Chapter 50
Chinese Teachers
I am going to talk about what it is like to be a Chinese teacher. I cannot talk about American teachers because I do not have the experience about that. So if an American teacher should read what I am writing here, please do not get upset with me. I am not writing about American teachers, I am writing about Chinese teachers. I am not comparing the two. American teachers work hard also but this is about the Chinese teachers.
I have many friends in China and the majority of them are teachers. As friends, they are wonderful. As teachers, they work very hard. I do mean very hard. They may only have 2, 3 or 4 classes a day sometimes but they also have evening and weekend classes. When they aren’t in class, they are usually in their offices working on student’s papers or lessons. Students will come to them throughout the day to ask questions or bring their homework assignments. They may have a break and could go outside to do something. A teacher could have anywhere from 1-3 evenings with classes. They may be done at 7:00 p.m. or they may be done at 9:30. It all depends upon what students they have; Sophomores, Juniors or Seniors.
Let’s not forget the weekends. Some teachers have the weekend off, depending upon which students they were teaching. There are classes on Saturday mornings, afternoons and at night. There are also some classes on Sunday mornings, no classes in the afternoons but classes again at night.
The school I was at the first time was a middle and high school. The second time, I was at a high school. Middle school students didn’t have it as hard as the high school students for so many classes but they still had evening classes during the week.
The Number Two Foreign Language School in Luoyang is a private middle school where the students would go home on Friday afternoons at 4:00 and come back on Sunday afternoons at 4:00 and then have classes. There were 3000 students living at the school. After the evening classes, the head teachers would have to make sure that all of the students were in the dorms. Some teachers would have a dorm to stay in overnight so after they were done with their classes and check on the students in their dorms then the teachers would go to their dorm. They would be done around 10:30 p.m.
There's another difference between the Chinese and US teachers. This is for the Chinese teachers that teach English and Chinese. Let’s say that a teacher is teaching the seventh grade this year. This is the first year that the students are in middle school. The teacher and the students stay together for three years. Then students go on to high school. The teacher starts over again with the 7th grade. This is the same for high school. The teacher and students start out together in the tenth grade and are together through the senior year and then the teacher starts again with the tenth grade.
I had two colleagues during my time in China. In 2002-2003, Justin Patch and I were at the Number One Foreign Language School. He was from Peabody, Massachusetts, a suburb outside of Boston. He was twenty-five years old and very smart. He was a music major and graduated near the top of his class at the university. Justin is a really good guy and we still stay in touch. We talk on the phone a few times throughout the year.
Each week we had 1,000 students between us, they were middle school and high school. We each had 500 and had them for the first semester and then for the second semester we switched, he took mine and I took his. That way the students would have both of the foreign teachers. The school wanted as many students as possible to have the foreign teachers. We had around thirty students in each class.
For my second year, I was at the school alone. SARS had come in the spring of 2003 and nobody wanted to come to China to teach in the fall. For my second year, 2003-2004, I had 1,000 students each week of the semester. Some of the high school classes were big. Around fifty to sixty students.
My other colleague from 2010-2013 at the Number Nineteen High School was Mary (Marivic) Cardinez from Baguio, Philippines. The city is located six hours north of Manila. She was twenty-five years old when I met her and had been at the Number Two Foreign Language School the year before. She had actually come to Luoyang in 2008 and taught English at a nurse’s school her first year. Mary has three sisters, two close to her age and the youngest was six years old. She was a talker, a nice personality, very sociable and of course very pretty. She also had many friends in Luoyang after being there a few years. This school also split the students between us. Each class had about thirty students. We each had 14-16 classes a week.
This came about in March of 2003 in China. It started in southern China. It was taken care of and gone by January of 2004. It spread to many countries, there were over 8,000 cases, 774 people died. It would start with a fever, shortness of breath, seem like a cold but then it would seem like influenza and then possibly turn into pneumonia. No cases showed up in Luoyang. People were very aware of it and the government worked very hard making sure that it didn’t become a problem. Many people wore white masks.
One thing was to keep people from being in big groups like in restaurants and places like that. That is why the gym closed that I went to. It could be spread kind of like when we get colds and the flu so people stayed home. The streets were quieter, hardly anyone on the buses. The buses could be shoulder to shoulder people usually but at the time of SARS there were maybe ten people or less.
Chapter 51
My Foreign Colleagues
I had two colleagues during my time in China. In 2002-2003, Justin Patch and I were at the Number One Foreign Language School. He was from Peabody, Massachusetts, a suburb outside of Boston. He was twenty-five years old and very smart. He was a music major and graduated near the top of his class at the university. Justin is a really good guy and we still stay in touch. We talk on the phone a few times throughout the year.
Each week we had 1,000 students between us, they were middle school and high school. We each had 500 and had them for the first semester and then for the second semester we switched, he took mine and I took his. That way the students would have both of the foreign teachers. The school wanted as many students as possible to have the foreign teachers. We had around thirty students in each class.
For my second year, I was at the school alone. SARS had come in the spring of 2003 and nobody wanted to come to China to teach in the fall. For my second year, 2003-2004, I had 1,000 students each week of the semester. Some of the high school classes were big. Around fifty to sixty students.
My other colleague from 2010-2013 at the Number Nineteen High School was Mary (Marivic) Cardinez from Baguio, Philippines. The city is located six hours north of Manila. She was twenty-five years old when I met her and had been at the Number Two Foreign Language School the year before. She had actually come to Luoyang in 2008 and taught English at a nurse’s school her first year. Mary has three sisters, two close to her age and the youngest was six years old. She was a talker, a nice personality, very sociable and of course very pretty. She also had many friends in Luoyang after being there a few years. This school also split the students between us. Each class had about thirty students. We each had 14-16 classes a week.
Chapter 52
SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)
This came about in March of 2003 in China. It started in southern China. It was taken care of and gone by January of 2004. It spread to many countries, there were over 8,000 cases, 774 people died. It would start with a fever, shortness of breath, seem like a cold but then it would seem like influenza and then possibly turn into pneumonia. No cases showed up in Luoyang. People were very aware of it and the government worked very hard making sure that it didn’t become a problem. Many people wore white masks.
One thing was to keep people from being in big groups like in restaurants and places like that. That is why the gym closed that I went to. It could be spread kind of like when we get colds and the flu so people stayed home. The streets were quieter, hardly anyone on the buses. The buses could be shoulder to shoulder people usually but at the time of SARS there were maybe ten people or less.
My friend Xiao Dan was a senior at the PLA (People's Liberation Army) University in Luoyang at that time and they closed the school. She graduated after the school opened again. She was not afraid to go out and do things. She and I would go shopping, ride the buses. I was kind of surprised with everything going on about SARS. I had heard that many restaurants had to close because business was very slow and they didn’t open again.
Justin, the other foreign teacher with me at the school, was told by his doctor back home that he should go back to the US. When he was a child, he had gotten pneumonia and had to use an inhaler so it wouldn't be good for him to get SARS. He was in Luoyang until May of 2003 and then went home.
Justin, the other foreign teacher with me at the school, was told by his doctor back home that he should go back to the US. When he was a child, he had gotten pneumonia and had to use an inhaler so it wouldn't be good for him to get SARS. He was in Luoyang until May of 2003 and then went home.
Chapter 53
Classrooms at the No. 1 Foreign Language School
There weren’t any heaters in the classrooms we were in. As for the high school building, there were heaters but they weren’t used much, it cost too much. The students and teachers dressed warm and drank hot water. The classes had 50-60 students in them so there was some body heat.
Between the first and second semester, heaters were put in Justin and my classrooms for the middle school students. Justin had a problem with his health so that he had to use an inhaler and the cold made things worse. The heater/AC units were small that were on the wall a little higher than my head. They didn’t really heat much because it wasn’t big enough for the size of the classroom and the windows didn't close real tight. It helped take the chill out.
That first winter was a cold one. Everyone wore winter clothes in the classrooms. At one point, it had gotten cold enough that my fingers had gotten very cold so I wore gloves, the ones where the part covering my fingers could be pulled off so the fingers were exposed so I could hold the chalk to write with because it was too difficult to write with the gloves covering my fingers.
Anyone reading this in the US would think these were really bad conditions. That’s the way things were at that time, not just at that school but all over, including some restaurants and stores. You just dressed for it. If Luoyang was in the US, it would be north of Atlanta, GA, so it would be much warmer than La Crosse. Luoyang may or may not have snow during the winter. I would get so excited when it did snow because I missed it. Most of the time, it would be gone the same day.
The fall was nice. Spring came in March and in April it would really warm up in the 70’s and up to 80. It was my favorite time of the year. Really nice, grass would be turning green and leaves would start coming out, flowers blooming. May and June would be getting hot. There are times when the I had to run the AC in my apartment in May and very often in June. But when it was hot, the AC couldn’t get things cool. It would help cut the humidity down some. I also had fans going and that would help. But in the classroom it didn’t really do much, you just sweat. Nothing wrong with that.
The original Number Two Foreign Language School began in March of 2002. It is located in the the Laocheng District.. It is on Liu Lin Lu by the east end of Luopu Park. That school is still part of the Number Two Foreign Language School system but over the years it is now an elementary school. The pictures that you see here are of the new Number Two Foreign Language School that was built in the New District on the south side of the Luo River. The school is in an area not far from the Longmen Grottoes and the Luoyang-Longmen Railway Station (this is the station for the high speed train). These pictures were taken in April of 2011.
It is a private boarding school and it is the number one middle school in Luoyang. This is due to the hard work of Mr. Bai Fan (headmaster), his staff and all of the teachers that work there. There are 3,000 students that live there and go to school. Many parents want their child to go here. When I was in Luoyang, I was told that the school had openings for one thousand students. Ten thousand applied. That tells you how good that school is.
Administration Building
From the left is Mary Cardinez, my colleague-she used to teach at the original Number Two School; Lily (Ding Lili), Emily (Li Xiao) and Mr. Zhai. Lily and Mr. Zhai are teachers at this school. They are looking at a map of the school.
This is the map of the school. The building on the left is the Administration Building. To the right of that are four buildings connected by the main walkway. The buildings are classrooms and teacher’s offices. The building to the right across the water and by the highway is for computer classes. There is a small building with a red roof next to the computer building, that is where the foreign teachers live. There is room for nine teachers to live there. Going from the foreign teachers dorm across the water to the left are the dorms for the students. To the left of the dorms is a big building, that is the cafeteria. In the left part of the picture is the athletic field where they do sports and other activities.
This is what you see when you walk into the school. Behind this is where the buildings are for the student’s classrooms and the teacher’s offices.
This is a close-up of part of the last picture. You can see some of the stairways connecting the classrooms and offices.
The front building is for computer classes. The tall buildings in the back are not part of the school. Those are across the road.
Those tall buildings are the student’s dorms.
The building on the left is the foreign teacher’s dorm.
Straight ahead past these two buildings is the entrance to the school. Those tall buildings are apartment buildings under construction and a lot of the teacher’s will live there so they are close to the school.
The building on the left is one of the student’s classrooms and the one on the right is the Administration Building.
The lady on the left is Gail Chou and this is her classroom. She is from Texas and one of the foreign teachers. She was at the Number Two School for twelve years. This is looking at the back of the classroom. The lady on the right is my colleague Mary Cardinez from the Philippines.
This is looking at the front of Gail’s room.
This is one of the teacher’s offices. Several teachers are in one office. The lady on the left sitting at the desk is Lily (Ding Lili), Michael Li (Li Yuemin) standing and Mary in the back. Michael is one of the exchange teachers that came to La Crosse to teach for one year.
The buildings to the left and right are the student’s classrooms and the teacher’s offices. Straight ahead are the student’s dorms.
The sports field is where the student’s run, play football (soccer) and do other events. In the distance is where the high-speed train goes.
The building on the right is the school’s cafeteria.
The fall was nice. Spring came in March and in April it would really warm up in the 70’s and up to 80. It was my favorite time of the year. Really nice, grass would be turning green and leaves would start coming out, flowers blooming. May and June would be getting hot. There are times when the I had to run the AC in my apartment in May and very often in June. But when it was hot, the AC couldn’t get things cool. It would help cut the humidity down some. I also had fans going and that would help. But in the classroom it didn’t really do much, you just sweat. Nothing wrong with that.
Chapter 54
The Number Two Foreign Language School
It is a private boarding school and it is the number one middle school in Luoyang. This is due to the hard work of Mr. Bai Fan (headmaster), his staff and all of the teachers that work there. There are 3,000 students that live there and go to school. Many parents want their child to go here. When I was in Luoyang, I was told that the school had openings for one thousand students. Ten thousand applied. That tells you how good that school is.
Administration Building
From the left is Mary Cardinez, my colleague-she used to teach at the original Number Two School; Lily (Ding Lili), Emily (Li Xiao) and Mr. Zhai. Lily and Mr. Zhai are teachers at this school. They are looking at a map of the school.
This is the map of the school. The building on the left is the Administration Building. To the right of that are four buildings connected by the main walkway. The buildings are classrooms and teacher’s offices. The building to the right across the water and by the highway is for computer classes. There is a small building with a red roof next to the computer building, that is where the foreign teachers live. There is room for nine teachers to live there. Going from the foreign teachers dorm across the water to the left are the dorms for the students. To the left of the dorms is a big building, that is the cafeteria. In the left part of the picture is the athletic field where they do sports and other activities.
This is what you see when you walk into the school. Behind this is where the buildings are for the student’s classrooms and the teacher’s offices.
This is a close-up of part of the last picture. You can see some of the stairways connecting the classrooms and offices.
The front building is for computer classes. The tall buildings in the back are not part of the school. Those are across the road.
Those tall buildings are the student’s dorms.
The building on the left is the foreign teacher’s dorm.
Straight ahead past these two buildings is the entrance to the school. Those tall buildings are apartment buildings under construction and a lot of the teacher’s will live there so they are close to the school.
The building on the left is one of the student’s classrooms and the one on the right is the Administration Building.
The lady on the left is Gail Chou and this is her classroom. She is from Texas and one of the foreign teachers. She was at the Number Two School for twelve years. This is looking at the back of the classroom. The lady on the right is my colleague Mary Cardinez from the Philippines.
This is looking at the front of Gail’s room.
This is one of the teacher’s offices. Several teachers are in one office. The lady on the left sitting at the desk is Lily (Ding Lili), Michael Li (Li Yuemin) standing and Mary in the back. Michael is one of the exchange teachers that came to La Crosse to teach for one year.
The buildings to the left and right are the student’s classrooms and the teacher’s offices. Straight ahead are the student’s dorms.
The sports field is where the student’s run, play football (soccer) and do other events. In the distance is where the high-speed train goes.
The building on the right is the school’s cafeteria.
Comments
Post a Comment