I don't know if China has temp agencies, but there is a place where laborers gather on a corner of the downtown roundabout. I don't know if they are migrant workers or are farmers from the countryside. They all have the old Chinese bicycles, the Flying Pigeon, that were once a symbol of an egalitarian social system and usually have a couple tools like shovels and picks tied to the back rack. On rainy days there there are a lot of workers. On sunny days only a few. It reminds me of the times when I would sit at the temp agency in Alabama full of men in their work clothes and tool belts waiting to be sent out to work. If my language was better, I think it would be extremely fascinating if I could join those workers for a day, taking pictures and doing interviews.During the lunch hour between noon and 2:30, everyone takes naps, even the guys who are paving the open market with sticky black asphalt.
This morning I've been lesson planning since 7:30 am. I have to teach a freshmen listening class tomorrow and because we have been working so hard listening to news broadcasts, dictations, and book work, I wanted to do a more fun class with either a 30 minute video or an interesting story. Lesson planning out of a book with a CD is so much easier than searching for material all over the Internet.
If the students' computer monitors had worked yesterday, today's planning would have been easier; however, I must plan for two types of lessons, one for if the monitors don't work and one for if the monitors do work. It is double the work.
I have finished a lesson plan using an audio clip from Storynory. Now I have to write a lesson plan using a TV show. I really really hope the monitors work tomorrow because the students deserve a relaxing funny video lesson. News broadcasts can be so boring but important since they will be on next year's national exam.
I also have a backup lesson plan in case the audio doesn't work in the listening lab. Experienced teachers learn to have several back up lessons in their bag in case equipment fails.
Also, people keep telling me, "You think too much; therefore, you will never be happy." Really?
2 comments:
This photo is great!love the red , the worn out shoes, teh straps around the lower part of the trousers, the tiredness you can guess from the pose...
haha I wanted to make a "naps in China" portfolio...
ha, I'm definitively going to encourage my students to interview the workers they photograph next week....
"Naps in China" is a great idea!!! On my walk through this market there were at least ten men napping. Five in the back of a tractor bed. One on a motorcycle and several just sitting on the ground.
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