Real life.
I've decided I should post something about our jobs and teaching and so on since we've both just been posting things about trips and adventures we've had.
Mark and I are working at an English school called Cornel Language School (http://www.cornel.com.tw/) . There are 2 campuses about 20 minutes apart and I am at one, and Mark at the other. Mark's is newer and smaller and mine is much bigger and also the original school. This is Mark's school's first real year of classes so he has had lots of obstacles becuase of this - such as getting books and other resources because almost everythign is at my school. They're finally getting all this sorted and we're both really enjoying our seperate schools.
Both schools have 3 levels of kindergarten and go up to grade 6. I teach grades 3 and 5 and Mark teaches grades 4 and 5. He also teaches a parent class which is new and something he has had to setup on his own. We work from 10 to 7 with a 2 hour lunch (provided by the school) and start late on Tuesdays at 4pm. In total we are supposed to teach 20 hours and have 10 hours of paid prep. time each week. I substitute for kindergarten classes to fill my hours and make some extra cash.
Before I came here I was interested in learning Chinese and figured I would be taking classes. I since discovered the easiest (and cheapest) way to learn the language is through a language exchange. I found my partner (Alison - cool, eh?) about a month and a half ago online and we have been meeting once a week. It is going very well and I am finally feeling like I am really taking to the basics. It is hard because it's so very different from English and French but it's coming. Alison is a fabulous girl, in her 4th year of University studying medicine. She told me the first day she just wanted to practice english conversation with a Native speaker and she would teach me Chinese from the ground up - so it's very easy going and easy for me. She, Mark and I are going to Lukang this weekend to tour around and see if it is somewhere I should bring my family when they come in December.
Mark and I are both doing a little extra money making on the side aswell. Mark is starting to tutor a boy once a week, the parents want him to use magazine articles and make writing assignmnets for the kid. I am teaching a junior high class on Saturday mornings. I have 31 13 year olds and have basically been hired to help them improve their confidence and let them have a little fun. Kids in Taiwan work WAY harder then I ever did, extra classes on top of Chinese and English school, some in school right through till 10 pm. Wild. We will put some pics up of our kids soon, the little ones are so very cute.
Mark and I are working at an English school called Cornel Language School (http://www.cornel.com.tw/) . There are 2 campuses about 20 minutes apart and I am at one, and Mark at the other. Mark's is newer and smaller and mine is much bigger and also the original school. This is Mark's school's first real year of classes so he has had lots of obstacles becuase of this - such as getting books and other resources because almost everythign is at my school. They're finally getting all this sorted and we're both really enjoying our seperate schools.
Both schools have 3 levels of kindergarten and go up to grade 6. I teach grades 3 and 5 and Mark teaches grades 4 and 5. He also teaches a parent class which is new and something he has had to setup on his own. We work from 10 to 7 with a 2 hour lunch (provided by the school) and start late on Tuesdays at 4pm. In total we are supposed to teach 20 hours and have 10 hours of paid prep. time each week. I substitute for kindergarten classes to fill my hours and make some extra cash.
Before I came here I was interested in learning Chinese and figured I would be taking classes. I since discovered the easiest (and cheapest) way to learn the language is through a language exchange. I found my partner (Alison - cool, eh?) about a month and a half ago online and we have been meeting once a week. It is going very well and I am finally feeling like I am really taking to the basics. It is hard because it's so very different from English and French but it's coming. Alison is a fabulous girl, in her 4th year of University studying medicine. She told me the first day she just wanted to practice english conversation with a Native speaker and she would teach me Chinese from the ground up - so it's very easy going and easy for me. She, Mark and I are going to Lukang this weekend to tour around and see if it is somewhere I should bring my family when they come in December.
Mark and I are both doing a little extra money making on the side aswell. Mark is starting to tutor a boy once a week, the parents want him to use magazine articles and make writing assignmnets for the kid. I am teaching a junior high class on Saturday mornings. I have 31 13 year olds and have basically been hired to help them improve their confidence and let them have a little fun. Kids in Taiwan work WAY harder then I ever did, extra classes on top of Chinese and English school, some in school right through till 10 pm. Wild. We will put some pics up of our kids soon, the little ones are so very cute.
1 Comments:
Cool. I just stumbled across your blog via Blogger which I also use, and enjoyed your story. I was born in Taiwan but grew up in the States. I'm always interested in hearing Westerners' observations on Taiwan. I make trips back and forth as well, and admittedly my Mandarin is not the best.
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