FRIDAY, 2/27/15
Today is an incredibly busy day for Judy. She has a full day of classes with only a short break for lunch. At lunch, she’ll be working with some of the small groups from the musical. After school, she has a musical rehearsal. At the end of the day, she’s pretty sure she earned her paycheck.
The only item of note I did today was get back into swimming mode. After all our travel, and a blockage in my right ear, I haven’t been able to swim for over 3 weeks. After my doctor visit yesterday, I hit the water today, trying to get myself back into a regular exercise regimen.
SATURDAY, 2/28/15
Judy has a full day of musical rehearsals scheduled, finishing sometime around 4:00pm. They’re beginning at 9:00, and there’s a slight dusting of snow on the ground and light snow falling as she leaves around 8:00. They have a successful day of working through all the pieces and parts of the show, beginning to tie the big pieces together into a cohesive production.
I have a faculty meeting today, and I’m out the door to the train at 8:15. I’m looking forward to finding out how everyone’s Winter Holiday has been. My hour commute should get me in the door of the school well ahead of the 9:30 am scheduled start. WRONG! My timing was right, but somehow I didn’t get the word that the meeting was beginning at 9:00 am. I only found out when I met one of the other faculty members on the train, and he told me someone had texted him, wondering where he was. He also missed the email that was sent out late last night.
We arrive at 9:15, and the meeting is underway. I thought we were getting a “start up the semester” session that would finish at 11:30, and I’d be done for the day (that was the original plan). Instead, one of our faculty is presenting a Professional Development training to all the foreign teachers on how to interview students and accurately determine their English comprehension. A major stumbling block for students in our school is if they have poor English comprehension. So much of the classroom material they get is in English, and if they’re comprehension is slow, they are destined for failure. Each prospective student is interviewed by a team of native English speakers, and evaluated on his ability to handle the instruction. Our instructor is Bolivian, and spent time in the Peace Corps. One of her jobs was interviewing prospective job-seekers and determining their level of English competency.
The session is very interesting, as we try to develop a flexible guide for the upcoming interviews. Part of the training involved splitting into teams and participating in a “practice” interview with a current student from our school. This particular student had just completed a three-week exchange at St. Marks School in Dallas. One of the strategies is to develop an informal rapport, and after getting the student relaxed, get responses from him that show an ability to think through an issue and relate the situation comfortably in English. Our question to him was “what did you not understand or like about your visit in Dallas?” His reply was that the family he stayed with had 3 kids, and when everyone got home in the evening, the family split into various rooms for homework, television, and meals. He missed the sense of “family” he has in China where there was much more family interaction (most likely due to the “One-Child Policy”). Even on weekends in Dallas, the family continued to split into different destinations (mall, home, sports activities). In China, he was used to spending weekends with his parents and regularly visiting grandparents.
After our interview, we met together and discussed pros & cons of the sessions. The last hour of the afternoon was a combined faculty meeting, including the Chinese faculty. We received an updated calendar, and some information about our “International” program combining with the original “International” program at the main Beijing #4 HS campus. This gets a real “buzz” as everyone begins to question their role next year in the school with the added student body, and possible over-crowding? For faculty members planning to return next year, I’m sure they go home with many questions. For me, I’m just glad it’s not me with the questions.