Exam season is upon us…. Sort of. Our (and by our, I mean the foreign teachers) seem to be doing their oral exams now, as opposed to the Chinese teachers who do it in the final week. But they do a speaking exam whereby students have to discuss a topic. My classes are doing presentations, …
Harder than it looks
I bought a ticket for the cinema yesterday. That’s not overly surprising, since I watch films a lot. But I bought it online and collected it from the ticket machine, which was only in Chinese. It took me a couple of tries, hitting the back and delete buttons, before I finally got it. Avengers: Infinity …
No room to maneuvre
I did English Corner recently. That is never really much fun, because we have to stay behind after our classes are over to do extra. It is also in the main teaching building, where we do not teach, and the building is terrible. For a start, there are fixed seats, which means that students cannot …
Making plans
I did not get the Renmin job. I found out after I had chased them again for an update. They were, in typically Chinese style, vague about the reasons why. I think it was partly because I don’t have much experience teaching writing, which is a big thing there, but also I got a Chinglish …
In praise of … spoilers
Avengers: Infinity War has now been released in the US. Its release date in China is not for another couple of weeks, but it means I can, at least, find out what happens in it, before it opens here. Indeed, The Guardian today has a special spoiler column on the film, where fans (who have …
Saying hello
I eat most of my meals in the cafeteria on the university campus where I live (and when I teach, at the other campus). Sometimes, I recognise the food and can say what I want in Chinese; when I don’t, I just point and say 这个 zhège (this one). I often take some Tupperware with …
Good and bad
Last week was both good and bad. Bad because on Friday, my laptop failed me, and good because my lesson went extremely well, a lot better than I thought it would. The lesson was about advertising, and involved the class splitting into groups and me giving each group a random product (e.g. an iron). They …
