It is hard to believe that we have been teaching in Baotou now for more than two weeks! How the situation has changed with each day, as friendships have formed – not only between the “foreign teachers” and the Chinese teachers, but also among the Chinese teachers for they were all strangers to each other.
We have made friends particularly with those in our homeroom. Each morning as we climb the last stair to the 4th floor and walk around the corner to the hallway, many of the teachers await us, warmly greeting us and walking into homeroom with us, talking casually in English with new confidence.
This past Monday there was talk about the weather as it was raining quite hard and some of the roads were flooded. And each morning now we are brought up-to-date about the Olympics.
As we have come to know each other better, we have had longer conversations about our day-to-day lives and found many similarities with respect to our goals as educators, our experiences teaching young people, and our hopes for our families.
Last week there was great activity in taking homeroom class photos, photos of each Chinese teacher with their foreign teacher, and candid shots while classes were in session. To our surprise and delight last Friday one class took our team — Bob, Helen, Gordon and Anne — out for a lunch of Mongolian hot pot. And this week, our last week of teaching, the three other classes are doing the same, but for dinner on different evenings. It is great to be eating and conversing together, in English, for a couple of hours. What progress these teachers have made!
On Friday we have our Closing Ceremony and lunch with the Baotou Bureau of Education officials. Then late afternoon we depart for Shanghai for the weekend Amity Debriefing. What a wonderful learning experience this has been!
Posted by Anne Saunders and Gordon Timbers
Wow Anne, the progress you all have made in incredible! And what the Chinese people have learned will be with them for the rest of their of life! They will not forget what you have all done to better them. It is amazing how difficult the English language can be but yet how quickly people pick it up. Good job to you all!
Nadira Harvey
Wow Anne, the progress you all have made is incredible! And what the Chinese people have learned will be with them for the rest of their life! They will not forget what you have all done to better them. It is amazing how difficult the English language can be but yet how quickly people pick it up. Good job to you all!
Nadira Harvey