Half a Year Gone

Well, its been almost six months I have been away from home. Recently I was going through my old photos and trying to organize them and realized how quickly time can pass. Seeing photos from my shenanigans in Nova Scotia allowed me to see a) I am far from photogenic b) Nova Scotia is damn beautiful c) I am not in Nova Scotia anymore. The contrast between Nova Scotia's clear blue skies, vast fields of green and  ocean views at every turn to my current window view of a grey apartment building could not be more stark.

I am reminded of a song by Stan Rogers called The Idiot. Essentially a story of a guy who left NS for Alberta to work in the oil fields, how he longs for home but at the same time understands the decision he made was based on self reliance and a need to grow. China is many things and it is unfair to characterize the whole country as grey, dirty and polluted but I think it is fair to characterize the cities of China as such. My excursions to the cities of Dalian, Guilin, Sanya and Yongshou have shown me that China can be a beautiful country if you get way out of the cities. The realization of the contrast between NS and China has made me realize I need to take stock of where I am, what I set out to accomplish and whether I am actually making headway on those reasons.

Being a bit past the half way point, this seems a good place to do so. Going back a bit, I originally decided to go to teachers college in order to make a change and position myself for future success. Several years as a bartender at RCR was enough to make me realize it was not a long term option. Was it fun? Hell yes. I got to see Classified, The Stanfields, Sam Roberts, Jim Cuddy, Matt Anderson, Tiesto, The Dropkick Murphies, Billy Talent, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Trooper (ok, they were not that great), David Myles (if you do not know him go check him out on youtube, i recommend the song Simple Pleasures- a song I was told reminds people of me) among other performers while being paid. I was able to hear Peter MacKay, Peter Mansbridge, John McCain, Jeremy Roenick and Rex Murphy give speeches. I worked with amazing people and made great friendships. However, it was abundantly clear to me that if you stayed too long you got stuck there. Knowing I always happy to talk about history and being able to show people a different perspective, teaching seemed a good choice. Yes Jan- you were the one who always said I would be a teacher.

Leaving was hard but thats life right? My time in Thunder Bay was short but successful. I was able to get my teaching degree in about 9 months, had two very successful teaching placements, was a member of student council , made lots of new friends, graduated with first standing honours (like the honour roll), was given an opportunity to travel to China with the cost augmented by Lakehead and best of all was able to secure a contract for a full time teaching position in China.  So I would say it was a very successful year as I was able to obtain a new degree and a job based on that degree. I think anyone going through university now would understand that one degree is not enough and a second degree is what you really need to have some sort of job security. I would say 80% of the people I went to university with now either have or are working on that second degree.

To finish off the year I was part of a trip to China as an optional third teaching practice to foster better relations between Lakehead and The Maple Leaf School system (company?) in China. Most people know this as it was the main reason for starting this blog. Looking back on it now, I probably bit off more than I could chew. It was a big change going to Thunder Bay, moving back home for practicum and then to try and go straight to a new country and teach ESL students only 2 days after my practicum finished was probably pushing it. I finished my practicum on a Tuesday and on the Thursday of that week I was on a plane to China. Talk about quick turnaround! Unfortunately my third practicum was not as successful as my previous two were. Poor pre-trip communication and an philosophical difference on my purpose there led to me butting heads with my two associate teachers in China. The one benefit was that I realized I liked China and could happily spend time there. This being a good thing as I already had a contract to come back to teach.  So overall I chalked it up as a success. Once back in Canada I went to NS and worked as a monitor for the English immersion program Explore and that was a success.

So what? You may be wondering when the hell I am going to get to the point of this post. I have been giving background info to show that in my mind I was on a roll. I had a good experience with RCR, with teachers college, with China. So clearly when I got here I expected to succeed. To this point I would say I have.

My first semester was amazing. Far better than I could have ever imagined. The speed at which I became comfortable with my students, talking in front of the class, creating assignments and being able to relate to my students surprised me. I would say my strongest asset is my ability to communicate with the students and getting them to realize what my expectations of them were/are.

From numerous other teachers and from my principal I heard positive feedback based on student input. They liked Canadian history, even if they didn't care too much about it. They liked how I taught, that I made a goof of myself sometimes and was not afraid to try new things. I remember attempting to teach the skill of photo inferencing based on a period sketch of French Fur Traders dealing with First Nations and how it failed completely. I forgot to tell the students that First Nations tended to have darker skin than the Europeans. So while I wanted the students to grasp an appreciation of the importance of the St. Lawrence as a transport route, they thought the whole thing was taking place in Africa because of the First Nations darker skin. They also pointed out that the Europeans were more technologically advanced because of the snow shoes they had on and it was an example of them giving technology to the First Nations, another fail. However, the point was the students (for the most part) understood that I was trying to teach them a skill that would help them in all subjects.

I learned much about how I want my classroom to run, how I want to teach and how I want the students to behave. I am OK with a little bit of chaos in the classroom, I accept that students will not be perfect for the 90 minutes I have them, I allow them to go to the bathroom as they please, I am ok with letting them step out for 5 minutes if they need to eat because they missed beakfast/lunch. I am not OK with students handing in assignments late, I am not OK with one student in a group doing all the work, I am not OK with students playing video games or watching videos in my class (at one point I had confiscated 6 smartphones, 2 tablets, a laptop, and an iwatch during one class for inappropriate use) and most of all I am not OK with any negative comments in the class. I think that has been the biggest success, being able to find my own method and style of teaching. I remember a dinner at Mel and Marks last christmas where Mark and I had a conversation about the need for students to feel secure and happy in the class, essentially the idea of the classroom as home court where everyone cheers for you, and that has had a huge impact in my thinking. My students learned that if they tried hard and were honest when they did not understand something, I would be easy to get along with and  happy to have some fun along the way. If I felt they were not working to their ability I was not afraid to crack the whip. This is allowing me to approach my second semester with more confidence and while I am sure my ideas and teaching styles will change with time, it will be more of a repair of the foundations rather than a tear down.

Learning more about my teaching strategy has been a success, however teaching was not the only reason to move to China. I wanted to live abroad and experience a different culture. Oh Boy, am I getting that. I have not experienced a more different culture than China. Two weeks in Vietnam and one week in Seoul have allowed me to realize that of the asian countries, China is the furthest from Canadian culture. Underlying the whole culture is a) a belief everyone can look out for themselves b) a desire to put your best foot forward even if that puts the rest of your body off balance and c) an idea to cut twice, never admit you should have measured first and if all else fails just re start. It can be overwhelming at times trying to deal with the massive crowds, the lack of any adherence to the basic principles of lining up, the wide variety of smells that can occur during a five minute walk and the constant stares of people. China is a country that has only recently opened up to the outside world and I would say is undergoing dramatic social changes right now. What it looks like in 10-20 years will be vastly different from what it is like now. The visual difference between how the older generation dresses and behaves versus the younger generation is staggering. An austere lifestyle has transformed into the most commercial consumerism I have ever seen. The benefit of all this is I have a much better understanding and appreciation of the culture and why everyone gets angry at Chinese drivers back home. When you have this many cars on the street, the rules of the road are more of a suggestion. It is not unusual for your cab driver to drive on the shoulder of the highway for twenty minutes in a traffic jam, to decide to make a left turn into traffic forcing up to 30 cars to either T-bone him/her or to wait, or just simply to drive down the wrong side of the street.  I think when I get home I am going to find driving a very boring experience after my time here. Who knows, maybe I will try some of the practices I have seen here!!!

Gaining experience in a new career and learning more about a new culture have been great. The third main reason I came to China was the opportunity to travel. With a week off in October and a month off in February I have been able to do some traveling. I have already talked about my trip to Guilin/Sanya in a previous post and I will dedicate a new post in the next couple days to my recent trip to Vietnam, but generally I am glad I have those opportunities. I am already planning for next year and have realized how important pre planning is. Next February I am planning on either a) Philippines b)Laos/Cambodia/Thailand c)Malaysia or d) New Zealand... any suggestions. So travel is a success. Having two months off for the summer is nice also, planning to take some of that time to visit scotland/ireland if I can find cheap flights.

Guess I have gone on for quite a while. if you have managed to read the whole thing through, I am impressed. To summarize, half a year gone= winning!