It’s been a couple of weeks since I left, but in August and September, I was living and working in Durham. On the first weekend I arrived, the weather was, shall we say, typical British weather – quite wet. In fact, for the first few days the weather wasn’t great. But things gradually improved, as…
Tag: Christmas
In the captain’s chair
The temperature in Beijing recently has been hot, hot, hot. Seriously, it has been in the mid-to-high 30s, although I think cooler weather (slightly cooler at least) is on its way. My second-year students have been teaching classes themselves recently, and my first-year students are about to start their final exams (I know it might…
It’s Christmas!
Christmas is not really celebrated here. In my final class of the semester, with my second-year students, I did a lesson all about Christmas. We sang ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’. It was nice to get into the holiday spirit, even if it is not a holiday they celebrate. There are…
Meetings, meetings and other such things
Christmas has been and gone, and New Year is nearly here! In terms of gifts, as ever I was very lucky. I got a cool Doctor Who 'Gallifrey University' hoodie; three books by famous British comedians, a mug, a little notebook, socks (always useful), some Christmas novelty items, and some chocolate. The Christmas meal…
Christmas all the way
The Christmas season is upon us! I taught my last class of the week on Friday, and whilst it didn't have a Christmas theme per se, we did do a couple of Christmas-related activities (including two Santa drawings I did in class - see below). Students also wished me a Merry Christmas. The lesson was…
It’s a bit early…
Today I met an ex-colleague, a Chinese English teacher from RDFZ. We went for lunch together, during which she gave me a couple of her students' work to look at (I used to teach her class). It was a pleasant meal, and conversation flowed, but I was a little tired afterwards, as I had not…
