Tuesday and Wednesday

Day 62 & 63

Tuesday, I had my two classes in the morning.  They both went well.  David and I met for lunch at the teacher cafeteria.

Libby and Wayne Clarke came over for a home teaching visit and then we all went to a bazaar that they had seen on Saturday on the way to the Pace’s for our get-to-gather.  We wandered the aisles and aisles of stuff.  We found what we think will work for a dish drainer (they are hard to find here in China…) and a knit cap for David.  We thought we had brought one with us, but we can’t find it.  After that, we went to have dinner together at JinGren Pie.  We rather all like that restaurant a lot! 

David was going to do home teaching with Stan Pace, so after dinner, he went to their place and I rode home on the same bus that Libby and Wayne had to take.  As we got near the stop that I needed to get off at, the traffic came to a stop.  We were just inching along, actually stopped for most of that time, and it was right in front of the campus, so getting off right there would have been great.  I decided to sit back down until we actually could get off, not knowing how long we would be stuck in traffic to go another 100 yards, when the driver decided to open the doors and let those of us waiting off.  Yippee!

Wednesday, both of us had classes to teach today.  Because of the crazy way the plan to have “make-up” classes for the holidays that they don’t hold school on, I start teaching a new lesson for the Freshman on Wednesday and then I have don’t teach that lesson again until the following Tuesday, because on Friday, I am teaching the same lesson that the taught the Wednesday way before.  I don’t think you can follow that, but anyway, my Wednesday classes are a fresh start for a new lesson.  This unit is on food, so I decided that I was going to make it into a listening exercise and I made some banana bread (I had to have enough to feed about 100 students between my two classes on Wednesday) and then I gave them each a piece right after the hour break (for the two hour classes, we have a ten minute break in between).  They loved it!  I also made a power point presentation on how to make banana bread complete with pictures and explanations.  At the end of the power point, I give them the listening test.  They had to answer five questions about how to make the banana bread.  They all had a lot of fun with it, me included.  Then I divided them into groups of 5 or 6, making sure there was not an all guys group or an all-girls group.  They had to come up with a food they could make and explain the steps to make it… all in English of course!  It was hilarious!  Some put in actions and props (made on the spur of the moment) and we just had fun with it. 

With my sophomore class in the afternoon, we did an activity on order in an American restaurant. It is different in that in America, we order per person.  In China, you order for the table.  Many dishes are put before you and you take some out of the dishes you want and it is on a turntable that you turn.  There are a few more differences, so we had fun letting them choose off of a made up menu and then learn how to tip (also something you don’t do in China).  It’s been a good day.