Today we had to take a test to see if we could make it onto CIC Camp as a facilitator. I don't really know when it changed from TIP to CIC! Georgia and I figured we could blag it, and just used our designated practice time to have a little chat and explore the experiment centre instead.
In the afternoon, we had the test. We basically had to pick one thing to facilitate as a pair. Georgia and I decided to do 'blow wind blow' as I had facilitated it before, and it is easy to do!
After everyone had finished, we found out that eight of us will be going on camp, whilst the other four stay behind in the city. The four not going on CIC camp this time round were Emma, Alex, Ollie and Dan. Emma and Alex were completely relieved, Dan was completely nonchalant, and Ollie was rather annoyed. I still don't know why Ollie wasn't picked, as he was one of the more confident members of the group, and he was good at 'facilitating',.
Most of us then went to a steak house in the shopping centre with the aquarium. It worked out to be the equivalent of £5.80 for a decent cut of steak and chips! Normally, I would go for my steak to be medium rare - medium. They didn't give us a choice here. It came out rare. At first, I wasn't too sure, don't really like the look of blood on my food, but now I have tasted it, I have never gone back!
We decided to go to Walmart for some last minute bits before going back to the apartment. We were in there for quite a while, so long that we must have coincided with closing time as the lights started to go off. We panicked and ran outside!
Thursday 13th September 2012
This morning Georgia and I went to the market to go shopping. I thought we went to the same place as last time, but we must have come in at a different angle and we ended up in a completely different place, this time with a load more clothes stalls! This was definitely more up our street. We didn't buy anything, as we were just trying to navigate our way around the market, and pinpoint areas of interest.
After leaving the market, we went to CC Experience Centre to find we actually need to go straight to the Qinyin branch. Communication isn't CC English school's strong part. After we got there, we were told to have a rest before going into classes, and this time we were not to be in partners, we were flying solo!
Thinking it would be like the other classes we have been in, I felt quite confident that it would be good. However, when I got into the class I just got told I would be leading the class. I can't speak mandarin. How on earth was I suppose to teach children when I can't speak their native language! Thankfully, I managed to blag it, by starting with a game, and then using the textbook activities to guide me along. Improvisation was key!
We then had another rest before going into another classroom. Luckily, this teacher was way more prepared and she had already planned out her lesson for me to teach. I familiarised myself with their routine before going into the classroom, and this made me feel a lot more comfortable in a teacher's role.
We had a 'traditional Chinese tea', I'm pretty sure they just call everything 'traditional' to make it more appealing to us. This was a lot more appetising than KFC. Although, you have to watch out for some of the more spicier dishes! They are definitely more generous with spice in China than they are in England!
In my final class of the day, I actually did what we had been told we were going to be doing before we came to China. I assisted the teacher. The only thing she made me do by myself was teach head, shoulders knees and toes. All the students were really responsive to me, despite the fact they could only speak limited English and I couldn't speak any Chinese/ I love how excited they all get when we go into a classroom with them. It's so weird to think that most of the students in that classroom as never met a 'westerner' in real life before.
Ollie also hijacked my iPad at some point today. I'm ending this on one of his delightful selfies. Enjoy.
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