The course has started and it’s taken over our lives. On the whole we are very happy with our choice of city and TESOL training. I am not going to pretend that its anything but really really cold but I now own a foot warmer with a USB attachment so while I am typing this my feet are toastie warm, also I invested in a small heater, the apartment does have central heating but we don’t have control over the timer so it goes off and on at the will of the landlord, which just isn’t on enough for us, so our heater is glowing whenever we are home giving off a quiet cosy warmth. The course ‘Will Excel’ if anyone is asking is excellent. The main presenter is very good, it’s a Canadian company but most of the staff here are Americans, actually most of the 13 participants are also Americans. There is one other Australian student and a couple of Canadians. They have supplied and delivered everything they promised and we are now learning to become TESOL teachers at neck breaking speed. I am feeling very smart with my choice of doing the course with the week off for Chinese New Year or as they say Spring Break because we are going to need it the rest. Our classes start at 8.30 with an hour and half of Mandarin, no English is spoken, then we have to sit a test on the material that was presented the day before, then its 3 lectures of about an hour each on various topics such as teaching techniques, chinese culture etc. This weekend we had to observe some classes and take our first class. The lesson plan was huge as the students are only 5-8 years old so they need lots of short activities, games, songs etc. and the class is 2 hours long. So we have been lesson planning, studying for tests (Mandarin test are on Friday’s) and preparing other assignments and projects to hand in. It’s a good thing we don’t have to worry about cooking and cleaning because there is no time. The streets have got a bit easier to walk on as it hasn’t snowed as heavily as our first night but with loads of construction work going on I usually hang off Nicks arm when we are walking to and from school and crossing a street is all about confidence and clear indication of your intention – it’s a good thing no one can travel very fast because the pedestrian’s and traffic are all mixed up. Crossing the street reminds me of ‘frogger’ but with more at stake.
