Another week done, and another week closer to endgame (literally and metaphorically; the new Avengers film, Avengers: Endgame, will be released in China next Wednesday, 24 April, a whole two days before the UK and US. Of course, I have bought a ticket to watch it on Wednesday afternoon, after my class finishes Wednesday morning). Not …
Category: China
The mystery of the missing glove
Since joining the gym, I have been going often. The other day, I arrived and went to the changing rooms to change. It has turned quite cold recently, so I was wearing some gloves. The changing room is small, with a stool in the corner and nothing else. I started to get changed and sort …
Back to Beijing
I have returned back to Beijing, ready for the new semester to begin next week. There is always a little apprehension about leaving the UK, partly because I become comfortable in a routine, and partly because I am not sure what the next year will bring. It did not help, the fact that my flights …
Birthday stuff
It was my birthday this week. Like last year, I had class on the day itself, although this time I was not listening to Senior 1 students’ exams, telling me about their favourite things or what they would do with £1 million. This year, I gave my class a quiz. I did something similar at …
Can you give me an example?
My Chinese classes have recently become a lot harder. We have been focusing on more nuances of grammar, which I guess is good, because it means I am advancing, but it is also more difficult and confusing. For example, in my last class, we looked at gǎi 改, huàn 换, and biànhuà 变化. They are …
Approaching the final weeks
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, …
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 …
