First Day of School

Yesterday was my first day of teaching and as such I decided to take a 'first day of school' picture...you know the kind your mom took of you when you went off to kindergarten for the first time (if you were lucky enough to attend a school that had kindergarten)...I wasn't very successful on my own...

So I had my friend Enoch help me take better one...

That is one thing I'm getting a lot better at...asking for help.  I'm used to being a very independent person, but...I tell you what, there are certain things over here you just need to lean on a friend for.

So anyways, my teaching schedule is kind of weird, I teach all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays and then from 8-noon on Friday.  So I started the day by first scoping out my classrooms.  It took me awhile to find the buildings again but the campus tour they gave us during our Saturday orientation helped a little.  I have also decoded a way to determine which building is which.  You may not think of it but when they tell you, 'Oh go teach in Building #3', but you need to have a way of decoding which is actually building #3 because there is no number on it.  So anyways, the second chinese character on each building I'm pretty sure tells about the building #.  On building #1 it has just one dash.  On Building #2 the second character has two dashes one on top of the other...and on building #3, three dashes.  Finally, a symbol I can decode on my own!!!  So building...check.

I got to my classroom a little bit early just in case it was hard to decode as well...but it was labeled clearly, so no problems there.  But what I did discover is that there were only about 60 desks and my roster said I should have about 78 students in this class...this might be a problem.  Oh yeah...and the heat.  Wow!!!  Beijing can get HOT!!!!  But Beijing classrooms....oofta!!  Long sleeve dress shirt with and undershirt and dresspants and dress shoes....UGH!!!!  I never thought I'd be saying this, but...I can't wait for some cooler winter weather!

Everyone told me, 'be prepared the students are going to not talk at all...they won't say anything.'  Pshaw!!!!  These students couldn't keep a lid on it no matter how hard I tried.  The thing about a huge classroom like that is I was basically yelling to get to the students in the back.  And...they kept this constant murmer going.  I did all my classic teacher tricks to get them to quiet when I was teaching...but I had to pull them out often and early!!  This could be quite the struggle if it was this bad on day one.

Students were standing in the aisles...sitting in the back...but for the most part it looked like they were happy to be there.  We went over the syllabus and got to know each other a little bit, and then I jumped in with vectors!  This was an easy section as I didn't want to push them too hard on day one.  Some seemed to really struggle and some I think thought it was really easy.  Only time will tell.  The good news is that all of them already have the computer program I am going to be using, so that should be a breeze to get going.  By the end of that two hour class period, I was WIPED OUT!!!!

I ended up going back to my room (it is so nice living on campus!!!) changing out of my dress clothes and laying down for a bit.  I didn't really have a clear picture of how my evening class was going to run (it is a recitation and I am the only math teacher who decided we should meet for recitation on the first week).  I got up from my little rest (briefly met another teacher who just got in off of a plane) changed back into my dress clothes and went off to find the room for my second class of the night.

When I got to building #2 there were a couple of welcome sites.  The first was a huge air conditioner...already going in the back...yes!!!!  The second was a familiar face...Bofeng!  One of my students from Calc II in Denver last semester.  He is back in China and in my Calc III class.  The third was a group of students playing a game of uno before class started...(I really wanted to teach them the rules of killer uno, but didn't want to overstep my teacher bounds quite yet).  This recitation only had about 20 students and the atmosphere was MUCH better than the large lecture.  It is so much easier to get to know a small group of students and they were much more willing to let me into their lives.

I had all of the students fill out a little survey for me and it included what name they wanted to go by, what Chinese phrase they think I should know, and any tips for living in Beijing.  The students provided some great tips and I'm glad that I decided to include this on the survey!  They are all so very nice as well and many offered their cell phone numbers in case I get myself in a pickle.  We actually ended class a little early (meaning as the other classes didn't even meet this week) and so I went home and happily got some sleep.

One thing I didn't realize is that because I have such a large class...that immediately makes me recognizable to a very large percentage of the student body walking around here on campus.  Today as I was walking to Merry Mart I felt like a celebrity (in my Bermuda shorts and t-shirt) as they all knew me...but I didn't recognize them.  But hopefully with time that will change and I will begin to know their names as well.  O.k. that is all for now.  Off to the Merry Mart, determined to find some real food I can eat in my apartment.

Zaijian,
Gary