The Job

After arriving on Friday we began Job Orientation on Monday. Similar to many orientations it was a lot of people talking at you with a lot of information. It was interesting to get a glimpse of the politics at the school. It was clear that certain people were allotted an hour time slot based on their position at the school or the importance of "Face," a very interesting Chinese concept. Face is what gives this culture their passive aggressive nature, especially in business. It is more important to avoid offending someone than to efficiently confront them. Direction and organization is nonexistent. After a week of "orientation" we still had no idea what we were doing in our first class on Monday.

After our week of Orientation we went out for a banquet, we've been to three to date. They love them! They're not so bad all you can eat all you can drink. It's pretty fun. After this particular banquet we went on a cruise on the Huang Pu River in Shanghai. It was cool to see the city at night.

This was the boat we took down the Huang Pu River
The Pearl Tower at night




Shanghai from the River at Night


This is a photo from a van we rented to drive us home. It's pretty hard to get a cab at night, so there are all these non-registered vehicles that will drive you. We bargined a price before we got in and then they took us home. It ended up cheaper than a normal cab. Yikes!

Our first day of school

The classes are divided into Native and Non-Native speaking students and then ranked by students ability within those categories. The majority of the students are from Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. Jeremy is teaching in the Junior High School. He has four sixth and seventh grade non-native computer classes, a seventh grade non-native history class and a sixth grade ESL class, which he will have to tell you hilarious communication stories about.

I am teaching in the high school. I teach Native 10th grade honors English, which is equivalent to an honors 10th grade class in the States. The students in that class are very motivated and half of the class has lived in the US. Most of these students will enter the school's International Bacheloriate (IB) program in the 11th grade. The school has a heavy emphasis on testing, consequently the students are programed to be concerned with rubrics and evaluation.

Last Tuesday, before beginning to read a short story I was discussing with my class things that made them feel comfortable in a new place. They could all relate to this, being international students. Then I asked them how they made others feel comfortable, or how they reached out to new kids in school. They said they didn't. It was so interesting to hear them talk about their lack of social life and their concern only for school and academics. There are no real clubs, organizations, or sporting teams at the high school. Students are simply grouped by academic performance. So I gave them the assignment to meet someone new in a week and record how it went. They were absolutely baffled, asking me the format for their recording and the parameters for meeting a new person. I was shocked.

I am also teaching a non-native 12th grade English class. This is probably the most difficult class in the high school, because these are not the brightest students and by far the most unmotivated. Because they are not gaining prestige for the HS as far as test scores go, they are basically disregarded. They try to sleep in class and don't do their homework, which is interesting because all of them say they want to attend University; most will attend in their home countries. Their entire curriculum is geared toward taking the TOEFL exam. It's so boring! I try to think of creative things to do with them, but their so hard to get any feed back from, they basically just sit and stare at me. I feel like a one woman charade.

I'm teaching 11th grade non-native plus level English. They are more lively and motivated so we have a good time. I think they think I'm totally crazy because I run around the class doing outlandish demonstrations in order to explain the things we're working on. They laugh a lot.

My schedule was originally those three classes, however I went in one day to ask the director a question regrading the PSAT. They wanted me to dedicate every class period for five weeks to studying the PSAT with my 10th grade honors English class, which is absolutely ridiculous and extremely boring. I later found out they needed to increase their PSAT scores in order to become an SAT testing site in Shanghai so that the school gains prestige and more money. When I was in his office in his round about Chinese-style of asking/telling. He got me teaching a PSAT course for 80 mins one day a week. I told him I'd have to check my schedule and he told me he'd already checked it and I didn't have class so I would be available, creepy right? So the pulled this class of 11th graders out of PE and now they take 80 mins of English PSAT class one day a week and 80 mins of Math one day a week instead of gym! The good news is I get paid and extra 400RMB a week or about $60 just to basically be a test proctor, but I feel horrible for the students!

This weekend we went down the People's Square and walked to the Huang Pu River along what they call the Bund. People's Square is basically like Time's Square in NYC times about 10. It's huge! After that we met some friends at a restaurant for 1/2 price happy hour. The restaurant was called Barbarossa and it's situated on an island in the middle of the park (like a Central Park type feel) After that we met more people out for all you can eat all you can drink Japanese. It was amazing!

Photos from our outing:


The Subway... People EVERYWHERE!


Goverment Building on the Bund- Notice all the flags

It's like a bike-athon eveywhere you go!

Dad, is this knot of wires hanging from the sky what you were talking about when you said they didn't have the same building codes/regulations?

Chinese Streets

Peoples Square-Nanjing Road

The Bund during the day





I want to add more pictures but it won't let me. I'm sleepy now. I'll try to figure it out later. Good Night, Christine