We are a month into the fall 2020 semester, so I thought I’d give a little update on what the teaching situation is like. Masks? Alternate day in-class attendance? Social distancing on campus and a mix of classroom and online learning? Well….no. None of that. If you were beamed to
I Won “Favorite Teacher!”
College has started and students have come back to school after being gone for 6 months, so I wasn’t surprised when a few students contacted me to ask if I was still on campus. But I was surprised when they said they wanted to see me and give me flowers.
Online Teaching in China
Whether you are a parent with kids suddenly home all the time, or a teacher who suddenly had to go to the internet, I think we can agree on one thing: What a long, strange semester its been. But I mean “strange” in a non-judgmental way. Because I didn’t hate
100 Years of a Chinese University
This past weekend my school, Jimei University, celebrated it’s 100th anniversary. Chinese universities don’t need much of an excuse to have a big celebration and this is a worthy milestone, so for months the school has been preparing for it. My school was started by a guy who was basically
Ready for More Weird English Names?!
It seems as if they more my students become aware of western culture, the weirder their english names are. When I started the weirdest names were like, “Cookies” and “Chanley” but now I’m getting so many odd names that make those look positively white bread. Here are some of the
The Start of my Tenth Year
It’s impossible to believe, but I am beginning my tenth year in China. It also means it’s my tenth year as a teacher making it the longest job I’ve ever held. Despite that, I almost never think of myself as a teacher. When someone asks me “what do you do?”
Chinese Wedding (with video!)
Remember those students I call “my babies?” The ones I taught for four years and watched them grow up? The ones who stayed with me when I was in the hospital 5 years ago? The one’s that sobbed into my shoulder as they graduated and said goodbye? The ones I
Chinese Kids Wishes to Santa
In my writing class I asked my students to write a letter to Santa. “Tell Santa if you’ve been a good girl or boy and ask Santa for something you want,” I said. While my students all know about Santa they obviously have never written a letter to Santa like
Thousand Character Chinese Classic
Like I do at the end of every year, I have my students in speaking class become teachers. Their final exam is to “teach class” for 15 minutes. (Not a presentation, but actually teach.) This is always super fun. Students freak out when I assign it to them, but then
Tutoring Kids in China
I’ve always taught college kids because I don’t like to teach basics. You need to understand English fluently for me to want to teach you which pretty much rules out any child. Until Lion. My friend moved away from Xiamen about a year ago and asked me if I wanted