Last Sunday we changed our day around
– I suppose if it was my classroom we could say it was the flipped classroom
model but I am not going to equate a day of leisure with an academic day. Not
that every day is anything but learning; life the classroom and all that crap,
but a flipped something is not the same as a non-flipped something.
Now that we got that out of the way
and yes I do sometimes do the flipped classroom approach when it is suitable
which in China is not always possible because students cannot use youtube or participate in western social sites due to the
great firewall of China.
Instead of going out in the afternoon;
we tend to spend the morning on the Internet doing books, keeping up with
family, and Facebook, and other
schools – are they offering a better package for next year, is it more
interesting than living in the part of China that is more Ikea than historic
China; for example, Myanmar (Burma) really has our eye at the moment and of
course who would not want to live in and teach in India?
I had my first Skype
session with Canyon H.S. School in Bhopal, India doing an ISA (British CouncilInternational
School Awards) project “Festivals and Aborigines” with my Broadcast
Publication class last week. It took a bit of effort and time to understand
each other, us their accent and them ours (I have Korean, Chinese, Trinidad,
and American students), our Skype connection went down as well as the whole
Internet a few times but overall it was really successful and students from
both schools were really excited. I am starting a unit I am calling “Foreign
Correspondent” with the longer term plan of having our students do a
collaborative documentary which will really test our technology as well as my
planning and implementation skills.
Damn! Talking about
work again…
So we headed out on
our bikes at 9 AM last Saturday; we were going to do the same today but already
it is eleven AM, we are still in our pajamas, on-line, and I want to ride our
bikes to the Jinshitan Port – which we have never
been to and no doubt is just a small fishing port or kelp port, but I want to
go nevertheless. But it is cold and windy outside so no doubt we will take the
# 1 bus from the light rail station, if how I am reading the map is correct.
Then again we may spend the day indoors which is not my ideal. Yesterday,
Saturday, Narda went to an orphanage in Dalian City –
all babies and the oldest I think was in the two year old range. She went with
a group of teachers. Apparently it was all heart-wrenching. These are children
that are left for whatever reason; the one baby policy of China or because they
are deformed and etc. Teachers volunteer to go just to hold the babies and have
a bit of play because they are stuck in their cribs all the time otherwise. We
brought up the ideas of students visiting in our middle school assembly last
week asking if any students would want to spend a Saturday morning at the
orphanage – and I was extremely surprised when every single student in grades 6
– 8 stood up. My day yesterday was not so ultraistic
as I spent nine hours at school working on standard based lessons – something
everyone at school is so opposed to, but again I am not talking about work now.
Near us is yet
another huge apartment development, Boee Brilliant Villas Hill. We tromped in
with cameras in hand and viewed the first smaller apartment that they were
selling for 7 and a half million RMB, about one and a quarter million dollars
US. See our video of this exploration at http://youtu.be/gQ0Noz1pF_cOr other related blogs at http://neuage.us/BLOGS/
Today working on picture poem links starting around "better" August 15, 2013). Picture poems are the digital format of work I did as a street artist in New Orleans in the 1970s, as well as New York City, Honolulu, San Francisco and Adelaide South Australia. Follow @neuage.
We saw two apartments the
one above on the right was 20 million RMB or about three-million US. Going
along with the one child stuff of China it had a spa bath and little glass
garden in the child’s room as well as two walk in closets and a study.
The picture on the left
above is the kid’s bath with spa and stone garden and on the right is the
parent’s room – through the window they can see how us lowly teachers live in
campus Village off next to the hills straight through the window.
Well here it
is 8 pm – we ended up going into Dalian and eating at Tapas Spanish restaurant
which is a couple of blocks past the Korean Marketwhich is great – I had ‘berenjenas
gratin adas’ (grilled eggplant), and ‘cremadeespinacasyesparragos’ (spinach and asparagus cream).
We had a driver – one of Jack’s mates takes us in
and wait for us to eat and go to the Korean Market to
get a winter coat that Narda wanted me to get – one
of those hundreds of dollars coats that one gets cheap. Narda
had the coat go from 450 RMB down to 250 meaning about $35 US. All in all as a last minute thought it was a
five hour round-trip including dinner and getting my coat when all I really
wanted to do was write some blogs for the day.
Technology Coordinator and Computer Teacher at Dalian American International School, 2 Dianchi Road, Golden Pebble Beach, Dealian Development Area 116650 P.R. China
Today working on picture poem links starting around "better" (February 14, 2014). Picture poems are the digital format of work I did as a street artist in New Orleans in the 1970s, as well as New York City, Honolulu, San Francisco and Adelaide South Australia. Follow @neuage