Recap on the rest of October.
So I was working at Ke-Er International Kindergarten with the lovely Montessori Teacher Cynthia, pronounced Cyncia. She, the Chinese teacher Nina and I all worked together in the Montessori teaching environment. From my experience working there I believe the Montessori teaching style to not be such a free and relaxed atmosphere. In fact I found that the environment at times of instruction was the exact opposite. In times of instruction, (the initial stages of integration into the class) the children had specific ways to walk, talk, look, move, carry things, eat...etc. This bothered me a bit until I saw the effect of enforcing this behavior at the beginning. They then learned from it and later we did not have to worry about what that child was doing.
In the Montessori learning environment, children learn through TBL (Task Based Learning) meaning that everything that they are supposed to be learning in the classroom, they are learning through doing different activities. So they would have activities that were used to teach them things about practical life, sensory education, math education etc. I think there were a couple of areas, but I never understood what Cynthia was talking about.
My kids were adorable....crazy to hear me say right? I know, but anyway the children grew on me. During the strict regimented time of the children, I was provided time for a 30-40 minute lesson with them in English during my "English Circle Time". Usually I would choose a song or two and we'd sing those songs, and then possibly practice some vocabulary flash cards and lastly read a book. Without fail, the children always wanted to do these songs "Little Bunny Fufu, Body talk (the song ended in shaking your whole body), and Old MacDonald". Everyday I would introduce myself and we'd go through everybody's name and say hello. This is also how I introduced new classmates.
These were my cutest kids, Ulsha (3 yrs) he couldn't really speak any English but he tried to understand and would talk right back to you in mandarin. Isabelle (3yrs) couldn't speak English and was pretty shy. Lastly was my little favorite Fan Qi, (2 1/2 yrs) could speak no English but was super cute! She would always call all of the teachers "ayi" which is a general term for a nanny/woman who does the cleaning. We would always hagve to sit her down and say "Wo Laoshi bu ayi" and repeat laoshi (teacher) and she would repeat it back. I worked at Ke-Er for about 2 and 1/2 months before I quit.
Yes, I quit my job and I quit the company I came over here with. I realized that the school ways paying almost triple what I received from my company, meaning my company was pocketing a good 8-10,000 kuai each month. So essentially I quit because I worked around 45 hours a week and didn't get paid enough for it. There is plenty of work in Beijing so I wasn't worried about quitting.
Good-bye Ke-Er! I told my Montessori teacher Cynthia face-to-face, surprisingly she understood but she was sad to see me go! She is an amazing person!
What are the repercussions from quitting: I needed a place to live, a new job, a roommate, and a way to get my visa in the end. Soooo let's see how far I've gotten on those lists....
The weekend before I quit, I went apartment hunting with a good friend of mine, Erin, who had recently returned from teaching in Yijing, a city about 2 hours away from Beijing. When she returned to Beijing she did not like the job that the company had placed her in. So we quit together and looked for an apartment together. After a lot of searching we finally found a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment that we both liked. We moved in about two days later.
The following week we looked for jobs together. We signed contracts with a bunch of different companies trying to get part time work. This we realized is just a gradual process because with private tutoring companies, the hire you initially, put you in a demo, and if the student likes you from there, then you begin a regular basis job. The other jobs we have found easily is part time primary school work. I currently work part time at a primary school called Shi You, teaching English to 1st graders. I generally like my job and I don't mind the hours so it's a good set up.
So job, roommate and housing (check, check and check). Now all I needed was my visa. This was a bit stressful. I had no of where to get my visa extended until my friends found a company that extended your visa for you and took you to the immigration office to get it processed with just minor agency fees. So currently my visa is being processed. Add another check.
I'm feeling good, I'm loving China. I don't want to leave, I just want it to warm up! ahaha!
(This is to remind me to talk about Chinese english names and chinese life for my next blog)
Toodles, Adios, Ahlan, Zaijian!
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