Teaching Teachers

I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the open-mindedness and buy-in of the Chinese teachers to western teaching methods and philosophy. They genuinely want to learn how to make teaching engaging. They love all the TRIBES strategies and take copious notes on how to run the activities I model in class.

Being honoured as teacher trainers during the opening ceremony.

The English speaking, reading and listening abilities of the 25 teachers in my class varies greatly which makes training them somewhat challenging.

Photos of teachers I'm training

Their behaviour is somewhat shocking. I have both a male and female student who continually pick their noses all day...I’m not kidding! Cell phones are a huge issue. Despite my multiple requests, they refused to put them away and have no qualms about fielding calls in class. Also, they were regularly late for class and when returning from breaks. I showed the bi-atch in me and suddenly the behaviour changed. I was stunned I had to speak to adults in that manner.

The coordinator treated us to a lovely hot pot lunch today. It was delicious and I broke my rule of not eating seafood as recommended by the travel doctor. Because Qingdao is a coastal city, seafood is very popular and, apparently, of good quality. Hopefully, I won’t get sick. I’ll keep you posted!

Being treated to hot pot lunch

Aerial view of hot pot lunch