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HUAIROU, Beijing Province:
Had my morning Korean classes today, and after it FINALLY getting back to normal (with me getting my favourite class back), they've gone and changed the timetable AGAIN! I now don't teach the Intermediate class at all, instead I get to keep the pre-intermediate class (fun...) and teach one of the elementary classes! Unfortunately this doesn't mean elementary age, it means the ability, so I've got maybe 13-16 year olds in the elementary class, and 15-18 in the P.I. class.
Apparently the parents of the elementary students had complained that they weren't being taught by native English speakers, so me and Efren have had our classes moved around. This is alright for Efren because he gets to keep the intermediate class and loses the pre-intermediate nightmare class! Lucky git.
Both classes were OK this morning though. The P.I. class was on 'Giving Directions', so I tried to wake them up by starting the lesson with 'Blind Grannies' (in pairs - one person is the blind granny and one person is the carer, and the carer needs to direct the granny round the classroom - supposedly in English!).
However, spent most of the time wandering round saying 'Bob, you're supposed to be blind, close your eyes!', 'Coca, you can't keep hitting everyone's grannies!', or 'Justin, stop strangling Neal!', but it did at least liven up the class...
The elementary class were fine, but the syllabus is so boring! It's basically common English phrases grouped together with phrases of a similar meaning, which they have to memorise. It's ridiculous. They're graded with plus points, which my P.I. class are just not interested in, but this class well get into it, so finished the lesson with a game of hangman, and the winning team got plus points, so that woke them all up.
Met Sarah for lunch and we decided to explore the supermarket which we always go to, but found a secret 6th floor full of amazing stuff: a rollerskating rink, pool tables, arcades, a tea shop, a gym, a hairdressers, a bar and even a school!
Exciting stuff!
After this Sarah decided to get her haircut, so I sat and watched for two hours! She was a bit disappointed with the result, but after straightening it properly it looks awesome. After the haircut we both went and got our nails done.
They were really lovely in the salon, and we stayed at chatted to them for over an hour after they'd finished (using Sarah's Chinese/English dictionary to communicate!).
After all the pampering we went to Datang - we went quite early because Ren Jie had told me they start the show at half 8, but it was really quiet, so don't think we'll go that early again. The show was OK, but because we both stayed sober (still feeling a bit ill!) it wasn't as funny as last week!
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