. Acres and acres of tulips and other flowers as well. The rush of color is awesome and the natural beauty is surely something I miss about the Great Northwest. I have some posts with some beautiful flowers from my vacation in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Sanya</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Hainan</span>. Now another Chinese Holiday is nearly upon us. Workers day, or May day is a week long holiday for many in China. It holds perhaps more significance here than in other parts of the world given China's history and political structure. <br /><br />For teachers in China it is a welcomed break, a time for travel, or just chilling out for a while. For me it's somewhat different as the parents of my students want their children to have classes during this time. So it can be even busier than other times. That is good since I have been looking at some real estate recently. So many teachers bemoan the low salaries in China but few take on the steps to insure their own prosperity. I have been fortunate but I also took the risks, so I feel I am reaping the rewards of my labor. Even if you are teaching at another school you could include in your contract the possibility of working on your own. Or if you don't mind being a little clandestine about it, just do it. Many teachers in private language schools have heavy weekend schedules and free time during the week, many receive an apartment as part of their compensation, so with a minimal investment you could easily bank 12-15 thousand per year with one or two classes per week.<br /><br />Reading is so fundamental to language development and most Chinese students read at a much higher level than they speak, which is normal for anyone studying a second language. In that regard, I just wanted to say how deeply touched I was at the passing of one of America's great writers, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., my favorite author. If you are interested in what I have to say about him please visit one of my other blogs. <a href="http://360.yahoo.com/lrhoe"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Worldtour</span> P.O.V. </a>at http://360.yahoo.com/<strong><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">lrhoe</span></strong>worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-73053636445439812892007-04-18T09:46:00.000+08:002007-04-18T10:49:43.209+08:00Tempus Fugit (Time Flies)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizeAdHuSLNDYYvekWNWkZ51ONIOx0usDYAKI3qiNOckW7Dkj8hELrzUFT590x9RkVadrA3QCZnXovQ-Kp9jU-Ht1Jem5vfmKoSv3oczhHhXAFm6azU4XheQA4gWGoVdoE4cbI4/s1600-h/sanya+031.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizeAdHuSLNDYYvekWNWkZ51ONIOx0usDYAKI3qiNOckW7Dkj8hELrzUFT590x9RkVadrA3QCZnXovQ-Kp9jU-Ht1Jem5vfmKoSv3oczhHhXAFm6azU4XheQA4gWGoVdoE4cbI4/s320/sanya+031.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5054579796655649682" border="0" /></a>It seems like yesterday that I returned from my Spring Festival vacation in Sanya, yet it has been a month since I last posted. Time indeed flies. I personally prefer to be busy rather than bored so I'm not complaining. You just notice it more as you age. In many ways things could hardly be better. I have added 5 or 6 classes and it has all come from word of mouth. Teaching in China has always offered challenges so it also keeps it pretty interesting. One cannot underestimate the value of the person who interfaces with the parents of the student. As English language schools grow this becomes more difficult. Classes are scheduled back to back and it becomes more and more trying to pass on the information to the parents. So if you are only teaching and not doing much in the area of dealing with the parents, consider yourself lucky. <br /><br />Here is a dynamic you may find useful in your teaching. The age of the student wanting classes is very high at the ages of 5-11. You can effectively control about 16-20 if you have experience. Most have had some contact with some sort of schooling and considering their age they take to the classroom setting pretty well. I recommend a combination of drilling the lesson and then remove it from the book. Get it into the room. It's just the idea of making it more concrete or tangible. This is quite easy as the early lessons are quite simple, such as "what's your name". They tend to respond with more excitement if you can just get it out of the book and demonstrate to the student and parent that it is sinking into their heads. One of the best ways to do this comes in early command exercises, such as "open your book, close the window, clean the board". You can easily slide into "stand up please, sit down please, raise your hands" then make it a fun game of Simon Says. It really breaks up the boredom on both ends, teacher and student. This simple practice is perhaps one of my better areas, getting the lesson out of the book. It's not difficult and builds the skills effectively. Additionally, one must direct a bit of the over the top energy these ages have. Sometimes my biggest problem is the students saying "Teacher me", up on their feet begging to answer. This is of course a good problem to have, so you need to push that enthusiasm in the right direction and not stifle it with your own needs for "order". With the right mix of drill and improvisation within the lesson and classroom you can please the parents and they will beam with pride over their children's progress.worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-75794735370809364242007-03-06T12:14:00.000+08:002007-03-06T12:57:10.902+08:00Tigers and Dragons up close<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic4Wh8BCO0aqVFjm2XdxGr5ulB4pUKiulWy-xckytK0AbkhDqaPmBUfye2JRvVljsE41Qq5lY9nYcMJWk6uTgmqnkNgTDDwM-6RBtvXt9pcNO7BLyX8-4xNijCHCPUdEaD2Eku/s1600-h/sanya+103.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic4Wh8BCO0aqVFjm2XdxGr5ulB4pUKiulWy-xckytK0AbkhDqaPmBUfye2JRvVljsE41Qq5lY9nYcMJWk6uTgmqnkNgTDDwM-6RBtvXt9pcNO7BLyX8-4xNijCHCPUdEaD2Eku/s320/sanya+103.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5038661142172904210" border="0" /></a>I don't usually enjoy a zoo, but you can only walk up and down the beach so many times before you have seen it all. If you need an outing for a day you may want to consider the Tiger and Dragon park. There are perhaps 100 tigers and more than 2000 crocodiles. There are also a lot of flower gardens to enjoy too. Now that may seem a little tame for some of you but for families it can be a worthwhile afternoon. Transportation to almost all the tourist attractions can be gotten for very little. If you don't research anything before you get there, you can get information from the tourist authority. They have several tables set up right on the beach where Yinbing street meets the beach. If you are all ready on the beach just walk west until you get to the area that has the walkway and pool area protruding into the sea. That is where you will find several people with information about all the sites you may want to see.<br /><br />One thing that you notice about China is the lack of wildlife. Of course I live in a large city so one would not expect to see to many species, but there are not even many birds in the cities. Chinese people pretty much eat everything. In Wang Fu Jing in Beijing you can feast on sparrows, snakes, quail eggs, and testicles and all other sorts of bugs and other unidentified animals. There are people in the south who will eat other wild species that show up in markets, this is speculated to be the way SARS crossed from the animal world to humans, through something related to a weasel. I'm pretty brave about trying different unusual food but I don't ever go that far. I'm chicken.<br /><br />One other thing that you will notice here is the abundance of fruit and vegetables that you have never seen or eaten before. Most of these are quite delicious so be a little adventurous and given them all a try. One of the best things about living and working in China as a teacher is that you get to enjoy the wonderfully varied cuisines. One of the styles of food I enjoy here is what is called "hotpot". You order meat and veggies and boil them in a spicy "soup". Lamb is not a very popular meat in the States but it is very popular here. They slice the lamb very thin and then it is boiled in the pot. You then dip it in a sesame or what is sometimes called tahini, similar to what is used in fallafels. It is wonderfully delicious. I will post a recommendation in my next post on where to get this in Sanya. It was one of the best hotpot restaurants I have eaten at.<br /><br />worldtour aka Larry Rhoe<br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" alt="Add to My Yahoo!" align="middle" border="0" height="17" width="91" /></a>worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-29984877048748327442007-03-05T11:17:00.000+08:002007-03-05T12:29:39.816+08:00Worldtour Busts a Move!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiet8ByfNeqGAK3VOuvoVjShO6jwvVXGLmAwt0hI2W6K5F6iQV7331tJfX1clLRQi7SJh75qaPIc8WyPzW05xKYaPl57Kun1hyeaTK2xbnAZolSJ9fxOt72JFzem1h1Wyna3Ybu/s1600-h/sanya+010.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiet8ByfNeqGAK3VOuvoVjShO6jwvVXGLmAwt0hI2W6K5F6iQV7331tJfX1clLRQi7SJh75qaPIc8WyPzW05xKYaPl57Kun1hyeaTK2xbnAZolSJ9fxOt72JFzem1h1Wyna3Ybu/s320/sanya+010.jpg" alt="He can dance" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5038275930977058802" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirZ7oFdumMFmfserni6oS2ge1kXVohcFqfCnLZKE4RUbDPqznqnKMvyJ2P78472urnDZe7jfgLkd_yZnsDYJdgDNGdnF5XsYqcoW9aGiQpIroNp-WLDFSaZPXAxXXiHUwqW38K/s1600-h/sanya+039.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirZ7oFdumMFmfserni6oS2ge1kXVohcFqfCnLZKE4RUbDPqznqnKMvyJ2P78472urnDZe7jfgLkd_yZnsDYJdgDNGdnF5XsYqcoW9aGiQpIroNp-WLDFSaZPXAxXXiHUwqW38K/s320/sanya+039.jpg" alt="Sanya New Years Eve" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5038275213717520354" border="0" /></a>For those of you that have never been to China during the Chinese New Year, let me describe the "traditional" event. Families get together much like Thanksgiving in the United States. They have lots of food, TV and games such as cards and Majiang. The national television, CCTV, organizes large shows that are seen live and repeated several times. They do these kind of shows all year, they are a little like a variety show. Mostly they have singers and dancers and may have minority ethnic performances too. The pictures here are from the celebration in Sanya on the eve of the new year. After the big show they had a DJ spinning tunes and invited everyone to dance. Well that didn't quite happen. Chinese people don't really know how to party. This is the biggest celebration of the year and other than a few dancers who were part of the show there was no one that was "brave" enough to dance except for myself and my Chinese partner. <br /><br />So these pictures show the New Years crowd desperate for more "entertainment", namely watching a foreigner dance. There were literally 500 to 1000 people watching us dance. It was impossible to get any of them to join in and cut loose. They are just too self conscious to do that. When you have a party in China it is really just a dinner where people drink and eat. I'm reminded about a conversation I had with one of my teaching peers who was constantly criticized by his Chinese spouse because he liked to have a beer and play pool. She called him an alchololic. You see it is acceptable to drink yourself blind on Bai Jiao and heave the vile stuff back up as long as you do it at a meal. Vomit is a common sight. I know that is a blanket statement and as with all statements like this it is only partially true for some, but it is true for some as well. The point is that going out for a drink is not really done that much where I live. There are very few bars like in the west. There are a few discos which have bars but most people will do their drinking at a dinner. It's just a cultural difference. In Beijing and Shanghai where the nightlife is much better you will find more clubs, bars and such, but for the most part there is not a lot of nightlife here where I live.<br /><br />So it is a little difficult for the average Chinese to "cut loose". They can do it but usually it is a group thing. It is very common to see boys dancing with boys and girls with girls. Are they gay? Probably not but mustering up the courage to dance with a stranger may not happen much. Sometimes the discos are like one group trance. Mind you I don't do that much even though I love to dance. When I do I always attract a lot of attention, as I did in the States. No brag, just fact. I'm sure it is much different in the more hip cities but I don't have much experience with that scene. But as you can see from the people watching this was quite entertaining for them, and as my background is in the arts as a performer it was no big thing for me and I had a great time. You really can have lots of fun in China and I do recommend it for those of you who are looking for an adventure. All things considered, the Chinese people are very kind and good people, I am happy to be here and most of the time the only thing that makes it difficult is dealing with my own cultural biases. If you realize these things you have a great chance to make lifelong friends and enjoy a fascinating culture.<br /><br />Worldtour aka Larry Rhoe<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwR9cUCjPIvNgugEsxhQoP5TDDXJQKRwP-8SkO-SdwScCLGdL5w2MJGeetIYSjxzUx1WVj6zYlUdmdYeX_tC4_gjw3NIL8ctGnslKtiv5svb_yjge4pv_QGYAsYQKlRvNF7QWi/s1600-h/sanya+032.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwR9cUCjPIvNgugEsxhQoP5TDDXJQKRwP-8SkO-SdwScCLGdL5w2MJGeetIYSjxzUx1WVj6zYlUdmdYeX_tC4_gjw3NIL8ctGnslKtiv5svb_yjge4pv_QGYAsYQKlRvNF7QWi/s320/sanya+032.jpg" alt="Look at the foreigner" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5038274917364776914" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" width="91" height="17" border="0" align=middle alt="Add to My Yahoo!"></a>worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-87135062683349907962007-03-04T15:18:00.000+08:002007-03-04T15:56:04.461+08:00Sanya on a Budget<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhANv_3cxn-A2_v8qW_FyscLUQaQLr8j8ZDnDdAPLDhtP5cvARWEEwO7l7U45cAn4jT_l4Mis3-D_q9mtmxeFui5QFvFVRCCtWMBIedqYvx14eJNOwNqxUrj3xF_UDbUGv-49Pa/s1600-h/sanya+100.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhANv_3cxn-A2_v8qW_FyscLUQaQLr8j8ZDnDdAPLDhtP5cvARWEEwO7l7U45cAn4jT_l4Mis3-D_q9mtmxeFui5QFvFVRCCtWMBIedqYvx14eJNOwNqxUrj3xF_UDbUGv-49Pa/s320/sanya+100.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5037965817158418370" border="0" /></a><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Sanya</span> hotels are relatively expensive during the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year. I alluded to that in my last post. They are three times the normal price. Most hotels have a peak season but in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Sanya</span> they really gouge the tourist during this holiday. It is one of the things that I really don't like in China. If you read other blogs about China you probably have seen some advise on bargaining. Now this is something that few people in the West know how to do. You may not even be aware the the first price you are given may be up to 5 times what a vendor will ask of a Chinese person. We don't have this kind of situation in the west save the flee markets. The only things that we usually bargain for are houses and cars, so our skills need to be developed. It's really quite irritating after awhile, but with a little work and knowledge you can buy things at or near the same price that the locals do. This can be done with almost everything except for items in department stores which are pretty much the price that is posted. You need to be aware that when they see your face a vendor will almost always try to make 3 to 5 times more profit from you than the knowing locals. So get a friend to help you or just comparison shop before you buy.<br /><br />Before I went I researched the hotel prices in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Sanya</span>. Most decent looking hotels ranged from 400 to 800 per night, during the non peak time frame. Every one had triple that price during the Spring festival. So I was looking at 1200 to 2000 or more for a hotel room. Now for people that come from the West this perhaps is an expected price for a decent hotel, but teachers in China make 5,000 to 8,000 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">rmb</span> per month so you could easily spend two or three months salary on a week or two. I am just not willing to do that. Consider this tact. I payed 480 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">rmb</span> for two weeks for a small apartment. Just because of my contacts with my students and their families. Sixty dollars for two weeks, you just can't beat that. Let's face it, most of your time there will be to enjoy the beaches and the outdoor activities. It doesn't take that much effort to ask around. If you have Chinese language skills I'm sure you could find one in one of the local neighborhoods. Living like a local is also an experience you may enjoy. The conditions will not be as nice but the streets do get cleaned daily for the most part, they just don't stay clean very long. This is a problem everywhere in China, people just toss all kinds of rubbish into the streets and it is then taken away by workers who collect the trash. It does leave much of the cities strewn with trash. It is quite appalling for most. It is also quite difficult to accept that culturally the Chinese are so totally uncaring about the filth they live in, it is just the way it is. Why something cannot be done about it in an authoritarian society is beyond reason.<br /><br />I'm not a tidy freak, a anal retentive or a perfectionist about cleanliness either. I have just never seen anything that compares to the litter and garbage that is everywhere in China. That's what 1.3 billion people gets you, I guess. On the other hand most Chinese are quite fastidious about their own <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">hygiene</span>. Even with some of the litter, it is still quite beautiful, but unless you have seen it with your own eyes you may not realize the scope of the problem.<br /><br />The picture above is in the apartment I rented. It only had a bed and that was it. Everything else we needed was loaned to us by my students grandparents. Chinese people are quite kind and generous to friends. This is one of the good things about the country and the people, the acts of kindness. They are really great that way.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">worldtour</span> aka Larry <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Rhoe</span><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" alt="Add to My Yahoo!" align="middle" border="0" height="17" width="91" /></a><br />________________________________________________________________worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-47408802094770703102007-03-03T17:52:00.000+08:002007-03-03T19:39:19.482+08:00The Pearl River Hot Springs Resort<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPDTOmhR6ffjM9Om_1lblT7UqQAKC5RoAJj3seLCTz1y0VF4d76Qvcgfy2w9Ib25NC76JklQ3IY2agJvfqfGxz-u7jkQnk_o647erIBk0axfDNgUvT9vCSDBRzeqXHBYlqFzBb/s1600-h/sanya+033.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPDTOmhR6ffjM9Om_1lblT7UqQAKC5RoAJj3seLCTz1y0VF4d76Qvcgfy2w9Ib25NC76JklQ3IY2agJvfqfGxz-u7jkQnk_o647erIBk0axfDNgUvT9vCSDBRzeqXHBYlqFzBb/s320/sanya+033.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5037634103949246386" border="0" /></a>One of the first places we visited in Sanya was the Pearl River Hot Springs Resort. It is about 45 minutes outside of the city of Sanya Hainan. You can catch a free bus ride there from the beach at Da Dong Hai, or Big East Sea. This is one of the nicer beaches in my opinion. Your taxi driver will know how to get there or the 202 bus also will get you there. There are several resort hotels along the beach and you can rent an umbrella, jet ski, windsurf or ride in a boat, or just enjoy swimming or sunbathing. I spent my New Years Eve there and there was a stage with many singers and it was where the local TV was for the celebration. There was a wide variety of entertainers, including an American band from California. There was also a government sponsored fireworks show as well as individuals lighting off their own fireworks. So it's a good place to see. The bus to go to the hot springs leaves from there.<br /><br />The cost for a day at the hot springs is 160 rmb or about 20 dollars. Quite reasonable for most people with good facilities. There are many pools for soaking and relaxing in with different substances in the water, such as coffee, coconut milk, herbs, flowers, and some Jacuzzi style areas with water jets. All pools have the temperature listed and you can try them all. They also have a play pool for children and a nice swimming pool. Food and drinks are available as well. The picture here is from a pool that had thousands of small fish that eat your skin! A very interesting sensation, quite ticklish. It felt like a low voltage electrical current. Some could not bear the sensation and could not contain their laughter as the fish nibbled away on your legs, toes, and hands. I must warn you about the sun though an afternoon there will result in a pretty nasty sunburn if you have a fair complexion as I do. So be careful, use the sunblock or stay out of the sun part of the time. You don't want to spend the rest of your vacation indoors as the weather is very nice.<br /><br />Being a tourist city, you have many people trying to sell you everything from fresh fruit to pearls. The pearls that are sold on the beach are not very expensive and you can get a long strand of them for about 30 rmb, just a few bucks. Remember to bargain, you can get the long strands for 30 rmb so don't over pay if they won't sell at that price just walk away and someone else will. I don't know that much about pearls and I'm sure you can find the high quality ones in any department store but the ones sold on the street are nice and they are real.<br /><br />Stay tuned for more info on the city and the vacation. <br /><br />worldtour aka Larry Rhoe<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" width="91" height="17" border="0" align=middle alt="Add to My Yahoo!"></a><br />__________________________________________________________________worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-38883207887270206722007-03-02T12:14:00.000+08:002007-03-02T22:12:27.880+08:00The Sanya Vacation Report<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfCtIUEFuCuf79tKcYrbo_jmkR7lba5A1zW8uqVdg3kqbjd78SF3jDvFYMRlgwQlcMcY_WhMBcwnT07bEoL2zC2PutZmHe0Luc9RdRDvKp7bZr4jRWdm9kvIMrYYDLWOB7Qrm6/s1600-h/sanya+003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfCtIUEFuCuf79tKcYrbo_jmkR7lba5A1zW8uqVdg3kqbjd78SF3jDvFYMRlgwQlcMcY_WhMBcwnT07bEoL2zC2PutZmHe0Luc9RdRDvKp7bZr4jRWdm9kvIMrYYDLWOB7Qrm6/s320/sanya+003.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5037176045687127970" border="0" /></a>Greetings, I have returned from Sanya. For those of you who don't know where that is, it is China's largest island and smallest province, located in the South China sea. As you can see from the dates of my posting, I was not able to post during the vacation. Mostly by choice and not due to the availability of internet connections. I will be posting over the next few days. One thing you need to know is that going to an airlines web page and booking flight is not the way to go. You will pay up to twice as much for your tickets. This is one big difference here in China, they don't quite get it in that regard. So if you are here in China ask a friend to recommend an agent. That being said, I got tickets for 1310 rmb, from Harbin to Sanya, via Beijing. My other choice was to go through Chong Qing which was quite a bit longer, so I opted for an overnight in Beijing. If you have to do that I would recommend the Capital Airport Hotel. You can book a room there online and the hotel is just minutes away from the airport. Rooms are clean, not too big and the price is right, 368 rmb a night. There are places to eat in the hotel and the prices are reasonable there too. <br /><br />I have spoken before about how friends will really be helpful to get you a good deal. Here is a good example. One of my student's grandparents winter in Sanya. They knew a woman who rents out a small apartment. The price is 450 rmb for one day or one month or anything in between. During the Spring Festival hotel prices are triple the normal price, so that means you will pay about 1000 or more per night which is pretty much out of reach for most people here, including me. So after arriving, we went to the address provided and paid our host plus 2oo rmb deposit for utilities, which ended up being only 30 rmb for the entire time. Our friends brought us a wok, a couple tables and stools and we had our base set up. Now mind you, there was not any hot water but there was a shower and with the heat the water is not too cold and with a hot plate you can clean up fine. Assuming you have a bit of the Spartan spirit in you. I have never liked spending too much on hotels but if you can afford 15k on a hotel be my guest.<br /><br />I hope this gives you a little insight into how to navigate your travel in China. Rely on your friends, students and the people they know and you will save big time. I will be detailing more of the vacation very soon as time allows as classes begin again today.<br /><br />Worldtour aka Larry Rhoe<br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" width="91" height="17" border="0" align=middle alt="Add to My Yahoo!"></a>worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-15466342212620936652007-02-13T11:29:00.000+08:002007-02-01T03:22:58.450+08:00A teachers vacation in China<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrXuVdsR5jdmrEkdH01WiA8ttvafMF7yWsARqfrFTjg0M0_LhIAE28195BVNM2V3oo42rWg9NmNUbVylGpGddzxNpSktkcH8Gqp2mAQrf44qqERpHwVL-TUBHdQ5qWKE62UzxY/s1600-h/sanya-seats.at.sea.shore.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrXuVdsR5jdmrEkdH01WiA8ttvafMF7yWsARqfrFTjg0M0_LhIAE28195BVNM2V3oo42rWg9NmNUbVylGpGddzxNpSktkcH8Gqp2mAQrf44qqERpHwVL-TUBHdQ5qWKE62UzxY/s320/sanya-seats.at.sea.shore.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5030856357251525762" border="0" /></a>A teacher may only teach 14-20 hours a week in class, but anyone who has taught knows that usually will be a 40 hour week. As an independent teacher here in China I have been putting in about 40 class hours per week for the past 7 weeks. In short, its time for a rest. Because I'm not at a university I didn't have that 7 weeks off. Now I have decided to see what all the fuss is about in Hainan. Hainan is China's largest island and smallest province. Sanya in the southern part of the island and is known for its beaches and year round nice weather. Currently according to Yahoo's weather section it is 62-82 today. Sounds perfect to me. <br />Sometimes bloggers and especially expats in China bitch and moan about this and that. Myself included. Sometimes it seems the everyday niceties are lacking, but gestures of uncommon kindness are often more prevalent than in the West. People go out of their way to help you, as they have for me to make this vacation happen. Friends who know travel agents, student's grandmothers who have a friend that has an empty apartment, advice on where the good deals are to buy an apartment. These kindnesses tend to outweigh the daily irritations of Chinese life through Western eyes. <br /><br />I'm reminded of one afternoon when the skies opened up and the street by my school was running two feet deep past the entrance. I just needed to get home and waded through it onto safer ground, and received an escort from a woman , as I didn't have an umbrella. A complete stranger. <br /><br />Stay posted for some photos from Sanya. This photo comes from a blog at <a href="http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20040321_sanya_travelogue_on_the_beach.htm">this address </a>and it will give you an idea about the island or just google Sanya.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" width="91" height="17" border="0" align=middle alt="Add to My Yahoo!"></a>worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-34353245039280493222007-01-31T16:20:00.000+08:002007-01-31T21:43:44.283+08:00A recommendation and how to get a more visitors<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.tefllogue.com/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKPgHeUMI-dqspEqwXuIgPuAoomug_bsGTGPlBWsl0g9zPjB26-JGOdlQu5eqroVGSslcljE_UG6WvSoPD4CBKkQXWTXjmVJMdc47OBK_S1593M_h6ek3APyrxx8qHGNaV1SRA/s320/tefllogo.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5026108067758504210" border="0" /></a>I was looking at some of the comments left by readers and found a comment from Katie. Katie has a TEFL site called <a href="http://www.tefllogue.com/">TEFLLougue</a>. She left a nice comment and mentioned my blog on her blog. So I want to return the gesture. She has done an excellent job on the layout of the site and the contents are also very good. You may want to check it out, just click the link or the logo above to check it out. <br /><br />Getting people to read your blog can be a bit difficult but the best way is just to have a decent page rank with Google. The best way to do that is to have good content and get links from other sites that have something to do with your sites subject matter. Content is King, that is what the marketers tell you. Here is an easy way to improve your page rank which will in turn bring more visitors from the search engines. One of the easiest ways to get indexed is to add your own blog to your my yahoo page with a rss feed. This is pretty much a surefire way to get indexed at Yahoo, and it only takes a few minutes. Another strategy is to get links to your site from related sites. The higher the page rank the better. This is not too hard to do if you have a good blog with good content. My blog currently has a page rank of 4 out of 10. Not great but not too bad considering I often have gaps in publishing. Publishing regularly once you do get indexed is also a key element in attaining a higher page rank. It just means you will be listed higher in the searches. Blogger is owned by Google so you may want to host your blog there as it makes sense that they will index all sites they have on their properties. The spiders will return. You should also blog and ping at places like <a href="http://www.pingomatic.com">Pingomatic</a>. <br /><br />Pinging lets several of the directories for blogs and indexes know that you have updated your blog and could get your site spidered, searched, by the big three, Google, Yahoo, and MSN. If you can get one way links to your site they are the best, but reciprocal links are also valuable. Posting in forums and having your site in your signature file is another way to build your page rank. Writing articles and listing them with article directories is another way to build page rank and get your name out there. You can leave a link in the resource box and these may be picked up and used by other sites. I really have not spent that much time doing these things and I saw my page rank rise using these easy techniques so you can too. <br /><br />So thanks Katie for stopping by and I'll be checking out your blog too. <br /><br />Worldltour aka Larry Rhoe<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>worldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-32468621799348488252007-01-31T11:17:00.000+08:002007-01-31T12:01:09.156+08:00More snow and window leaks<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhikemXSkCidNFTDgsBNgI_FG_QDl0rcPAzGG1qslbTql0bB4teBWI4oawprCD5dGzwZHIb7jnUusanXr0bYnWosQ4i_JmRxteGHVs7jHaTHOm_EQOIBkRF0EnAZc-ffBiOmvGq/s1600-h/snow.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhikemXSkCidNFTDgsBNgI_FG_QDl0rcPAzGG1qslbTql0bB4teBWI4oawprCD5dGzwZHIb7jnUusanXr0bYnWosQ4i_JmRxteGHVs7jHaTHOm_EQOIBkRF0EnAZc-ffBiOmvGq/s320/snow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5026030384685021442" border="0" /></a>As promised the posting to the blog will be more frequent. It is the end of January and we got the heaviest snow of the season. It really doesn't snow much here in Harbin it's a rather dry winter here, but it is always quite cold. This winter has been quite warm by Harbin standards. I have live in three different places at this latitude, Minneapolis, Seattle and Harbin. They say that Harbin is the coldest place on earth at this latitude. That seems right, but this year it has not been as cold. I really have not been out in the weather that much this winter as I have been building my business. It has been quite a bit warmer though. It fits right in with the lessons on global warming, sad to say. <br /><br />This is the interior of my courtyard. In the background you can see the piles of coal and a parent who is letting her child climb up to the top of the pile. I guess that is an activity. For a while, the city will look a little nicer as the snow will cover the blackened streets and ice. The winter can cause lots of this dust to be dragged into your home, into the window cracks. Even though most newer homes and remodeled buildings have double glass the workmanship is pretty poor. Gaps, no caulk, bad fittings cause major waste of energy. For those of you who are my age, or don't remember, it's like the days when made in Japan meant, crap. I hate to say it but even in this apartment which is designated as a "model" apartment, the workmanship is quite appalling.<br /><br />Here are some examples. My kitchen and bath have nice tile, but it is applied over about an inch of concrete to even out the walls. They don't use a trawl with teeth so it does not adhere as it should because it is not done properly. The result? I had ten tiles fall off at the same time when the room was unoccupied. It is not hung either, it is done backwards, meaning they start at the bottom and not the top. Rooms are not square, so floor tiles angle off to complete the floor tiles. So the symmetry of the room is all askew. There goes the whole concept of tiles and aesthetics. The concept of using spacers and grout is also not used here. Everything is just butted up to the next one. When it was done some tiles with chipped corners or damaged tiles were installed too. Just a whole bunch of things that scream, lack of pride in workmanship. A stark contrast to the artistic carvings and many other things which are wonderful examples of skill and pride. Well the work is done by transient workers who are paid a pittance. <br /><br />It probably bothers me more than most as this is one area of my personality that likes order. I discovered this though my experiences in the construction trade and remodeling and working on my own places in the States. By doing things right you actually save yourself lots of headaches in the future.<br /><br />Well two more weeks with my nose to the grindstone and then some time off. Most teachers are already off enjoying travel if they are at a university, those of us in the private sector get much shorter breaks as parents have their children's time blocked out with extra classes. It's a bit sad when you realize most of the classes are just lessons in rote learning and will soon be forgotten with little attention paid to the higher aspects of learning, such as deduction, extrapolation, and logic. Is there anyone else who feels the pangs of logic ignored here in China? It's one of those things that I have not yet been able to get used too, very frustrating.<br /><br />Worldtour aka Larry Rhoeworldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-49559229344353611492007-01-29T20:04:00.000+08:002007-01-29T20:57:26.417+08:00Taiwan Earthquake shuts down my blog<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmaP9hIFIdw4N77jjtZAd80WfDW_vLWbfsQxaUA-cXYHLDrI0BZ04dk9KD4Ha-isrxxAwZCS1F5hmBGqFeVt4IWFoAP938_23HZ_T5ULFMjhoxLa1OOTiqp3PGyITtziQnI4k0/s1600-h/aka.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmaP9hIFIdw4N77jjtZAd80WfDW_vLWbfsQxaUA-cXYHLDrI0BZ04dk9KD4Ha-isrxxAwZCS1F5hmBGqFeVt4IWFoAP938_23HZ_T5ULFMjhoxLa1OOTiqp3PGyITtziQnI4k0/s320/aka.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5025423776389036274" border="0" /></a>I'm sorry that there have been no posts recently. The fiber optics cables between China and Taiwan were severed in the earthquake on December 26, so the net has not been working for sites outside of China. It's good to have the resources back again and I will update more frequently now.<br /><br />It is nearing the Chinese New Year or Spring festival. Students have a holiday so for me that means I am really busy now. I have classes everyday as parents "must" have their children in classes all the time. Sometimes I pity them. They really complain about it, too much but it is understandable. I have seven books I am teaching from or seven different levels with ten classes. So it means for about a month or so I do nothing but teach, eat and sleep. It is also the most profitable time of the year much like summer vacation in July and August. <br /><br />For those of you that may just be becoming acquainted with this blog, I'll recap a little. I was offered a job at the best university here in Harbin, Harbin Institute of Technology but after two weeks I decided it was not for me. The extremely low salary of 4300 rmb per month coupled with an administration not to my liking made it a pretty easy choice. I'm not really your average teacher. Not that I am bragging about my abilities but I don't really like working for others if it is not an exceptional situation. So I decided to be a businessman and a teacher. To put into perspective, the 4300 rmb per month offered to me can be earned in 4 days if they are my busy weekend days. So you see it was not a difficult decision to make. Here is one thing that was just totally weird. Many of you may know that any kind of religious work as a teacher is prohibited. This is stated in the standard contracts that come from the central planners, it's in every contract. H.I.T. has for many years had a working relationship with a religious, missionary group. I can't remember the name, or would I post it here, but that is just totally bizarre here in China. I have never heard of this happening anywhere else from anyone else. Here is my take on the situation. It is all about expediency. If they can't find enough teachers they just put in their order and lickety split they get 4 or 5 twenty something teachers.<br /><br />Now China is full of twenty something teachers and many are bright well qualified people but placing zealots into the best university in the province really boggled my mind. Having grown up as a preachers kid I know how these people operate. These people meaning missionaries. The other part of the equation is the Chinese side. I feel I am beginning to understand that a little too. Many students have similar aspirations. Get a good job that pays a lot that requires little work. I feel the answer lies between these two "realities". <br /><br />Worldtourworldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com78tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-1160029582702240872006-10-05T12:51:00.000+08:002006-10-05T14:29:00.750+08:00Happy Birthday China<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6352/1994/1600/qingzhu.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6352/1994/320/qingzhu.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">It is the National Day holiday</span> time now in China. This would be the time you might consider traveling to new and interesting destinations. It's usually around 7 days and things slow down quite a bit and some businesses are closed. For me it means more classes as parents like to have their children attending classes all the time. I have had some students that have 4 or 5 classes on a Saturday or Sunday. It's good for private schools as it crams a few more weeks into one as far as volume. It's always a a bit difficult to get it coordinated with what the majority of parents want. If they have seven days I aim for three classes during that time, but sometimes two is what the parents want. This is one of the main things to consider when you are thinking about a job somewhere. If you are in the public system then you have your time off. If you are working in the private sector, chances are you will not get the full seven days off during this time as they will be conducting classes. Be sure to check the contract for if it is paid or unpaid. It may vary school to school.<br /><br />This is one of the really nice times of year in Harbin. The days are comfortble and the nights are cool, perfect. Still warm enough for outdoor dining, and a long sleeve shirt is usually plenty for the evening. The local apples are starting to come to market and those lucious Xing Jiang grapes too. When they are good they are as good as any grapes I have had anywhere.<br /><br />Yesterday, I was taken out to lunch by two of my students mothers. We had lunch at the <a href="http://www.shangri-la.com/harbin/shangri-la/en/index.aspx">Shangri-la hotel</a>. This was a very nice gesture. It is probably the best hotel chain in China, certainly it is one of the top 5. It was a buffet style with a few people cooking at stations, for instance the pasta, or entree, it was really good. Lots of wonderful foods with an international flare. I liked the cheese, olives, salami, beef with red bean all top notch. If you want to treat yourself to a wonderful brunch it is well worth the 108 rmb, about 12 bucks. It may have been one of the best buffets I have ever been to and the service was excellent. Thank you very much ladies.<br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" alt="Add to My Yahoo!" align="middle" border="0" height="17" width="91" /></a><br /><br />Larry Rhoe aka worldtourworldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20030436.post-1159241685769510742006-09-26T10:42:00.000+08:002006-09-26T11:34:45.913+08:00Teaching Challenges in China<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6352/1994/1600/Class_Book1%20014.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6352/1994/320/Class_Book1%20014.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>This is Cody. Cody enjoys dancing and was able to travel to Singapore and perform with her dance group. Parents in China devote a lot of time and resources into the child. It is very structured and they don't have much free time. Cody attends with her cousin Linda and skipped part of one book but she is keeping up with the class. Many students want to work in higher level books, there are many reasons, schedule, friends, parents desires. One problem you may run into when teaching oral English is the impact or sometimes lack of impact on the students scores in the Chinese schools. Since this education focuses on reading writing and grammar, your oral classes may or may not raise the students English scores. With good students who are speaking well the grammar usually takes care of itself. However, you do get some parents whose express purpose is to raise the scores in the Chinese system, even though this system spits out millions of students who can not speak more than a few sentences and possess poor listening skills if any. So there is a bit of a problem there, if you concentrate too much on the grammar, they speak less, but the parent may be happier. If you can balance it then everyone is probably somewhat pleased.<br /><br />It's a matter of wearing two hats for me. As the teacher, I want them to be able to speak and have a decent conversation with someone, but as the school owner I must try to get the school scores up to please the parents. Since the system is not going to change any time soon, that means more grammar. I've started implementing the testing from the books which gives me and the parent some idea as to where their child ranks in my class. Having some that score in the 90 percentile helps show the parents it works. It does go somewhat against the grain for me though, as I prefer a more improvised setting around a defined structure,(the book). I have steered away from too much testing as it gobbles up time in class, and they have so many things to study for it just seems like overload. This sort of cross purposes is prevalent in most schools. The other dynamic you get is, it's a business! So some times sales are more important than verified results. Well, it beats working in the factory.<br /><br /><a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?.intl=us&url=%20%20%09%20%20http%3A//worldtourinchina.blogspot.com/atom.xml"><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif" alt="Add to My Yahoo!" align="middle" border="0" height="17" width="91" /></a><br /><br />Larry Rhoe aka worldtourworldtourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782266594555315427noreply@blogger.com2