My college and students ...

By Chinese standards this is not a big college .. maybe 6000 students. And here in China when lunchtime comes they all go back to their dormitory to rest or even sleep at lnchtime. So when it is almost time to begin class again after lunch there is a huge procession of students going to classrooms. but you can see by this pic that there are many many going back to class.

I am including a short video in this post for you to see. It is of one group of my students perfoming a scene from a movie I gave them. It was for mid term exam. They had to watch the movie (Princess Diaries), learn the dialogue from the scene and perform it for me. These guys did a very good job. If you listen and watch you can hear their English level ... is quite ok and they did more than just say the lines. They dressed for the part as well. I was really happy with their efforts.
I hope you get some enjoyment out of this.
cheers

Around Shanghai and interesting stuff

We went to a place recently that was highly recomended by Lonely Planet. Maybe the only completely foreign language library here in Shanghai. they have like 350,000 foreign language books including old newspapers. See the pic of the 1880 Shanghai Daily paper.
It was originally run by the Jesuit catholic priests so there is a church there as well. Pic for you to see. Just at that time there was a tour we joined in the church and a wedding about to begin. So we stayed for a little while.
I went with my friends Lily and Rona. They are the two girls sitting in the church pews pic.

Also a very famous food street is Wujiang Rd. It is known here by most for lots of food but mostly the fried dumplings. See the pic here of the kitchen and the small dumplings. It is just open on the street and you cue up to order. Eat inside or take it away. yummy I have to say. Is a shame they will be closing the street for redevelopment. Has charm and lots of great food.

Some of this stuff may be of interest. I worked with a Filipino girl way back in Yuyao when I came back here in September. She has since moved on to another small town in Zhejiang province called Zhuji to be with her boyfriend. And I know they have some Shanghai connections, well it is a small world. Her name is Noreen and she is now working here at the smae college as me. So recently we went to the city and to the famous Bund on the river. Here are a couple pics of Noreen and Gian Carlo with us there. You can see the Pearl TV tower in the background.

Shanghai WIld Animal Park

Hey this is the best day out. My first thoughts were . .zoo, china, animals, .. .maybe its not so good as in animal treatment. But I was very very wrong. this place is great. lots of animals and they are in free open areas. Lions, bears, giraffe, tigers, ligers, all kinds of monkeys, flamingos, and of course .. .Panda.
There was an amazing chimp that performed for us with bongo music on the bench, somersaults, jumping, "talking" to tell me he wanted food. He was awesome. And even some kangaroos.
Also this place is just 15 mins on bus from my college so we could go there easily. Lots of fun. Here are some pics for you and a video of the Panda .. .enjoy

cheers
Mike

my part time job .. teaching young kids

English .. of course.
And I have to say that at first I was terrified. But they are so much fun and cute. I have 2 different classes. Here is a pic of the youngest boys, maybe 5-6 years old. The boys are a little wild at times but I like it.
and the other class is mixed boys and girls aged about 8-10. They are so keen to learn and a pleasure to be around. The school owner, English name Judy, is great and helps with some translation at times.
People have said to me but how do you teach them English when they speak Chinese and me only English. Well reality is they learn basic grammar etc at school and from the other Chinese teachers. But my job is the speaking/oral English.
Sometimes is difficult but seems to work ok most times. I see them once or twice a week. oh and the extra cash is nice.
So check out the pics ... aren't they are so cute

thats it for this topic, always interested in your comments

cheers
mt